I posted my ad in Craigslist (Austin, TX) seeking help from professionals for a website design. ENP Studios responded claiming they have extensive experience. They sent their proposal and asked for 50% advance - I told them I am willing to pay $100 as advance and the full amount on delivery. To exude confidence in us, I told them to check my firm's D&B Ratings. I sent the money using Google Checkout the same day. The delivery was supposed to be in 3 weeks. They claimed to have made sites like BlueHosts which was very impressive. We thought we are dealing with professionals.
We send all the Control Panel and Admin accesses to our server - 2 weeks passes by and there was nothing. I sent an email to him which was replied back by his wife who apologized for the delay and claimed that Eric's dads sudden demise and that Eric would be back in a couple of days, he will immidiately start working on our site. We immediately sympathized with the family as it may happen with anybody. I promptly emailed her back telling them not to worry about the site. I patiently waited for 2 more weeks - I emailed and left numerous voice mails and he never replied back to any. I feel bad that he & his wife used this to cheat people. I used to be a website designer too, when I got laid off - I was doing this to take care of my family - things like this would make people mistrust the genuine guys who are out there struggling.
Losing $100 bucks is not a big thing but his action delayed my site launch - that's a major loss.