Don't prepay designers/coders. I've ordered 5 items this year,
3 of them are still unfinished (working on them since june/july),
1 I was displeased with and it has not been adjusted according to my plan.
1 was delievered on time with satisfying(thanks webinc).
[rant]
Ooh booh, now if this was some other overpopulated board roaming with designers they'd all pounce me. I'm a designer myself, and I have also been stiffed by customers a lot (since I do not ask for prepayment usually). I do understand all points of views, I just think dishonest people should be taken behind a barn and shot to the back of their head.
[/rant]
...actually, I'll like to change my advice:
Learn to design and code yourself!
hehe