Same thing happened to me with a guy for my landscaping site. After that, I stopped paying upfront. Now I use Zinn Hub. I put the full payment in escrow and don’t release it until the work is done. Posted my job, picked a freelancer who had done work for another local business. He sent updates every few days, finished on time, and I paid after I saw the live site. No chasing, no drama. For your website and ads, just be clear in the post and ask for examples. Saves a ton of pain. You got this.