Here we go again. Sign on gardenweb for the first time especially to bad mouth a contractor. You allowed yourself to be duped into paying for work up front. Always insist on references and then check them out personally.

Those who do poor work should be trashed.
Those, a majority of contractors, should receive free advertising by their good works.
Always have three references....Good contractors will have no trouble with this.

Shoddy work is the fault of the contractor who did it, as is the lack of proper licensing, etc. A homeowner may be too easily duped to one degree or another but they didn't do the shoddy work or force the contractor to not get a license.

I worked with a consumer organization in the past and blaming the victim is popular but misguided. Consumers doing research on companies are often dismayed to learn--after the fact--that they didn't get a very accurate picture from places like state agencies, BBB, ratings sites, and the like. The sad fact is, many complaints are never public information. Everyone assumes that all you have to do is check a website or make a call and you'll find out all you need to know. NOT. Some state laws even require complaints to be confidential, and the BBB is under fire for a pay to play rating system by both consumers and businesses who find it inaccurate and unfair.

When someone posts to warn people about a bad experience, they're doing others a favor. Even if that's the sole reason they initially registered on a site.