Are there any firms out their who are honest, efficient, and high quality?

I have been searching and searching, I finally went with one, and my designer just disappeared a few days go, i'm not sure if it's due to some family problem of his or maybe a power outage, but I haven't heard from him in 3 days since making the down payment. I'm in an NDA and a locked in contract with him, so I can get the money back through paypal without too much trouble. This guy has a good reputation so I feel that some issue has come up with him, he has been square with me so far.

Anyways my deadline is coming up (Mid/end January) and I need a completely designed website (logo, mascot, whmcs & forums branded, cPanel customized, and all the subpages designed and integrated with WHMCS.) If I don''t hear anything back from my designer by the 18th i'm going to start the refund process and will need to go with a new developer ASAP. What are some high quality web development companies who have a good reputation? My budget is $1,500(please don't pm me offers)

If the designer has not been in contact for three days, but is otherwise still on schedule, why is that a deal-breaker - since your deadline isn't for another month? Did he miss some intermediate milestone?

Yes, we have certain milestones set up, and I was supposed to have received a mock up today of the main layout so we can do revisions on it, so it would be finalized by the 18th. I was also supposed to receive multiple updates daily, and I haven't heard anything from him in 3 days since making the down payment. Like I said before I don't think he is avoiding me purposely, something obviously has happened, but I have a deadline and it is a fairly sized project which I cannot fall behind on.

Anyways, the point of this thread was to start looking for a new design firm. I'm still giving him 2 more days to get back in contact with me, that will be 5 days without contact, which is more then fair for starting the refund process(since it usually will take 2-4 weeks for PayPal to refund anyways)

Since you know he has a good reputation and you do feel he might be in a tough situation, I would suggest trying alternative methods to contact him and see if all's well..

But i do understand your concerns about missed deadlines and recovering your advance.. it's a real toughie for you.. Good luck!

Wait 2 more days, then look into other options, but make sure to leave the lines of communication open so that if it was some sort of family emergency it won't create stress between the two of you.

Logos Atlanta did the logo for my brother-in-law's cigar bar. I know they're not super small, as I saw their vehicle on the grand opening.

They also did the design for his website (I took most of the photographs). Very professional design.

Their logos:
http://www.logosatlanta.com/logo_portfolio.php

Their webhosting:
http://www.logosatlanta.com/web_hosting.php

The one bit I'm not sure about is WHMCS integration, but you could check with them on that.