How Long is Too Long?

[DomainFatigue]

For years I used a designer I found here on dnf to handle websites for me and she did a terrific job. Unfortunately, things got in the way for her and I needed to hire someone in the interim. About a month and half ago I looked around here and found an old member advertising his services, with respected friends, saw some sites he did for other members, and hired him to do one major site for me, and then upon his promises - two smaller ones. I paid up front with extra for pictures and even threw him some "bonus" cash. Ordinarily, that's not how I do business. Many excuses later I have one site that looks great on certain web-browsers but has a line through the content on others (which I am waiting to be changed), another small site waiting to be finished and the main project no where near completion. I understand things happen in life and am going through some personal events myself right now but one promised deadline after another has been missed. About a week ago he offered a partial refund, but with new promises the sites would be completed within days, I agreed to bite my tounge and asked him to proceed. I even offered him a piece of revenue off of one site. Again, the changes didn't happen. I am trying to keep my cool and not make this person a special project of mine just yet. How would you handle it? Are the actions I described considered acceptable in the designer/programmer industry?