re: "What is my best option to get this project completed? Would a BBB complaint help?"
No.
The BBB does not create websites and mobile apps. Nor do they finish already-started websites and mobile apps. You may read more about contacting the BBB here:
https://community.upwork.com/t5/Clients/problem-solve-here-no-FTC-BBC-FBI-PD-etc/td-p/678783
re: "What is my best option to get this project completed?"
Take the following steps:
1) Decide now that you will never again file a dispute, ask for a refund, or otherwise ask freelancers for money. Refund thinking hurts clients. Your situation is a good example of this concept. Refund thinking (thinking that it is possible to ask for a refund or file disputes or use arbitration) costs money and does not lead to completed projects.
Read this thread (paying particular attention to the examples):
https://community.upwork.com/t5/Clients/Dispute-process/m-p/930037
2) Hire an independent project manager (PM).
3) Work with your project manager to hire additional freelancers as needed to complete the project. Continue working with the original freelancers if possible, but be sure to transition away from a project that depends on them. Your project needs to be moduler and utilize multiple separate freelancers. The project manager should hire multiple people, compare their work, and continue working only with the freelancers who provide you with the best value. Underperforming freelancers should be fired quickly. All aspects of the project should be things that more than one person on your team can work on. If Betty finishes an assignment, and Fred hasn't finished his assignment, then tell Fred to hold off on that and assign that task to Betty. Assign Fred to do something else. If Betty finishes this next assignment and Fred still hasn't finished his task, then assign that task to Betty as well. Don't worry too much about these details. Your PM knows how to work with multiple freelancers in order to finish a project on time. She will handle this.
4) The bulk of the remaining work probably needs to be done by newly-hired freelancers. Keep the original freelancer on the project more as a consultant. Make sure you are working with him only using an hourly contract. Gradually ramp down all expectations of that freelancer, when it comes to doing new work. Use the original freelancer to help you transition to your new, more distributed development model. Eventually your project manager or a new lead developer will be the one who takes over as the person who is the primary person familar with the project's technical infrastructure.
5) Your Android app, iOS app, and website should all have their own separate lead developers, and all should interact with our back-end database through a single, central API. You should have a back-end database designer who does not work on the front end at all, but focuses only on the back-end database. Your API could be created by the back-end database designer or by one of the front-end developers, but ideally will be created by another person.
If you don't want to do ALL of this at once, you are NOT REQUIRED to. You may choose between the following options:
a) Do everything at once, in parallel (backend, web application, Android mobile app, iOS mobile app
[or]
b) Do things sequentially (backend database, then API, then web application, then Andoid mobile app, then iOS mobile app)
As the project owner YOU need to be the person who chooses between option (a) and option (b). Your project manager can help you achieve your goals EITHER WAY, but even the PM herself must not choose which option you use. You must choose.
This is the minimal team that you should have:
- project manager
- database designer/DBA
- API developers (2)
- web application developers (2)
- Android app developers (2)
- iOS app developers (2)
- graphic designers (2)
Work with your project manager to continually look for "weak links." Fire them and replace them with new people.
This should probably all be done using hourly contracts, especially if you have already been relying on fixed-price contracts and that contract model has failed you. At the very least, you should try a mixture of both hourly and fixed-price, and only continue using the hiring methods that work best for you, in terms of helping you achieve your goals.
Different project owners have different goals:
- maximize quality
- minimize cost
- get the project done as quickly as possible
Pick two of these. Make sure your project manager understands and supports which two you picked.
You may not pick all three.
