Hacks - Traps for users?

[bairy]

There's little point getting annoyed/upset.

You do have the right to express how you feel of course, but with that comes people who may agree or disagree with you, which is one of the things you asked for.
Your original post wasn't so much "hey I don't like this but I'm not really that bothered", it was "this is a trap to get people to pay!!", and when you create something like that people are going to reply in various ways.

Others have already stated that site rules say he's not allowed to say he'll charge for services. You might have had a point about it being a trap from the wording except he clearly states in his PM to you that there will be a charge... and you don't have to pay until the work is done and you're happy, so it's not really a trap - it's just following the site rules. The fact it looks bad (to you) is just an unfortunate coincidence.