Website for Deadbeat Client
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- noneck
Just launched a website for a client and I figure there's a 20% chance they won't pay or will delay payment until I start showing up at their office with a baseball bat. I still have access to the site.
What would you do?
- monNom0
not launch website until paid?
- easier said than done.mydo
- The site's already up.noneck
- Pull it?luckyorphan
- not really. That's the right thing to do! Pull it down until they pay.OSFA
- lvl_130
get 50% up front, which should be done with a signed contract. 50% after beta-launch. if client doesn't pay, pull the site.
- mydo0
put the site in your own server in a development area. put a nice holding page for them. get a sign off and a payment date. then put it live. then when they miss the date you have an email you can send to them. if you're really worried. host on their site, but host the database or images on your site. that way it's hard from them to screw you.
good luck
- Hosting images or css files on my server could be a good idea for a sketchy client.noneck
- noneck0
We had done lots of projects with this client previously, so I got comfortable.
This particular project got tripped up because the client wanted to use their own web host instead of mine. The next time I do a website it's going to either be:
1) on my web host, or
2) I'm going to bill hourly to launch the site with no guarantee of success. Obtain payment before launching with the additional billing being extra.
- noneck0
Anyone ever made a time bomb? Like a script that you could run that would completely bork the site?
Pretty unethical, but as a last resort...
- i wouldn't. you should just get them back to the table to talk through the dilema. you need to talk them through why the...lvl_13
- sendmail thing wasn't actually our fault. if you have had a solid relationship with them this should not be a problem to talk them through.lvl_13
- through it. it sucks, and it's not really your problem...but it is...because you want to get paid, and they need to understand why.lvl_13
- understand where you are coming from, and the amount of work you have put into the site.lvl_13
- airey0
yeah, i figure an illegal fuckar
- airey0
i'll try that again,
i figure an arguable illegal script fuckaround might be an insane idea compared to simply ftping into the domain and removing the site. i mean seriously, why make this a more difficult issue than it already is?
are you actually a drama queen?
- airey0
of course i'd ask that 2 your face? are you fucking serious.
"And no, I'm not a drama queen. You wouldn't say that to my face." - noneck
seriously dude, you just answered my point. irony be thy name.
- ********0
Amazing this topic comes up often here. Why not post their company here and trash them?
- because that can end in tears and legal ramifications for defamation etc.airey
- surely better than a baseball bat or just coming out like a chump. no?********
- are you pretty young then?refunktion
- why do you ask? who are you talking to?********
- or is it immature to inform your fellow designers who they should watch out for?********
- or maybe honest is not the best policy?********
- it just seems like it would not be wise to trash talk someone on a public forum.refunktion
- i hear ya. just sucks that people who screw you get away with crime like that.********
- i mean, this is all hypothetical because the clients "may"not pay. but if they lean on screwing....********
- agreed, just going public is going backwards... about the same as beating them up.refunktion
- True, you need to beat them up AND steal their wallet...ETM
- ********0
There's also the Better Business Bureau.
- < Yes.luckyorphan
- and after that, then go beat them up and steal their wallet.********
- luckyorphan0
Contact them daily until they have paid.
If they do not answer your phone calls, then show up at the office.
Or, if you have a contract, consult an attorney.
I had a client that gave me the feeling that they were going to stiff me. They ignored phone calls and emails, until they got a letter and a few phone calls from my attorney. Then they paid in full.
I was disappointed it had come to that point, but it was worth the cost.
- And document every attempted contact.luckyorphan
- wow, so in the end you still came out a loser? our justice system sounds like a failure or do lawyers just make it fail?********
- elmntl0
just upload a splash page saying "This website is down because they did not paid to the company who designed the site, please be very careful doing business with this company"
- mg330
An LOLCube for a splash page should sufficiently confuse them!
- noneck0
I have access to the site now, but it's on the client's server. By the time a payment dispute arises I probably won't have access to it anymore.
@airey. You're probably right. I'm not actually in a payment dispute with my client so mustache-twisting schemes—like a hidden script to break the site—are a little much. Thanks for your input!
- johndiggity0
take them to court.
http://epilogue8.blogspot.com/
- kona0
Can you put a large watermark over the site until payment is received? Put it up now as a subtle reminder that they need to pay b4 the site goes live. (or 30 days after, however you worked it out in your contract)