Website for Deadbeat Client
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- 32 Responses
- cannonball19780
I don't really cotton to the "just play nice when they don't pay you" attitude. They didn't pay you. They aren't playing nice. Time to take the kid gloves off one finger at a time.
- mg330
Redirect the site to www.zombo.com
- Remixt0
For a fee I can pay 'em a little visit...
- whatsup0
Careful, since they know you have backend control, they can just take the source from all the pages and use them as static pages til they find someone else who can put it back into the CMS
- Yeah, clients are really good at this and it happens all the time.monospaced
- ETM0
Do you think they would be more willing to accept a payment plan? Maybe break it up into2 or 3 installments? I don't recall you saying if it was simply lack of money or only the delay they blame you for holding it up. If its only the delay, that's petty. I find most clients forget all the delays once something goes live and they are happy with it.
- noob123450
Don't do anymore work for this client either. If you have a hard time getting paid now, it's never going to get any easier.
- noob123450
You do work, they give you money. If they don't pay for the work, they don't get to use it. Take the site down and put up a placeholder until they pay up.
- formed0
People need to be very careful about this stuff. Sucks not to be paid, but we are in an unprecedented time.
Piss someone off, they'll most likely just scrap you, not pay and find someone else. Then they'll also be like "oh, yeah, that guy stabbed us in the back, don't ever work with him".
Your goal - get your money, keep people happy for the future (the "oh, he was very understanding and we appreciate it, great guy to work with, highly recommended").
Just points to keep in mind. It seems simple, but people are hurting everywhere (I've got clients negotiating down, sucks, but better than not being paid at all).
I hope all this talk about scripts and code are jokes. I did hire someone years back that put in a script that gave him control of the site should he want it. Needless to say, we never worked with him again. That's just bad business.
- whatsup0
drop burning bags of poo at their door, and run!!!
- bulletfactory0
semi transparent javascript overlay - with a well-designed message box.
The message can state that this site is undergoing a debugging phase while account-related issues are being resolved.
- ETM0
- noneck0
Ha! I just realized that I never gave them the admin account fir the site (that's built on Wordpress). I only gave them an author account. I can "update" their site at any time if they refuse payment.
- 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)
- johndiggity0
take them to court.
http://epilogue8.blogspot.com/
- 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!
- mg330
An LOLCube for a splash page should sufficiently confuse them!
- 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"
- 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?whatsup
- whatsup0
There's also the Better Business Bureau.
- < Yes.luckyorphan
- and after that, then go beat them up and steal their wallet.whatsup