Removing a clients website for non-payment. Need advice.

[newconceptdesign]

I would also like to summarize few patterns with non-paying clients:

- Once they decided not to pay, for whatever reason, the response is always that they are not happy with the quality of work. Fortunately this is not something that can be used against developer especially if he/she has e-mail confirming intent to move forward.

- They will try to delay the payment asking to split it up or to pay later. NEVER agree to that as this is only trying to delay things. Set the date for payment and if this date is not met consult lawyer or collecting agency.

- They will find excuses and I am not surprised by the comment "I did not contact you due to sensitive nature of what he needs to say. I had very similar response. Again, this is only excuse allowing them to postpone things.

- They will fed you breadcrumbs: small payment, delaying payment, telling you that they don't have time but in a month or so they will so something about it. The only purpose of that is to delay things because non paying customer counts on that you will get tired about getting your money, move to another project and forget and finally things will be forgotten.

Never fall for any of the above. If you know you have done good job, don't be afraid to do anything to get paid for it - you deserve it.

[crackabottle]

It doesn't sound like you are going to get paid so i would walk away and write off the debt & leave it at that...

[datajam]

Don't Allow Yourself To Get Too Sucked Into this . . .

Advise the client in writing what his obligation to you is. Note any payment received. Mention that you have enjoyed working with him, but your services are not offered for free. Give him 30 days. If still unpaid, kill the site.

Retainers are nice.

[deepsand]

What I did, knowing that they controlled the server and could potentially lock me out after I had uploaded content to their site, was to write a secure script (Md5 login protected) with PHP that would recursively delete all files in their website. Then I backed up their website, uploaded all files, and added the script into the mix.

I don't know if this was legal, but I do know that if they choose not to pay me and lock me out instead, I could still take (reversible) action.

Assuming that this is in the US, you're not even close to being "legal."

If the server is used for interstate commerce, then simply activating such a backdoor is, at the least, a violation of Title 18 U.S.C. Section 1030, which prohibits intentionally accessing a computer without authorization or exceeding authorized access.

__________________

[iany]

It might have been more judicious to add a new index page that has one line of text:
"This account is currently unavailable."

Not illegal and does work remarkably well.

Best

Ian

[deepsand]

It might have been more judicious to add a new index page that has one line of text:
"This account is currently unavailable."

Not illegal and does work remarkably well.

Whether or not such is "not illegal" is dependent on both the contract in question and the legal jurisdiction(s) involved.

__________________

[overithelp]

I just redirect their site : overithelp.com/sorry

[CraigAllen]

I just redirect their site : overithelp.com/sorry

Love it! Gonna use it! Well, not that exactly, of course, but to my own similar page. Thanks for the laugh and yet practical idea.

By the way, to update, the client did eventually pay "under duress." But just a couple of weeks ago his domain was up for renewal and he couldn't seem to log into his registrar's control panel because he claimed the password I had originally provided for him didn't work. On the day it was supposed to expire, he emailed me a very harshly worded message threatening to sue me if his site goes down "for even one minute."

Well, I logged in fine, to see that he had just renewed. So I emailed him back telling him that since he obviously got in, his threats were moot. (I only hope he didn't think his email had anything to do with him finally getting in.) I also told him to change his password because I don't want to have any access to anything he has, don't want to be considered liable if anything gets mucked up.

He has never yet replied.