Topic awaiting preservation: Never forget to pay your web designer... (Page 1 of 1)

You never know, he may go off and do stuff like this:

http://www.euphoriadreams.com/

lol nice

-=BmF=- Clan

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Haha whoa.

I do hope he gets the money, after all, he worked for it.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." -- Arthur C. Clarke
"Any sufficiently arcane magic is indistinguishable from technology." -- P. David Lebling

Man, that is funny!

That's a good way to take a revenge, and a brilliant counter-example of the precept saying that once a contract is over you must let all the hosting and domain name registration stuff in the hands of the client.

I like the colour scheme... it really pops!

I always wondered what I would do if it came to that. In September, I found out.

Although I entertained the fantasy of doing something like that, or of disabling the domain entirely (it's on my server), I decided on the traditional route instead.

Two days after the collection agency called, I had payment in hand. Cost me next to nothing (given that I redesigned collection agency's site) and it preserved the relationship with the client.

Last week the formerly delinquent client asked me to take over all routine maintenance and updates. The first thing they said was, "We know you like to be paid on time. That won't be a problem." Just had to teach 'em respect.

wouldn't they have to pay the costs for the collection agency?

No. The collection agent is paid by the person looking to get paid.

I'd never use collection agencies, having been on the wrong end of them before (not my fault, there was a billing dispute between myself and an ISP, they tried to bill me 4 times in one month). A number of them employ some very dirty and unethical tactics, and I for one would never want to expose anyone too them... well... maybe a couple of people I might want to. Regardless though, I also wouldn't take that particular web developer's path... defacing the client's site becuase they haven't paid you is just not cricket. Word like that tends to get around ,and it doesn't usually earn you respect. You would more likely end up with a reputation for dealing with things in a childish and unprofessional manner, and that's not good for business.


Justice 4 Pat Richard

Skaarji -

I agree with ya on both accounts. One memory that sticks out in my mind was a short period of time when my parents were going through some financial troubles. My dad's company was sued by a former employee and for a few months money was real tight. I guess at one point my parents hadn't paid a bill and a collection agency was used. My parents didn't want to answer the phones so they would ask my sisters and myself to answer them and find out who was calling. One particular day when my mother was out a collection agency called. Assuming the excuse was fake, when I asked to take a message I was told that the caller was her doctor and she was terribly ill and it was important that I put her one the phone. Whether they knew it or not, my mother's health had been poor at the time and we had doctors calling fairly often. Needless to say it got me and my younger sisters very worked up. Fortunately my parents explained to us that my mother was fine and it was just someone looking for money. There are far better ways to be paid then through collection agencies.

This guy's response is pretty silly too. The best course of action (IMO) in this situation is to take the person to court, get your money, and forgo all business relations. I imagine the owner of euphoriadreams.com has plenty of legal options after the designers' actions. Also, as you've said being unprofessional is not good for business - particularly in a field were many clients are found through word of mouth.

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The collection agent is paid by the person looking to get paid.

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True, unless you have a signed contract which states collection fees are to be paid by the deliquent client. (That's the law in New York State anyway. YMMV.) My old contract didn't say that. My new one does.

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A number of them employ some very dirty and unethical tactics, and I for one would never want to expose anyone too them...

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Also true, but tarring an entire industry with the same brush is just not cricket either. I looked at boilerroom operations that, while very, very cheap, seemed like they'd be... erm... less than diplomatic. In the end I chose a local agency with a good reputation among small business and whose office was just a 10-minute walk from my apartment. I visited them, listened to their advice, gulped as I signed away 35% on contingency and left with a new customer. That I also preserved the relationship with the delinquent client, and in fact enhanced it, clearly demonstrates that you get what you pay for.

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The best course of action (IMO) in this situation is to take the person to court, get your money, and forgo all business relations.

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Naturally that's your choice to make. My experience is that the moment you drag lawyers and courts into any picture, time and expense skyrocket. I had payment in-hand within two days. When was the last time you heard of a lawyer doing anying in less than a week? And I never had to dust off my suit and sit around a courtroom for half a day!

I've seen less childish things done by five-year-olds with ADD.

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Ozone Asylum KILLED my inner child.

This is a very interesting one isnt it. I would say that in this case, there probably wasnt a written contract, just a friend of a friend type of connection, while obviously there had to have been some sort of contract ("I'll do your website for $1800" "ok, thanks"), it is most certainly unprofessional to seek payment in this manner. But, the real question that should be considered by developers is the what if it happened to me?

Personally, I take a 15% refundable payment before work commences, and then based on the project time frame, take 50% of the weeks/fortnight/months worth of credit due to me after a progress meeting, which of course is not refundable. At the end of the contract I use an activation link sent via email to open the site to the public, which is sent after recieving full payment.

Basically, I knew right from the start that someone could pull my pants down, and I wasnt going to work for free, or end up in court...

If you choose to go on good faith, eventually you too will be put in a position where you have to decide between the undesireable options of debt collection.

Cheers,
Henry

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If you choose to go on good faith, eventually you too will be put in a position where you have to decide between the undesireable options of debt collection.

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Amen.

LOL!!!

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that designer has huge cahones- good idea- I will not forget if I need to collect. wow- good stuff man. ha ha.