I did my friend a favour by dropping the cost of a custom made template plus first months worth of seo, pus found someone to put his company logo together at low cost. I spoke to him before hand and agreed the rate now that the job is near completion he has decided he cant afford it. I havent taken money up front on this as I was trying to do this as a favour and i know its a small start up company. He contact us back saying the template is not quite what he wanted but my chap used his spec to put the template together.


What would you suggest at this moment in time I am tempted to scrape blast his company name over the internet with negative comments.

Just shows you never do business with "friends" (and you might include family to that). Did you have any written agreement?

Seconding don't do business with friends, I learned that the hard way myself. The best thing to do is to chalk it up to experience, cut off the SEO efforts and inform your friend in a nice but firm way that he will have to pay if he wants results.

Showing him/her examples of what he would be quoted elsewhere for the job might wake them up to the value you offer. Since they can't afford it you will have to either wait it out until they can or just move on(best option). That and always ask for a deposit up front before you start any work, especially if you have to pay out of your own pocket i.e the outsourced graphics work.

Never loan money or do business with friends. Unless you want to lose them.

I would count it as a lesson and move on. I would probably tell him that he has not only wasted your money but also your time and you cant help him for free.

I have learned the hard way to not do anything for free. Money Talks......

Agree with all of the above comments and I have been doing this for over 30 years ... just blow it off and nail his wife or girlfriend for revenge.

JQ

Revenge is not the best way to solve the problem, but if it will make you feel better.... ))

Yes, never, ever, under any circumstance, do business with friends. I'm 13k down for trying that with two, count em, two friends- both who were good guys but both who were corrupted my money. Money can turn even the most well meaning person into the devil and so can "seeking revenge." So just let it go and consider it an expensive lesson.

if he/she isnt paying and hasnt got access to the theme etc, just pull it off so he cant use and find some other use for it for another job? you'll lose out a bit on the logo and time you spent doing it but you will just have to swallow that and move on to the next job.

Call it a lesson learned and try not to let it eat you up. Now you know what kind of friend he really was. One thing though is that if he has not paid you for your work I would not let him use any of it. No pay no play as they say.

You really need to be careful when dealing with friends and family. While I do sometimes do work for friends and family and usually cut them a price deal, they always follow the same pay rules as everyone else. I am also a bit more careful about spelling out exactly what the expectations are for everyone involved.

Originally Posted by mattbowden

I did my friend a favour by dropping the cost of a custom made template plus first months worth of seo, pus found someone to put his company logo together at low cost. I spoke to him before hand and agreed the rate now that the job is near completion he has decided he cant afford it. I havent taken money up front on this as I was trying to do this as a favour and i know its a small start up company. He contact us back saying the template is not quite what he wanted but my chap used his spec to put the template together.


What would you suggest at this moment in time I am tempted to scrape blast his company name over the internet with negative comments.

He just doesn't like your work and never had the money to pay to begin with.

Just forget about it and do work only for clients that actually want your work.