How to deal with a client who doesn't pay for the provided development services?

jeremonster said:
Get a lawyer, file a civil claim for the work completed. The lawyer can try to reclaim the domain name and possibly other web property as damages. Don't forget the ten moths of interest payments and service charges. Obtaining the domain through a court judgement would be the ultimate punch in the face and very realistic. You can also promote court cases and no one wants their name thrown around online like that.
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This.

Is everybody here a child? Sometimes clients don't pay on time, no need to have a tantrum and start throwing all of your toys out of the pram. Negative SEO and complaints on blogs? Jesus.

They have civil courts for a reason, send him a registered mail letter about your intended actions and offer him an opportunity to make payments.

Shutting down services, posting pop-ups etc will just get you in trouble further down the road and increase animosity and hostility on both sides.
 
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Sep77. said:
Or maybe the best way to deal with it would be to find a Saul Goodman.
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I know a guy that knows a guy.

With regards to posting a blog online, I was screwed over by a car company, something which the civil court doesn't give a damn about. I posted about it on HubPages and surprise surprise a lot of people commented on the Hub saying they had a similar issue with them.

If someone goes back on their word even if work has been done or money has changed hands and you've given them more than their fair amount of chances then I've got no objection to naming and shaming them.
I wouldn't go down the neg SEO route but as long as it gets the word out there that they're not reputable then it serves them right.
 
I have had a similar experience , 10 months is a long time and since he is still running script , he is probably making profits out of it ..

When i had a similar issue , i gave the guy 3 chances (in a period of 4 months) and after that i just threw the popups on his webpages (some people need a reason to pay up , else they will just take you for-granted )..
 
YourMoneyButton said:
This.

Is everybody here a child? Sometimes clients don't pay on time, no need to have a tantrum and start throwing all of your toys out of the pram. Negative SEO and complaints on blogs? Jesus.

They have civil courts for a reason, send him a registered mail letter about your intended actions and offer him an opportunity to make payments.

Shutting down services, posting pop-ups etc will just get you in trouble further down the road and increase animosity and hostility on both sides.
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Its been 10 months , which is like light years when it comes to web , so i don't think anyone is throwing tantrums , but you might be right about legal issues if OP knows the client in person and client can sue OP or whatever..
 
I'd simply go to a lawyer if you don't have one. Legal backup should be one of the main concerns when running a private company or acting as a sole trader.

Nobody will give you better advice than a lawyer (yes, judges etc... you get my point)
 
Personally, I'd have a solicitor compose a letter stating that the account is overdue by [months] and unless he contacts you within [X] days to arrange payment the services will be withdrawn as no longer required as original contract stated 'To be paid in full by [date]'.

The above is probably a ham fisted way of putting things but your solicitor would word it correctly.

He's not paid for it, obviously doesn't want the service any longer.
 
Ok so this is a common problem and there are actually quite a few ways to solve it.

1. Breach of Contract

Take a close look at your contract and if there are any places where it says they are in breach, then simply delete the app from whatever server you have access to (after making a backup, of course). Being in breach should mean (according to your contract, make sure) that you provided your end of the deal and they didn't provide theirs. There is nothing wrong with you sticking to it. If they want to sue you (and they might), you have proof that you did nothing wrong and that they did, so what are you worried about?

2. Call them

If you have worked with them, you should have their phone number. Just call them during their business hours and demand payment. For some reason people find this intimidating. They owe you money, get on their asses and get the money! Do this after you've taken down the app, of course.

3. Redirect the users

This is blackhat and probably not recommended, but if you have access to the app, just start skimming traffic from it. If you know everything about the app then you know the market and what the end result is supposed to be, so direct the users to your own server with your own version of the app that checks them out through your gateway, or whatever you decide to do with the traffic. The point is, traffic.


Of course I wouldn't go with #3 unless you really know what you're doing, but it IS an option..
 
Tensegrity said:
Ok so this is a common problem and there are actually quite a few ways to solve it.

1. Breach of Contract

Take a close look at your contract and if there are any places where it says they are in breach, then simply delete the app from whatever server you have access to (after making a backup, of course). Being in breach should mean (according to your contract, make sure) that you provided your end of the deal and they didn't provide theirs. There is nothing wrong with you sticking to it. If they want to sue you (and they might), you have proof that you did nothing wrong and that they did, so what are you worried about?

2. Call them

If you have worked with them, you should have their phone number. Just call them during their business hours and demand payment. For some reason people find this intimidating. They owe you money, get on their asses and get the money! Do this after you've taken down the app, of course.

3. Redirect the users

This is blackhat and probably not recommended, but if you have access to the app, just start skimming traffic from it. If you know everything about the app then you know the market and what the end result is supposed to be, so direct the users to your own server with your own version of the app that checks them out through your gateway, or whatever you decide to do with the traffic. The point is, traffic.


Of course I wouldn't go with #3 unless you really know what you're doing, but it IS an option..
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#3 is illegal and punishable both criminally and civilly.

You'll get dragged into court with MUCH bigger problems than a simple breach of contract.
 
Sep77. said:
Hello guys,

last summer my development team and I were hired by a company from San Francisco. We have finished our job according to the deal with client, however - as of today, the client still hasn't paid the whole amount. It's about 10 months today.

My patience was already couple times over, but this time definitely over. We're sort of reconciled that we'll never see the money, however, the application we have developed is still in use by the client (it's running on Amazon AWS servers).

I am considering now what we can do. One thing is to shut the service down, the second is to put there a popup window that would show up every few seconds with the information that the client hasn't paid for that long time period (the goal here is to make the client shy).

The question is, whether this is legal. I've read some opinions that in the moment when client hasn't fulfil our agreement, then he broke it. Which sort of makes sense. The application is running on AWS, can he contact AWS support to do something with the application or to take it down?

Or, what would you do now?

EDIT: We have access to Amazon AWS, Facebook and Twitter page of this application.
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Basically any action you take that can be "proved" to interrupt business or cause harm is liability city. Project billing can be tricky, you get a deposit to start, payments while working, and then the agreed final payment. If your app needs maintenance, or needed upgrades, you might have some leverage.
 
post all their personal identifiable information that you have on your client and post it online with a rude warning.
 
YourMoneyButton said:
#3 is illegal and punishable both criminally and civilly.

You'll get dragged into court with MUCH bigger problems than a simple breach of contract.
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Since I don't recommend it, I'm not going to pretend I know exactly what law would be broken, so it'd be helpful if you provided details to support your assertion.

b1step-ahead said:
Basically any action you take that can be "proved" to interrupt business or cause harm is liability city. Project billing can be tricky, you get a deposit to start, payments while working, and then the agreed final payment. If your app needs maintenance, or needed upgrades, you might have some leverage.
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Any argument the client has is moot if they haven't paid. You can't walk into a store, grab a loaf of bread and leave and then take the store to court when the store finds you and takes the bread back. I mean, you CAN, but you won't win and the judge will probably laugh at you. Obviously in this case it's more like you asked if you could pay for half the bread now and half later, then never pay later, and it complicates the matter, especially if you already ate the whole loaf of bread. Thing is, this isn't bread, it's more like a bread pan that the store designed. Now the store can't take it back cuz it's half paid for, but they can definitely sue you for not making good on your debt.

So..... Why doesn't the OP just threaten to sue the client? That is perfectly legitimate, and a good idea if you don't plan on doing business with them again. You can even ask for them to pay for the cost of having to take them to court. I'd be surprised if a lawyer didn't take this case, seems like a cut and dry breach of contract case.
 
I would hire a debt collection agency.

You wont get all the original funds (half will pay the collectors) but since many work on commision you wont lose anything and they'll be highly motivated to chase that deadbeat client.
 
Maybe it would cost too much to take them to court. If the court fees outweigh the actual money owed its a pyrrhic victory imo
 
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