Where abouts would I go in order to post a warning out to all design / hosting companies about a client that is known for jumping ship?

This forum would be great, but is the lounge the proper place to do this?

Name: Dennis Hill
Website: www.pregamepicks.com

He currently owes me $4050 and another design company just called me... he just left them and owes $2500.

Post it right here :D

The proper place, I guess, would either be the Web Hosting Forum or the Technical & Security Issues forum. The lounge is generally more for general intrest and amusement topics.

there was a thread about this a month ago I think.... never hurts to repost it tho. :)

Yeah, was me a month ago :) Just want to make sure everyone sees the name cause I here he's in the hunt.

Sorry to hear that you got left with money still owed. I hope you had him sign some kind of contract. I ALWAYS get the money up front for any design work, or at least enough of it that I would be fine if I didn't get anymore. Roughly 80%. Then I figure if I get the last 20%, that's a bonus.

Yeah, live and learn :) Couldn't care about the money anymore. Just don't want it to happen to anyone else.

Jeff

There are proper channels to go through to solve this situation.

Contact the other company that he ripped off and see what you can do about putting together a joint lawsuit, or having him send you an affadavit (via registered mail) stating just what you've posted.

If this person has made a habit off of ripping off designers, it would be wise to pursue him in both civil and criminal arenas. The FBI Fraud office will take anything over $5,000 (you + the other designer > $5,000).

Additionally, send a report to his state attorney general outlining the claim.

To collect your money, go down to your local courthouse and file a small claims lawsuit, including the claims processed to the state attorney general and FBI fraud office). They will assign a court date. Contact the county courthouse where he lives and arrange to have a law enforcement officer or constable serve him with the lawsuit. You show up in court, he does not, you win by default.

Then, you pay $40-$50 to have his local county office serve him with the outcome of the trial. In most cases, his assets will be frozen (he can't buy/sell a home, car, etc.) until his debt is paid.

Simple as that, and include the court costs and costs to serve with your case.

(We're having to do this right now, so take my word for it. :) )

Also, it helps if you are both 18+.



EDIT: Just noticed you are in Canada. The same, or similar, should apply but will need to be adapted to your court systems, obviously.

Small claims court < $5,000

Honestly, I'm just interested in getting my $4050. I think doing a combined lawsuit would be to sticky of a situation.

Here's the thing. I have no signed contract. I got scammed good.

Maybe I'll call a lawyer tomorrow... damn you guys... I was just starting to forget about this :D

Jeff

Why open a new thread if you don't reveal the name?

Name: Dennis Hill
Website: www.pregamepicks.com

- As stated in my first post.

Originally posted by Mekhu
Honestly, I'm just interested in getting my $4050. I think doing a combined lawsuit would be to sticky of a situation.

Here's the thing. I have no signed contract. I got scammed good.

Maybe I'll call a lawyer tomorrow... damn you guys... I was just starting to forget about this :D

Jeff


You don't need to combine the lawsuits. You should do it on your own with an affadavit from the other designer, and let him file a suit of his own. I was referencing that you should combine your reports to your government fraud agencies. This will show them that the person scammed you with intent, as they have done it to multiple designers. Showing intent to defraud is one of the first steps in prosecuting someone for such activity and will ultimately be required in order to see them get prosecuted for their criminal activity.

I don't know how Canada handles separation between the provinces, but if you have a federal agency and a location-specific agency, I would report it to both and let them coordinate on who takes the case.

Furthermore, Whether or not you have a signed contract, if you can prove that the work was delivered but you never received compensation, you still have a solid case albeit a weaker one.

Don't let con artists get away with nothing more than a derogatory post on WHT and a "I'll chalk it up to experience". I get pretty annoyed seeing the "chalk it up to experience" posts made around here when someone has been ripped off. All you're doing is allowing a thief to believe that they are capable of repeating the same acts, and losing out on what is rightfully your's ($4000+).

Sue him, report him to the criminal agencies, and watch him burn. If you lose, you're out all of $100 and from the sounds of things; you likely won't lose.

We also report credit card fraud purchases to FBI. Sometimes it works but ... do you guys know where else we can report credit card fraudulent purchases that we detect? Something more open to public ... cause we have it all you know, timestamps, IPs, names, e-mail addresses of the "bad" guys. And we do not really know whether the FBI took care of the guys or not .. but a more public exposure would be great I think....

SO where do I post that info - list of IPs, e-mails that make fraudulet purchases with stolen credit card numbers?

thank you in advance

Pay-Line guys

I sympathize with your situation. However....

For at least the 1,000th time, I caution you and all others who are selling services....don't provide services without pay. Simple. Don't. Ever. Get a retainer up front. Collect in progress. Don't deliver until paid completely.

Second warning...don't ever do a project this size without a contract.

There are too many great designers and artists getting hurt because you don't conduct your business as you need to. Learn to do so...then stick to it. The customer who won't agree to reasonable terms is one you don't want. This isn't just for web and online businesses. I have consulted years in other areas, but never without a retainer and advance payment. You can't take a service back. I have never lost the amount of money you are talking about to a client. Why? I have never let one owe me that much. I can't afford to do work without getting paid for it. Neither can you.

You can post about this person, but there are hundreds more just like him. I am very sorry that this happened to you, but please..please...please learn (and others learn too), so it never happens again.

^ Agreed, but the saving grace here is that the guy contracted Mekhu with the intent of ripping him off, as is shown by the other designer calling and noting that he was also ripped off.

Regardless of contract, that's still fraud. The FBI fraud office will pick it up, as the total amount of money defrauded is > $5,000.

Originally posted by Pay-Line.com
We also report credit card fraud purchases to FBI. Sometimes it works but ... do you guys know where else we can report credit card fraudulent purchases that we detect? Something more open to public ... cause we have it all you know, timestamps, IPs, names, e-mail addresses of the "bad" guys. And we do not really know whether the FBI took care of the guys or not .. but a more public exposure would be great I think....

SO where do I post that info - list of IPs, e-mails that make fraudulet purchases with stolen credit card numbers?

thank you in advance

Pay-Line guys

you are from payment processing company and don't know where to submit this information !

are you kidding me :rolleyes:

^ Good call.

whatever happened to the 50% down and 50% later process ! :(

Originally posted by X-Max
you are from payment processing company and don't know where to submit this information !

are you kidding me :rolleyes:

that's what came straight to mind when i read the post

jees, next we'll have an HSBC rep in here asking us how to open the safe!! :stickout:

I think you may misunderstand, George (As I know him)
does not have perfect English, mainly because of where
he works and who he works with. But I see why you say
that, however I think what he means is that while he
reports it to the required places, that he has no way
of knowing if they did anything about it. So, he was
asking you guys (Who are "full of helpful information")
if you knew of a place where he could report this
information other than to the standard list of places
(Visa etc.). Myself? I can not think of anywhere other
than Visa, Mastercard or the other credit company. And
besides... he just asked a question and you guys toke
a swing at him... he may or may not be new, but he asked
here because it looked like a good place to ask, would
you rather they not make anything public and work behind
your back? This is a web hosting/ecommerce forum, so
what's so wrong about asking a question? If I were to
ask what Linux distribution you think I should use on
my servers, would you make a public post saying that I
know nothing and can't pick a Linux distro? My point is
that it was just a question, and I see no need to verbally
attack his company for asking a question. Even if it was
for help, cause he didn't honestly have 2 cents, how
would you feel if you asked for help and then everyone
pointed at you and said you didn't know what you were
doing? I am sure this will turn back on me into a
"You should know what your doing before you do it" thread,
but my main point is you guys all just bashed his company
cause he asked a question, what does that say? I don't
think you would say "subway is clueless" cause they asked
customers what type of meat & cheese they link on thier
subs :) why should you?