At the beginning of February I hired Safaa Reda, owner of safaaworks.com to do work on a new design along with me for my company. I was very pleased with his work and how he worked along with me. He completed the design, and I paid via 2CO the complete payment by VISA, and he then sent me a password protected RAR with the design and agreement. stating:

What you can do:
================
1. You can modify the template source and images freely.
2. You can resell the template for one person only.
3. You can use the template only on one domain and/or project.

Rights Management:
==================
1. You, as the buyer, reserves full ownership rights / resale rights.
2. The original template must remain in our portfolio. e.g. we don't remove the original files from our PC.
3. Removing a template from our public portfolio is $25 per template. You must ask for it after you purchase.
4. Templates are SOLD only once. You are the only owner. e.g. one owner per template only is allowed.

So everything was good, until on the 16th, Safaa emailed me saying that they decided to switch payment processors and that they have refunded my money and wish for me to repay at another link.

I thought it was kind of odd but I had no problem with it. I replied to the email stating that I would repay the money as SOON as I saw the refund appear on my credit card.

He then sent another email asking again that I repay on the 17th.

In the email it contained this text:
PLEASE NOTE that your template is still in your property.

He replied the same day stating that 2CO sent us proof of a full refund. He said it may take some time to appear on my credit card,
then He told me
If you don't trust us, a better action to delete our design and break
any potential relationship with us.

On the other behalf, we will put this design on sale If you decided so.

I think that doesn't harm any party.

I replied stating that 2CO didnt send me any refund email, but it may have been filtered as spam. I told him I have no problem repaying as soon as I see the credit appear on my card.

He then replied saying that he will wait.
Then on the 18th, he wrote this email:
This is a notification of order cancellation between you & us.
The refund is right in its way. (Contact 2CO for proof)
You may not reserve any right to use the template after this e-mail.

Then exactly five minutes later he wrote this email:

A reminder that all property and templates must be deleted from you
PC/website as soon as possible.

This is a normal response to non-payment. Please understand that we
discontinue our business from this forum. (Where they block user
accounts without notice and without a reaso, just for a cause of being
active)

That's a final decision, the templates are on sale from now on.

We hope that you understand the stupid behaviors of leaders of that
forum called "WebHostingTalk".

A few hours later he emailed this:
The design seems to occur on your website yet. Please delete it right
away.

I replied telling him I know nothing of his issues with WHT and that often it takes a few days for credits to appear on my account. I assured him I would repay him.

He then replied with this:


Jonathan. You didn't understand my situation in the last reply.
The forum called webhostingtalk has disabled my account for no reason,
until now their helpdesk didn't give me one useful reason for ban.

I thought you'd want to cut this relation off. I don't know you're
still interested. Ok, like you say Jon. I'm patient. but I just wanted
to clear this whole thing.

He then wrote another email asking me to contact 2CO to confirm the refund.
I did...and no reply from 2CO
He wrote another email telling me everything is ok and that yes 2CO is slow in replying to their emails, that is why he chose to not use them as his payment processor.

then on the 20th he emailed me again saying:
I'm glad to announce to you that we worked out things with 2CO. And
they satisfied us.

Yet, you won't view a refund, the template remains yours. No
cancellation will be reversed. :)

Ok Jon, sorry for any hassle that caused you. But things are solved.
One thing I ask you to make (If possible) send a ticket to 2CO
to "Reverse cancellation of my order # ...." because your recent ticket
would let them think we've ripped our customers. :)

I told him I would even though 2CO never replied yet to my first support request. I recontacted them.

then on the 22nd He emailed me again saying there was a mixup and my payment was refunded to me, then in another email asked me to check with my bank for the refund.
The refund finally showed up on my account and I told him I was more than happy to repay the money.

We worked out the details and he sent me an Ikobo payment link. I attempted to pay ~ 5 times and it kept telling me I had an invalid state (even though I selected Canada and entered both NS and then tried Nova Scotia as my province). finally I decided to enter Maine and USA and an american zip, and I notified safaa of my correct details and the problem. Payment still would not go through with an error on the other end.
I have now tried about 25 times to pay with Ikobo and I know my VISA is right and everything else and it has failed.

Today he wrote me these two emails:
Hello Jon,
Where I am, I'm able to accept payment from you through iKobo for a 3rd
party payment processor as I rejected 2checkout. This is the only 3rd party
processor I can accept. If you're unable to do so, I'll find no other choice
but recover the design work which has sent to you.

I'm sorry, when I sent to you the payment link, I was more than 100% sure
that iKobo accepts VISA cards from every country. So rejecting your card on
iKobo is something at your end. There's a live chat and phone If you wish to
get assistance on why your card is declined. But I'm again sure that every
VISA card must be accepted through them unless you give them "unaccurate
info"

Your quick response is needed in this matter,

Please reply asap, If you're unable to fulfill payment, please send to me
the original RAR file with associated private number within 24hours . This
is for non-payment term.


and I haven't received a response from you and therefore we would like a copy of
the original work to be sent to us @ safaareda@gmail.com Don't forget to
include the password.

PLEASE NOTE THAT our work is copyrighted legally and using our design on
YOUR COMPANY WEBSITE can subject your company to high fees in which legal
case we would take on our side.

Please send the RAR file and your serial number included.


I replied telling him I have the legal rights to it as stated in the Agreement and that I am still attempting payment (it failed, however). I told him that it was absurd to bring up a legal case as $60 wouldnt even pay for any lawyers time. I told him I regret referring customers to him and that I will never do business with him again, and that I will still do my best efforts to repay him.

What should I do? I am awaiting his reply.

Canadian charges will fail most AVS, I know we have had problems in the past.

What about mailing him a check? At this point, any professional should be able to manage their payment process. Only taking one payment type is a problem he needs to deal with not you. I know we directly process Visa, MC, and also take Paypal and checks just for this reason.

Also, you have documented a very very unprofessional behavior on his behalf. Regardless of his work, his attitude is that of a teenager that has no business in business.

If it is necessary I will send a check. He lives in a foreign nation so Im not so sure what his address is.

His website is down right now....and also I dont know if all foreign banks would accept my check..

Go to your bank and have a certified check made in the amount you agreed to in the currency you have agreed to pay with.

Send this to him, his bank will convert it into his native currency for him and deposit it into his account.

After this, I wouldn't speak with him again regardless of what payment processing woes he trys to feed you. Just make _sure_ you get a valid address from him.

Also, make sure that you have the check made out to what he requests. Atleast in the US, if you get a business check and do not have a business account you can have problems cashing it. Want to take a running bet that he does not have a valid business banking account?

Just a side thought, we spend thousands of dollars on design and marketing services. I don't want to sound like too much of a jackass, but I guess you got what you payed for.

Next time, try to work with a professional organization. In a way, you sort of are asking for problems like this. He has a big problem if he cannot even bill his clients.

I won't even bother to pay that guy.

1. you already pay via 2CO. it's your desgin not his. take it to the court and the judge will rule in your favor.

2. he keep bombing you with harrass email. i'll totally get piss if some a-hole keep bombing me with no-sense. you already paid. it's his own problem for changing payment method. Do WalMart refund you and tell you hey, we're sorry but can you pay us with Zerba dollar since we just change our payment system. What kind of b.s. is that? try your new payment system with the next customer, Not the current customer WHO ALREADY PAID!

3. that guy is a a-hole. End of Stroy. Wanna go to Court? Bring it!

edit: i won't do anything extra for him with that kind of harrassing email and tone. you already paid and if he refund you that mean he got PAID! why do you go any extra step for a guy whom you ALREADY PAID!

lol I told him the name of a lawyer I am in contact with, and told him if he wants to pursue this legall to send me his lawyers details. I also told him its silly that he even pursue it legally as lawyers cost much more than what I paid him.

And Yes, I paid very little for the design. He did the job good so I dont complain, but as far as his service...I got what I paid for.
I understand that.

I am awaiting his reply, and then I will tell him that he has 30 days to find a sufficient method of online payment or I will not repay what he has refunded. He made the choice to refund. Its his fault.

Very unprofessional. Don't pay him :P.
But there are so many options:
Western Union
Paypal
MoneyOrder
Checks

I think he is trying to do something bad, He had your money once, why refund it just because he change to another company?

Strange...

I asked him if I could pay paypal and he refused...

Do anything you can to pay him (within a reasonable time, not 4 months later when he has yet another processor)

Otherwise, you are the sleeze ball not him. Next time, figure this out in advance. I can not believe anyone can run any business and have no idea who they can bill and believe it is their clients responsibility to use only one payment option. If you only have one processor, then you can only take some clients. Anything outside of that is his job to reconize.

Well I have tried what he asked LITERALLY over 30 times...
I told him I am still willing to work on figuring out payment.
It seems he wants me, the client to work on his schedule, demanding a reply within a certain small amount of undefined time and then 5 hours later without a reply is tells me I violate some term with him.

Usually the business should adapt to a clients personal schedule. I just happened to be away for 5 hours and he gets mad.

Is the url you have in your signature the design he made to you?

Yes, he made the basic layout while consulting me and I helped him on a few ideas...then I made all the other pages and edited his design a bit after he sent it to me.

It's nice design, sad he dosent know how to recieve payments :P

Try Western Union.

Ive never heard much of Western Union...are they good?

I was going to purchase a layout from Safaa then saw he was banned from WHT and he started getting very abusive when I wasn't online and said I wasted his time.. Even though there are time differences between me(Australia) and him.

I was going to purchase a layout from Safaa then saw he was banned from WHT and he started getting very abusive when I wasn't online and said I wasted his time.. Even though there are time differences between me(Australia) and him.

What do you mean he became abusive?
Where IS he from?
Why was he Banned?

Western Union will charge you about 25USD for sending him the money, he can go to a Western Union agency and pick up the money, you send the money to his name so he just need to show an ID :) They are really fast and good.

This guy is... a putz to say the least :s

You paid, it's YOUR design. If he refunds you on his own accord and asks you to resend payment via a different method, technically, he's agreed to refund your money and keep the design. If he refunds you of his own accord, It's a refund, and stays as such.

Also, as with any kind of design service, on payment, the designer automatically relinquishes his intellectual property rights to the content, and it is now your intellectual property. He has no claim on it at all.
That he even THINKS he has a right to it say a lot about his professionalism. He obviously hasn't done any research in copyright laws or anything of the like.

Pay him, if you want, but don't ever do business with him again. I suggest the same to everyone.

The design is decent - some color clashing but one thing that stands out is the laptop attempting to be a server. Now I know laptops are envious of servers and their brute force, but posing as one - ummmm. Just not right. lol

What laptop attempting to be a server?

He just sent me these two emails...


Jon, I didn't even bother to read your emails. The current case shows to me
that you MEAN TO NOT TO PAY . THE CUSTOMER IS REQUIRED TO PAY FOR ANY DESIGN
WORK.

I won't bother to read any of your lawyers advices. with total respect to
them, your reputation is set at ZERO. And dimensity will get its word down.
This is our way, If you didn't pay, I'll really have your company have hard
time. This is a direct threat, and I'm sorry that the industry has customers
like you. Who are just RIPPERS and nothing but RIPPERS.

This is my last warning to you. or Dimensity will be known for using a
stolen design with no payment.


And this one

Please send the original template to destination safaareda@g**il.com
Or you will be ruined for ripping our work. I warn you.

what should I do? Isnt that a threat?

I can't imagine that there are people like him, you are trying to pay, its not your fault, its his, He seems to be totally unprofessional, We are administrating servers and doing custom programming stuff, we faced few issues with payments, but we never do this.

Try stormpay.com with him ( Stormpay solved all our payment issues ).

He is so unprofessional, he act like a child... Why don't you tell him to give you options in sending him the money? like wire, checks, paypal, western union, stormpay, another CC processor.

And I think now it's not your obligation to pay him, because he give you back the money :P :)

Nobody has pointed out the blatently obvious so i will.. 60 dollars for a design, well thats amazingly cheap, espically considering professional design software costs thousands of dollars.

I would say you wont see his lawyers anytime soon, coz he has pirated versions of design software..

Lol! Yeah I'm sure of that also!! Don't pay him, tell him that if he wants to get his money he should enable a new payment process, else you wouldnt pay him, and tell him you don't care about his lawyers :P.

You will see how he enable a new payment system fast :P (I Hope)

I think the new issue on the table is more of "Should I give into his demands to prevent him from attempting to tarnish my company's reputation?" I doubt this guy has much clout and that he could hurt your company in anyway....It's not like he can post on WebhostingTalk about it etc....

What's sort of amusing to me is that the designer is now resorting to threats of tarnishing the host's image, when by posting the travails of this relationship here on WHT, the host has effectively beat him to the punch and tarnished the designer's reputation. :)

scotteNobody has pointed out the blatently obvious so i will.. 60 dollars for a design, well thats amazingly cheap, espically considering professional design software costs thousands of dollars.

I would say you wont see his lawyers anytime soon, coz he has pirated versions of design software..

Haha very true. 60 dollars is extremely cheap for a design, but I saw his portfolio, liked his work...and hey...what do I have to lose? besides a couple hours of time dealing with his payment problem :(

I am actually thinking of launching a site where people can report bad business practices of hosts, designers, or other online companies.
I just came up with the idea a couple days ago so any input would be great...or even anyone who is interested in working on the project with me as a partner or small group.

Hey johon, I'll gladly help you out with that project :)

Man, I love when people threaten me with horribly broken English :) Always brings a smile to my face ^--^

Anyhow, the man is being unreasonable. If you have proof of original payment, there's not a thing in the world he can do. You paid him once, you are under no legal obligation what-so-ever to pay him again. I wouldn't. I would have, before he sent me threats and stuff, but he's an immature, unprofessional whelp, and should be dealt with as such.

If oyu have money to burn, bring a law suit against him for lost profits and fraud :D Would straighten him up right quick :D

Originally posted by sirtwist
What's sort of amusing to me is that the designer is now resorting to threats of tarnishing the host's image, when by posting the travails of this relationship here on WHT, the host has effectively beat him to the punch and tarnished the designer's reputation. :)


That doesnt mean the designer still can't do some damage though...

johonbravo,

After seeing the hoops this guy is trying to get you to jump through, I would sever all relationships with him. I have a feeling that 2CO refunding you was not by his request. If he still had a business relationship with them, he could ask them to re-process the charge.

If it was me, since a refund has already been received, I would send him back his file and be done with it. Even if you do western union him the money, who is to say he claims to have not received it and still tries to tarnish your name by altering the facts of the matter.

You already got your $60 back (and I think you now understand the reason you should pay more for a designer). Send him his file and be done with it. Start fresh with a new designer from scratch so there is no possibilty this guy can come back saying you are still using his design. I have not even looked to see why he was banned...but just from the info you have posted in this thread, I would want to be rid of any and all ties with him.

I would send the design back, but I only paid for the rough design and I made every other page and heavily modified everything... I dont have the time to do it.

I think its absurd to bring up a law suit over 60$ unless I was rich enough do do it out of spite for him. ;)

Don't give him the design back....
OR send it back, and keep a copy XD

he doesn't desserve to be humored, no does he have a right for you to pay him, or for you to not use the design. If you altered the design enough, it's your Intellectual property anyway, and he has no claim to it no matter what.

That Is what I try to express to him.
He seems to take alot longer to reply to emails now that I took the offensive, and he cant back up any of his claims...

I asked him for his lawyers contact details and its been a day and he hasnt replied:)

hehe, I don't think he will.

In my personal openion just because one company, and I use that term loosely considering his actions, operates with a low moral standard shouldnt translate to you loosing your moral ground.

He did refund your money, for whatever reason, and he should be compensated for his work. Now if he refuses to work with you then that would be on his head not yours as you can only meet him half way...

Its scary to see people post comments such as "dont pay him" just because he is an abrasive person. When dealing with those types of people you just need to remeber that it is business not personal so dont take it as such. Maybe its just me being old fashion, but I would rather not sink to their level.

Just my $0.02....Take them as you want...

I agree with Haddy in several aspects,
Just to let everyone know,
My Current Position with Safaa is:
I will never do business again and will sever all relations with him.
I will not continually re-attempt billing the current way he has set up as it will not work.
I will pay him online if he provides a working payment link from a trusted gateway (EX paypal, 2CO, etc..).
I will not pay him via check/money order or wire.
I am willing to pay him within a reasonable time...no if he sends me a payment link in April 2006 I am not going to pay...its over a year later...but if he sends me a payment link within 2005 I will pay him.

Hi guys

I have also had a design of this guy and i was also told of the refund but he never asked me for repayment i was willing to repay once i got my card statement and could see the refund but i was sent the email below yesterday the guy is a pain and bad for business i have decided not to pay and will be useing another design dont do business with him


Hello,

I would like to tell you that a lawsuit will take place (Reason: you have got a refund and you didn't specify whether you're repaying for the design work or should you send us the whole work in the original RAR file which was sent to you). Remember, we have records that your bank received a refund so you obtain our work with no payment and we will take this to the maximum level of Law in U.S.

We have sent to you many notifications before, & we give you 48 hours to one of two actions and as fast as possible:
1. Send us the original product RAR file *(with your private number)
2. Ask us for a re-payment link.

Failure to receive a reply within 48hours, we will only talk to our lawyer and open a lawsuit for the cause of obtaining unauthorized property of our "copyrighted work and/or design" which will fall in much more damages than you expect.

This is our last notification to you,
Kindest Regards,
Safaa

Honestly, the issues with 2CO smell a lot like fraud... in that the designer has been pegged by 2CO for engaging in fraudulent practices and they have severed ties with him. Their response to protect themselves against his practices (whatever they are/were) was to refund all recent transactions.

So that sort of tips up my big red flag.

As for paying or not paying, I have seen similar issues with Canadian VISA cards. I also ran into the same issue with one issued in Israel. Obviously Paypal has worked out a way to make them work. We have made adjustments on our side in regards to fraud settings and fraud checks to accomodate these cards and not have them error out, but still have them fully fraud-checked. A third-party processor is by nature going to be looking at a higher percentage of fraudulent attempts going through their system (just by nature of their business model) so they are going to have more stringent settings on their accounts and what can charge through. So if your VISA doesn't support AVS (which is the most common problem with int'l cards in our experience) it will error out. However, I do not personally feel this is the client's problem. I feel this is a burden upon a vendor (host/designer/person collecting payment for something) to find a payment processor that can successfully process an international payment.

I'm not in a position to say what to do specifically about this guy/situation, just sharing my personal thoughts and reactions about what we've been told. :)

Cheers
:) Bailey

Well I make most of my payments via 2CO and Paypal and they both work.

Hostwired...what did you do about it?

I wouldn't worry about him suing. It will cost at least $100/hour to even talk to a layer.

Originally posted by johonbravo
What laptop attempting to be a server?

He just sent me these two emails...




And this one



what should I do? Isnt that a threat?

You already paid him. Hit delete on his mail and put something in place to block the next wave of harassment he will send you.

Originally posted by Haddy
Its scary to see people post comments such as "dont pay him" just because he is an abrasive person. When dealing with those types of people you just need to remeber that it is business not personal so dont take it as such. Maybe its just me being old fashion, but I would rather not sink to their level.

Just my $0.02....Take them as you want...

he already got paid with 2CO. if he is requesting payment via another method...like so many already said, your fraud radar should goes off like crazy.

he doesn't own this guy a penny, he got the work, he paid, the desginer refund for whatever reason and demand (sue) customer to pay by another method. that's a big No, No.

he should cut him lose and block his harrass email. if he still want to pay for the work, he should try some payment method that will clearly verified the safa got his money. otherwise, i won't send check, western union or money order because he can come back and still make the claim that he never got the money.

haahaha! That's not even a whole laptop XD It's only the touchpad part of a laptop XD
http://www.dimensity.net/packages.php

lol its a stock image... from istockphotos.com

looks interesting. To be honest I wasnt completely sure what it was:)

Do you think I should remove it?

I recommend to remove it and use a server or maybe a keyboard :P...

You agreed to the refund + re-pay using another method. That was your screw-up, so now it's your responsibility to pay him. Had it just been him refunding you without your agreement, then you wouldn't have any obligations to re-pay.

Originally posted by jt2377
he already got paid with 2CO. if he is requesting payment via another method...like so many already said, your fraud radar should goes off like crazy.

he doesn't own this guy a penny, he got the work, he paid, the desginer refund for whatever reason and demand (sue) customer to pay by another method. that's a big No, No.

he should cut him lose and block his harrass email. if he still want to pay for the work, he should try some payment method that will clearly verified the safa got his money. otherwise, i won't send check, western union or money order because he can come back and still make the claim that he never got the money. and? Just because he paid him once doesnt disolve the fact that the money was refunded and he agreed to repay him via another method. Why the money was refunded has nothing to do with the fact that money is now owed.

Im sure if people were in Safaa's shoes they would want to be paid too, even though they might handle the situation differently...

Originally posted by Haddy

Im sure if people were in Safaa's shoes they would want to be paid too, even though they might handle the situation differently...

i understand your point but to sue your customer rather be nice to work your customer to get money. (it was not customer's problem if you can't get money from 2CO or whatever, the fact that he refund the money show 2CO got the money. customer already paid according to his method. No store in the world will make you going extra hoop once the money have been process.)

i won't give that type of jerk any extra effort to send him money. he will probably comeback and clamin he never got pay.

anyway, if i pay him according to his orginal payment method and i did as his origninal request, that mean i paid, if he refund me the money and tell me to send the money another way, i'll laught and tell him to f'off but that just me. i don't jump extra hoop, since we already agree on how i'm getting the proudct and what the payment method is. if you tell me later, that this is not the way you want it then it's not my problem and i really hate that kind of jerk tone to force me do something that is not part of the deal.

Originally posted by jt2377
i understand your point but to sue your customer rather be nice to work your customer to get money. (it was not customer's problem if you can't get money from 2CO or whatever, the fact that he refund the money show 2CO got the money. customer already paid according to his method. No store in the world will make you going extra hoop once the money have been process.)

i won't give that type of jerk any extra effort to send him money. he will probably comeback and clamin he never got pay.

anyway, if i pay him according to his orginal payment method and i did as his origninal request, that mean i paid, if he refund me the money and tell me to send the money another way, i'll laught and tell him to f'off but that just me. i don't jump extra hoop, since we already agree on how i'm getting the proudct and what the payment method is. if you tell me later, that this is not the way you want it then it's not my problem and i really hate that kind of jerk tone to force me do something that is not part of the deal. Maybe I just have a different perspective having been on both sides of desk...Not everything always goes according to plans and both parties need to be willing to adapt to the situation. I am not saying that I agree with the methods used by Safaa and I do agree that he/she needs some serious help with their customer service and people skills..

Originally posted by Skeptical
You agreed to the refund + re-pay using another method. That was your screw-up, so now it's your responsibility to pay him. Had it just been him refunding you without your agreement, then you wouldn't have any obligations to re-pay.

He refunded the money, THEN told me he refunded it. I then of course out of generall "niceness" agreed, sure I can pay you again as soon as I see it was in fact refunded. This pissed him off but we finally agreed. Then his selection of payment processor did not work...
that is my problem. He wont give me a chance to pay that works. I will if he does.

He finally replied...

I'm pretty sure that we can fix this without having any legal firm involved.
But yet again, 2CO won't work with us anymore. You must consider this and
you must consider that this a problem at a third pirty which isn't our
fault.

that was taken from the email. For some reason, 2CO suspended him.

Originally posted by johonbravo
He finally replied...



that was taken from the email. For some reason, 2CO suspended him.

My best advice would be not to pay him, reply to his emails, or contact him. You paid him to start with...If 2CO reversed the payment or suspended him its of his own doing. You've upheld your end of the deal and acted in good faith by attempting to pay again. If hes in another country like It sounds I doubt any legal action would be brought. I think thats just a threat hes using to try to scare you....


edit: Also if he did bring legal action Im pretty sure you wouldn't have to worry about losing since you just need to argue the defense you acted in good faith by attempting to pay again and point out that the payment was reversed because of his doing not yours.

My recommendation:

Explain to him that you are willing to pay but that due to the issues surrounding his payment processors, you are only willing to pay via company check, cashier's check, or money order. If he does not agree, walk away. Remove his design from your site and wash your hands of the whole situation.

Regardless of whose fault the problem is, it doesn't do you any good to continue to drag it out, and regardless of whether it would be easy (or successful) of him to sue you if you kept the design without paying him, the ethical thing to do is to not use work that you have not paid for.

Explain to him that you are happy with the design and that you would like to pay him for his work, but the methods he has made available to you just do not work. If he wants to get paid, he needs to work with you to accept a form of payment you can provide. If he doesn't, he doesn't get paid and you don't get to keep the design.

My $0.02.

I dont want the hassle of a mail-in payment. I will tell him only if he can find a payment processor that I can trust. besides paypal and 2co.

there are many out there.
I will pay him if he finds a good way.

Originally posted by johonbravo
What do you mean he became abusive?
Where IS he from?
Why was he Banned?

After I wasn't online, he became abusive in an email, saying I wasted his time and he has better things to do. He is from America, I assume. He is banned from WHT and I don't know why, but I'm guessing something to do with Safaa.

He was probably banned from other payment processors also, that's why he can only use that one he suggested. Just tell him his money is waiting for him when he can find a useable cc processor. You already paid once, you obviously aren't trying to rip him off.

he is just worried if you will run away, or probably he is in debt and need to clear them asap

Well its been a while and he hasnt emailed me so whatever If he finds something trustworthy that works great..but im not going to go a distance to get him the money.


BTW.

Axe9 and I are starting on a venture to start a new website notifying the public of fraudsters and bad business practises.

We are in the beginning stages of setting it up, but if anyone wishes to help out on this project by either writing articles or in any other way please PM or email me.

The name of the website is the Bad Business Bereau.

Thanks alot
-Jon

Hey John,

I bought a template from him *from this thread* http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=374156 and have been going through the same thing with this guy. We have done about 13 emails back and forth and I kept telling this yo yo I have never recieved the funds back in my account. He literally said he had copies from my bank account stating they received it and I asked him to send me the copies which never showed... lol The nerve of this guy...!

Anyways, I mentioned everything to the Mod's here and I asked why he was banned and they sent a reply saying they couldn't release that info to me and I should beware of buying off the internet.

Needless to say I would have been happy like yourself to repay for what I received, as so long as I get a refund, but that was before I read the .txt file that was included and said I had no rights to the file besides to use it once and could never resell etc. Which was stated I would have Full Owner Rights in the original thread.

Hopefully I don't see my design spread all around by this bouffoon.

I have no idea why he does it...hes not making money and his designs are pretty good...

While I hate to rain on everybodys parade . . .

The simple matter is he has broken copyright law. The pictures on your website, while I agree are very nice and I Stock Photos are very good and at an affordable price they can not be used in templates that can be resold, it is in direct violation of there terms and agreement.

http://www.istockphoto.com/legal.php

A brief outline :
" You may not modify, publish, transmit, transfer or sell, reproduce, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, display, reverse engineer or in any way exploit any of the Content, in whole or in part, except as otherwise expressly permitted in this Membership Agreement and any other agreement entered into at the time such Content was downloaded (such as a Content License Agreement)."

The membership agreement allows you to use the photos for website design but declares that under no cirucumstances should the picture be used for templates that are to be resold.

He can not sell it as a template, he can only sell it as a customised design. Of course I may be wrong but that is what our team told us.

It does sound like a very interesting situation your in johonbravo. A designer who can't take payments . . . and blames you for only paying him once. It is a shame because the design is quite clear and crisp.

Ah well best of luck.