Had a client who owe payment for 2 years. Keep chasing her she said she has a lot of kids, no money. Keep giving her extra time, till she "disappear". She appear again when a domain going to expire, promise to send in the payment immediately. I waited for her payment, dun trust her enough to renew before I receive the payment. Payment never came.

Domain expired she emailed asking why it was down. Told her it was due to payment. She "disappear" again. Till I cant take it any more. I deleted all her accounts yesterday. Immediately she called 2mor, ordering my staff to get back her content and up her server.

She was scolding and ordering my staff repeatedly for an hour. My support staff refused. I took over and told her off. Told her go to the local police if she wants or else get lost and stop harassing us.

She called one last time saying reporting to police was too serious , she was reporting to the local Internet Authority and Consumer Association.

I can't believe there is such a client, you owe for 2 years, got cut finally and had the thick skin to demand her connection back and the guts to report to the authorities.

Don't they have any sense of shame?

yeah, remember, all it takes is 1 disgruntled customer to start spreading crap to destroy your good business name on webhostingtalk.com.

she would have another side that may or may not be close to the truth, but can damage you 10 fold.

I know that, but having been in this industry for 10 years. It does take more than rumours to bring down the reputation of our company. Just that I cant believe, instead of being grateful for the extra 2 years. She did what she did.

2 years? Give them seven days. No excuses, they can't afford it cancel them.

'Human beings are more emotional than rational'

I think you should not break your TOS even for yourself; it should be so strict for your business. You have already broken your TOS I think out of your emotions, hence such problem starts.

Your local Internet Authority and Consumer Association may ask you how you have connected her back without payment ?

You should prepare for that and you should also consult your local attorney.

Don't spend too much energy on this. My guess is it won't go anywhere. It's all threats and emotions.

The above statement is right on. You have to make business rules for payments for yourself and STICK to it. Don't break it for anyone. Stick to your TOS. If you do you'll avoid such problems.

I don't know the whole story as I haven't heard the other side so I will not comment on it but we all tend to bring emotions in business decisions at times and it's always the wrong thing to do.

Good luck.

Yes, kill her account and move on. Deadbeats are deadbeats.

Don't they have any sense of shame?Obviously they have absolutely none. This must be how religion got started in the first place: to somehow explain the irrationality of the human kind and hope that true justice will be done someday... somehow.

Sorry to hear what happened to you boonchuan. :(

There are a lot of idiots in this world. I would say "try to live with it"...but then I can`t live with it myself...

thomas I also cant live with them, but they are all over the place. Thanks all , I have been slowly tightening my credit terms. Nowadays I wonder if being nice is a liability?

Without some sense of forgiveness, you become just another one of the "corporate, we-don't-care-about-you" webhosts. Don't become one of those. I do give exceptions as far as payments go in certain situations, though I do draw the line at some point. I certainly would not allow someone to use the service for two years before suspending the account.

I guess John is right, give and take , just depends on how we draw our lines I guess.

Originally posted by GIGANET
yeah, remember, all it takes is 1 disgruntled customer to start spreading crap to destroy your good business name on webhostingtalk.com.
I wouldn't go that far. If someone posts something bad about a host, then the host has the right of reply. Folks can then make up their own minds.

What would your response be? For me I think I will warn them if they are not speaking the truth and demand a retraction. If no retraction, an attorney letter follows. I don't think I will be joining any debates.....

Originally posted by Aussie Bob
I wouldn't go that far. If someone posts something bad about a host, then the host has the right of reply. Folks can then make up their own minds.

Unless the host lives here then by the time he/she makes a post all the other hosts would have already attacked their ethics without hearing the otherside.

As we don't know the real fact from the client side also hence any further suggestion will go now onwards on single track only.
I mean we should give further suggestion in a democratic ways after hearing from both side only.

2 years? Damn thats a long time. Never give them more than 1 week.

I can honestly say, I would've let her go maybe two weeks out of the kindness in my heart but NOT two years.

You have to ask yourself why you have a TOS if you are not going to follow it. In court they might ask you also and in turn could hold you in fault for not keeping her on since the agreement you made with her was outside of your TOS.

Stay clear of that kind of drama.

LH