Hello All
I have been building sites as my hobby for a couple of years.. I got into hosting and offer it fo folks to let me design thier site.. I have a small reseller account . The first site I did was for some friends of ours that my wife works for...But.... Things changed....

My wife has been on the outs with her former employers (friends) ... It kept building over the past week and when it all came to a head I sent them a letter with their domain info and removed the site from my server...

They totally freaked...

Today I received a registered letter saying that they had paid me $600 for my services.. (they actually paid me $300 cash total) and that if I didn't put the site back up they would take legal action..

So, I put it back up and sent the pages to them asking them to find another host..

They have been ruthlessly flaming us and this letter was very intense...

So, now I am like totally afraid of web design... I have tons of clients now. Some have "given" me money. Many have not.. (I work for donations)I have like 6 more projects ahead and many of them are saying they will pay some not...

So anyway.. I am really freaked out... I am thinking about just going out of web design altogether but am afraid...(Some people have paid money) I'm afraid to continue because of this mess... I thought of actually doing it as a "business" but don't know how.

If I quit should I just send a letter to everybody telling them my plans of changing hobbies and then give them a timeframe as to when I'm going to shut down and send their sites to them?

I'm afraid other people will freak out too... I just don't know what to do with myself...

Did I tell you I was freaking out?

Please, any suggestions you may have I'll certainly look into..

business and personal stuff shouldn't get mix in...if they paid you and because there is some tension between them and your wife..how does that affect the fact that they pay you? you should keep the business seperate from personal life. that being say, host them until their service is up and help them with web desgin/website until they are comfrotable. you can also charge them for helping them.

you shouldn't really get business and personal mix in the first place. not a good karma.

Why did you essentially cancel their hosting without notice? Whatever the situation between them and your wife, if they paid you for the hosting ... you should host it. If you gave them free hosting, you should have sent them a professional letter, telling that they have 30 days to find a new host, that you are no longer offering complentary hosting.

Originally posted by jt2377
you should keep the business seperate from personal life.
I couldn't agree more. Personal + Business = headache when one goes sour.

before anybody could answer you I think they need more info.

The $300 they paid you. What was it for? Was it for the web design, hosting, etc..? Trying to get an idea of why you took their site down. If you were hosting cause they were friends or cause they paid you. If you were hosting cause they paid obviously you should have kept it up. You can't mix business and personal. If they weren't paying i'd cut their site right back off.

I don't wanna go into a long story though when the situation could be different. Let us know what happened and what they paid for.

Last, Calm Down

Originally posted by dbdoufo
... and when it all came to a head I sent them a letter with their domain info and removed the site from my server...

They totally freaked...
Frankly, I don't blame them. Your arrangement was for free hosting. If some personal circumstances come in the way, you should simply give them ample notice and ask them to look elsewhere for hosting. But don't just pull the rug out from under them. Not very professional.

From your OP, it seems most of your dealings are based on "virtual handshakes", donations, etc. You're just setting yourself up for trouble by doing that. Your first mistake was that you did not set up proper business practices. Contracts, paper trail, accountability on both ends.

I realize you're freaking out. But don't yank services away from other clients who are expecting performance from you. They are entitled to performance from you.

Just take a deep breath, regroup, set out some basic business practices, take care of your existing clients, and move on to better business.

Good luck.

Vito

Also, most people that actually come out and threaten legal action never do so. They usually use it as a scare tactic to get what they want.

Like the others have said, take a deep breath. Then, get a simple set of documents together for the design work you do. You can google "Free Legal Forms" or buy a CD for less than $20. This will offer you a paper trail and some measure of protection just in case.

Don't just jump ship because one customer got angry. If this is what you love doing, keep doing it! Just practice better business techniques. :)

Yea friends and business...

It has been a very strange ride... I dunno.. I just do this for the fun of it but now I guess I'll have to get some kind of papertrail going.. Buisness forms?

CD's for $20.00? I could do that...

I just don't know what to do.... I put thier site back up but I won't just host it for free forever...

Perhaps setting up a period to start charging $50.00 per month and $50.00 per hour for updates...

Yes it's all just virtual handshake stuff.. Ministry. Free design....

They paid me $200 when I did the site and then $100 when I sent out my anual donation request last fall...

That's all that was done.. No contracts, no recepts.. Nothing.. I just did it because I wanted to learn how to do it...

I just want to design sites... Not deal with this mess....

Thanks..

Originally posted by dbdoufo

I just don't know what to do.... I put thier site back up but I won't just host it for free forever...

They paid me $200 when I did the site and then $100 when I sent out my anual donation request last fall...

Based on your post, their "donation" could be considered payment for 1 year from the date paid (or requested) - you called it an annual donation.

You should probably honor the committment you made. Send them a letter now explaining that you will be charging for your services in the future and explain what your rates are. This should give them time to find another host if they want.

If there are enough hard feelings that you are not willing to honor your committment, I would give them 30 days and offer a refund for the remainder of the year. If the payment was truely a "donation" and didn't reference an annual payment, you might not be legally obligated to honor the committment - but you are probably morally obligated.

As everybody else has mentioned - you should never mix business and friendship.

As everybody else has mentioned - you should never mix business and friendship

Yea I guess..

I'm sure there are plenty of people on these forums however that give hosting or design to friends all the time.. I have had lots of people offer me free hosting for this or that and many call their customers "friends" even on their hosting sites..

Friendship and business mix all the time in the real world too. The two women that this is all about are "Best Friends" .. Have been for years...

There are many friends that go into business together everyday...

I heard a resuraunt owner on the TV the other day say that he is 'good friends' with many of his regular customers... "We play golf together"

Hey, I designed a site for them.. They gave me some Christmas money.. There was no "agreement" or anything. They knew I was goofing with it and asked me to do a site for their new business..

One of them was a brides maid at my wedding.. What can I say?

I put the site back up on my server.. I sent them the entire site and another site I did for them they never paid for on a new business they are starting up..

I guess I'll send them some more cosultation about what they need to do to host a site..(They don't understand sites are "hosted") Recommend some hosting companies, recommend some other designers and tell them how to change the nameservers at thier domain registrar..

I was wrong to just cut it off.. I was angry.

And, I suppose I'll try to get together some kind of "buisiness" plan..

Anyway...
Thanks for all the tips!

Peace and Blessings

Originally posted by dbdoufo
Yea I guess..

I'm sure there are plenty of people on these forums however that give hosting or design to friends all the time.. I have had lots of people offer me free hosting for this or that and many call their customers "friends" even on their hosting sites..

Friendship and business mix all the time in the real world too. The two women that this is all about are "Best Friends" .. Have been for years...

There are many friends that go into business together everyday...

I heard a resuraunt owner on the TV the other day say that he is 'good friends' with many of his regular customers... "We play golf together"

You are totally correct. I host for serveral friends - some for free and some for a very low fee. So I need to modify what I sayd about not mixing the two.

Don't mix friendship and business unless you are able to separate the two emotionally. Actually the same goes for family and business.

Good luck.

Talk to a lawyer IMMEDIATELY. Don't wait. Don't freak. Don't talk to the other side until you do...as you're probably losing ground every time you do.

Get a contract written up for your current clients stating what you will provide at what cost (even if free). Hope like heck they agree to sign it, at this point, and NEVER EVER EVER do any kind of business without a written contract in the future. You might present it to your current clients as you've recently had a huge misunderstanding with a former client, due to a lack of contract, and you'd like to make sure you both have a clear understanding of your current arrangement...because you greatly value their business.

I do websites for friends' businesses as well, but each and every one of them have signed a contract. I generally put it to them as "I can't imagine we'd ever have a dispute, but I want to get everything on paper so there's no chance of any silly miscommunication."

--Tina

I have two sites with my company where I know the people personally. This is what I did. I wrote up a contract stating exactly what their services would entail and what exactly they were paying me for. We signed it in front of a notary public and had her sign it as well so it is a legally binding document. I issue receipts every time they pay me for their services. There is your paper trail. I suggest you do something like this in the future to save yourself this type of headache again.

Well you have just learned a lesson. We all learn them at some point. Myself, I learned a similar one just as you. What's the saying - good deeds go unreturned?

I have quit changing HTML code for my friends - helping them out. It never works out unfortunately.

I hope everything works out for you. It sounds like you wanted to keep it as a hobby - but even hobbies need to be maintained somewhat. Good luck with everything!!

Hi dbdoufo,

I had a similar thing happen to me earlier this year - not quite as severe, but on the verge of becoming legal.

The best thing to do is to find a graceful (as much as possible, anyway) way to get rid of the client. If you have to give them a refund, so be it. I lost what amounted to thousands of dollars in my situation, but when I weighed it against being sued, I decided to just cancel the client and move on.

I recommend that you stay in the design business. It does sorta take the wind out of one's sales when something like this happens, but in a few months, you'll be comfortable with it again. Just keep plugging away...

Oh, and I don't know if you use contracts, but I recommend consulting with a lawyer to help you develop a comprehensive contract that you can use with your clients - this will move things heavily in your favor in the future, if something like this were to occur again.

Good luck!

I think we are getting things worked out.. Thanks everyone for the tips... I think I am going to let go of the "hosting" part of my "hobby/ministry... I just want to design sites and I don't want it to get so crazy again..

Or I may hang on to it but If I do I suppose I'll have to go ahead and make it a "buisness" of sorts... I am now hosting around 20 sites and often get 2 new requests per week these days as I have high rankings in yahoo now..... I may just host my site and my church and a couple of family members or something.. Don't know yet....

Decisions, decisions.... Heck I'm just playing on my computer for heavens sake.... What happened?

The moment you decided to collect any money for your services, you created a business. And as such, you are responsible for it. If you don't want all of this "stress", don't accept donations. Work for free.

Honestly, you should never have accepted any money for "just playing on my computer...", nor should you ever had asked for donations.

Not neccessarly..
According to the IRS and other sources if is absolutlely legal to make money on a hobby. People do it all the time. I used to play music in the clubs... I did it on the weekends. I usually made $100.00 more/less on a Friday night.

There are thousands of people doing this... Most of them do not have any kind of buisness license or contract or anything.

How about scripts? There are thousands of them avaialble to use free of charge... Almost all of them will accept a donation for the work they have done on the script... Should they not ask for a donation?

None of them are complaining about the stress involved with it. I was merely suggesting that if it's too stressful for you, stop accepting donations.

I hope you get everything worked out. I have been down that road myself, not pretty but you do learn a lesson.