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  1. #1

    Need help on some legal action

    I'd like to make this really short because I know it's quite annoying for people to see this over and over.

    I did a script for a host and he has not completed his payment. He gives reasons that does not concern me at all. He said he'll pay after he gets revenue from his customers. It has been about two months since the work is finished and now I don't think he will provide the payment.

    This person is in Scotland, UK and I want to file a complaint against him. This is where the big problem comes because I am from Canada, and I don't know where to file the complaint.

    I have the project source files, e-mails, and some chat transcripts. That's all.

    If you have experience dealing with this type of problem and you are willing to provide information or help, then I would very much appreciate it.

    I prefer to be contacted by e-mail .

    Thanks.

  2. #2

    not what you want to hear ..

    but forget about it and move on. unless you're talking about an amount in at least the tens of thousands of dollars, you'll spend more on collecting than you'd actually end up with. it sucks, I know. but that's a risk of extending credit to a person beyond the reach of your local judicial system.

  3. #3
    give the name of the host
    www.rackfive.com
    Aquired by Data Provider LLC.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    5,783
    Originally posted by phugo
    give the name of the host
    If I am not mistaken you will find that answer here.

    http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...5&pagenumber=1

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Posts
    433
    In future you should get,

    20% on proof of concept
    30% of your projected costs up-front.
    20% 2/3 way through
    30% on completion

    This is what I use, and 9/10 times I get payed in full.
    Sure there will always be the odd one who will not finalise payment, but hten I don't finalise coding

  6. #6
    Yes Tux-e-do, I already did change my scheme. Yours seem reasonably good.

    gbroiles, it looks like that is what this is going to be. Thanks guys for your advice, and if you have more please do post.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Posts
    433
    Hang in there dude, its sux I know, and it makes you feel sick in the stomach.

    Nice site design by the way

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Posts
    375
    Great looking site, there, virgil. I really like the design work on it. It looks very sleek.

  9. #9

    The Bad News

    The bad news is that there is really nothing you can probably do. You could report his violation of your copyright (since he hasn't paid) to his upstream provider.

    The good news is that he probably won't be around long, so you will be able to resell it.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2001
    Location
    London, England
    Posts
    335
    Assuming you have the guys real address you should be able to take him to the small claims court.

    A couple of things you will need to check first.. 1) I'm not sure if Scotland has exactly the same system as England 2) You will need to check if it is possible to do it all from outside of the UK.

    You can actually do it all online from........

    http://www.courtservice.gov.uk/mcol/

    It will cost and there is a sliding scale on price which i think you will find on the above site somewhere.

    eg - I recently issued a county court summons to someone for approx £2500 and it cost me around £100.

    Bear in mind - that just because you get a county court judgement here in the Uk it doesn't necessarily mean you will get what is owed, but the least you will get is probably satisfaction knowing that he will have a judgement entered which will make it extremely difficult for him to get credit.

    Good luck - Regards
    ••• Mark Castle •••
    ••• www.captivereality.com •••
    ••• domainlabs.uk •••
    My views are my own and not those of my company.

  11. #11
    Just a little note: I am a web designer but I did not design that host's site. I created the order form PHP script. Actually, the demo is still in my server: http://www.virgil.ca/thosted/order.php.

    Thanks for the posts.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2001
    Location
    London, England
    Posts
    335
    Oh and BTW - it is always best if you send a final demand giving 7 days for them to pay in full and you should state that if they do not do so you will commence county court proceedings to recover the lost amount.
    The fee that you have to pay you can also claim, plus you can also claim for lawyer fees or time taken to make the claim.
    Cheers
    ••• Mark Castle •••
    ••• www.captivereality.com •••
    ••• domainlabs.uk •••
    My views are my own and not those of my company.

  13. #13
    Hi,
    My name is Ben Hawker, I am the owner of Totally Hosted. This script will be paid for. Unfortunatley things are a litlle slow and I have every intention to pay for the script. I do apologise for the time it has taken but I am on it.

    Thanks

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Posts
    929
    I seem to be going through a similar experience. I am not sure on the situation but he said he mailed the cheque early this week and i still haven't got it


    NB: This has nothing to do with totallyhosted.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    89
    I too was hired to do work for TotallyHosted and was given excuses for payment. I finally just had to request my work be removed as I lost all trust that this person would ever pay.

    He did remove the work as requested though so I don't think hes completely a dead beat. But I would watch out if you are contacted to do work for him.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    Denmark
    Posts
    432
    Why don't you contact a lawyer?
    Checkout www.crunzh.com for nice freeware programs. Including a program for monitoring your webserver.
    Any opinions in this post, unless otherwise noted, are my own personal opinions.

  17. #17
    You still have the design and layout?

    Sell it to someone else, its yours.
    L. James Prevo - President/Owner
    Prevo Network, LLC - http://www.prevo.net
    Est. 1999 - Month to Month Billing!!

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Posts
    305
    I think you should talk to a lawyer, not us. I would think it would be worth it to hear the real answer, then you can go forward or not as you like.

    While you're speaking with the lawyer, I would also mention the situation with Ben Hawker as well as Samuel Barr. Ben Hawker's idea that you get paid when he gets a profit as about as kosher as Samuel Barr's idea that you don't get paid at all. I doubt you could go after both of them, since only one owes you money, but are you certain who owes it? I'm not (but I'm not a lawyer either).

    Samuel Barr may well have filed for bankrupcy anyway, allowing him to start up his little schemes anew. Not sure what the bankrupcy laws in Scotland are.

  19. #19
    If I ever do work like this before payment, I build in a self-destruct subroutine to the program. I don't get paid, they lose functionality.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Jul 2001
    Posts
    305
    Mr. Ben Hawker,
    Let me ask you a few questions:
    Do you use telephone service (or any other utility) and suggest that you can not pay them until you make a profit on your business?
    Do you take food and groceries from a super-market, and then tell them you will come back and pay them once you recieve a paycheck?
    No, because the two have nothing to do with one another. If you use a product or service, you are obligated to pay, plain and simple.

    In addition, if you purchase a company (as you claim to have done from samuel barr), you are purchasing both it's profits and liabilities. Now, if samuel did not disclose all the liabilities when you purchased you might have a legal case against samuel, but YOU are still obligated to pay these designer/programmers for the services contracted because it was contracted under your company and you are using the products, and you are obligated to pay right away (not when you feel like it based on irrelevant subjective details.)

    Lastly, as this behavior is perfectly consistant with Samuel Barrs behavior (I.E. Claiming he will pay people at some later time, and suddently selling to "new" companies as to claim no liability) I seriously wonder if you are not the original person with a new "alter ego".

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