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Thread: Legal Issue
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07-18-2008, 06:03 AM #1WHT Addict
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Legal Issue
We had a client who is not contactable anymore. He was a reseller. One of his clients also did reselling he is also not contactable.
Now one of his clients who has a huge site has contacted us to give him access and data of his site.
We had not deleted anything before that client contacted us now we are in a fix what to do here. How to validate his claim over the site and give him his data and close the issue.
Remember he is our third level client.
US -> Reseller -> Reseller -> Him
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07-18-2008, 06:11 AM #2Web Hosting Master
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How long has the client not been contactable? Do they owe you money. The issue here is you have no contract with the end user and as its two levels down it could get messy legally if one of the resellers accuses you of stealing clients. In theory the client could cancel and move to you but its a tricky one.
Russ Foster - Industry Curmudgeon
Freelance Sysadmin for Hire - email vaserv@gmail.com
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07-18-2008, 06:19 AM #3WHT Addict
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He contacted us running ip traces and finally found us that is a long story too.
Our direct client has not paid for us many months. I know the easy way is to delete everything because that is covered by our TOS. But i have checked his site and a lot of effort has gone into it.
We do not need to host them, just want a way to hand him the data without looking at future liability and let him go away with another host.
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07-18-2008, 06:19 AM #4Web Hosting Industry Expert
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I don't think you would run into any issues simply providing a backup of the account to the user, but you would need to verify that the person you are speaking with is the actual customer in some way otherwise you could give out confidential data to somebody that is not supposed to have it... That could get you in a whole heap of trouble.
Either do it *very* *very* carefully or don't do it at all.█ Michael Denney - MDDHosting.com - Proudly hosting more than 37,800 websites since 2007.
█ Ultra-Fast Cloud Shared and Pay-By-Use Reseller Hosting Powered by LiteSpeed!
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07-18-2008, 06:23 AM #5WHT Addict
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How about validating the domain ownership, will that be enough?
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07-18-2008, 06:24 AM #6Web Hosting Industry Expert
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What steps you take to verify the person is up to you, I was just making sure you knew that it was something you should definitely put a lot of effort into (to cover your rear.)
█ Michael Denney - MDDHosting.com - Proudly hosting more than 37,800 websites since 2007.
█ Ultra-Fast Cloud Shared and Pay-By-Use Reseller Hosting Powered by LiteSpeed!
█ cPanel • Free SSL • 100% Uptime SLA • 24/7 Support
█ Class-leading support that responds in minutes, not days.
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07-18-2008, 05:55 PM #7Web Hosting Master
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Would it work for you if you have the person to cancel their account with their current host, who is a reseller? And then sign up with you, and you could easily move their data?
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07-18-2008, 08:09 PM #8Web Hosting Master
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07-19-2008, 01:05 PM #9Junior Guru Wannabe
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I suggest you don't do this.
It can give you a bad rep + legal issues.
Thanks
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07-19-2008, 04:15 PM #10Retired Moderator
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I'd consider turning the account on for a short while, and let the end user take the data he needs. No identification needed, you'd not be touching the data in any way.
Just a personal opinion though, IANAL.
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07-19-2008, 04:19 PM #11WHT Addict
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07-19-2008, 04:32 PM #12Junior Guru Wannabe
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If the original customer isn't contactable, and hasn't paid for many months, do you think they have the money to make this legal?
I can see everyones morals, behind there statements, and yes at the end of the day it always boils down to the legalities.
However show a little care for the end customer, who got screwed out of his data. I know that really isn't your problem, however, charge him for a data backup, once verified it's his account.
Somehow come to some terms of means with him. If you can show he tracked you down, and he contacted you regarding his account, you have done nothing to breach any terms of contract, and i highly doubt anyone would get far in a court of law with this proof.
Just my 2 cents.
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07-19-2008, 05:16 PM #13Newbie
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It really is not your responsibility to provide any resellers customers files whatsoever. If they are under your reseller then it is their responsibility to have their site(s) backed up off site.
If you give this person these files that they may or may not be entitled to then you may be called out on the carpet for it.
Some lessons people have to learn the hard way.
I would suggest that you make a provision in your TOS agreement stating that if a resllers' account is terminated due to non payment. All accounts under that reseller would be terminated or transferred to you if the customer so wishes to remain on the server. Make sure that all your resellers have a revised version emailed to them.
Then you don't have these types of issues. If your not getting paid for this resellers, then he/she are no longer your client legally. You are allowed to contact their clients and inform them of the situation and offer them your services.Turbo Charged Shoutcast Hosting!
Turbo Host USA
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07-20-2008, 12:04 AM #14Junior Guru
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also, whatif the client did not pay Reseller #2 and Reseller#2 did not pay Reseller#1 and #1 didnt pay you, should he get his files?
i personally would have disabled reseller#1's account 24 hours after non payment and been done with it. but now this clients has contacted me...
if client can prove to me that they paid their hosting bill to reseller#2, then i personally would release his data and also hope that reseller#1 finds out and makes a legal claim against me. after reseller#1 pays my back-due invoice(s) i will give them my attorneys contact info.
it would really take a person with alot of gull to legally complain while owing me money.
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07-20-2008, 07:03 AM #15WHT Addict
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I'd suggest you consult a lawyer regarding this .
If you do provide him the backup but the reseller becomes aware, you might find yourself in some legal hot water
if you don't provide the backup the client may sue for the backup.
Knowing your legal rights and options is your first step, anything short of could cause a larger headache.