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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    London, England
    Posts
    969

    Customer gone too far

    Hello,

    We had a customer sign up about 2 weeks ago who has taken things a step too far. Subject to our terms of service we did not issue a refund on the service (for many reasons that are not even that important now) and the customer who is local to our registered office has been bombarding us with death threats and registering other domain extensions of our business (wisededi.co.uk).

    Now some people would be thinking this is a bit farfetched over $65 and we have had the full cooperation from organisations such as Google with regards to providing evidence and suspending the accounts in question, some webhosts don’t seem to care that they have these people on their network even though they have previously been removed for abuse to their staff. However the question is , should we take the evidence we have to the authorities, Afterall we do have full contact details of the customer in question and i am no level expert but these could be classed as very serious offences.

    I don’t want to post any of the communication here but i can assure its very very threatening behaviour

    Regards,
    Jon Black

  2. #2
    Of course if a customer is sending you death threats, give all of the information to the authorities and get them Jailed up. Just had some vandalism done to my own car. I happened to see the car as it pulled away that had preformed it. I jumped in my car, chased the car down, got the license plate, slammed on my breaks, and then came back home. Don't take that crap from anyone. The legal system is there for a reason, to protect those who try to take advantage of us.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    NSW, Australia
    Posts
    136
    Absolutely contact your local Law Enforcement. Terroristic threats* are taken very seriously (and with good reason). If you genuinely feel your life is in danger, then your local police should be able to issue you an intervention order (or your countries equivalent), preventing any contact from the person of interest.

    Bottom line - every threat should be considered legitimate, and dealt with appropriately. You just can't afford to take the chance - you never know what the other person is really like, or to what extent they're willing to carry out their threats.

    *Term used for all threats against life and property - not just "terrorists".
    Rob G.
    ShopManager - Sales & Repair Business Management Software

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Tampa, Florida
    Posts
    185
    i agree with both aquariusadmin and rg as something like that is not to be taken litely since they may go through on it someday if left to be considered nothing. the news is full of people like that and different problems but it just goes to show how some people are.
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  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Location
    Gotham City
    Posts
    1,852
    Local to your registered office? Does that mean you're not located there or is it a forwarding address provided by your registered agent?

    I don't know where you're located but normally you can file a complaint with the nearest law enforcement agency, which in your case should be the police.

    Secondly, if the customer is actively coming in and dropping in death threats in your mailbox, your surviellance camera (if you have one) should have that fellow on tape. That that to the police along with the letter. Plus you should already have the customers address on file...

    Don't tolerate any of this.
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  6. #6
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    The Kingdom of LLAMEDOS
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    2,881
    The fact that you pose the initial question here, suggests you have reservations.
    If you do not want to immediatly advise your local police [which I like most people here think you should], you can get 'soft' advise from a lawyer or the CAB.
    Personaly, I'd start with the CAB, but expect them to convince me to contact the police 'there & then'.
    _____________________________________________________________
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  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Posts
    3,857
    Some threats, you can tolerate as the client blowing smoke. But death threats? That is a whole new story.. Regardless if it is true or not, the ex-customer needs to understand that just because they are behind a computer screen, it doesn't grant them any immunity from anything, and they will be held accountable for their actions..

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Toronto
    Posts
    418
    Are they actual death-threats? Or the garden-variety "i'm goin' sue yo' ass" or "you better watch your back if you're in my neighbourhood!"

    (I've gotten both of those from one guy).

    I don't put much stock in it, since it's just verbally over the phone and he was in the wrong (in my eyes anyways).

    Of course, i know he _was_ on meds, because he had told me on a few occasions, so it made me a little more scared. If he was local, i probably would worry a lot more, but he's in a different country, so you know.

    Also it was one or two-time thing. If he was STILL doing that after he ceased to be a client, i'd be worried.


    Lawrence
    Tired of Hosting? Let Us Buy You Out!

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  9. #9
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Denver, Colorado
    Posts
    190
    Quote Originally Posted by maknet View Post
    Are they actual death-threats? Or the garden-variety "i'm goin' sue yo' ass" or "you better watch your back if you're in my neighbourhood!"
    Same guy or two separate guys?

    Yeah, take any threat serious when it involves your safety or the safety of your staff, report him to your local authorities and his as well.
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  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Posts
    1,290
    Better safe than sorry. Let him explain to the police how he didn't really mean it, etc. And if he does need psychological treatment, they may be able to arrange it for him. Their ability to do this depends on the locality.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Toronto
    Posts
    418
    Quote Originally Posted by redrocksdatacenter View Post
    Same guy or two separate guys?

    Yeah, take any threat serious when it involves your safety or the safety of your staff, report him to your local authorities and his as well.
    Same guy. i think he was bi-modal and like split-personality.

    Some days he would be nice, but most days, it was just screaming, and me having to fax everything in writing so that i have proof of what he agreed on (after he stiffed me a few times).

    I remember getting an earful once for like 30 minutes, then i said i was hanging up.. and then i did.. then he called back and started to rant again, then i promptly hung up again.

    This happened a few times and i'm like, "if you aren't going to discuss this in a reasonable manner, i'm not going to talk to you".

    I took the death-threats as _idle_, but it was the first time i've ever gotten that in a work-setting.


    Lawrence
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  12. #12
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Denver, Colorado
    Posts
    190
    That does not sound like fun. You definitely don't need customers like that, just send them to CI Host to be with their own kind =D
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  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    London, England
    Posts
    969
    Quote Originally Posted by maknet View Post
    Are they actual death-threats? Or the garden-variety "i'm goin' sue yo' ass" or "you better watch your back if you're in my neighbourhood!"

    (I've gotten both of those from one guy).

    I don't put much stock in it, since it's just verbally over the phone and he was in the wrong (in my eyes anyways).

    Of course, i know he _was_ on meds, because he had told me on a few occasions, so it made me a little more scared. If he was local, i probably would worry a lot more, but he's in a different country, so you know.

    Also it was one or two-time thing. If he was STILL doing that after he ceased to be a client, i'd be worried.


    Lawrence
    I would not say death threat if it was not one thanks for your comments everyone! i think il be contact CAB in the morning!
    Jon Black

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by wisededi View Post
    I would not say death threat if it was not one thanks for your comments everyone! i think il be contact CAB in the morning!
    Good choice. If you get any further correspondence I would email.

    Thank you for your email, I am forewarding all correspondence to my attorney. If you have any questions you may contact him at *** phone number. Good day, Your name
    Andrew Anderson
    Sales Manager
    NerdyHost.com

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    Toronto
    Posts
    418
    Quote Originally Posted by wisededi View Post
    I would not say death threat if it was not one thanks for your comments everyone! i think il be contact CAB in the morning!
    I'm just saying. There's death threats, and then there's DEATH threats.

    Night and day - kind of like a "date" and a DATE. Ah.. the memories..


    Lawrence
    Tired of Hosting? Let Us Buy You Out!

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  16. #16
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Posts
    2,051
    A police complaint is inevitable in this case. Also contact ICANN to gain the ownership of all the TLDs registered by the customer reflecting your domain name.
    Prashant T.

    Don't run after Success. Run after Excellence and Success will soon follow.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
    Location
    Pacific Palisades, CA
    Posts
    3,641
    Quote Originally Posted by wisededi View Post
    Hello,

    We had a customer sign up about 2 weeks ago who has taken things a step too far. I don’t want to post any of the communication here but i can assure its very very threatening behaviour

    Regards,
    Death threats? That's nothing

    Thank your lucky stars he did not post his version of the story here. I can see it now: your servide is terrible, you cancelled my account and you are a crook and a fraud for not refunding my money....blah, blah, blah

    You would then have some of your competitors and self-appointed guardians of hostingdom jumping on his bandwagon telling him how crazy he was to host with you and spreading his story around as if it were their own, posting weeks and months later things like: stay away from that wisededi, I heard they are terrible.....more blahs.

    So report it to the cops, get a copy of the police report, etc. You may need it to defend yourself here in case he comes along.
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  18. #18
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Ulyanovsk, Russia
    Posts
    204
    Yes, i suppose you need to contact the authorities.

    I believe everyone in business dealt with upset customers, however that could be caused by customers' bad mood, unprofessional work provided or delays, etc. In some time everything becomes OK.

    In your case it seems the person really may be dangerous to people, and what is the most important - to employees. So it would be better to take this case seriously.

    Keep us informed about the result!

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