Threats...court.....

AlphaCS

AlphaCS

Member
Reaction score
0
Okay so posting this for a friend. He owns a web design company locally and made a website for a client out of state. The website was made a year ago and looks fantastic. The client paid for a website creation, monthly hosting, seo and site maintenance.

The customer has not paid for their hosting, site maintenance, or seo since October. They stated they were not happy with the result from seo 3 months ago so he quit adding that to their invoice. He told my buddy that he would get to him after tax time.

A month ago the website got infected with a PHP virus which resulted in 24 hours downtime. Everything was corrected and covered under the maintenance, which was still not being paid.

Well fast forward to today and the client refuses to pay the invoice containing hosting and maintenance since October and the seo from up to 2 months ago. Says that my buddy didn't keep his end of the deal so why should he keep his and pay?

My buddy did deliver. A clean website that ANYONE would be happy with maintenance and hosting. He told him since he was not happy with the traffic generated he would take the SEO off the remaining balance.

Customer refuses and is threatening my buddy. I told him he should take his website down right NOW.

Need advice from you guys...thanks...
 
If he stopped paying in October, the site should have gone down right then. November at the latest. If there were any guarantees surrounding traffic and seo, that is a separate issue that can be addresses as such, but the hosting is cut and dry - it gets paid or the site goes dark. Same with the maintenance. No $, no maintenance.

Honestly, I am probably more ****** off right now than is sounds like your buddy is. He'll get back to him around tax time?!??! WTF is that about?? Sounds like your buddy needs to grow a pair and start running a business as opposed to a charity. I'm sure he's a great guy, but.....
 
Last edited:
If the customer hasn't paid, then who's website is it? Not theirs.
He can turn it into a goat porn website if he wants.
 
"Hello, Your Honour. I haven't paid for website hosting since October, and now I'm taking the host to court."

Yeah, not going to happen. Your friend should take down the site immediately.
 
Just be clear the website creation was paid in full. I told him he needs to take the site down now!!

So say if his customer decides to pay up but part ways. The website still belongs to the design company unless stated in a contract, correct? He actually did this website freelance with no contract. This was before he started his actual business.

I told him to try to get his money and then if the client wants his site he needs to pay for the rights. Am I off base here? Thanks guys.
 
ComputerRepairTech said:
Don't think so. The customer usually owns rights to any design purchased from the designer unless stated in an agreement.
Click to expand...

Are you sure about that? You would think that but after a bit of research it seems like that may not be the case.


Would love to hear a definite answer on that one.
 
AlphaCS said:
Are you sure about that? You would think that but after a bit of research it seems like that may not be the case.


Would love to hear a definite answer on that one.
Click to expand...

For a definite answer, talk to an attorney. However, if it were me, I would confiscate the website and the domain. Copy all the files, readily available to the customer once they pay their bill. Whether the content belongs to one or the other is something a court would decide, after a very expensive court process. Is it worth it for your friend to fight it?
 
AlphaCS said:
Are you sure about that? You would think that but after a bit of research it seems like that may not be the case.


Would love to hear a definite answer on that one.
Click to expand...

Nope, not sure at all now that i've read some of these laws. This is really confusing stuff...the next time I hire an artist i'm going to have to get an agreement going lol.
 
AlphaCS said:
Are you sure about that? You would think that but after a bit of research it seems like that may not be the case.


Would love to hear a definite answer on that one.
Click to expand...

I'm no lawyer, and I don't think the guy that wrote this is either, but generally speaking the individual who creates, owns. The company who paid for the design owns the text and images he supplied, but that's it. The design belongs to the designer, unless specifically stated otherwise in the contract. Without a specific statement of ownership towards either party, ownership of the design, defaults to the designer.
 
'putertutor said:
I'm no lawyer, and I don't think the guy that wrote this is either, but generally speaking the individual who creates, owns. The company who paid for the design owns the text and images he supplied, but that's it. The design belongs to the designer, unless specifically stated otherwise in the contract. Without a specific statement of ownership towards either party, ownership of the design, defaults to the designer.
Click to expand...

Generally though, it's a purchase, but that depends on the contract.

Have a lawyer look at the contract and see how it applies to your local law.
 
AlphaCS said:
No contract was made.
Click to expand...

Ok, I hate to say this but if there was no contract made, I can only put it one way.

It is foolish to do work for someone without a written agreement, web design very much so.

Also, dangerous to do hosting without a contract. Puts him at risk.

I would suggest that your friend purchase the technibble kit, as it has both contract templates.
 
AlphaCS said:
No contract was made.
Click to expand...

And that is why the content may or may not belong to your friend. Again, the question has to be, is it worth fighting for content that is otherwise useless? I would hold it hostage. I would take the content off the website. I would send a bill saying I have your files, pay up. But even that is questionable.

Probably very immature, but possibly your friend could create a single page website, keep their logo off it for copyright infringement, and basically say, "XXX company website has been taken down due to them not paying their bill." The domain belongs to your friend. It is true, so it is not libel. However, I will change the first part of this paragraph and remove the probably, and change it to It is. It's certainly not professional, but I have seen it quite a few times while going through the internet.

Also, do you know if they use email through the hosted service? I would also immediately suspend their email. Do not delete files, but some services should allow you to just suspend it.
 
Yeah I agree and I know he doesn't want to go to court. Also the client actually owns the domain.
 
AlphaCS said:
Yeah I agree and I know he doesn't want to go to court. Also the client actually owns the domain.
Click to expand...

Owning the domain and owning the space it's hosted on are 2 different things.

If the client has not paid his bills you can put up a splash page. The client has the right to purchase new hosting and redirect his domain name (since he owns it)

The ownership of the website content is the only thing I am not sure of.
 
Agreed. The client can keep www.im_an_a**hole_who_doesnt_pay_my_bills.com. Your buddy allows the transfer of the domain when properly requested.

The design of the website probably legally belongs to your buddy, but as others have implied, it may or may not be worthwhile to get into that fight, though I think he would win it.

Oh, and tell your buddy that web design, hosting, seo, etc, are not services one should ever think about getting into without very clear and very signed contracts.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

thecomputerguy
Employee productivity monitoring software ...
Replies
7
Views
315
Diggs
Diggs
HCHTech
Outlook New rant
Replies
12
Views
857
dcomp12
D
thecomputerguy
It finally happened to me.
2
Replies
29
Views
2K
callthatgirl
callthatgirl
HCHTech
reading M365 encrypted email
Replies
1
Views
115
Sky-Knight
Sky-Knight
Multi-Visions
Onedrive issues need help
Replies
3
Views
463
britechguy
britechguy
Back
Top