I found this article very useful I have been ripped off once and as a starting out web geek it was pretty annoying.

I’ll definitely bare these in mind for my next project

Does anyone know or could anyone advise me where I stand legally with withdrawing the site and cancelling the hosting package totally after part payment? Or because I have been part paid do they now own the site? Could I just close down the hosting?

I have only just started freelancing and have quickly learned a few rules like, never host and design, always get contracts in place (which I stupidly did not do with this client since they have hired me previously and they used to pay as soon as the invoice was issued.) and now I am definataly going to adopting your policy of the 50% up front. But as for my predicament at the moment could anyone advise, esspecially if you have been in a similar situation.

Could I be open for legal action by closing the site down?

Can I supply them with only part of the site on a disc to cover the part payment work?

by closing down the hosting (inc emails) if they loose business can they come back at me for the lose of business?

I have searched all over the net and there does not seem to be a great place for advice like this.

Hoping someone can help or advise

Dave

e.g.

website design = £600
template = £500
pages = £200

once he / she agrees, create a design either through a graphic package and put it on a test site which you have full control. once we have agreed on the design he will then pay you on completion on that part of the spec.

never de-value yourself, always make up a contract and stick to it.

We charge 20% deposit, as you rightly say, if the client does not want to pay the deposit they are usually a time waster.

We are also very good at spotting difficult customers and add a difficult customer rate in an attempt to make them go elsewhere, if they pay that price then it covers all the extra hours spent with that customers.

We do not not give an end date, as most of our clients are so busy running their business, giving us the right info to go onto the website can get delayed. But they know the site does not go live until payment is received.

Very useful information. I do some web design but I wanted a dynamic website with a database (which is beyond my expertise) for my company, so I asked a friend to give me a hand.

I paid him half up front, as agreed and he said it would maybe take a couple months. This was nearly 18 months ago, and during that span, he said many times “we should be able to get it live within a couple weeks”, but it never would be.

He was generally very slow to respond to my e-mails and even when he proposed a meeting time and I agreed, he wouldn’t confirm that he’d show up or anything.

I have put many aspects of my business on hold as I wanted my site automated (it’s a property rental site).

Just wondering if anyone can offer me some advice on how to tactfully get my money back as I feel I deserve it. I told him I’d abort the project after a certain date and that date had passed (despite him telling me we’d finish by that date for sure).

I have no product to show for my cash. I’d rather take it to someone else because even when this guy has the green light, the project barely moves forward.

Thank you.

B.H.