Ex Client owes me $, can I shut down the website until Im paid?

by Big Gee

Posted: 11 years ago 5 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

Ex Client and I decided to part ways mutually. They said they would pay me for my services - prorated for the month. They were supposed to pay at the beginning of the month, we ended our service on the 12th. I still have not received payment!!

I want to send them a notice to warn them to pay up in 2 days, the site will remain shut down until payment is made, and their will be a service fee for me to reinstate the website. Any thoughts how to handle this?

#client #owes #paid #shut #website

dwoods 11 years ago

Yes do it. When l was a freelancer l offered hosting services to my clients; and some of them got WAYYYYY behind on their bills; and putting up a "suspended for non-payment" page in place of their site got them to send me a check right away, every time.
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Big Gee 11 years ago

hahaha that's embarrassing! Did you even warn them or just do it and tell them after?
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- dwoods 11 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Big Gee
  
  hahaha that's embarrassing! Did you even warn them or just do it and tell them after?
  
  Well it was in our original written contract that they were paying an ongoing hosting fee -- so there really wasn't much they could do.
  
  But yes l warned them. I would send 3 copies of the bill, then l would email/call, finally l would send a final invoice on pink paper that said l was on the verge of shutting off their services. The problem is that it is/was an incredible waste of my time and resources. I finally moved everyone over to yearly hosting instead of monthly because it was just too much of a pain tracking down the checks.
  
  Had to do it more than a couple times. Is it weird that l got a sense of enjoyment out of it? lol
  
  Thanks
  
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Baadier Sydow

11 years ago

I did it once before when I first started out and I regretted it instantly. I know that quite often small claims court etc are just a waste of time but I felt that overall I was doing more harm to my own business than theirs. Its just not the way I wanted my brand represented with long term. Full disclosure, I never did get the money out of them.