Bad Situation - Advice needed please guys :)

[Cable God]

Ok, here's a doozy for you guys. I am looking for a resolution to this situation on what I should do.

A customer agreed for me to build him a business website. As I was building it, I kept an updated build of it on a public webserver belonging to me for him and his business partner to look at to suggest changes to me.

Our agreement was they would give me one of their products in return for my service of building the website, as they couldn't afford my rate . He understood he was to buy hosting and his domain name.

Now, the site was 90% complete. I purchased a theme that they approved of 100%. I wrote the rest and did the rest of the graphics.

After checking on the domain name availability this morning after no contact from him in a while, I see there is a live website using that domain name.

It appears that they hired someone else to finish it without even notifying me of it, or letting me know they were dissatisfied with my work. After closer inspection, I see that the person they hired to finish it used about 70% of my orginal code and graphics. Some of the graphics are even still linked to MY server.

The person that is finishing it registered the domain name under HIS name, but the business owner's mailing address.

What should I do? Send them an invoice? Hire an attorney to send them a letter? Thanks for any info or suggestions guys.

 

[Queasy]

Send them an invoice with a nicely worded letter asking for payment for work performed. If they refuse, send another letter informing them that if they payment is not made, an attorney will be hired to settle the matter.

 

Hire an attorney, you may have to take him to small claims court, document everything.

 

[StageLeft]

As roger said document everything NOW. All links, screenshots, .logs, etc. etc. etc. Get together all proof of correspondence you have and what this guy is doing and how it's linked to your site, etc.

Then contact them nicely and ask them what the hell they are playing at. Then if that doesn't net you results contact a lawyer immediately.

 

[Hoober]

Originally posted by: Roger
Hire an attorney, you may have to take him to small claims court, document everything.

Make sure you have the documents saying that they hired you to perform this work.

 

[bunker]

That was going to be my first question, did/do you have any kind of a written contract with them?

 

[PricklyPete]

Sorry dude, that really stinks. I agree with Skoorb, DOCUMENT EVERYTHING. Then bring it to a lawyer and get his advice on how to settle it.

 

[Cable God]

The bad thing is, it was all verbal. There was no contract since he WAS a friend of mine. I have proof of the linking of images to my server and the code that I wrote has my name embedded in it a few times for this reason.

 

[Hoober]

Originally posted by: cablegod
The bad thing is, it was all verbal. There was no contract since he WAS a friend of mine. I have proof of the linking of images to my server and the code that I wrote has my name embedded in it a few times for this reason.

Contact a lawyer, but I think you're going to have a VERY hard time because it was a verbal contract.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: cablegod
The bad thing is, it was all verbal. There was no contract since he WAS a friend of mine. I have proof of the linking of images to my server and the code that I wrote has my name embedded in it a few times for this reason.

No emails saved or anything referencing what you were doing...?

 

[KC5AV]

If there is nothing in writing, you are going to have a very hard time proving anything. It may just be time to cut your losses and run. As far as the linking to your server, I'd cut that immediately. It makes no sense letting them steal anymore of your hard work. If this person was a friend of yours, I'd certainly be hitting them up for some sort of explanation. This would probably be grounds for immediate termination of the friendship, though.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: KC5AV
If there is nothing in writing, you are going to have a very hard time proving anything. It may just be time to cut your losses and run. As far as the linking to your server, I'd cut that immediately. It makes no sense letting them steal anymore of your hard work. If this person was a friend of yours, I'd certainly be hitting them up for some sort of explanation. This would probably be grounds for immediate termination of the friendship, though.

No way. Don't cut it. Leave it, but just log it to all hell, and get copies of the source pages showing your name in their page.

- M4H

 

Change all of the pictures that link to your server, to porn.
Change anything that's linked to your server.

 

[optoman]

Change whatever is linked to your server to gay porn.

 

[optoman]

That was scary.

Better yet, throw some terrorist stuff up and send an email to the homeland security guys.

Edit: Or would that be a bad idea since its on your server.

 

[dabuddha]

man i hope you mean ex-friend
that's just plain wrong

 

[Kev]

A verbal contract is just as good as a written one, especially in this case, where you have your work and proof of your work. Why else would you work on a site unless he agreed to compensate you?

Your "friend" is a total piece of human sh*t. Let us know how this turns out...

 

[CPA]

Originally posted by: maladroit
A verbal contract is just as good as a written one, especially in this case, where you have your work and proof of your work. Why else would you work on a site unless he agreed to compensate you?

Your "friend" is a total piece of human sh*t. Let us know how this turns out...

What maladroit said. Verbal is legally just as good, though the judge will have to discern who is telling the truth and who isn't.
What should help you is the fact that they are linking to your server and using your work. they won't be able to lie around that.

 

[freakflag]

Step on his neck.

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: maladroit
A verbal contract is just as good as a written one, especially in this case, where you have your work and proof of your work. Why else would you work on a site unless he agreed to compensate you?

Your "friend" is a total piece of human sh*t. Let us know how this turns out...

I would tend to disagree. If there is no documentation that states that cablegod was indeed contracted to do this, then it's a "his word vs. your word" kinda situation. Those can get messy. Not as cut and dry as a written contract.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

How much money are we talking about?


If it is small amount, then I would follow Queasy's advice. If it is large, then I would talk to an attorney FIRST, before contacting anyone.

 

[PunDogg]

Originally posted by: Roger
Hire an attorney, you may have to take him to small claims court, document everything.

document everything!!!!!!!!!

 

[sciencetoy]

This guy is a friend? Here's what you do: start asking EVERYONE you know what to do about the situation. Explain it carefully, and make sure you detail what the dude did. Especially, ask people who do business with the guy. Ask what they think they would do under the same circumstances. Word will get around.

 

[Harvey]

A verbal contract is just as enforcable as a written one. The issue is proving the terms of the contract. As others have noted, documentation is everything. If you have dated files of your work in progress, you can establish when the work began. Obviously, you didn't undertake such work on spec, so establishing the identity of the beneficiary of your work is not a problem.

Before you hire an attorney, as yamahaXS suggests, an important question is, how much money is involved. Unfortunately, before you hire an attorney, it has to be worth enough deal with it on that level. Your profile says you live in Georgia. The Georgia state website]http://www.georgia.gov/00/channel/0,2141,4802_5047,00.html[/l] says:

If you have been unable to resolve a dispute with a person or a business, you may take your problem to Magistrate's Court. Also called Small Claims Court, it is an informal court that handles money claims for less than $15,000.00. This court offers a quick and inexpensive process for complaint resolution.

If you can make your case, you may be able to get a judgment without investing more than $50 - $100 total.

Getting ripped off always sucks. Getting ripped off by someone you called friend is worse. :disgust:

Good luck.

 

[LaLaLand]

You should [deleted]

---

Your account is locked. We MAY consider allowing you to return in two weeks.

AnandTech Moderator