Hi all....I did something stupid. I didn't require one of my clients to pay me a deposit for some work I did for her and now she is not responding to my emails about payment. Any ideas of what I can do to get my money? I do have FTP access to her site so I know I can take the site down but I am not sure if this is the right tactic.
Send her a final demand if she doesn't pay, take down the website until payment is paid, I think you have every right to do that.
Unless the service she owes you money for is hosting, I wouldn't use their ftp details to delete their site. You may actually find the tables turned in that case if they take you to court. It may help to give more details of the kind of work you did
You must email them, didn't you keep any of their contact info? Oh well you can find their phone number from the domain whois maybe! See if you can do that and call them up IT
thanks all. I was thinking of having a friend call her and pretend he is a lawyer; and tell her I was planning on suing her. What do you all think? Is this the ethical thing to do?
I wouldn't do that. Just call her up and tell her you want the money and (tell her you're suing her if thats what you want to do). Goodluck though. I know how bad it sucks. I have had the same thing happen this June....
Im not sure how it is where you are but its only $15 to file a small claims (Are they in the same country or area?) Impersonating a lawyer can also get you in trouble.
You are just full of troublesome ideas. 1. Taking down her site will get you sued. 2. Impersonating a lawyer will also get you in trouble. If you go to court with this person, you can plan on that going against you. Here's what I would do: 1. Learn for the experience first of all. 2. Send a CERTIFIED letter to her address informing her of the past due bill. Be professional. Tell her what is owed, when it was owed and why she owes you. Give her 10 business days to present payment. Inform her that you will be seeking any possible collection and legal action after that point and that she will be responsible for all legal fees should the matter end up in a court of law. When you send the letter, send it CRRR so you get the little green notice back that it was received and so you can track it. Make a copy of the letter you just sent and include the certified details in the letter. Mail that out. Now you wait. If the time goes by without contact, proceed from there.
is she located in the same area as you? if so, you'd be surprised how effective a face-to-face meeting can be - just hop over uninvited and talk to her...
well if worse comes to worse, it was a very valuable lesson that im sure you wont let happen again. just learn from your mistakes and move on if you feel that this cannot be resolved.