Reduced to tears, working for what.

[Cornish Steve]

This is getting silly. If you ruck up their site/the sites and it comes to light you did it deliberately you will lose the battle. They will wait for you to take them to court and the courts will take a very dim view of your behaviour. You will lose money.
I understand that you are angry and hurting badly. But you really have to do this properly, and approach it professionally. You didn't have a contract; a mistake but not the end of the world. They are pratting around; their mistake. Get decent advice and act on it as fast as possible. The revenge stuff is teenage and a loser, and a bit discouraging to the people here who have bothered to give advice and who are on your side.
Do it properly, getting strength from the old saying: "revenge is a dish best eaten cold". Good luck.

Agreed. If you want to involve the end user of your code, then approach them directly instead of sabotaging their website. It's not their fault you haven't been paid, and you want to maintain a professional reputation.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

To be honest I'm amazed you didn't get a contract drawn up if the invoice is nearing £10,000. When you're handling money if that amount you should ALWAYS do it by the book and NEVER go by a 'gentleman's agreement'.

What's even worse is taking out thousands of pounds worth of outsourcing and other costs without a contract and terms to ensure the work and payment are fair, justified and enforceable.

This is why I get paid up front for all work and still get contracts signed for large jobs. I wish you all the best but there's a huge lesson learned here I hope.

 

[deniser]

Having read this thread, I would add the following comments:

1. I know it is difficult when you feel emotional about something but try and put your emotions to one side and deal with this situation rationally and in a logical businesslike manner.
2. The fact that there is no written contract is irrelevant; a contract still exists legally and you can use notes and emails etc. as evidence of the contract terms.
3. The law is there for everyone
4. First make sure all your invoices are complete and accurate.
5. In particular, it struck me when reading your initial post, that Project 1 was not undertaken for the company at all but for one of the directors. Are you quite clear who your client is for this project? Is the invoice addressed to the correct person? If it was a personal website then the invoice should be addressed to that person and he can be pursued quite independently of the company.
6. Then after the necessary time period for payment has elapsed, if it hasn't already (including reissuing invoice for Project 1) either what was agreed, what was done on the previous 11 projects or failing that, the statutory timescale, write a letter before action saying that if the accounts are not paid within 7 days, you will take legal action to recover the debt. If the money is still not paid then issue a claim or claims in the Small Claims Court which I believe you can do online. The costs are minimal and you won't be put at risk if the claim goes against you. You don't need a lawyer, it's a DIY option.
7. Whilst this is going through, consider your other options but don't delay.

 

[silklink]

DenisR and I think someone else mentioned already that contracts do not have to exist in a contract document. Contract law supports both verbal and written agreements. I ask you to do something; you say you will do that something for £n; I say, go ahead; you go ahead and present your bill; I am law-bound to pay.

Do not, under any circumstances, delete any part of the website. Can't stress that enough

You are likely to own, under copyright law, some aspects of the site. You can use copyright law, along with contract law, to demand the agreed payment.

I don't think it matters who within the business contracted with you to do the work, as they were acting on behalf of the company - asssuming it is a limited company (private or public). If a director contracted with you and you have assumed by his or her words that you are working for the company, then that is your understanding of the agreement.

Please do get some legal help. Your bank or some other service you pay for might provide free legal help. Otherwise, talk to a reputable law firm and ask for some free consultation. See if they will act on a no-win, no-fee basis, but make it clear that you want to settle on your outstanding payments owed. The law firm can have the pickings of any additional compensation and their costs (otherwise they might dip into your much needed money).

Often, a very sterdy letter from a top firm of lawyers does the trick. So another option, which might save lots of money and time, is to pay a lay firm to do just that. It will seem really expensive, perhaps as much as £500 for a single letter, but it should be enough to get the people that owe you money quaking in their boots and pay you.

Best of luck

 

[PayVector]

I totally disagree with the "Backdoor" option to take down the site. It is not end users problem for not paying. Any server admin worth his salt would be able to find the hidden code even if the code was removed post execution of the back door. If you are having to ask how to write a back door I would imagine that your ability to hide such actions would be limited accordingly.

Taking a hardline devils advocate position the two main problems I see here is lack of contract and that your massivly over extended yourself financially to deliver the two deals. Using credit cards to cover outsourcing is just a bad idea for the very reasons your are experiencing now.

Unfortunatly without a contract, although you are still protected by law, you will not have the cut and dry answers to when you will get paid that you would with a contract. Its now down to a he said she said and in these cases the company with the deeper pockets usually wins.

Sole Traders who shy away from contracts is just perplexing to me. My advise is to get a general service contract in place that is not overly litigious in nature but is fair for both parties. There are more than enough lawyers and experts on this site that would do one up for a decent price or you may even find another developer on here willing to give you a copy of their contract.

Do not be afraid to ask for money upfront. In you are outsourcing then this should be paid before you begin the project. A house builder has to buy materials to do a project and has to pay suppliers. You are no different.

People in business will take liberties of you good nature if given the slightest opportunity to do so. The trick is to be good natured under the umbrella of a rock solid contract. That way you can smile when you send the dogs upon them for not paying.

Good luck with it all.

 

[edbk1203]

I was speaking about this with someone and they recommended that you may (if you're designing the sites in PHP) want to take a look at : http://www.zend.com/en/products/guard/ because it may (apparently) assist you in protecting future projects.

 

[silklink]

Folk, there is, without any doubt, some form of contract that both parties have agreed and acted upon. If anything, it is an oral contract, which is legally binding.

By continually implying that someone is a silly billy and should have had a contract, is to ignore the laws that are there to protect us all. Any two parties: one who offers and the other who accepts, form both sides of a legally binding contract - whether it is writing or just spoken. Seriously, a bit of paper can be over-ruled by a change of circumstance in what is offered and accepted orally after the paper version is agreed and signed. You could, on paper, agree a package of work. You could then add a variation and agree it orally. It is the last agrement that stands by law, along with the original agreement - two agreements in effect.

See here for just one example amongst thousands: http://www.ukessays.com/essays/law/contract-law.php

 

[streetslocal]

I would suggest placing the code within the website as a precaution only.

Also you say you have ftp access on whose servers is this for the company or the customer who commisioned the work?

 

[Gyumri]

i could delete the website but have been told this would be liable to them suing me? as an act a malice.
I would happily visit them with a hammer and express my anger but id be end up arrested.

Hi Josephine - if you have designed their website for an agreed fee and you have not been paid for your work then you should write to the firm giving them 7 days to pay your bill (or to dispute it) and notify them in the letter (sent by recorded delivery to their registered office address and copied to their normal place of business) that you will be taking back your property - ie taking down their website in the absence of payment.

This is because 'property' (in this case intellectual property) only passes when it is is intended to pass - and you clearly had no intention of assigning ownership rights in your work until you were paid.

However, as you know, this will only be effective if you also have control over the domain.

It is not a satisfactory solution to your problem but it is a threat which may sway things in your favour. Your artistic temperament will need to be put on the back burner for your next assignment.

Best.

Quickets.co.uk

 

[Lincs Debt Collection]

let me know if you need my help.
www.rentbailiffs.com

 

[thevaliant]

I've had contracts before and jobs have turned ugly. as in finished the work; companies not paid/gone bankrupt and left me in ****.
I believe limited companies should be forced to have the top directors personally liable for the company debts. Why should they take the cream off the top, piss off and leave the washing up for those that cooked for them.

I am afraid that whilst I agree with you, that is how big commercial law works (and has for hundreds of years). Too often I have seen companies, owner managed (so effectively just a sole trader, but with limited liability) have the directors walk away after the business fails. I've seen:

1. One 'director' knowing the bank had personal guarantees on his house, collect all the debtors, not pay the creditors (for a month), pay off the bank overdraft and then go under and walk away.
2. Another 'company', owner managed, would trade, not pay PAYE/VAT and go bust when HMRC wound him up. He then bought the assets from the liquidator and set up business the next day. Rinse and repeat. Hell, the government even disqualified him from acting as a director. He merely appointed an employee as director and continued on as the boss. Illegal, but nothing will be done.

Really, trading with limited companies should be taken at face value. They can go under at any time and with no hope of recovery of debt. Of course, if people traded with them like this, everything would be on a cash basis and the economy would seize up.

 

[Wild Goose]

Interesting to read what the Valiant has said - I'm experiencing all sorts of prospective companies approaching us to cobble together accounts where eg the directors have spent everything the company earned, and there is nothing left to pay tax, employees' pay etc (let alone suppliers); in another case one director has fled the country; in another case the company has arranged the purchase of property in its employees' names and left them carrying the can after the property crash.

The point is that these directors mostly walk away from the company and start another for £100. For all the Experian credit controls in the country that record you or I being a day late with a credit card payment, or track our CVs if we apply for a job, score any of us who rent a home, and so on - there is in practice nothing effective in place to curtail the activities of directors who live well by shafting other people.

There is an exception Josaphine, and I haven't seen it mentioned so far: statutory bodies such as the OFT & Companies House (eg banned directors listings) hold IMHO the biggest fear for these people. MOstly these bodies couldn't catch a cold by themselves, but if you point them at miscreants they can do an effective job of curtailing their activities.

With that in mind, I'd explore the wrongful trading / fraudulent trading route - do some quick research just to get up to speed on it - and threaten the directors of your creditor company with it. Broadly, if they are planning on busting the company they will need to get its activities and closure past the receiver. If you were to threaten to report the matter of say wrongful trading to the authorities as and when the company busts - in fact the threat to report wrongful trading would sit very nicely alonside a statutory demand for payment from you - then the directors are bound to take notice of you. For one, they'd be personally liable for the debts of the company in a case of wrongful trading - not only the debt to you, but others too. Secondly, it would mean a ban on their being company directors in the immediate future. THirdly, it's a criminal offence.

It's the Achilles' heel. Anything else is water off a duck's back, as it looks as though the company might be going under anyway. Why wrongful trading? Well it's broadly concerned with the situation where the directors carry on trading even though they know, or ought to know, that the company has little or no realistic hope of meeting its creditor commitments. Do they have a financial director? Someone with an accountancy related qualification? The courts are usually harder on them - they're the ones most likely to pick up the jail stretch, whereas the MD can shrug his shoulders and say he doesn't understand financials so its not his fault. Anyhow, for those reasons the financial director is usually the best target.

This is a borderline legal / accountancy case and for me underlines the need for combined practices as they have in the USA. You either need an accountant with enough commitment to attack the underbelly of this company; or an accounts-savvy solicitor. Both are rare birds. DIY would be hard, as your creditor company may not take you seriously unless you really mug up and learn your lines.