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Oh, so you're gonna SUE us, huh? (Long, but could've been longer)

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  • Oh, so you're gonna SUE us, huh? (Long, but could've been longer)

    sorry I'm late, but as promised here is my post for a SC I am dealing with wherein revenge is ours!

    This could be a post of epic proportions, so I am doing my best to keep this short and sweet. as this is still before the courts, you understand if I cannot divulge certain details.

    We travel back 5 years into the past to when we were first contacted. Not only are we an ISP, but we also do web design, publishing, etc. We were approached by a customer who wanted to have his site professionally done. This guy was picky. No, serious, like this redefined 'picky'. He showed us the site he originally had, and his pride over it was similar to a parent who sees their young'n graduate from Harvard Law. We looked at it, and unanimously agreed that it needed a professional touch. One of the things that he was so picky about is the fact that he had to be able to edit the bloody thing. Now his original site was created with Corel Draw... Yes... You heard me right. And he wanted to be able to edit ours using , yup... Corel Draw. It took us 2 weeks to finally explain it to him that that would be impossible, and if he wanted to be able to edit the entire thing, we would make it Dreamweaver friendly, and suggested that he get Dreamweaver. He did.

    Normally, for what he wanted, there would be a 3 month lead time until completion. we had this sucker ready in a month, mainly because this was classic SC who, of course, needs it 5 minutes ago, and "We're damaging his company" by not having it done now. I wasn't involved with the build, but I had a chance to see the various proofs we issued to him, and I'll tell ya... very well done, and would have suited him, and his company perfectly.

    Nope! Not good enough. or, what was good one day, was (Of course our mistake, and fault) absolutely horrible. We essentially put in double the hours on the project than we had based our quote on, so already we're taking a loss. We finally got him a site that he indicates he is satidfied with, so we issue the final invoice which must be paid before the site is deployed.

    He disappears! A month and a half later, he sends us a letter stating that he will forfeit his deposit and walk away, as we're nothing but a bunch of FrontPage using amateurs, and we were accused of trying to sell him a pre-done template that is included with most WYSIWYG web editors. We're having a major wtf moment over this one, and we consider the invoice still due and payable, and this is supported by common law.

    So our A/R dept. send this up the chain finally to our collection agent. There it sat, until recently...

    So customer wanted to get another line of credit through his bank, but was denied due to a $3000+ debt marked on his bureau. so of course, now he's pissed. Calls the collection agent, and is somehow able to weasel his way so tha the agent has no choice but to close the file. Collection agent calls me and explains the situation. Now the SC must be doing something with the finance manager at his credit union, because the bank decides to give him the line of credit anyways. PERFECT so now our collection policy has been completely defeated.

    So then come the emails. First one plays the "I have friends in the media" card. we ignored it. 2 days later, he tries the "I'll Sue" card. Now I'm getting pissed. But I had been having good chats with our lawyer, and found out that things were working to my advantage. Off to the courthouse I go. hehehe. So we sued him for the unpaid invoice, plus court awarded interest, and related expenses.

    3 weeks later, I go in to court to see if the SC filed a reply, and to see if we will be going to proceedings. NO REPLY !!! YAAAAAAAAYYYY!! So we filed for default judgement. Case closed, right?

    DEAD WRONG!!! After the SC received the default judgement, he immediately filed to have the judgement set aside. Get this... he claims that his reply was lost in the mail. Okay, it could happen, but as the collections manager here, I would say that is the #1 excuse for why a bill hasn't been paid. So you can see how I am not willing to really buy that, but the courthouse did, and now I have to go in in a couple weeks to try to get our judgement back. Not taht I am worried, I'm just frustrated that he is using loopholes.

    So that's it. That's what happens when I get the "I'll sue!" card. I'll call your bluff, bend you over, and make you take it dry! Come May 10, the headlines will read: "SC Found Dead; Hung By His Own Loophole."
    Windows Operating System is an oxymoron."

    Oh, You want instant Gratification? Go f*ck yourself then!
    I found the problem. /dev/clue was linked to /dev/null

  • #2
    Ha! Fine work! Be sure to post that headline in sightings or as a reply to this thread, I'm gonna want to see that!
    Your true character is who you are when no one is looking.
    --Unknown

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    • #3
      Hope you collect everything!
      "Always stand near the door." -- Doctor Who

      Kuya's Kitchen -- Cooking, Cooking Gadgets, and Food Related Blather from a Transplanted Foodie

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      • #4
        Ooooh, sue for charges plus court-awarded interest, and expenses. I can't wait to see how this pans out. Make sure you update.

        As an aside (and I'm sure you know this), make sure you have copies of all communication requesting payment, his "threats", and documentation of his pickiness and refusal to accept professional-quality work. Hell, bring references to court, if you think it may help. Thing is, make sure you look as terrific as possible so the judge sees without doubt what a yahoo this guy is.

        Now you said he convinced the collection agent to close the file. How does that happen? Also, who actually owns the bill, meaning was the bill sold off or is an agent is working on your behalf? If the collection agent closed the file, does that legally mean it was written off? I ask only because this may come up later.

        Good luck!!
        A lion however, will only devour your corpse, whereas an SC is not sated until they have destroyed your soul. (Quote per infinitemonkies)

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        • #5
          too bad you can't tack on some extra fees:

          asshole fee
          liar's fee
          wasting our time fee
          wasting oxygen best meant for useful people fee

          gah, gotta love these 'proud creator' types; i'm betting the work was no better than what i can do with microsoft paint (and a crappy job at that).

          his baby...*snerk.*
          look! it's ghengis khan!
          Sorry, but while I can do many things, extracting heads from anuses isn't one of them. (so sayeth the irv)

          Comment


          • #6
            Quoth bainsidhe View Post
            Now you said he convinced the collection agent to close the file. How does that happen? Also, who actually owns the bill, meaning was the bill sold off or is an agent is working on your behalf? If the collection agent closed the file, does that legally mean it was written off? I ask only because this may come up later.
            The collection agent charges interest on the files he has. Th reason it had to be closed at the collection agent's end is due to the fact that the case is now disputed. This does not mean that this is closed on his end. Once judgement is awarded then he will take the file again. Basically the SC in this story knows the loopholes, etc. Methinks he has done this before, and too many times IMHO successfully.

            And I have all documentation. Believe me, this guy will not get away with this. It should be easier as on court day, we are not going to be there to actually resolve the case itself. I'm going to challenge his claim that his reply was lost in the mail, but I am fully prepared to present my case. He won't be. Most likely he will ask for an adjourment, and Judges around here don't like that word much. Adjournments waste time and a LOT of taxpayer money, so it should still be all in our favour.

            I know his case, and can provide more than enough to defeat him. Updates are forthcoming.
            Windows Operating System is an oxymoron."

            Oh, You want instant Gratification? Go f*ck yourself then!
            I found the problem. /dev/clue was linked to /dev/null

            Comment


            • #7
              Updates are crunchy.

              Like popcorn!

              ^-.-^
              Faith is about what you do. It's about aspiring to be better and nobler and kinder than you are. It's about making sacrifices for the good of others. - Dresden

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              • #8
                Quoth Qaeria View Post
                and if he wanted to be able to edit the entire thing, we would make it Dreamweaver friendly, and suggested that he get Dreamweaver. He did.
                Real men to all their coding in vi (or, most likely a clone of it).
                Proud to be a Walmart virgin.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Quoth Mark Healey View Post
                  Real men to all their coding in vi (or, most likely a clone of it).
                  amen to that, but we're more into emacs around here. We suggested Dreamweaver as that could at least let him fiddle with css, etc. Can you imagine doing that sort of thing with Corel?

                  I can count on one hand the amount of customers that we have had to be either Dreamweaver or FP friendly. Aside from those poor misguided fools, people are satisfied with what they get.

                  I think we should keep the editors out of it though. 'specially now that I see a vi vs. emacs situation.
                  Windows Operating System is an oxymoron."

                  Oh, You want instant Gratification? Go f*ck yourself then!
                  I found the problem. /dev/clue was linked to /dev/null

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Quoth Qaeria View Post
                    Dreamweaver as that could at least let him fiddle with css, etc. Can you imagine doing that sort of thing with Corel?
                    I didn't know they even still made it.

                    Quoth Qaeria View Post
                    I can count on one hand the amount of customers that we have had to be either Dreamweaver or FP friendly. Aside from those poor misguided fools, people are satisfied with what they get.
                    I don't like wussywig stuff. If you do it manually you don't get any screwy crap that makes your page look good in one browser but like shit in all others. I've been windows free forever. I dropped it when OS/2 2.1 came out and then moved to Linux.

                    Quoth Qaeria View Post
                    I think we should keep the editors out of it though. 'specially now that I see a vi vs. emacs situation.
                    It's simple. vi is for good people who help old ladies across the street and pick up other peoples litter while emacs is for people who burn puppies with lit cigarettes, fart in elevators and eat babies.

                    Seriously though. Both editors take forever to master. I've done it with vi and whatever advantages emacs might have don't seem to justify going through that again.
                    Proud to be a Walmart virgin.

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                    • #11
                      Hmmm. This sound an awfully lot like an old boss of mine, who actually dealt
                      with people in this fashion as a 'business model' of sorts.

                      Would his initials have been 'CM' by any chance?

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                      • #12
                        Quoth Mark Healey View Post
                        Real men to all their coding in vi (or, most likely a clone of it).
                        Pssh... a friend of my brother's went in for a job interview for a web design company. Somewhere during the interview (early on, if I remember correctly) they asked him what program he builds websites in?
                        "Notepad."
                        "You're hired!"
                        "I call murder on that!"

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Programming

                          The second computer company I worked at as a programmer. This was a new area for the store and we almost ran into the same problem.

                          Luckily, we stopped where the customer was trying to take us in an unending series of added features. I was told to *FIRST* finish all the features listed in the contract.

                          The bosses then took the completed program and contract to the buyer and laid down the law. They had completed their end of the bargain, no more work on the rest of features the client wanted added would be done until they:

                          1) The client paid the first two of the three installments that were originally agreed on. The final payment as the contract was already written to say required the client's approval of the finished program so the customer could delay that for a long time.

                          2) The client paid $X per hour for development of any features that were not in the original contract. Note: X was very low, but the more the customer wanted, the more they had to pay, and if they did not pay up within thirty(30) days I would stop working period until they did.

                          3) No additional support services for the client until the original contract was paid in full.

                          Number three(3) really hurts the client as we were their supplier for a number of computer office supplies/cables/etc., it meant they had to pay in cash/check, not on account like before.

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