> First, what does your terms of service say about collection of past due
> amounts - hopefully it says something about being able to recover
collection
> and attorney fees.
Bingo. It's the terms of service, and any/all contracts, that really matter
here.
> Second, quit communicating with him directly tell him
> you have turned the matter over to your attorney. Have your attorney
> write a strongly worded letter to him about payment of the past due amount
> and his uncalled for claims against you - include the cost of the attorney
> writing the letter.
Bingo! Don't talk to him, if he's a problem in your office then ask him to
leave. If he refuses, call either building security, or the police. Either
way, he does not have the right to stand in your property, and you have the
right to remove him. (Via the police)
> I do not agree that the data is his. He rents some amount of web space on
> your hard drive - if he does not pay his rent he is not longer entitled to
> that space. One other question - why are there any NetSol charges for
> simply changing name servers?
Exactly. If he owes money, then (Unless contractually specified otherwise),
personally I'd just send it to a collection agency, delete everything of his
that's on the servers and resell that space to another client.
> Spending money on the attorney will likely be more expensive - but
sometimes
> it is the principle of the matter and it sounds like he is trying to bully
> you.
Exactly. And a well written contract will make him responsible for your
legal bills as well, assuming you win (Again, a well written contract will
help with this too)
The provide I work for is this way. If someone doesn't pay an invoice,
we'll take an appropriate amount off the end of the contract (1 year
contracts are the ONLY type that we offer, however, extra bandwidth charges
are billed monthly since we can't predict them upfront)
If the client refuses to pay them, no problem, just deduct time from the
account. If they make a stink, they'll get nowhere until the invoice is
paid, although if they upgrade to a higher package, we'll probably make it
retroactive and cancel the invoice. A happy client is a good client.
If they threaten legal action, ALL communication with them will end, except
for written mail (Not email. Mail, typically certified), until they pay the
invoices.
If the contract is terminated (IE, they have $100 worth of service left, and
a $200 unpaid invoice), we'll do nothing more then terminate it. We don't
send it to collection normally, If it comes down to legal action, we will
grow teeth real fast, and go after them for everything that they are worth.
Legal fees, bandwidth charges, interest on the unpaid bill, etc.
As far as I know, in our 6 years of operation, and some 40,000 current
clients, we haven't lost yet.
