Tycoon Talk
Become a Big fish!
The number 1 forum for online business!
Post topics, ask questions, share your knowledge.
Tycoon Talk is part of Freelancer.com - find skilled workers online at a fraction of the cost.

General Discussions


You are currently viewing our General Discussions as a guest. Please register to participate.
Login



Reply
Just had a web designer / programmer try to scam me
Old 12-09-2007, 10:36 PM Just had a web designer / programmer try to scam me
Skilled Talker

Posts: 90
Trades: 0
Well, I love it when these things happen and they always happen with contractors, but the guy ran off with some money. He finished up 70% of the website and disappeared of the face of the earth. I've got a photocopy of his drivers license, his license plate number, and the check that was written to him when he signed the contract. He hasnt answered a single email or telephone call in 10 days.

I'll have to file this with small claims court to get the money back but I have a feeling that once the sheriff sends him a court notice, he will try to finish up the website or make it seem as though the website was completed.

What is the best way to document the date and what the website looks like?

Who needs some work?
__________________

Please login or register to view this content. Registration is FREE
myshtern is offline
Reply With Quote
View Public Profile
 
 
Register now for full access!
Old 12-09-2007, 10:47 PM Re: Just had a web designer / programmer try to scam me
ForrestCroce's Avatar
Half Man, Half Amazing

Posts: 3,023
Name: Forrest Croce
Location: Seattle, WA
Trades: 0
Um ... I don't need some work, actually I could use a clone to do my work for me while I bask in the sun. But that's not the question you really want answered.

Take some screen shots of the site, and of the view source. Use FireFox for the source screen shots. That's still easy enough to manipulate, but in court, photos themselves aren't evidence - which is why film vs digital is a non issue - it's the person who took the photo attesting that it's an accurate representation of what they witnessed.

How often does your site get crawled? Google's cache is a sort of internet way-back machine.

What state do you live in, and is the designer n the same jurisdiction? Many states don't allow lawyers in small claims court. That's a good thing for you, but you need to do some studying up on the specific laws that apply.

What does your contract say about timing and whatnot? By the way, Washington's attorney general was on the radio talking about how it's pretty common for contractors to do half the work before vanishing. Apparently most people are less likely to complain ... don't change horses midstream, and all that.
__________________

Please login or register to view this content. Registration is FREE
|
Please login or register to view this content. Registration is FREE
|
Please login or register to view this content. Registration is FREE
ForrestCroce is offline
Reply With Quote
View Public Profile Visit ForrestCroce's homepage!
 
Old 12-09-2007, 11:09 PM Re: Just had a web designer / programmer try to scam me
Skilled Talker

Posts: 90
Trades: 0
Yeah he is local here and all the small claims stuff will be simple. I just want to solidify the case by making sure that it's well documented. Google has crawled the site but how do I use that?
__________________

Please login or register to view this content. Registration is FREE
myshtern is offline
Reply With Quote
View Public Profile
 
Old 12-09-2007, 11:33 PM Re: Just had a web designer / programmer try to scam me
ForrestCroce's Avatar
Half Man, Half Amazing

Posts: 3,023
Name: Forrest Croce
Location: Seattle, WA
Trades: 0
Okay, do a search that will bring up the pages in question. Instead of just clicking the link to go to the page, underneath is a link that says cached. Go to that one, and make a screen shot or print out.

What state do you live in? I have a friend who just passed the bar, and works with plenty of attorneys. I can ask whether anybody knows off hand about anything to be aware of in your jurisdiction...

Read your contract carefully, and you might want to give the better business bureau or a consumer protection agency a call to get more specific info on what you can do to bolster your case.

I would hope people with more experience in this matter would be giving their thoughts and advice ... maybe the ecommerce forum would be a better place for this thread? It could just as easily belong in the general forum, but have a look over there ... I'll move it if you think that might attract more answers from people who've been through this before?
__________________

Please login or register to view this content. Registration is FREE
|
Please login or register to view this content. Registration is FREE
|
Please login or register to view this content. Registration is FREE
ForrestCroce is offline
Reply With Quote
View Public Profile Visit ForrestCroce's homepage!
 
Old 12-10-2007, 09:32 AM Re: Just had a web designer / programmer try to scam me
beta's Avatar
Extreme Talker

Posts: 169
Trades: 0
nonono, you are all going about it the wrong way. Take a leaf out of this guys book and start up a blog pretending to be the programmer that scammed you, with a picture of his drivers licence and everything. Then throw in a couple of porno pics, a dash of private information and you have a lovely stew of revenge ready for the entire world to taste.

Remember that all of these kinda jobs are based on reputation
beta is offline
Reply With Quote
View Public Profile
 
Old 12-10-2007, 10:09 AM Re: Just had a web designer / programmer try to scam me
Novice Talker

Posts: 10
Name: Carlo Angelo
Location: Philippines
Trades: 0
There's nothing good on fighting back or making a revenge. Leave him and let the good Lord decides for his future. Karma exists, believe me.
__________________

Please login or register to view this content. Registration is FREE
wiredfreak is offline
Reply With Quote
View Public Profile Visit wiredfreak's homepage!
 
Old 12-10-2007, 11:42 AM Re: Just had a web designer / programmer try to scam me
beta's Avatar
Extreme Talker

Posts: 169
Trades: 0
Yes, of course karma exists, it just operates nowadays on a point-per-click system.
beta is offline
Reply With Quote
View Public Profile
 
Old 12-10-2007, 01:09 PM Re: Just had a web designer / programmer try to scam me
Harlequin's Avatar
Extreme Talker

Posts: 166
Name: Mick
Location: Tenerife
Trades: 0
I vote for Karma.

If you're lucky, he'll screw over the wrong guy one day soon and get the **** kicked out of him.
__________________

Please login or register to view this content. Registration is FREE

Death Once Had a Near Harlequin Experience...!
Harlequin is offline
Reply With Quote
View Public Profile Visit Harlequin's homepage!
 
Old 12-11-2007, 04:03 PM Re: Just had a web designer / programmer try to scam me
Banned

Posts: 2,898
Location: Canada
Trades: 0
If you want court to accept pics, copies etc. of your site present condition
then have witness who will sign affidavit to verify when you took all that information
e.g. date, time etc.




fastreplies
fastreplies is offline
Reply With Quote
View Public Profile
 
Reply     « Reply to Just had a web designer / programmer try to scam me
 

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off





   
RSS Feed  Feeds: RSS   JS   XML
RSS Feed  Feeds for this forum: RSS   JS   XML



Page generated in 0.36630 seconds with 12 queries