fishfinger - 3:01 am on Mar 8, 2008 (gmt 0)

We've been stung a few times this way. I don't know how it works in the US, but in the UK, if a company owes you money they can fold the company and you get nothing. If an individual owes you the money they can go bankrupt and you get nothing. Either way you stand little chance of getting your money back if they don't intend to / can't stay in business .

It's horrible to be stung, but it happens. You start to develop instinct and learn to sniff out bad deals, time-wasters, messers and no-hopers.

I have to say I'm with jtara. We have learnt to stay away from 'friends of friends', start-ups with big ideas and small budgets. We only deal with established businesses who are accountable for their decisions. You should always insist on a deposit - our minimum is 20%.

I doubt you'll get your money. Learn the lessons and move on.

If building a full website register the domain name so you control it from the start.

We do this wherever possible - always reg'd to client but we are the tag holders. Legally they have rights to it but it protects us in case of debt as we can show debts as a reason to refuse to release tag if it ever comes to court. Still only works with businesses that intend to stay in business and keep their domain. Won't help if someone is just prepared to walk away from the site and the domain.