barney977 - 4:51 pm on Nov 14, 2008 (gmt 0)

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone has experience with dealing with a non paying customer. I have been working with a client for over 1.5 years on their site. Since August they have become difficult with payment although the feedback has always been they are happy with my service.

They have not paid me for an invoice which is over 3 months overdue now.

I have told them I am not happy with this situation and need payment. I have control over their webserver (hosted with a company they pay but i setup) , over all of their emails and the content for their website. So far I have taken their site back to how it was in August which covers all of the work they have paid for. I have also threatened legal action.

What I would like to know is, where do I stand legally if I take their site down completely, stop their emails and with-hold their domain. I must add this site is very high profile if that all effects this situation.

Please could someone advise.

My thoughts are if they do not pay, then am I entitled to take their domain and auction it as it is a famous name and am sure it would fetch for some good money.

I would appreciate any advice any has to offer. The last thing I want is for them to sue me for loss of business for taking their email and site down even though they owe me.

It is such a shame things get like this, clients are so demanding with their deadlines for work to be done and get have no regard for our deadlines for payment.