Possible legal issue

issue regarding loss of earnings

[mikem1986]

Hi guys

Possible problem you may be able to help me with.

I had a maintenance contract for £250 a month to cover 12 hours of maintenance and seo work each month for minimum term of a year.

The client has now decided to move hosts and wanted the domain name and website transferred to the new company.

So on 30/3 i intiated the domain transfer but my host wouldnt let the transfer go ahead when it has a hosting package attached to it. I made a backup of the site and all the sql databases and sent them to the clients new host and told them i would now transfer the domain.

The new host didnt put the site up until yesterday morning and i have received an email from the client saying they plan on going to court to cover for loss of earnings for the 2 days the website was unavailable.

I dont expect them to go through with this and believe its an idle threat to get them out of paying 2 months maintenance and hosting equal to £530 which they owe me from last month and one months payment from November 09.

Ive emailed the client and told them once the transfer of the domains was initiated the website was out of my hands and there was nothing i could do but they don't seem to understand this and i told them its the new hosts responsibility for getting the website back up and running once the domain had left my account.

What would you do in this situation as its really starting to get me down. I have around 25 clients and this is the first one i've ever had a problem but i don't really want to go down the legal route but i also don't want to lose the money that i'm owed.

Thanks!

[lammert]

In a situation where your client is planning to go to court there is only one advice possible. Ask a local lawyer who knows the laws in your country, understands the implications of your contract and may know other specifics which may be important.

[mikem1986]

Obviously that would be the sensible thing to do and i will go down that route if needs be.

I would just like to get opinions from other webmasters, should i still invoice them appropriately, charge late fee etc

Also because im freelance i think it makes me out to be an easy target and thus dont think i wont go all the way down the legal route to get the money im owed. I dont think they would be taking this same action with their new hosts as theyre a big company and also their responsibility.

[tangor]

We are not lawyers. We cannot give legal advice. Your situation is unfortunate, of course, but you might have mitigated it by setting up the transfer with a signed agreement between you and the client that you are NOT responsible for the amount of time it takes the name servers to switch, or propagate across the net.

Bill them all you like. When sued (should they do it) your defense is "industry standards" and hope your lawyer will take that into consideration as a reply to the suit. DNS and nameservers do not change in minutes, or even hours...and most say that change might not happen for 24-48 hours.

This is not legal advice, it is a reminder one should always take "industry standards" into consideration when contracting with clients.

[mikem1986]

Thanks Tangor.

I dont think they understand the concept of DNS propogating despite me trying to explain several times

[lammert]

They don't need to understand DNS issues. That is what they are paying you the money for. But what they do understand is that due to the transition their website was unreachable for some days.

It is the same when I bring my car to the garage and a mechanic screws things up and my car is unavailable for some days. I don't have to understand the technical issues which made my car unusable, but I do understand--and I expect the garage to understand--that for the days which I couldn't use my car they have to compensate me. Either by giving me a replacement car for those days, or by paying me the costs I have.

You can't hide behind "industry standards". Your only safe harbor is your contract with them, and local laws.

[piatkow]

It is the same when I bring my car to the garage and a mechanic screws things up and my car is unavailable for some days.

The analogy that I would use in this case would be hiring a tow truck to take your car to the garage then expecting the tow truck company to compensate you.

[lammert]

From the OP:

I had a maintenance contract for £250 a month to cover 12 hours of maintenance and seo work each month for minimum term of a year.

The OP provided and billed both maintenance and hosting of the site based on a long term contract. This can't be compared with a tow truck which is hired after your car broke down.