HELP! My Website is being held hostage

Defying · Apr 17, 2010

I am very lost and very much over my head with this situation...

I have a small ecommerce website I use to try to make an extra buck or two. I wanted some upgrades and used a freelancer from getafreelancer.com to have those upgrades completed.

The guy is from India. He got behind schedule, but it didn't mattered, for the price, I just wanted it done right. Well, that was 2 months ago. Today my website is still not up. He is now telling me I will never see my website again, unless I release a paypal block I placed on his account...

I did this because He FORCED me to changed Hosting providers. But it was the very first thing he ever insisted on, so I figured maybe he knows what he is doing, so I finally agreed. Well, since, I've had problems with the hosting. I told him this is unacceptable, and I want a refund. He refused. I paid that with a Paypal, and thats where the dispute comes into play. It's not a large amount of money. $200 bucks. But its the principal..

My website is not done, and not even close.. I have tried to get him to do it. I paid him the FULL amount to be completed through the freelancer site. They basically told me it was my fault for paying him before it was completed. It's not being done right and he always promises to do it right. But I never see a difference.

He has now threatened to never let me see my website again if I don't release the Paypal dispute. Obviously, I could let the Paypal go, but it's the principal. I jsut want my website working correctly. I feel this is the only leverage I have, and once I stop dispute, nothing will change.

Do I have any ability to pursue legal action since he is in India.. Can I notify the authorities there?

What do I do. This is been exteremly stressful...

SportSavant · Apr 17, 2010

Programmers can and are a NIGHTMARE to deal with, I have been scammed so many times I dont know what to think.

There is no way you can touch this guy in India, In fact even if he was in North America its hard to touch them.

I once sued one of them in small claims court after he took 5K from me and didnt finish his job, and I lost in smalls claims court.

This is a very sensitive topic for me but I cannot begin to tell you how angry it makes me.

SportSavant · Apr 17, 2010

Do I have any ability to pursue legal action since he is in India.. Can I notify the authorities there?

unless you want to get scammed by another person (the police) as well as the programmer I woudnt bother. The police will also probably want you to send money to investigate it (LOL) and then will also do nothing.

Defying · Apr 17, 2010

A Nightmare is exactly how I described it....

He claims he wants to do right by me, so should I just release the $200 paypal dispute??... It's not much money
and maybe it will make him work again...

I know the money I paid through the freelancer website I will never get back, which was much more than $200.

I just want my website back on a reliable hosting site...

geez not good news..

Dwight_Schrute · Apr 17, 2010

Just my guess the paypal dispute is somehow hurting his future business and once he gets that you wont hear from him or your website again

Betallsports · Apr 17, 2010

I thought that Site has ratings for these Guys ??

Did he have a Good rating ?

Sounds like your Best Move is to pay him, and Hope he just Releases the site Back to you.

I wouldn't even want him to work on the Site.

HacheMan · Apr 17, 2010

Sounds like you don't have a choice now but to pay the $200 defying....

Betallsports · Apr 17, 2010

quantumleap · Apr 17, 2010

Defying said:
I am very lost and very much over my head with this situation...

I have a small ecommerce website I use to try to make an extra buck or two. I wanted some upgrades and used a freelancer from getafreelancer.com to have those upgrades completed.

The guy is from India. He got behind schedule, but it didn't mattered, for the price, I just wanted it done right. Well, that was 2 months ago. Today my website is still not up. He is now telling me I will never see my website again, unless I release a paypal block I placed on his account...

I did this because He FORCED me to changed Hosting providers. But it was the very first thing he ever insisted on, so I figured maybe he knows what he is doing, so I finally agreed. Well, since, I've had problems with the hosting. I told him this is unacceptable, and I want a refund. He refused. I paid that with a Paypal, and thats where the dispute comes into play. It's not a large amount of money. $200 bucks. But its the principal..

My website is not done, and not even close.. I have tried to get him to do it. I paid him the FULL amount to be completed through the freelancer site. They basically told me it was my fault for paying him before it was completed. It's not being done right and he always promises to do it right. But I never see a difference.

He has now threatened to never let me see my website again if I don't release the Paypal dispute. Obviously, I could let the Paypal go, but it's the principal. I jsut want my website working correctly. I feel this is the only leverage I have, and once I stop dispute, nothing will change.

Do I have any ability to pursue legal action since he is in India.. Can I notify the authorities there?

What do I do. This is been exteremly stressful...

I would never cave in to someone who was holding my site for ransom. This would just encourage him to do this scam with the next person.

My suggestion would be to tell him if he ever wants to see the $200 he should finish the site within a certain time frame. If he doesn't then switch providers again and go with someone else. You own the domain name right?

Defying · Apr 17, 2010

I did already pay him the $200 for hosting + much more for upgrades to the website. the $200 is the claim I filed with Paypal

I guess I have no choice..

:blowup1:

SportSavant · Apr 17, 2010

Defying said:
I did already pay him the $200 for hosting + much more for upgrades to the website. the $200 is the claim I filed with Paypal

I guess I have no choice..

:blowup1:

Ill bet your provider and a competent programmer (lol) can help you reclaim your site with the help of your HOST.

celticGreen+ · Apr 17, 2010

How exactly is he holding your site hostage? He's the only one that has the credentials to deal directly with the hosting company...?

DollarDay · Apr 17, 2010

Don't give in to the extortionist !!!!

I would NEVER let the guy get away with it. The second you remove the paypal block you loose all negotiation with him. If he wants the block removed (and believe me he NEEDS it removed in order to do business), tell him to deliver EVERYTHING he promised you in the first place.

Scoops · Apr 17, 2010

So he is just holding the content right? Just change servers on your domain and rebuild,F-him

Betallsports · Apr 17, 2010

celticGreen said:
How exactly is he holding your site hostage? He's the only one that has the credentials to deal directly with the hosting company...?

The Guy was working on his Site , and to do that. He needed to give him Administrator Powers. With Administrator powers, he can change Passwords...Change Passwords.....= You are Fuked !

celticGreen+ · Apr 17, 2010

Betallsports said:
The Guy was working on his Site , and to do that. He needed to give him Administrator Powers. With Administrator powers, he can change Passwords...Change Passwords.....= You are Fuked !

Well, he's fucked in that he can't get to the content - but if Defying has the old content, or backups, he could just go to a different hosting company & start over. also, if he pays for the hosting directly than the hosting company will have to give him the credentials (or Defying could just withhold payment).

celticGreen+ · Apr 17, 2010

Asked my brother about this, as he is a successful ($100+/hr successful) developer/consultant and he gave me some thoughts. Sadly, either I didn't mention (or he chose to ignore) the fact that this guy you hired is in India (or that Defying had paid for all the work already). But, perhaps this stuff will be helpful in the future if you need to find another developer:

It largely depends on the contract between the owner and the developer.
A good contract would specify that the owner retained ownership of all
assets relating to the business, and provide an out clause should either
the owner or developer become dissatisfied with the relationship. What
is typical, at least in my contracts, is that if either I or a client
becomes dissatisfied and wants to terminate the relationship, they have
to pay me for the work I've done so far, and I have to transfer the work
I have done over to them (since they've paid for it).

So on one hand, I suspect the owner flat-out refusing any payment is a
problem for him: it limits what he can insist on, since if he hasn't
paid for it, it's hard to claim he owns it. He shouldn't pay the whole
amount, but he should be able to negotiate a fair sum based on what the
developer has completed so far. On the other hand, if the developer is
withholding access to certain assets that are clearly owned by the
business, like a domain name, they may be legally liable for that: it
could constitute something like domain name theft, trademark
infringement, etc. And if the owner's current website has been offline
while the site updates are done, the owner could maybe argue that the
developer is liable for damages due to business (and reputation) lost
during the period offline, if there was a schedule that the developer
agreed to and then didn't meet.

SportSavant · Apr 17, 2010

celticGreen said:
Well, he's fucked in that he can't get to the content - but if Defying has the old content, or backups, he could just go to a different hosting company & start over. also, if he pays for the hosting directly than the hosting company will have to give him the credentials (or Defying could just withhold payment).

well he can even go to the current company, claim what happened, and they can delete the site, and change passwords, if defying has a back up then he should be ok.

OccamsRazor · Apr 17, 2010

:think:

The guy is from India, trade him a taxicab for it.

Defying · Apr 17, 2010

Unforunately, before this guy, I used a do it my self site. I paid a graphic designer to do it still, so it looked much more professional than just a template. but bc it was a do it myself template it's wasn't possible to back up...

therefore, there is no backup.. if this guy deletes it changes password ect.. im starting completely over...

I think I am going to offer him the money if he meets all the criteria I need to finish the site. And I will just eat the $200 and rehost on another place...

I apperciate everyones opinion.. it has been exteremly fustrating and stressful... also special thanks to celtic. really cool you would go out of your way and ask your brother...

again, it's why i love the RX... oh and guys, buy local, don't worry about price =)