Urgent & Very serious: All Please read

[James White]

Alright guys, here goes a very long thread I need anyone that can help to read.


I used to do freelance web design. For 6 years. Last august I took on a project for a guy. I hired out a guy I always use for the backend programming and by December we were almost finished. We lacked one part of the website to be complete, which was by the guy on the backend for a currency converter. At the end of January my backend guy BS?ed me some and then the Client started getting antsy. By Feb it turned into a bad situation and basically I couldn?t complete the site.

The client became very angry and I said I would refund his money for the currency converter (he had already paid for the entire site, $1800). He declined my offer and demanded a full refund. Which I would not agree to. Especially since I had already spent the money on some debt since I thought the project was complete.

Alright, lets fast forward a month. I didn?t have much contact with the client and didn?t know what was going on exactly. But one day, I hear a knock at my door and there before me are the men in blue uniform. My heart stopped. They then explained to me the client had his attorney in the US (the guy was current in Japan, yet a US citizen) contact my local police dept. to see if he could file charges against me. It turns out he filed a report of ?Theft by Deception, Felony?.

Ok, I contact the client basically asking ?what the fuck?. And said ok, I?ll refund your money. At first this guy was stuck on not even letting me refund him and nearly insisted to see me in jail. Finally after several months and 100?s of emails, this guy agreed to a payment plan to refund his money. $250 first initial payment on this Thursday. And $500/month , every month on the 30th til the debt is paid.

Before anyone ask or post, I have consulted not one, but many law firms regarding this. He CAN do this. Also another problem, I am currently on probation for misconduct charge. Which makes my situation 10X worse, even if he only files the charge I goto jail for Violation of Probation. Then when I?m out I goto court for the next thing.


Ok, first off, I wouldn?t be so worried about this if it wasn?t for the fact I have a 5 month old boy. If I didn?t have him, I?d probably say fuck it and just goto jail.



Ok, with that said. My question to you all is:

Is there anyway any of you can give me some type of work to make this payment by Thursday morning? I have strong web design skills and will do virtually ANY amount of work to make the $250 bill. I can do any type of logos, banners, TGP galleries ,AVS design? hell, I?ll do anything right now, in all seriousness.


Guys if any of you can help me, PLEASE post here, email me at elysiumjames?.at?.hotmail?..dot?.com or ICQ 235-638-104

I am very desperate right now, if I do not have the bill in by Thursday morning, I?m locked up Friday, and NOT getting out.

Thank you so much for taking the time to hear me.

-James

[MrJackMeHoff]

Any examples of your work?

[Jeff aka NIGHTfall]

ill be the first to say James is a good guy, i have worked in the past with him, wish i could put you to work again james, but im all out of things to do.. sorry

best of luck james,

some GFYer out there should be able to put you to work within the next 12hours man


hey guys, help the man out

[James White]

www.fusionimports.com


There is one of my customers from a year ago. About the only thing I have currently online. If anyone is serious about helping me out, I will gladly produce them a sample work of what they are looking to have built before they pay anything.

[dunefield]

post some examples i'm sure you'll get some work...

[newsdude]

Originally posted by dunefield
post some examples i'm sure you'll get some work...

There's an idea! Nothing to lose doing that!

[James White]

for any of you who look at my site i posted as an example... the email at the bottom of the site that is listed as Vujade Studios, as the web designer.. yes that is my old firm, and yes if you email it.. I can verify its me.

[onlymovies]

James, you need this by thursday morning? That's only another day.

You really didn't leave much time open for a full site design. Nobody wants their design work rushed. How would this work out?

[johnbosh]

its along read

[Jeff aka NIGHTfall]

Originally posted by onlymovies
James, you need this by thursday morning? That's only another day.

You really didn't leave much time open for a full site design. Nobody wants their design work rushed. How would this work out?

though i am not james i am sure he ment if you can front him the money now and he will do whatever work you agree to with him in certain tiem periods... or whatever.. he pretty much said any web work he can do he will.. so whatever you need and whatever time period you suggest im sure he can, but as a friend of his i know he needs this money for sure, and he has alot of things not going for him right now, so he needs all the help he can get.

[James White]

Originally posted by onlymovies
James, you need this by thursday morning? That's only another day.

You really didn't leave much time open for a full site design. Nobody wants their design work rushed. How would this work out?

Trust me, you don't know how fast I can work

I can produce a full first page design in 4-6 hours flat. I am not sleeping until the time this bill is due, I am gonna work myself crazy trying. I do not want upfront payment, I would much rather finish the project. Or at least most of it. If you are serious about giving me a project, contact me and I WILL begin and show you im capable of more than most can imagine.

[gwilkins]

Why didn't you just get another programmer for the original project?

[James White]

As I said, a month or so went by without this guy contacting me... then it turned into criminal charge threats before I ever knew what happend. Then he gave me no option

[AlienQ - BANNED FOR LIFE]

Why didnt you get an attorney?

One can file anything they want on ya, and ya could drag it pretty far infact costing em more, especially if you represented yourself in your county as the file complaint was in your city and there for your arena.

I dunno the full story but just because someone files on you is no reason to buckle and negotiate with extortionary terms ya agreed to.
Whether you independent or incorporated there are specific things to be safe and provide your clients a process thats agreeable.

There are some great books about how to defend yourself in the creative services field and you need to be fairly specific in your terms to protect yourself.

hahahahahahahaha approval, hahahahahahahaha approval hahahahahahahaha approval.

[James White]

like i said in my post.. i consulted MANY attorneys.

The reason why Its so bad? cause even if im found innocent on this charge, just the charge being pressed in the first place violates my probation i am currently on and i goto jail

[Evelyn]

Sorry to hear that.

Have you gotten any offers yet?

[AlienQ - BANNED FOR LIFE]

Ya have to be guilty first of the "felony" charge to have your probation agreement broken or am I wrong?

I dunno about being on probation.

[matty]

Originally posted by James White
Alright guys, here goes a very long thread I need anyone that can help to read.


I used to do freelance web design. For 6 years. Last august I took on a project for a guy. I hired out a guy I always use for the backend programming and by December we were almost finished. We lacked one part of the website to be complete, which was by the guy on the backend for a currency converter. At the end of January my backend guy BS?ed me some and then the Client started getting antsy. By Feb it turned into a bad situation and basically I couldn?t complete the site.

The client became very angry and I said I would refund his money for the currency converter (he had already paid for the entire site, $1800). He declined my offer and demanded a full refund. Which I would not agree to. Especially since I had already spent the money on some debt since I thought the project was complete.

Alright, lets fast forward a month. I didn?t have much contact with the client and didn?t know what was going on exactly. But one day, I hear a knock at my door and there before me are the men in blue uniform. My heart stopped. They then explained to me the client had his attorney in the US (the guy was current in Japan, yet a US citizen) contact my local police dept. to see if he could file charges against me. It turns out he filed a report of ?Theft by Deception, Felony?.

Ok, I contact the client basically asking ?what the fuck?. And said ok, I?ll refund your money. At first this guy was stuck on not even letting me refund him and nearly insisted to see me in jail. Finally after several months and 100?s of emails, this guy agreed to a payment plan to refund his money. $250 first initial payment on this Thursday. And $500/month , every month on the 30th til the debt is paid.

Before anyone ask or post, I have consulted not one, but many law firms regarding this. He CAN do this. Also another problem, I am currently on probation for misconduct charge. Which makes my situation 10X worse, even if he only files the charge I goto jail for Violation of Probation. Then when I?m out I goto court for the next thing.


Ok, first off, I wouldn?t be so worried about this if it wasn?t for the fact I have a 5 month old boy. If I didn?t have him, I?d probably say fuck it and just goto jail.



Ok, with that said. My question to you all is:

Is there anyway any of you can give me some type of work to make this payment by Thursday morning? I have strong web design skills and will do virtually ANY amount of work to make the $250 bill. I can do any type of logos, banners, TGP galleries ,AVS design? hell, I?ll do anything right now, in all seriousness.


Guys if any of you can help me, PLEASE post here, email me at elysiumjames?.at?.hotmail?..dot?.com or ICQ 235-638-104

I am very desperate right now, if I do not have the bill in by Thursday morning, I?m locked up Friday, and NOT getting out.

Thank you so much for taking the time to hear me.

-James

Damn man, im sorry to hear that... If i hear of anyone that needs work ill send them your way..

[Jeff aka NIGHTfall]

Originally posted by AlienQ
Ya have to be guilty first of the "felony" charge to have your probation agreement broken or am I wrong?

I dunno about being on probation.

nope.. the probation agreement could be "I will stay away from anything that could cause me to be accused of illegal activities"

something along those lines, it pretty much means if there is any chance of you gettin in trouble, dont go near it.. which yes, pretty much anything you do can get you in court, even if its something innocent.. but if thats what the probation agreement is, then he has no choice

[AlienQ - BANNED FOR LIFE]

But you were attempting to make a legitamate living, thats far from being near trouble.

Sucks to hear this sorta thing especially with as much luv as ya getting here so ya must be talented.

[gage]

I don't know if you had one, but this is a great lesson that you should always have a contract. I have clients pay 1/2 up front.. non-refundable deposit .. and then 3/4's thru it an additional 1/4 .. and at the end the remaining 1/4. I don't know that's how I had my lawyers hahahahaha up the contract and all my clients have been cool with it. Good Luck, -g

[James White]

Guys, thanks for all the post and looking out for me. I found a guy who hired me already. And I am more thankful than anyone can even realize.


And about the probation.. if im charged with anything.. at all.. as little as a loitering ticket... I will be sent to jail. Anywhere from 10 days to the remaining date of my probation ... March 27th, 2005.


to all you GFY'ers. You guys are really great.

[James White]

Guys... Bump for the day people.

But it turns out im still a few bucks short... is there anyone else who can help me out? thank you

[newbreed]

James, sorry to hear about your problems, and I hope someone gives you some quick work.

I don't know why any attorney's would have told you that you are at risk for any criminal charge. You are in the US, right? If so, this is a CIVIL case, and connot be prosecuted under CRIMINAL law. The client can sue you, but not have you locked up. This is similar to a repo or forclosure. If you did ANY portion of the work, he has dick to stand on. Do you live in a little town where they have no other cases to work? I am not in your shoes, so I'm not Monday Morning Quarterbacking you, but the police CANNOT get involoved in this case unless there is CRIMINAL conduct. This would be considerd a civil rights violation if they did. If I remember correctly it is a 1971 or 1972 federal law that prohibits public law enforcement from being involved in private buiness.

Using the repo analogy...

If I was repoing someones car and they called the Police, the Police COULD NOT TELL ME I CANNOT TAKE THE CAR, if they did, they would be "acting under the color of law" and that is not allowed in most of the states in this country.

Just trying to give you another route to look at here man, good luck.

[CE_BigB]

I will help ya out !!!



BUMP



BIG B

[iwantchixx]

Sorry to hear your situation. I sincerely hope you find a way to work this off. Being taken away from your baby would be very terrible.


Someone give this man a job.

I hired James for $250 to go to town on my TGP, install some scripts, design some banners, and create a corporate logo...Basically a lot of work I didn't have time to do.

He dove in and got busy like a pro - Can't wait to see the finished products.

A class act, so far.

[stev0]

that sucks man.. did you have a contract with the little fucker? if so, did you break any part of it?

I'd get a lawyer...

[stev0]

Originally posted by pre007
I hired James for $250 to go to town on my TGP, install some scripts, design some banners, and create a corporate logo...Basically a lot of work I didn't have time to do.

He dove in and got busy like a pro - Can't wait to see the finished products.

A class act, so far.

good to hear

[AMADude]

bump

[PetMyKitty]

at least this guy is BEGGING for work.. and not just begging for a free handout.

[goBigtime]

Originally posted by James White
Last august I took on a ($1800) project for a guy.

I hired out a guy I always use for the backend programming and by December we were almost finished.

We lacked one part of the website to be complete, which was by the guy on the backend for a currency converter.

At the end of January my backend guy BS?ed me some and then the Client started getting antsy.

By Feb it turned into a bad situation and basically I couldn?t complete the site.

The client became very angry and I said I would refund his money for the currency converter (he had already paid for the entire site, $1800). He declined my offer and demanded a full refund. Which I would not agree to. Especially since I had already spent the money on some debt since I thought the project was complete.

I feel for James here... that's a pretty rude awakening to have a project go wrong & then have the men in blue standing at your door.

However, I'll play Devil's advocate since the numbers and time periods don't add up....

With this one-sided story there seems like there could be little that is being left out.

Question: The client paid $1800 for a project... when was the original expected completion date for this project? surely not 5-7 months ? That would only be like $260-$360 per month for your work (which you were sharing with other people)

Let's put ourselves in the Clients shoes....

The client may have been dicked around for months & finally James tells him he couldn't deliver 100%... so the guy is fed up and wants a full refund. Understandable.

James already spent the money so he can't refund it, and the guy is overseas so he might have thought he had an advantage in the situation.


Regardless of the real story, I'm sure lessons were learned by everyone.

James, since you're on probation and can be backed into a corner like that, you probably shouldn't work with anyone without having them sign a work agreement first & have them sign off at various stages of the completed project.

[James White]

The timeline is correct, he contact me in august, project began late sept. Deadline was December 30th (it was a fairly large project.. time consuming).

We then set a new Feb 1st deadline. The men in blue were at my door around march 15-20th. The guy was insistent upon having me in a cell. At first he wouldnt even accept a refund.


Again... I might note, I COULD more than likely beat this guy in court. But you have to understand... im backed into a corner since im on probation. Even if he files charges that violates my probation.. I goto jail regardless. See?

Thanks for all the responses guys.

[Rob]

James, if you're not convicted you won't violate your probation. You only violate when you're convicted.

I'm glad to see someone has put you to work, you seem like a decent guy. It just bothers me how much clients take advantage of webmasters and designers and the law is on their side. It really does sicken me.

keep your head up, it can only get better.

[James White]

Hi guys, Last bump to try and get a project before the evening is over. Bill is due in the A.M.

thanks for all the support so far though