Ethics question from a hosting provider that got shafted

[Phil21]

Hey, I currently co-own/admin a hosting company that does adult hosting as well.

The short story is we have a complete ass of a customer who hasn't paid his bill for over 3 months. He doesn't do an astounding amount of traffic (less than 40GB/mo about), and that coupled with his shitty payment history and general bitchyness does not get him a very low rate. He now DEMANDED the rate we give customers who pull 100's of GB/monthly and pay their fucking bills on time, or he'll go elsewhere w/o paying.

Basically, if we don't get a payment within 3 days from this guy, we're going to shut down his hosting. He owes us well over $700 (this is after us adjusting things down about $100 or so, he hosts like 5 domains and gets other services from us besides bandwidth).

Now my question. would it be unethical to redirect all his traffic if he fails to pay? I figure we'll have 3-4 days before he can find another hosting provider and switch the NS info over. What would you guys think?

We strive to maintain the highest level of integrity and selflessness as a provider, but once and a while this turns around to bite us in the ass (case in point). We don't want to do something that would alienate us, but damnit this guy is totally screwing us. He's out of country, (UK) so getting him to pay via legal methods is pretty much out of the question.

Thoughts?

-Phil

[Warphead]

I'd have started forwarding the minute I got the email with the threats. Seems to me you're losing 3 days of restitution.

I'd also hound him until the day I died. Make sure any host he goes to is aware that they'd better get paid up front.

[Steve]

Phil, you are TOO nice. No money, no sites. Fuck this character, send all his hits to a dialer or something, get your money back.

[wiZd0m]

Huh, Steve, since when taking it on the surfers will punish the webmaster?

Thats like telling Saddam Hussein, "Well starve your people until you give up power"



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[Susan]

Why be so nasty to the guy at this stage.

Offer him a nice deal, get the cash off him then when he does not pay at the end of the next month pull the plug. This way your loss will be less.

[Bake]

I would have redirected his traffic allready you cannot win with some people and It sounds like you have tryed he could be allready to dumb you and not pay whats owed.
I dont like dialers but I would send his traffic to AP or simular sponsor.
Bake

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[Phil21]

Susan: Because.. if I give him the rate he is demanding it would'nt cover nearly our costs. We've done a LOT of work for this client for free, assuming he'd actually pay his damn invoices.

Why should I take $200 when he AGREED beforehand to pay $800+?

I dunno, it's the principle of the thing. Hell, even if I retroactively priced everything for him to at our cost (which he wants), I still doubt he'd actually pay. I would be happy to discuss the rates he pays for future invoices no problem, but the fact is he agreed to pay a set amount and just now after running up a huge bill does he decide to pull this.

So do you still think it's best to bite the bullet and get 1/4 of what he's used? Sigh..

-Phil

[UnseenWorld]

If you have this guy dead to rights, contractually speaking, unplug him now without redirecting and tell him you'll see him in court. A convincing bluff frequently does the job. He'll shit his pants when his traffic starts getting those "The page cannot be displayed" errors (I'm not totally sure on the wording).

As for redirecting his traffic, why damage your karma? Take the high road. Just my opinion.

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[Techie Media]

From another hosts standpoint, I would have to say I agree 100% with Unseeworld. Don't stoop to his level, and at the same time give him some fuel for his fire. Pull the plug, no redirect, and get lawyer, or lump the loss, and chalk it up to experience.

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[Phil21]

Yeah, I think I'm just going to unplug him when his few days runs out.

Basically was hot when I posted this, but that's why I posted it. To get feedback.

While it IS tempting to try to recoupe some of the costs, I have thought about it and figured I'll just write off the loss. I will be contacting any hosting providers he goes to though, just to give them a heads up if they care.

As for the court idea, I wish. He's in the UK so no dice there.

thanks a bunch guys!

-Phil

[Lensman]

I think you should host him forever without getting paid.

[Warphead]

Originally posted by Lensman:
I think you should host him forever without getting paid.

Yeah, why ya so greedy? While you're at it set me up a spot too.

[pearce6]

Do this tell him that you will take him to court THEN redirect the traffic to a custom made page with an article on explaining that the guy didnt pay is hosting etc and he will be taken to court and that is why the site is down. Then have a link at the bottom of this page redirecting to a site or dialer of ur choice. Sorted.

[SABAI]

this is a good idea pearce6...
also if he runs adult sites i would drop a note to all of his sponsors not to pay him...he would then understand what its like to get fucked up the ass by people who don't pay

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