High maintenance customer

[GCC Consulting]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: 
> filepro-list-bounces+gccconsulting=comcast.net at lists.celestial
> .com 
> [mailto:filepro-list-bounces+gccconsulting=comcast.net at lists.c
> elestial.com] On Behalf Of Laura Brody
> Sent: Monday, November 26, 2007 8:32 PM
> To: filepro-list at lists.celestial.com
> Subject: Re: High maintenance customer
> 
> Quoting Steve Wiltsie <swiltsie at micro-mui.com>:
> 
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Laura Brody" <laura at hvcomputer.com>
> > To: <tjpalmquist at bigfoot.com>; "Tom Palmquist" 
> > <tjpalmquist at comcast.net>
> > Cc: <filepro-list at lists.celestial.com>
> > Sent: Monday, November 26, 2007 7:07 PM
> > Subject: Re: High maintenance customer
> >
> >>   This lawyer was a whole 'nother story....
> >>
> >>   I should have put the brakes on this nonsense at the beginning.
> >> After it became obvious that he wasn't going to pay me until 
> >> EVERYTHING was perfect (according to him), I grew a few IQ 
> points and 
> >> put a time bomb on the code I wrote for him. If I remember 
> the date 
> >> right, the code I wrote stopped working last week.
> >> The export file will now only contain "This export has 
> been disabled 
> >> until you pay your invoice." fP Tech won't take the 
> password off of 
> >> the prc files and the password will cost the balance of my 
> invoices. 
> >> Up his and the horse he rode in on.
> >
> > Ummmmm.  I thought that was illegal in most states.
> 
>    **** Clarification *****
> 
>    I only disabled the import and export reports that *I* wrote.
> I did not touch his data or any of his other prc tables. He 
> didn't pay for my prc tables, so they stopped working. He is 
> right back to where he was before I came along. He can add 
> data, print data, delete, change and screw up anything he 
> wants - he just doesn't have the EDI import and export that I wrote.
> 
>    Doing Bad Things(tm) to a customer's data, prc tables, etc.
> is VERY ILLEGAL and NEVER recommended.
> 
> --
> Laura Brody
> +------------- Hudson Valley Computer Associates, Inc ----------+
> | PO Box 859 120 Sixth Street    http://www.hvcomputer.com      |
> | Verplanck, NY 10596-0859       Voice mail: (914) 739-5004     |
> +------ PC repair locally, filePro programming globally --------+
> _______________________________________________
> Filepro-list mailing list
> Filepro-list at lists.celestial.com
> http://mailman.celestial.com/mailman/listinfo/filepro-list


As per my previous post, process tables depend on who owns the software.

Since most of my software is custom, I license it, I do not sell the code.
Therefore, just like you did, if the client fails to pay, I can remove it.
That's in my contract.  

I have 2 accounts currently that I have no contract with.  One client I have
had for well over 15 years and the other is a client where I have known the
CEO for well over 25 years.  In fact he wrote his first system in profile16
for his chain of stores.  I am doing custom software for him on an on going
basis based on a hand shake.  Both clients have paid their bills promptly.  

I've been lucky over the years and only got burned twice for small amounts
and mostly for consulting services and not software.  

Had one company that purchased my Textile Brokerage System.  Although they
paid the initial amount, I had trouble collecting for some custom
programming that was specific to their business.  I went to their offices to
correct some bugs in the program.  But I made sure I collected for the work
before they went to lunch.  I deposited the check as soon as I got it as we
banked at the same bank.  I have not gone back to them.

Richard Kreiss
GCC Consulting