What's my next step? Help

[iry]

Hi,

Please help. I am trap in a situation where I need you guys advice and suggestion. I’m engaging with a guy for a web development project. Due to some reasons, the guy failed to deliver what he promised several times and now he refuses to keep contact with me even if I requested to terminate our relationship.

And the problem is the domain name is registered by that guy’s company which he own and the web site already been announced to the public which has been aired in TV. What should I do? I’m not sure whether can I get the domain back? What if he refuse to give back the domain name? currently he is blocking the access to the web site.

Thanks for your help.

p/s:I've never meet this guy and found him online though his company web site. His company location is about 4-5 hours drive from my area.

[norbert]

I suspect you've already tried to offer a win-win scenario that is appealing to both of you?

[rene_stpierre]

You're in a tough situation.

Do you understand well the reasons for his failure to deliver? Is it lack of information, lack of clarity on his mandate, does he have a personal situation, etc. or is he just dishonest?

How did you go about following-up on his work and how did you react to him missing the dates? He might feel threatened or feels like he is not being treated fairly and now wants to get back at you by blocking the site.

Make sure you have acted properly and you really understand why he is action that way.

if all possible avenues for win-win resolution have been exhausted, your next step might have to be to get a lawyer.

Good luck
René

[JPX]

Send him a formal letter through airmail, certified with signature request and all the postal service bells and whistles.

If need be, pay a few extra bucks at a Kinkos or Office Depot and print it on very nice looking professional paper.

On that letter, give him a new due date to either complete the project, or transfer the domain name to you --- or you will take legal action. 30 days is more than fair.

The other question you must ask yourself is -- is that domain really worth all the hassle? Can you register a new domain and move on with life?

I know it's tough, but these issues can become nasty and costly really fast, while your wasting time, energy, and resources that you could be investing in growing your business.

Stay positive!

[iry]

I’m not sure whether it is because he thought that since I’m the middle person who handle the project, and thus I’m the one who made up all the requests and requirements without consulting the end users. Whenever he failed to delivered something, he excuses would be like he was attending some workshops, need extra time to collect the resources to hack the portal (where there is already 1 month buffer for him to do this) and etc. I’ve even sent him emails to him saying that I’d understand that he might busy with his works and families but I hope he hold the words that he promised ( I almost make his swear ) .
The last promise that he made was to finish the membership module (which also the only customization involved) on Sunday morning and he demanded to call the end user directly. I did gave him the end user number. Yet on Monday night, nothing has been customized and no phone calls have been made. It does really piss me off.

And for the updates, after n times of calling him (but he never pick up the phone) he finally call the end user and mentioned he will complete the module end of this week. Again, I hope he will hold what he said. Now the end user (which also the project initiator) will deal with him directly.

On the other hand, I’m thinking why this happen. Is it because there are some problems with my communication skills or thy way I dealing with people? Hm.. how can I be “calm” if someone has disappointed you numerous times yet the project is urgent and you need him.

Norbert: Yes, I tried but …

rene_stpierre: From our conversations, I found that our priorities are different and he would raise this point whenever he failed to deliver.

JPX: yes, the domain name worth the hassle as it would be trademark of the society club.

Thanks for all your feedbacks and I really appreciate it.