Caught up in someone elses dispute, what would you do?

zig · 29-08-2014 1:40pm #1

Hi,

Im a part of a web development company. We were approached by a client. He is basically looking for custom development work on his site. We quoted him for that and he is happy.

The issue is he can't get the FTP details for his website because he is having a dispute with the developer who did it, the developer is charging more than what was agreed, but unfortunately they never signed anything, also we've no clue of the developers side of the story.

The client asked us could we quote for taking that site and rebuilding it.

However the site was built using a theme, and I would be confident to say there was little to no custom work done on it , because Ive compared the theme to his site and they are nearly replicas bar colour schemes and content, and possibly layouts defined in the settings in the theme.

My question. Should we

a: Take the approach that business is business and we will do it for our price?

b: Not get caught up in someone elses dispute and get accused of taking someones site, and work, and effectively ripping it off (even though it was done on a theme).

We are honestly torn on this one, as we are new company and so some of these situations are still new to us, we don't even have an interest in doing it to be honest. But at the same time we are very eager to get working on the custom work as thats what interests us.

We also had quite a few conversations with this guy and we think he could be a great customer in the long run. Its him that is adamant that we write out a project scope for this new work, which tells me he does feel he was burned at bit.

Beano · 29-08-2014 1:46pm

the dispute between the client and previous developer is none of your business and shouldnt factor into your decision. Having said that if the original developer wont give up the ftp details until they are paid then what sort of problems is that going to cause for you?

zig · 29-08-2014 2:15pm

Thanks for the advice, we'd be actually setting it up on our own hosting and reinstalling the theme and possibly replicating the current site. So we'd no longer need anything from the other developer.

tricky D · 29-08-2014 2:30pm

I don't quite agree with the don't get involved approach. You can do that, but you are risking not getting the prospective client. The very act of advising the prospect means you are somewhat involved anyway and the prospective client is in need of this help and that will result in a lot of goodwill for you ie. you get the job with no compete. I've found myself in this kind position a few times and have almost always managed to find a somewhat amicable solution assuming the role of a quasi-arbiter (an architecture/engineering concept that while being paid by one party you hold the best interests of all). The best solution in a case as described above is to pay the dev a fair price as agreed and get the assets released in an orderly manner which saves a load on having to redeploy/replicate existing assets which wastes a lot of budget. The cost/benefit is usually in your and your client's favour by doing this. If the dev doesn't play ball - most will, people are reasonable in negotiations if you approach it right - then you move into the realm of actions like whipping the domain from their control, solicitor's letters and more hostile, time-consuming and expensive tactics. I've only once had to resort to whipping the domain out of the dev's control at hoster level and otherwise always managed to find a solution via fair negotiation. Also, from experience, I've always found there are two sides to the story.

DublinWriter · 29-08-2014 4:52pm

Surely the client is paying for it's own hosting from a third party and could request that the FTP password be reset?

tricky D · 29-08-2014 5:08pm

That's generally the best practice but in these sorts of cases usually the hosting is on the developer's resold package hence the ability for the dev locking in the client and creating the type of issues we have here. A sharp practice imo and a red flag when looking for solution providers as it potentially or actually in this case exploits the client's lack of knowledge in the area (and creates extra distrust for the industry).

Beano · 29-08-2014 5:13pm

tricky D wrote: »

I don't quite agree with the don't get involved approach. You can do that, but you are risking not getting the prospective client. The very act of advising the prospect means you are somewhat involved anyway and the prospective client is in need of this help and that will result in a lot of goodwill for you ie. you get the job with no compete. I've found myself in this kind position a few times and have almost always managed to find a somewhat amicable solution assuming the role of a quasi-arbiter (an architecture/engineering concept that while being paid by one party you hold the best interests of all). The best solution in a case as described above is to pay the dev a fair price as agreed and get the assets released in an orderly manner which saves a load on having to redeploy/replicate existing assets which wastes a lot of budget. The cost/benefit is usually in your and your client's favour by doing this. If the dev doesn't play ball - most will, people are reasonable in negotiations if you approach it right - then you move into the realm of actions like whipping the domain from their control, solicitor's letters and more hostile, time-consuming and expensive tactics. I've only once had to resort to whipping the domain out of the dev's control at hoster level and otherwise always managed to find a solution via fair negotiation. Also, from experience, I've always found there are two sides to the story.

If the client was willing to pay the first developer then i dont think the question would even be asked. As it turns out there is nothing needed from the first developer so there is no need to contact them. Best to leave well alone.

Agreed that there are two sides to any story. It could be the client that caused the problems.

tricky D · 29-08-2014 6:01pm

Re nothing needed:

The MO for this situation is the developer has the hosting, domain name and DNS locked in. While the need to transfer those can be got around, it can be a lot of costly hassle and there's plenty of scope for malicious actions on the developer's part.

Then there is the IP which the developer could just maliciously destroy. The cost of re-gathering and redeploying this alone from almost scratch is often more than the payoff.

There's a (not so) strange phenomenon in the web industry where many spend hours or even days doing something or other to save a few bucks without factoring in the cost of their own time - the opportunity cost in economic terms.

Lastly, if the client won't pay the previous developer the previously agreed and fair amount, I'd be wary of putting myself in a position where I might not get paid properly.

Simply put, in my experiences the (fair) payoff is much more cost effective then the alternatives.

Talisman · 29-08-2014 6:51pm

Is it a WordPress website?

waynerooney · 29-08-2014 11:54pm

I'd leave that one alone Zig. Even though you're keen for business, I get a feeling in me waters that while the client might have potential for big dollars... it's only potential until something's signed. Your ethics are admirable I feel, given that you're asking questions in terms of what's the best thing to do. Remember too that now you've your own company, you can choose your clients. Don't choose a client who could make your life misery regardless of the cash benefit.

beauf · 30-08-2014 2:11am

+1
Also Agree staged payments and stick to them.

daveohdave · 30-08-2014 2:34am

Beano wrote: »

Having said that if the original developer wont give up the ftp details until they are paid then what sort of problems is that going to cause for you?

wget -m

If it's a theme for an OSS CMS with little to no customisation, the preprocessor code is probably irrelevant.

The domain could be an issue though, as someone else has mentioned.

Caught up in someone elses dispute, what would you do?

Comments