So, it may be illegal, but how are you getting in trouble for digital trespass? The customer he didn't pay his bill and doesn't know about the law calls the police, who don't know about the law, and tells them that he stiffed a small company and the company turned off the system.

They might arrest him for theft. At the same time, make sure they don't see you converting HDMI to component video. You might get the electric chair

You guys are way too uptight about stupid laws that don't matter. No you can't shut down the business in the middle of the day because they didn't pay you. That could get you in trouble. You can shut down a home and get away with it, what the hell are they going to do about it.

I had a customer last night, a lawyer, who offered me a to go cup from my bourbon. In my opinion that's a much more serious law to be broken. And my professional didn't care.

BTW, I didn't take it with me

Yeah, you drank it before you left ;)

Dave, it's not about will they, its more about can they. IF you get that one person who actually is in the know, it can create major headaches and jeopardize your business. It's just not worth the risk IMHO.

This would be a civil matter, not criminal. If they go to court and intent to defraud was found, it could become a criminal matter. It's not the same as shoplifting.

I knew someone who used to have fingernails, until someone spilled the beans about the cassette copies he was making.

In that case you'd better hope it's turned on by CEC -- it won't work.


??

Like I said earlier, if someone could connect the dots and prove I pulled up outside AND uploaded something to make it glitchy, it's free booze for all. What the hell, we'll get a small crew of strippers too. My dime.

Also golden,
Part of the no-deposit business model stems from a former employee. After it was found out he was outright embezzeling and let go, he would receive calls and show up at clients homes under the pretense he was still with us. Trust allowed him to ask for upfront funds (checks made to him if you can believe it) and he would just skip. When they would eventually figure it out and get back to me, one of my tactics to gain trust back was to say "We'll do the entire project and at the very end, when your satisfied, you can pay us. It worked and we have overcome the damage that was done. It's taken years,$, and hard work to gain back this trust.

DaveInBalto made a comment about the electric chair.

How does your comment relate to that?

I sort of agree with IR Killer, its has been 8 weeks so he has been more than fair, but I would have approached this a bit differently. Note- your contract should have a suspension of service clause, this will totally give you license to shut down the customer without fear of being sued!

Rather than power the system off, I would have done a recurring 1 minute mute command with A nag screen listing detailed payment options, this would have been my first choice. Some people simply get into financial trouble, but can often make payments, while this is not ideal it is a lot less painful than court and lawyers. The point is you need to give the non payer optional paths that still puts the coin in your pocket

Of course some people are just plain dicks who don't care what you do. For this sort of thing I have a very good suggestion for everyone.

Find your self an independent licensed bill collector, there are a lot of them out there. These guys usually work out of a home office and are subcontractors for larger corporations. Beyond their scary over the phone bill collector savvy, these guys know every trick in the book including how to legally seize property or other assets on behalf of a contractor, the thing is these guys love to wheel and deal, they also love electronic toys meaning you can get them to work for trade in gear most of the time. which is a hell of a lot less exspenisve than a lawyer.

I made friends with one of these guys and it has come in very handy on several occasions.

 

Some of you guy practice bad business


Nothing enters a house or business unless paid in full. Once it enters it now belongs to them regardless if it's paid for or not.

At completion there should be no more than 10% outstanding and you should be walking out with a check in hand.

Now I'm cracking up. The guy with whom I made a great team because we communicate so well -- no pronouns and all the stuff I talk about here -- introduced me to a client who was in collections. We did some work for them...

Fast forward three years to the 2008 misery, and I'm talking with the wife... she's telling me business has slacked off horribly, and I'm thinking collections, 2008, slacking off? I asked her why, and she said because nobody's buying furniture right now. Huh?

Turns out that for all that time I had thought her husband was in collections, but instead they had a furniture shop called The Collection......

No, she never stiffed us, I just thought of the story and couldn't help myself. Sue me.

chuckle, but true, bill collectors were hit hard, but I am serious, if you have a bill collector call a delinquent account on your behalf, it is amazing how most (not all but most) of them want to quickly work things out directly with you.

IR

I agree it is time to massage that business model. Doesn't have to be drastic but I would personally hate to see you get taken advantage of.

We like most other are 100% of gear (with an explanation about it being like shopping at a store).

Second payment is day one or two of install once all the gear is on site and things are coming together. This can be any sized project.

Last payment for me is a bit different and simply because I am motivated by money. We leave and let them use the system and they have 30 days of usage to find things they would liked changed or adjusted. These are mostly programming things but sometimes audio.

Some people respond favorably to a lien that has been attached to their property. Nothing like trying to start a remodel and finding out that someone has an attachment to their equity.