Really only a problem for clients that don't intend to pay. I believe it is a very good thing to know if the client has grave worries about what you might do if he refuses to pay. An honest client won't even be thinking of that.
There's a long established legal principle that if you don't pay a workman he can place a lien on your property, which may even result in it being sold at auction. You can also be charged with theft of services, a real crime for which you go to jail.
If your new client is worried he might go to jail should he be committing felonies, that is also a concern.
Sorry, but I wouldn't hire these guys, and I've never screwed anyone over.
We only know one side of the story. It could be that they added a whole bunch of extra charges that weren't in the contract, and when the client balked, did this as blackmail. Or maybe the work was of horrible quality. Who knows? I don't want to work with people that could potentially go nuclear on me over a legitimate dispute.
On the other hand, I'd have no trouble working with someone that has a history of suing clients that don't pay up. Or even someone who point blank told me he'd sue me if I didn't pay up (although I'd consider it mildly offensive). Since I have no intention of doing something that'll make me lose a court case, I don't fear getting sued.
Loose cannons, on the other hand, I do fear, which these guys clearly are. Even if they're in the right, this time.
I used to run a business doing hosting, custom software, and web design. There were several occasions on which we got screwed by customers who didn't pay, or who withheld payment until we did extra work that wasn't in the original agreement. At the time, I felt that my reputation and the reputation of the business meant that I couldn't lash out on the mailing lists of the (very small) industry were were in. When I'd had a problem with someone in the industry, though, and then later someone else had a problem, and complained about them publicly, I noticed two things: first, it didn't seem to hurt the reputation of the person complaining; second, if I had complained, my example might have saved another person from also getting burned.
I now believe that I should have made a lot of noise when someone tried to scam me in this way, and should have spent less time worrying about my reputation. I'm still not sure I should have gone as far as shutting down the (online-only) businesses which I still had passwords to, but I no longer view that as beyond the pale, as I did then.
[Edit: Although, in this case, iwwr's comment suggests it was the developer who was shady.]
That's right, and you can go in endless circles second guessing which party was in the right. If you decide that it was wrong to take the work back, you're just siding with the client. It's not hard to imagine them having done something equally drastic that we don't know about.
In many cases, contracting is effectively lawless and the stakes can be arbitrarily high. There aren't many actions I would categorically rule as out of bounds.
Keep in mind that there are people out there who are utter wrecking balls. They do nothing but damage to everyone they work with, and sometimes to themselves as well. The "professionalism" of their victims is what allows them to keep going.
I have a friend who is one such "wrecking ball". She would sacrifice pay and reputation for the satisfaction of some quick payback and cheap drama. She is however wicked skilled, but most who still deal with her do so with a grain of salt large enough to satisfy a herd of deer.
Loose cannons, on the other hand, I do fear, which these guys clearly are. Even if they're in the right, this time.
You don't even know the guy. They could be an incredible developer and you wouldn't work with them because they'll screw you over if you screw them over first?
I hate to say it, and with all respect, but did you read my post at all? Because that's absolutely not what I said. My logic is:
1) The only thing we know about the guy is that he screwed the client over. The client may or may not have deserved it. Likely deserved it, if you prefer.
2) I don't want to work with him on the chance that the client didn't deserve it, and he'll screw me over when I don't deserve it.
Honestly, I don't see what's controversial about that. It's a massive red flag. Of course knowing more about the guy, or his situation, might change my mind. But that's true of any candidate.
(Note that I realise he's replied to the thread here now - I'm just trying to explain the thinking in my last post.)
I tend to agree with you, it would be one thing if they had it stipulated in the contract that they could disable the software, no different that a license agreement with a software lock, but to air the dirty laundry on the site, that's over the top, I would steer clear of working with someone like that.
There's a long established legal principle that if you don't pay a workman he can place a lien on your property, which may even result in it being sold at auction.
Not sure if 'property' here is meant to mean 'real estate' or just 'property' in the sense of 'stuff you own'.
While I've never heard of a house going to auction because of unpaid bills (though I'm sure it has happened), it's exceedingly common for vehicles, equipment, etc to be claimed by someone who was working on them. A very common occurence is for a mechanic to dismantle a car to find out what's wrong, then to quote the cost of repairs to be either more than the person can afford, or more than the car is worth. At that point the customer sometimes refuses to pay even the amount of work done at that point. At which point the car sits in the yard for the alloted period of time, at which point the mechanic takes ownership and sells off what is left (or, sometimes, fixes it themselves and sells for a profit). Usually the mechanic also has the right to charge a storage fee, and to levy interest on the unpaid item to increase the size of the total lien. And it's normal for the mechanic to lose out badly, which is why some people require up-front payment to undergo speculative work to find the source of a problem that could be expensive. The same goes for electronic equipment- it will cost you $200 to even open up a camera to see what is wrong, which is why most get thrown in the bin when they stop working.
I think his wording ambiguous as to whether or not he was inferring application of the concept to software, and I personally appreciate someone clarifying that it isn't.
It was a good series of posts, either way.
Ultimately, I think I'd probably waste a couple hundred bucks and get professional legal counsel if I really wanted to be sure I knew all my practical modes of reprisal.
There's a long established legal principle that if you don't pay a workman he can place a lien on your property, which may even result in it being sold at auction. You can also be charged with theft of services, a real crime for which you go to jail.
If your new client is worried he might go to jail should he be committing felonies, that is also a concern.