Am I liable if I discountinue a business critical service to non paying client?

[josecandelario]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? FL

Hello,

I have a small business in Florida. I currently have a client that is 6 months past due for services that I have provided him as a consultant. They do not respond to my collections attempts. Typically I send these accounts to a collections agency but this particularly street savvy client knows that it costs more to collect a small amount than to fight it.

If collections does not work, the only leverage I have is a registered domain name i.e www.hiswebsite.com which I have ownership of. I also provide a service for him called DNS.

If I stop providing DNS service for him, his email and web site will be interrupted. He will have to transfer from me ownership of his domain name and get DNS elsewhere in order to get his Email and Web site back up.

If I refuse to transfer the domain name back to him or if I stop providing him DNS service and he has an interruption in his business, could I be held liable for his loss of business or potential loss business? I have never had to do this and I hope I don't have to resort to this, so I am a bit nervous.

I want to write a letter to notify him that if he does not meet his obligation that I will stop providing him this service and he will likely experience an interruption in his day to day services. Is this the appropriate course of action? What is the best way to go about resolving this issue?

Thank you in advance

JC

p.s. I have invoices/work order w/ signatures documenting his acceptance when I did the work.

 

[cyjeff]

This is worth an hour of an attorney's time to get the letter right... and include the legal fees in the request.