After doing a bit of digging myself on the story, half of me wants to believe it, because I have been in this situation before where I've done work for free with the promise of future payment, in order to get a startup off the ground. It didn't get off the ground. It didn't have the resources, advertising, and staff it needed. It's still around, but it's still on the ground as far as I know. Maybe someone picked it up and put it on the table, but that's as far as it's gotten off the ground. Anyway, the other half is split to 25% wondering if it was a joke between friends that turned sour when payment wasn't made for work performed, and the other 25% thinks back on all the bad attempts for internet fame that were poorly attempted and poorly handled afterwards and wonders if this is similar. On the whole, though, I tend to believe David's side here.
On that note, if clients refuse payment, don't perform any more work for them. If they're a current services client, suspend the services until payment is made. A grace period is a given, though, for me. It's a tough economy and I understand everyone has emergencies sometimes and life just happens, and I'm not going to take down your site because you had a health emergency and couldn't pay your bill this month. If you can't pay the amount within the near future, I'm sorry, but I can't perform charity design and hosting, you'll need to find someone that works for free, because I have expenses too. And I only extend that understanding to existing clients, not new or potential clients. If you can't pay the deposit but offer promises of future payment, I'm sorry, but 'investor' isn't one of my career choices at the moment.
