Graciousness doesn't pay
Back in the Nineties, I bought a domain name for testing purposes. Kept a web page up permanently. A couple of years later I got a demand letter from a Swedish lawyer claiming that the domain should be transferred to his client immediately because its name was the name of his client's company.
I didn't fall for this and replied that his client could have the domain for $5000 (I had bought it for $35). He countered with an offer of $3500. I accepted with alacrity, gave him 30 days to pay, and offered to point DNS settings (I ran DNS for this domain) to any IPs he wished and to transfer the domain on receipt of payment.
His client's website came up within days. DNS for mail worked fine. But after 45 days, and an unanswered request for payment, I still hadn't been paid. So I reconfigured DNS to point to my webpage, which had a single, large-font message: "Pay your bills!" And then all hell broke loose.
Frantic voicemails and e-mails, faxes directly from the client, as well as his lawyer. I ignored them. Within 24 hours my PayPal account had a deposit of $3500.
The lesson? Businesses don't want to spend money on services that they already have. They have to feel the pain before taking the medicine.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
