The situation is one of the designer's own creation.
If the client never paid anything up front, that's just bad business practice. If the designer delivered and launched the site without having yet collected a dime, that's more bad practice. And if the designer continued to host the site while never getting paid, that's just stupidity.
Rather than being controlled by his emotions, this designer would have been a lot better off kicking those pesky feelings out of the building and viewing the situation as a learning experience, then creating business practices as a result.
For example, adopt a policy of getting 50% down at project start with the other 50% due within 30 days of site launch. If a client starts dragging their feet on payment, remind them of the clause in the contract where the penalties for non-payment were outlined. You did get a signed contract, right?
Sometimes clients don't want to pay and unfortunately nobody starts out in business with great judgment about who is and isn't going to pay. That judgment comes from experience, which is unfortunately built through exercising bad judgment.
If the client never paid anything up front, that's just bad business practice. If the designer delivered and launched the site without having yet collected a dime, that's more bad practice. And if the designer continued to host the site while never getting paid, that's just stupidity.
Rather than being controlled by his emotions, this designer would have been a lot better off kicking those pesky feelings out of the building and viewing the situation as a learning experience, then creating business practices as a result.
For example, adopt a policy of getting 50% down at project start with the other 50% due within 30 days of site launch. If a client starts dragging their feet on payment, remind them of the clause in the contract where the penalties for non-payment were outlined. You did get a signed contract, right?
Sometimes clients don't want to pay and unfortunately nobody starts out in business with great judgment about who is and isn't going to pay. That judgment comes from experience, which is unfortunately built through exercising bad judgment.