[alanwilson]

My son is putting a website together where shiners can put up 'details' of bad payers, he's been to the solicitor about this and its very similar to a credit rating system and is LEGAL.

He wants to make it a nationwide service where members would pay a nominal fee to cover webhosting etc where you could leave bad payers details so that the next wc'er who comes along won't get taken for a ride.

views on this would be appreciated

[cleanandshine]

i dont think it would work ,,but good luck

[Art]

How do you work out a bad payer?

It could be someone who wasn't happy with your services and refused to pay you.

It could be someone who you had a clash with.

So IMO it's not going to work

Arthur

[kris martin]

you know which ones are the bad payers, go for it...

[windolene]

Hi,

Bad payer as in late payer are just a few, bad payer as no-payer are near non-existent.

Kervin WINDOLENE.

[Moderator David@stives]

Isnt there a more constructive way to spend your time.

If I ended up on it I would sue the pants off you.

[Glyn H]

It would be a complete waste of time-
Unless you are going to charge several hundreds of pounds a year for a subscripition to the site.

 Their are many professionally run organisations that carry out simular -
 really you would need to ensure that they are bad payers this could only be done once a court case has taken place and a judgement has been granted against the person.

[*Chris Browne]

Tell him to forget it mate, its been tried before, IMO its to messy and could turn nasty....

[David Slater]

I'd check that advice with the Data Protection Registrar 

I remember reading about a website that did something very similar for landlords who had bad paying tenants.

Lots of lawsuits followed from individuals who said they were not bad payers and that their Data had been misused by posting it on a website. The Data Protection Registrar agreed and the website was shut down.

If memory serves, The lawsuits bankrupted the owners of the site.

Personal information is a red hot area and the Registrar has some mighty powers!! I'd be very very careful before you proceed.

 

[Sanity]

Too many pitfalls I think. 

[simon knight]

I don't see what's wrong with the old fashioned way...send the boys round

[alanwilson]

I have spoken to him about it and he is going to do a little bit more homework on the issue - by bad payer I meant non-payer.  Surely if someone procures a service from you and then doesn't pay they have no grounds to stand on?

[Clive McDonald]

I think it's a good idea and has legs. for a nominal fee you can negate that feeling of impotence once someone has stung you for a small amount.

I also agree with the critisisms.

Maybe you could get round it. Discount windows reported... address and date only

[David Slater]

I have spoken to him about it and he is going to do a little bit more homework on the issue - by bad payer I meant non-payer.  Surely if someone procures a service from you and then doesn't pay they have no grounds to stand on?

When I referring to 'bad payers' for landlords I did actually mean people who had done a runner without paying rent.

Its a tricky one for sure,
The first thing that springs to mind is they are going to say they had a justifiable reason for not paying and you have made libelous or malicous statements and made them public (on the internet site) and they will sue for defamation and/or libel.

The next thing that springs to mind is the Data Protection Registrar will want to see a copy of your licence to hold data (which if you have your customers names and addreses stored on paper, disc, computer or any other format) you should be registered already!! He will then want to know how and why that data was made public....remember that fiasco of the lost discs a few months back    Losing/selling/releasing data attracts heavy fines.

The next problem is going to be evidence - If you havent taken this person to a small claims court and been issued with a judgement in your favour then you have no evidence (in law) that what you are saying is true....thats why we have county court judgements, a judge/magistrate has listened to all the evidence and issued  a judgement.

Indeed, it could be argued that all of this is adequately provided for with Equifax and other credit reference agencies and what you are doing is unlawful and malicious.

Be very very careful.