You better know who you’re messing with if you’re not going to pay them what you owe them…

Because they might just make your life a living HELL.

A Reddit user shared a story about how they were forced to exact revenge on a business owner who refused to pay up.

Bad move!

Not pay me for the website I built? Say goodbye to your business, house and reputation.

“I used to be a freelance front-end dev and a search engine optimisation guru.

Back then getting on the front page of Google was pretty simple. Link exchanging was popular but risky. I never did that but I did have a single website that had serious page rank clout due to it being linked as a trusted source, directly from one of the top and most trusted websites in the World.

I would use this website for the best clients to get their pagerank and search engine position leapfrogging other, older and more trusted websites.

And then Bob entered the picture…

One day I was approached by someone I’ll call Bob. Now Bob sold travel packages. He needed to revamp his basic, existing website, with a complex website built with pretty tricky backend coding. I could do the front end but I had to hire a backend dev to build the functionality.

Bob had a major launch in a months time and it had to he ready. I usually ask for 25% deposit up front but Bob said no, he was stung by the last dev and wasn’t going to lose anymore money.

But they had a bad feeling about this guy…

Now from the moment I met Bob my gut was telling me this was going to end badly. The problem was I needed the money and it was worth quite a lot of money for me and the dev. I skipped the deposit on the promise he paid in full before it went on his server. Bob agreed.

For an entire month we worked day and sometimes all night to get this done in his timeframe. With a day to spare we had done it and I’d never been so proud of what we had achieved. I was honestly excited to show Bob.

The next day I sent the link to my test server and he phoned me to discuss it. Bob said everything looked good but he was worried his servers php version may be to old to run it. I assured him it would but he said he was too scared it wont and we would scrub our hands of it.

They had obviously worked very hard on this site for Bob.

We went backwards and forwards but he was insistant the site has be uploaded and tested on his server before he parts with a penny. I chatted to my Dev. He didn’t like it either but agreed we would upload our work onto his server.

And then…nothing…

Bob gave me the FTP details and server login and I uploaded the site. I told him it was live and then… nothing.

I sent several emails and then phone calls. The emails went unanswered and the phone went to voicemail.

Sensing a major problem I rushed to my computer, fired up my FTP program to delete our work on his server and… ACCESS DENIED.

He had locked us out and the following day he went live with our work.

This Bob fella turned out to be a Grade-A jerk.

For several days I tried phoning until one morning he answered the phone and said “listen, I’m not ever going to pay you and there is nothing you can do about it”, then Bob hung up.

Rage was a good word for my feelings, I was shaking while I still held the phone in my hand.

So all they could do was get revenge, naturally!

For the next hour my range of expletives was growing in complexity. As I sat there figuring out what to do, it hit me. Revenge will be mine!

I registered a new domain name, which was Bobs travel domain name plus sucks at the end. If Bob’s website was called bobstravel.com, i had purchased bobstravelsucks.com

I uploaded our work, basically an exact mirror of his live website, onto my new domain. I used my all powerful mega page rank domain to link to my new sucks domain.

And this person really knew what they were doing.

Within a month my website jumped above his website in google for every conceivable search phrase you would use for the packages he sold. No matter what you typed in, my site was the first result and his was always below mine.

During that month I created a second website, which was Bobs full name with sucks at the end. On this second website I posted what happened, screenshots of his emails and warning everyone what a conman he is.

Bob had a somewhat unusual first and last time. Again within a month my website was above his own personal website.

I then forgot all about it.

And Bob reappeared…

About 4 months later I get a cease and desist email from a solicitors firm. A quick google showed the solicitors firm was made up and didn’t exist. I reply back with “I’m not ever going to take them down and there is nothing you can do about it!”.

Every now and then I’d get emails from people he had conned by taking their money for a travel package but never booking their package.

I’d put those on both of my websites, making sure those juicy important keywords; his full name and company name, were spread across each negative review.

A few more months pass and I get an anonymous email linking to a new domain called mynameSUCKS . I’m told to remove my two websites and he will remove this new one.

A quick search and what do you know; it isn’t even on google. No one could find it. I reply back for a second time with his comment to me.

And the game continued…

As each month passes I’m getting more and more people emailing me saying they’ve been ripped off. I keep adding them to my website.

Turns out the travel agency world is well regulated and they started an investigation into Bob’s company, using my website as their main tool.

Bob was definitely not happy with how things turned out.

I get a call from Bob. Bob is not a happy Bob. In fact, Bob is more of a desperate Bob. Looking at this text now, I know you can almost hear the despear and resentment in Bob’s voice.

Bob pleads and literally begs me to pull the sites down. Not only is he being investigated by the travel agency association, but he had some very important friends that didn’t appreciate the bad press he was causing in their circles.

He offers to pay me the money he owed. Nothing more, just what he owed.

For the third time, and with a massive smile on my face, I say “listen, I’m not ever taking them down and there is nothing you can do about it”.

It looks like Bob was the one who messed up this time.

Roll on a few months and I discover his travel company has been removed from all travel associations.

No matter what you typed into Google, my website outranked his and all the bad reviews on my site were the first thing his potential customers would see. I crippled his business so badly… it went bust.

During the collapse one of his ex employees contacted me and told me how hard he had worked to get my websites off the first page. He had registered dozens and dozens of other domains in the hopes some would jump ahead. Little did he know only the top dozen websites in the world could jump it.

And Bob really took the brunt of it!

Apparently his property was tied into loans on the failing business and he lost his house too.

It took me just about a year to turn his business from a cash cow to a dead cow.

Motto of the story; if you ever think to mess with a Dev… don’t!”

Check out how people responded.

One Reddit user said this person got revenge AND took the moral high ground.

Another individual said they could have kept the money…

This reader really nailed it!

Another Reddit user just doesn’t understand people like this.

And one reader said they’re sorry they didn’t get paid, but…

That was a harsh one!

But some folks need to be put in their place like that.

Well done!