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Pay Monthly but stuck in a contract for a year


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Hello,

 

I'm a Graphic and web designer and I have noticed that a recurring income is better than a 1 off payment. So with that being said I want to expand my services to not just be a development but also website management. Basically the customer/business pays a monthly fee and I handle everything from email accounts to the website development. The way I would market this is by having a low start up cost for the business (Where I charge £100's sometimes £1000's for a website) instead I would charge for example £45 / month.

 

The issue with this is I would want the customer to stay for a long time, ie more than a year or I basically just done a website for £45 if you understand me. So therefore I want a solution so that a customer pays monthly, but is locked into paying every month for a year.

 

The only solution I can think of is a legally binding contract, anyway I thought I would come to the WHMCS community and see what you guys think, I know some of you are pretty good at ideas. Anyway thanks in advance!

 

Kind regards,

Jamie J M

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The only solution I can think of is a legally binding contract

That's the only way to ensure it. We were trying to be the nice guy a short while back, and designed/developed a charity site just for the cost of hosting. It was explained that they could use the design as long as they were hosting with us, and didn't bother with a contract.

Big mistake.

At the end of the very first year (yearly hosting period, and discounted at that) they decided to move, and said they never agreed to be "held hostage" to my service. It was then I realized I'd been deliberately had, since they made very sure any negotiation happened only over the phone, never in writing. Since it was in Wordpress, I removed my template, and sent them the backup.

They complained loudly about the design not being included in the backup, and I explained to them that not having anything in writing works both ways...;)

 

Now it's written and signed contracts before anything is done, but charities get very low priority, since that's just one of many that did things like that.

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That's the only way to ensure it. We were trying to be the nice guy a short while back, and designed/developed a charity site just for the cost of hosting. It was explained that they could use the design as long as they were hosting with us, and didn't bother with a contract.

Big mistake.

At the end of the very first year (yearly hosting period, and discounted at that) they decided to move, and said they never agreed to be "held hostage" to my service. It was then I realized I'd been deliberately had, since they made very sure any negotiation happened only over the phone, never in writing. Since it was in Wordpress, I removed my template, and sent them the backup.

They complained loudly about the design not being included in the backup, and I explained to them that not having anything in writing works both ways...;)

 

Now it's written and signed contracts before anything is done, but charities get very low priority, since that's just one of many that did things like that.

 

Haha, at least you got some revenge and gave them a bit of their own medicine. I suppose a contract is the only way, looks like ill have to see if any WHMCS addons would help with this. Thanks again Bear, I appreciate it!

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You can disable client cancellation, but that won't 'bind' them into a contract. As bear menioned, your best result is going to be to get a legally signed document, with photo ID (just to prove that they are who they say) from them, THEN find a way to disable cancellation. It is possible to limit cancellation periods for contracts such as this, though not something that's done out of box. You've got to know your way around hooks and stuff.

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You can disable client cancellation, but that won't 'bind' them into a contract. As bear menioned, your best result is going to be to get a legally signed document, with photo ID (just to prove that they are who they say) from them, THEN find a way to disable cancellation. It is possible to limit cancellation periods for contracts such as this, though not something that's done out of box. You've got to know your way around hooks and stuff.

 

Yeah, ill go down that route then. Thanks guys!

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