Web designer takes revenge over unpaid bill

Erin Tennant, ninemsn

10:03am February 1, 2013

A screengrab from the Caribbean Dutch Pot Restaurant homepage.

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A web designer behind a Jamaican food restaurant has taken revenge over an unpaid bill by pasting a $1500 overdue notice onto the restaurant's website domain.

Customers who click onto the homepage URL for the Caribbean Dutch Pot Restaurant, in the US state of Maryland, are directed to a copy of the invoice with the bold red letters "Past Due Final Notice".
Independent web designer Julie Williamson, from Baltimore, said she posted the invoice online around November after spending several months trying to persuade the restaurant's owner, Donovan "Prince" Vassell, to pay up.
She said Mr Vassell had agreed to pay $1500 (AUD$1440) for website and marketing work she and her team did on a reggae music festival that his restaurant hosted last July.
He disputes this claim.
"It's really hurt me to my heart this whole thing," Ms Williamson told ninemsn when contacted by telephone.
"I had a hard time dealing with the fact that I did a lot of work — you can't even imagine — and he stiffed us on the invoice. It was worth more than $1500, but that was the price we settled on.
"Until he pays me, the invoice is staying up."
Mr Vassell said he had already paid Ms Williamson for all the work she had done and claims she posted the invoice to be "vindictive" after a romantic relationship they had ended on bad terms.
"I don't owe her any money. I don't know where she came up with this $1500 figure," the Jamaican native told ninemsn in a phone interview.
Mr Vassell added that he plans to sue Ms Williamson for defamation.
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