Beware the Money Bully

Hello, everyone who has managed to stumble upon this article and welcome to my Facebook page and this blog.

In this blog I will post news and articles from time to time and do my best to make the information here understandable to the people I serve, who are of course- the general public.

 

A lot of you may already know what the term "Money Bully" refers to. Some of you might have met one or about twenty and just did not know what they are.

I shall quickly explain what a money bully is and where you find such a person.

Money bullies are people who are in the position of client or employer and who uses the fact that they pay for goods or services rendered to get an unreasonable hold on employees, service providers or vendors.

The harm they do starts sneaking up on you when you swallow your pride and do your utmost to appease what appears to be a dissatisfied client and later hits you full in the face when you realise that your time, effort and money all got swallowed up in this huge black hole of abuse and grief.

Of what concern is this to a lawyer you may ask?

All our business transaction we find in our day to day lives are in fact contracts. Contracts give the parties thereto rights and obligations. It is of the utmost importance for all parties to know what their rights and obligations are before they can even think of approaching the Court to enforce or to rectify their agreements. Now this is where the Money Bully strikes the hardest. He/ she often does not want you to know what the full extent of your obligations are simply because he/she is determined to get as much out of you without paying.

A client I have once assisted ended up running a loss with interior decorating he had done for a client who seemed to keep changing her mind at a whim.

When I requested the client in a letter to give us her exact instructions in writing she had suddenly become quiet and left my client alone.

Other tactics employed by less aggressive money bullies (I can't really call these people bullies, because they don't really instill fear in anyone, but the tactics they employ are based on the same principles as those used by the more aggressive types) include a constant change in invoicing details, repeated requests for breakdowns of amounts and trying to change the topic with new or more instructions.

Your best defense against a money bully is ensuring that you know the terms of your agreement and that you adhere thereto. All changes to any agreement preferably have to be in writing and understood and signed by all parties.

Also- if you have eventually decided to sue for payment- requests for statements and offers to pay in instalments or to pay at al later date to not stay the time period of the summons. There is only one document that does that and it does so for a limited amount of time.

That's it from me. Stay well until next time!