Defamation and debt collection: small business threats and realities

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I’m in the process of expanding which means I’m moving Happiness Weekly, Relationship Free and Business Buddy [new] under the Sarah J Webb brand.

This post marks my first official business post that I’ve chosen to share and it’s an important one because I think a lot of people in business are now experiencing the long stressful process of debt collection and the horrible threat that you have “defamed” someone, whether it be intentional or not. I also want to make reference to my post How to Avoid Coaching Scams where I spoke about how I successfully retrieved money from a scam through my bank. However, this post is for those who make a direct deposit, because it can be trickier, and sometimes direct deposit is the only way to pay.

I find a lot of small business owners like to throw around this notion of “defamation” as a defense when they mess up or a client complains about them, particularly if it’s public. [Note: this post is mainly for people who live in Australia as laws do differ in other countries].

Before I begin, I want to make it clear that one thing that is really important to me is working with people who align with my values. And my highest value and intention is to help people. Towards the end of this post, I’m going to give you a very important contact who may be able to help YOU at some point – and he has these values! I’ve worked with him personally and I believe in what he does to help people.

I recently stopped to think about the one consistent thing I’ve noticed about people who threaten defamation: they’re generally only after money and it’s the first threat you’ll get if you publicly dispute their product or service. I know I’m not the only person this has happened to, and it’s a threat with very little understanding and it freaks a lot of people out. No one wants to get sued – but how likely is their threat to become a reality?

Let me share my story recent – “a brush with a defamation threat”.

Not long ago, I employed a web developer on the grounds that he seemed genuine to have a genuine interest in helping me and claimed to have the ability to “easily” carry out the work I was wanting him to do. Now, my website is my business – so no website, no money, no life, which I told him upfront. And the work I wanted done was going to cost me the bargain price of $500. A month passed and during that time he kept coming up with other random things well outside of the agreement – my hosting, ongoing support, future-focused solutions… things that would guarantee him an ongoing income from me.

Until one day – still no work started – he came back and said I needed to pay the total of $1,850 PLUS the $500 for him to do the work. I went away and did my figures, and I just couldn’t afford that. In that space, I also realised if he did what he said what needed to be done for $1,850 then the work I wanted done for $500 would be cancelled out – because that was simply maintenance, and a virtually new website wouldn’t require maintenance. So I quickly got back to him and said unfortunately I couldn’t afford that, and as nothing had actually been done as we agreed, I was seeking a refund.

Reasonable, right? Because I mean, he hadn’t done anything or been able to do anything on my website because I didn’t have everything he needed.

No response.

I contacted him by phone.

No response.

I contacted him again through several messages.

Over a week rolled by: still no response.

At that point, I got genuinely concerned for his wellbeing because he had been so helpful and attentive initially. So I turned to a forum where I’d met him (also where several people had recommended him) and I gave an explanation about why I was reaching out to this particular group, thanked the group for recommending him, outlined the service to date (that he had been really attentive) and the truth as CLEAR AND PROVABLE (that he took the money, nothing had been done and now he wasn’t responding to me and it’d been a week), the issue I’m having now (I didn’t know if he’d received my message to say don’t proceed with work because I can’t pay him for it) and the steps I’d taken so far to reach him and what I wanted the group to do (if anyone personally knew him: check if he was ok.)

OK so here’s what happened next…

First, a girl responded and said he probably either got too busy with other work and he’s put me on the back-burner because I can’t pay or haven’t paid much in comparison to other “VIP clients” – OR he’s just ditched it and gone on holidays.

I outright rejected both suggestions – it just didn’t fit.

Someone else responded and said he’d been offline for a few days and was just about to board a plane and would respond tomorrow.

Then another girl came online and said it could be seen as defamation.

Correct … if you have no idea what defamation IS! I’ll come back to this.

So I got my answer and removed the post.

WELL! The next day he comes to me and says he’s taking $400 and he’ll give me $100 although he hadn’t (which he admitted) done what needed to be done. Oh – and PS he had a lovely time on his family holiday.

I now wanted to go through the computer and wipe that smugness right off his face.

I told him I was referring it to NSW Fair Trading as we couldn’t reach a fair conclusion, and he could find someone else to pay for his family holiday.

He then responded with the “I wouldn’t do that if I were you” threat, alleging that I had defamed him.

Now let’s pause for a second here – I’m not a lawyer but I know a thing or two about defamation and asset protection – so let’s look at why I felt so strongly that I was well within my RIGHTS to ask for help the way I did, and why these bullying-antics weren’t railroading me!

Something I said above which is REALLY important is that the information I stated publicly was clearly THE TRUTH and it is PROVABLE!

This means, I have enough documentation to completely back up every claim I’ve made and there’s nothing he can say or do now to change that. So I could literally PROVE what I said was truth – which is a defense for defamation. And these documents are black and white: there was no room for interpretation and no way he could disprove my words. Here’s what I could show to back myself up: a time-frame from the starting conversation, an agreement for work to be done, an outline of the agreed work, that I had paid the money for that specified agreement (a receipt from me and invoice from him), that the agreed work wasn’t done. This is everything I need if I wanted to get representation or needed an ombudsman to get involved. Oh! And I also took a copy of what I wrote on the forum if that came to light so it wouldn’t become a “his word against yours” match, I had evidence there.

So, ZERO stars for him and a big thumbs down – defamation is NOT an honest testimonial for how it is or has been!

This also goes for people who are speaking on Twitter about their grievances. It’s also why big companies quickly give these people what they want or negotiate rapidly – because people are within their RIGHTS to complain using social media and non-narcissistic companies generally want it dealt with as quickly as possible.

Now, I apologise for starting this post in such an ugly way, but I think it’s important that people start to fully understand what defamation is and what’s acceptable and unacceptable within the bounds of the law. While I didn’t study law, I did study journalism and Media Law (particularly defamation) was a massive component of that.

Now, let me transition into the good part about this entire experience, because there’s always good and there’s something in it for you because I’m going to share a very useful contact with you!

I’m a big believer that everything happens for a reason – and this is where I met someone really important. And I want to tell you about this person and his services in case you ever need this kind of help. I’m even going to tell you how you can contact him, because this person strongly shares my “I just want to help people” values and he’s been exceptional in assisting me to cross my t’s and dot my i’s in my journey to get my investment (or at least a reasonable part of it) back.

His name is: Paul Metcalf. Write that down.

Paul is from Queensland, Australia and owns a business called CollectMORE Debt Solutions Pty Ltd and he reached out and offered to help me. Because while I may know a thing or two about defamation and asset protection, I don’t know much about collecting money that’s in someone else’s pockets.

Paul is actually so down with debt collection that he has created a FREE App called CollectMORE. The app can be used as a solution to help you chase money when a customer doesn’t pay you. It includes various sections where you can document your information (which is also information a lawyer will need if you head down that path), and it includes quick tips on each page which give you advice on things like the ideal trading terms and then it even goes into detail about why 14 days is the most ideal time period for an invoice.

COOL!

So if you’re a small business owner in Australia (although it may be helpful if you live in another country as well) who regularly deals with clients, download the app and check it out. If your situation goes outside the scope, and you do live in Australia, contact Paul through his website: www.collectmore.com.au and see if he can help you.