Happy New Year everyone!  It’s finally 2012, and this promises to be a special and exciting year for Love and Romance.  For those of you who subscribe to the “end of the world” prophecies surrounding the end of the Mayan calendar on December 21, 2012, this must be a truly special year for you.  I mean, if the world as we know it is in fact ending, wouldn’t you rather face the end with someone special by your side than to face it all alone?

For those of us at the WhatsYourPrice.com headquarters, 2012 promises to be an exciting year as well.  Fortunately, none of us here believe the world will actually end this year.  For this reason, we are working hard to introduce new features to make the website even more fun to use.  Also, expect WhatsYourPrice.com to be featured more prominently in the news this year … on Monday January 9th, the Anderson Cooper show will be featuring a episode that is all about WhatsYourPrice.com.  Here is the preview:

One thing I hope everyone will have less of this year are disputes and disagreements.   Disputes and disagreements may happen in any aspects of our lives, from business partnerships to inter-personal relationships, and even on WhatsYourPrice.com.  Earlier this month, I was asked to be an expert witness on the Swift Justice show about a court case between a sugar daddy and two of his ex-sugar babies whom he met on our sister-website SeekingArrangement.com.  In this case, the relationship did not work out, and in revenge the two sugar babies vandalized the sugar daddy’s car.   Judge Jackie Glass, the same Las Vegas judge who sent O.J. Simpson to prison, presided over the case.

I am obviously not happy about this episode of Swift Justice for many reasons.  First, I do not think the sugar daddy or the two sugar babies are a good representation of what being a sugar daddy or sugar baby is all about.  Second, while there are many things wrong with the relationship the sugar daddy and the two sugar babies have, I completely disagree with the outcome of the case.

No matter how a Judge may feel about “sugar relationships”, he or she is required to judge the case in an unbiased manner based on the facts of the case.   And while the sugar daddy member did do many things that were “questionable” or over-reaching (such as writing a letter to the parents of the sugar babies), based entirely on the facts alone he should have won the case.  The two girls did after-all admit to vandalizing his car because they wanted revenge.

Disputes between members who meet on WhatsYourPrice.com are quite different in nature.  They will likely not involve the types of drama we see in the case above, but it does usually involve money and a broken promise.  While most members who use our website understand the rules that we have set forth, judging from some of the questions we receive, there are still a minority of those who are looking to take advantage of others.

The most frequently asked question is:  What if a Generous member refuses to pay the agreed upon amount?

Here is the answer from our FAQ page:

An agreement made on our website is a binding contract between two people. If the Generous member does not pay the agreed amount after meeting on a first date, then the Generous member may be held accountable. If you are an Attractive member, please collect all information and proof that you did in fact go on a first date with the Generous member who has violated this agreement. We suggest you file the case with a small claims court (civil court). While the website cannot be responsible for an agreement made between two people, the agreement made on our website between two members may be used as proof of an agreement in court.

And the second most frequently asked question is: What if someone accepts my offer, but the first date never happens?

The answer to this question can also be found on our FAQ page:

The agreement you made via our website is for the Generous Member to compensate the Attractive Member only if both meet on a first date. If the first date does not take place (no matter what the reasons may be), then the Generous member is not obligated to pay the Attractive member and the Attractive member should not expect to receive the agreed upon payment.

Update (January 7, 2012):  After posting this blog a few days ago, I heard from a few generous members that they have been to dates whereby the attractive member looks nothing like her picture.   So the third question is:  What if the attractive member who shows up looks nothing like his/her picture, do you still have to pay?

If the attractive member who shows up on the date looks nothing like the person on the profile, it is equivalent to false marketing.  In such a case, politely explain that he/she looks nothing like his/her profile pictures, then politely leave without paying.  At your earliest opportunity, report his/her profile to the website so we can take the appropriate action.  Do not stay for the date for even 1 second or you may be obligated to pay as agreed.  However, if you like the person even though he/she looks different than his/her picture, and you choose to stay for the date, then you are obligated to pay. 

So if you have a dispute and choose to take your dispute to a civil court, you can always ask for a copy of the agreement made via our website.  This can in fact serve as proof of a binding agreement.

However, if you wish to take a more public forum, you may want to consider submitting your dispute online to Swift Justice, Judge Judy or Judge Joe Brown.  Just remember, that while a real Judge in a civil courtroom has to rule by the law, a Judge on a television show may not be subjected to the same stringent requirements and may (as the case above show) rule based on his or her personal beliefs.

What is your suggestion on dealing with the member who doesn’t do as he/she promise?

Have you ever experienced a dispute or disagreement on a First Date?

If you have a disagreement, would you ever consider going on National TV show to settle your dispute?