Property management staff spent three hours counting a large pile of coins following an irate woman’s threat to contact the police, according to experts who stated that her behavior was within legal bounds.

A woman in eastern China resorted to using a large number of coins to settle her property management fees due to dissatisfaction with the poor service provided. This act gained significant attention and became popular on mainland Chinese social media platforms.

The event occurred on March 12 and came to light through an exposé by a woman with the surname Pi on a major online forum.

A resident of Jinan, located in Shandong province, mentioned that the power supply to her apartment was disconnected on March 11.

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Afterwards, the property management firm of her residential area informed her that she needed to clear her overdue maintenance charges prior to settling her electricity bill to restore her power supply.

An irritated Pi questioned in her video, “Who authorized them to limit my electrical access as a means to pressure me into paying the maintenance charges?”

In retaliation, she took out 6,000 coins worth 650 yuan ($90) from a bank and proceeded to settle her bills the following day. These coins were available in denominations of either 0.1 yuan or 0.5 yuan.

When Pi took the coins out of the bank, they were initially bundled in groups of ten.

To raise the difficulty for the property management team, the lady disassembled the paper wrapping around the coins, forcing the employees to individually tally each coin.

Initially, the staff declined to accept the coins and advised Pi to deposit the funds at the bank instead; however, she was not open to this suggestion.

In the end, they consented to tally the coins following Pi’s threat to contact the authorities.

The employees required over three hours to tally up the cash. Throughout this entire procedure, Pi kept a close watch from his office.

After settling her property management fees, Pi mentioned that the electricity supply to her house had been restored.

The lady mentioned that she failed to make the payment promptly as she was unhappy with their property management services.

“I neglected to make the payment. Additionally, I wasn’t inclined to pay,” stated Pi in the widely circulated video clip.

Frequently when I requested their assistance with certain issues within our community, they would respond by stating it fell outside their scope of authority. Yet, they are incredibly enthusiastic about collecting the fees from us.

She mentioned that she had observed other property owners employ the same tactic of using coin payments as a form of retaliation against the firm.

Fu Jian, a lawyer with Henan Zejin Law Firm, informed Red Star News that Pi’s actions weren’t considered unlawful since coins are recognized as legitimate tender. However, he noted that her behavior wasn’t particularly sensible.

He mentioned that the property management firm violated Pi’s rights by restricting her electrical usage when she failed to settle her bill.

In 2022, a comparable situation concluded with a distinct outcome.

A tiny firm located in Central Hunan Province faced an order from a court compelling them to provide a staff member with wages along with additional compensation totaling 10,000 yuan (approximately US$1,400).

The firm amassed stacks of currency, each weighing 50 kilograms, as payment for the laborer.

Multiple court employees spent considerable time counting the cash. Subsequently, the firm was penalized with a fine of 5,000 yuan (approximately US$700) for squandering judicial assets.

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The article initially appeared on the South ChinaMorning Post (www.scmp.com), which stands as the premier source for news coverage of China and Asia.

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