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  • Ocean Marketing -- Just.... wow.

    Spotted this on Twitter earlier. Just... wow.

    Exchange of emails between gamer, prickish PR dickbag, and Penny Arcade's Gabe

    To summarize: Gamer named Dave pre-ordered some PS3 controllers (apparently ones that are designed to be more accessible/usable by disabled gamers) from a company called Ocean Marketing. Due to circumstances beyond OM's control, their shipment got delayed. However, they did not inform their paying customers of this. Dave sent an email to OM asking what was up, and when could they expect their merchandise to be shipped.

    What followed was a series of emails between Dave and OM's PR person, who is apparently named Paul. Paul responded to Dave's emails in a manner that was far from professional, and seemed at times childish, condescending, and rude. (Not to mention getting Dave's name wrong at one point.)

    Dave ended up emailing the exchange to Mike "Gabe" Krahulik from Penny Arcade, who was appropriately appalled and informed Dave (while including PR Paul on the email) that they were going to be cancelling Ocean Marketing's booth at PAX East. PR Paul proceeded to try to blow this off-- even claiming, more or less, that money talks, and they would get a booth if they wanted one-- and demanded to know who Mike was.

    And when Gabe informed him that PAX was his show, PR Paul tried again to pass this off like it was nothing-- name-dropping other sites and shows along the way-- and asked who Gabe was again. When Gabe told him he ran Penny Arcade, PR Paul professes to be a fan, and when Gabe informed him that Ocean Marketing would be "featured" on Penny Arcade tomorrow (i.e., today-- the emails were from yesterday), PR Paul claimed to love the PR this would bring.

    PR Paul, when Gabe refused to back down, then threatened to get the "125 dedicated people" he has to do PR, Blogs, Articles, Videos, etc. to smear Penny Arcade.

    Just... wow.

    But wait! There's more. IT GETS BETTER.

    Reddit busts Ocean Marketing's website

    Apparently large portions of Ocean Marketing's site are plagiarized. More than that, PR Paul claims to be a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, but when Reddit contacted him to try to confirm this, PR Paul was confused and unsure what they meant. And when confronted about the site being plagiarized, he hung up.

    Just... wow.

    I've never bought anything from Ocean Marketing, but after seeing all of this, they're never getting a dime from me.

    ETA: WOW. Apparently PR Paul is Paul Cristoforo, and is actually the man RUNNING Ocean Marketing. More to the point, IGN, Kotaku, and other sites that he name-dropped in the email exchange with Dave and Gabe have all been quick to disassociate themselves with him and his company.

    ETA #2: And apparently David Kotkin, the man who invented the Avenger controller in the first place-- a teacher who developed the controller for a student of his with a physical disability in his hands-- has fired PR Paul. Paul's unprofessional behavior was apparently the last straw in an already strained relationship.
    Last edited by Jay 2K Winger; 12-27-2011, 10:04 PM. Reason: Even more info
    PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

    There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!

  • #2
    I think this is "how to ruin your reputation 101".
    The best professors are mad scientists! -Zoom

    Now queen of USSR-Land...

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    • #3
      Gabe posted an update.

      I'm torn on how I feel about this. The guy has pretty much had his home life destroyed, and it's looking to stay that way for several days, at least. It's going to take months before he's going to be able to clean up the havoc, if it can ever be cleaned up.

      On the other hand, calling him a douche-canoe doesn't even begin to describe it. Rude, condescending, refusing to acknowledge any of the customer's concerns, and putting all of how hw felt in writing. He seriously fucked up.

      I don't think he really deserves what's happening. Punishment, yes, but not to the level it's being taken.

      Comment


      • #4
        I really can't believe that Paul guy; I'm sure he knows a lot of people, but I doubt any of them actually LIKE him! He reminds me of too many full-of-myself people I've met in the gaming world.
        "If anyone wants this old box containing the broken bits of my former faith in humanity, I'll take your best offer now. You may be able to salvage a few of em' for parts..... " - Quote by Argabarga

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        • #5
          I feel for the family of the bully because now they are being forced his humble pie and he's being forced to watch.

          Comment


          • #6
            I have to concur with Gabe (penny arcade): I don't think is really sorry about what he did, he is sorry he got caught:
            "just wanted to apologize for the way our emails progressed I didn’t know how big your site was and I really didn’t believe you ran Pax "

            He pretty much outright says that it's okay to screw over his customers, but when there is a chance of bad publicity he is all nice-nice.

            Did he deserve what happened? Dunno. I am not going to speculate here, as I am thinking any in-depth discussion probably belongs over on Fratching.
            There's no such thing as a stupid question... just stupid people.

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            • #7
              On the one hand, yea, I kind of feel sorry for this Paul guy. Talk about Karma being a bitch. On the other hand.... he did it to himself. Or at the very least kicked off the first rocks of the landslide.

              Maybe someone will stumble across all this, and it'll cause them to pause and think things over before hitting that send button on a rude message.
              You're only delaying the inevitable, you run at your own expense. The repo man gets paid to chase you. ~Argabarga

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              • #8
                The Internet has been around long enough that companies should know better. But it seems they don't learn.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Honestly? He got what he earned. Someone who makes a career out of stealing others content and intellectual property and then following up with abusing handicapped customers?
                  Screw him, he's a bully

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                  • #10
                    Paul seems like the guy in the huge SUV that rear ends a small car, Paul then gets out of his SUV and yells, screams, swears and threatens the small car, out of that small car steps a 6'10" 350 lb muscle man and Paul is quickly very sorry.
                    http://www.customerssuck.com/?m=20080203

                    My destiny is not pretty, but it's what my cutie mark is telling me.

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                    • #11
                      This is why you always watch what you mail. You never know who might know whom.
                      The report button - not just for decoration

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                      • #12
                        I'm disturbed about the fallout for innocent people - family, clients, etc. However, there's a certain vigilante pleasure in seeing this happen to this guy, and the Internet will not forget him.

                        Rapscallion

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                        • #13
                          It sounds like classic sociopathy to me - particularly the "sorry I got caught" attitude. Under the circumstances, ruining his reputation is the correct thing to do.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            I feel sorry for the creators of the Avenger controller. It might be overpriced, but it's product rating on sites like Amazon went from four stars to one-and-a-half in a matter of hours due to this shitstorm.

                            My mother has a cousin who was a gamer before he suffered a stroke that's left him pretty messed up, and expressed an interest in getting one of these controllers when I mentioned this story.
                            PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

                            There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!

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                            • #15
                              Quoth Rapscallion View Post
                              I'm disturbed about the fallout for innocent people - family, clients, etc. However, there's a certain vigilante pleasure in seeing this happen to this guy, and the Internet will not forget him.

                              Rapscallion
                              The only one I've seen that's mentioned his family is Paul himself, so that fallout is ambiguous at best. As for the client, I'm not so sure about the fallout on that either, as now that Paul has been sacked, the client can get some proper marketing systems in place (though apparently they need to work on their shipping as well).

                              All that said, this cluster**** is of his own making and he's going to feel the bite of this for some time.
                              I AM the evil bastard!
                              A+ Certified IT Technician

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