Penny Arcade exposes awful customer service from Ocean Marketing

Have you ever used the Avenger controller? Apparently it's some plastic spider-like shell that allows you to press all the buttons on a controller without removing your thumbs from the analog stick. In a really strange turn of events, a customer got in a dispute with the marketing company behind the device, and eventually forwarded the astounding responses to Penny Arcade's Mike Krahulik (a.k.a. Gabe). The entire exchange is worth a read, mostly because of how backwards Ocean Marketing's responses to the customer's concerns are, as well as shrugging off the threat of bad PR.

What do you guys think?

http://penny-arcade.com/2011/12/26/just-wow1

UPDATE:

Okay, when I wrote up this thread last night, we had an upset customer (Dave) who had been charged for his preorders, but never got his items. The Ocean Marketing guy's (Paul Christoforo) response was basically, "quit crying, and deal with it." Eventually he appealed to higher authorities, and Dave forwarded the exchange to Gabe from Penny Arcade.

Since then, Paul's comments about being well-connected have been shattered. A barrage of tweets finding out about Ocean Marketing were attacking the site. The Avenger controllers themselves received dozens of 1-star reviews on Amazon. Kotaku wrote an article that Paul is probably into steroids.

At this point Paul started doing some damage control, sending an apology to both Dave and Gabe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xqV9kx40RG0

UPDATE (Again):

Penny Arcade posted a new comic on this whole mess. It gave me a good laugh:

MSNBC has an interview with Paul, and boy, oh boy, he still hasn't learned anything from this whole mess:

http://ingame.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/28/9770514-chastened-gaming-rep-responds-to-internet-infamy

"He called me a bully, but he was being a bully ... especially when he emailed me out of the blue, saying 'That's f***ing s***ty, you're banned from PAX,' I was like 'Who the f*** are you? That's how you introduce yourself? ... I dont want to call him out, but he could have gone about that a totally different way he could have said, 'Hey, I run the show, that email was a little unprofessional, if you don't do something to apologize I don't want you at my show.' But he just came at me and said, indirectly, 'Hey, f*** you, you're banned from PAX.' Is that what you'd call professional? I wouldn't."

Does he not see the irony in what he just said?

Also, he keeps changing his Twitter and as of this writing he is known as @OceanDeepSea.

N-control released a press release distancing themselves from Paul Christoforo. You can read it over here on Destructoid.

A few more updates (12/30)

Kotaku wrote up a stupid article saying that Paul wasn't the bully in the whole mess.

And just when you thought Paul couldn't make himself look worse, @cstrang linked this Escapist post on how Paul is trying to extortion money from N-controller by holding their e-mail accounts hostage.

This fellow is probably regretting a few things right about now.

Holy shit, I was going in thinking "Yeah, douchy PR dude what a shocker"....but this guy is some kind of childish god of douche bags. Is this for real? Someone honestly hired a mental 12 year old who actually writes "lol" in company communications!?

The fact that he's listed on LinkedIn as president of the company I find it somewhat strange that he personally handles any customer e-mails if he's got "125 dedicated people to run PR".

This is only going to get better. Cue to the popcorn gifs!

I fucking lol'd when the guy went off on Mike about whether he ran PAX.

The Twitter avalanche on his account is pretty great. His misspelled account.
Also he knows the mayor of Boston you guys. So you better watch out.

That man is a tone-deaf, evil fiend!

This is what happens when grease balls watch Scarface too many times.

For a "President" of a company, he sure can't communicate respectfully under justified pressure. I feel like there is a troll...

Sounds like the guy's company is just a marketing firm and not the actual developers for the product right? If so then that thread should go to the product developers so they know what kind of marketing company is representing them, but I guess the Penny Arcade crew and the other people included in that mail already know what to do with it.

Ocean Marketing just shot themselves in the foot. I wonder how many angry e-mails they have gotten from people so far since these e-mails were posted.

@Vodun: Take out the link to his site, don't want to drive traffic there.

I actually had a brief moment after reading one of "Dave's" long, early e-mails where I thought "Okay, this customer is upset and kind of overreacting a bit, so some firm communication back wouldn't be out of line." Holy shit did this marketing douche find a way to take potential sympathy and nuke it in spectacular fashion.

I don't doubt the customer's frustration, but name-calling and swearing at someone trying to do their job (theoretically, I can't see how this guy actually makes a living as a PR person...) will get you nowhere. I'm no prude - I'll go Way of the Gun and threaten to "fuck-start a cunt's head" when angry - but being hostile is bound to get you a poor response. Then this Ocean Marketing guy manages to show a complete inability to act like or communicate like an adult, resorting to threats and "I know people!" I can't wait to see if he tries to pull his and his company's ass out of the fire or makes it worse.

And Scott Lowe, IGNTech editor has tweeted "Please refrain from referring to me or IGN as support for you, your company or your clients. You do not have it."

I love silly internet fights.

@fullmetal5550 said:

Ocean Marketing just shot themselves in the foot. I wonder how many angry e-mails they have gotten from people so far since these e-mails were posted.

Actually, they shot themselves in the head.

Wow. This is a very rare story that I've seen almost no dissenting opinion. Everyone from here to IGN is pretty well convinced that this man is a tone-deaf, evil fiend. The biggest dissent I've heard is someone suggesting that Dave could have been a little bit nicer to the guy and maybe not write a long rant. Though, even that sentiment supported the idea that Paul was a horrible individual deserving of scorn.

It's just interesting. Kind of nice.

I hope he finds himself appropriately shamed. And more importantly, I hope this will lead to some greater inquiry by the gaming media into how too many of these PR firms and customer service companies actually treat their customers like dirt. Gamers deserve better than shoddy, arrogant service, but many will tell you that customer service in the gaming industry(and elsewhere) has often been atrocious. This only further harms the increasingly contentious relationship between the large gaming companies and gamers.

"Site Error: Unable to Load Site Preferences; No Preferences Found"

Damn, that's how you know it's bad shit!

Holy Fuck

@TruthTellah said:

Wow. This is a very rare story that I've seen almost no dissenting opinion. Everyone from here to IGN is pretty well convinced that this man is a tone-deaf, evil fiend. The biggest dissent I've heard is someone suggesting that Dave could have been a little bit nicer to the guy and maybe not write a long rant. Though, even that sentiment supported the idea that Paul was a horrible individual deserving of scorn.

It's just interesting. Kind of nice.

I hope he finds himself appropriately shamed. And more importantly, I hope this will lead to some greater inquiry by the gaming media into how too many of these PR firms and customer service companies actually treat their customers like dirt. Gamers deserve better than shoddy, arrogant service, but many will tell you that customer service in the gaming industry(and elsewhere) has often been atrocious. This only further harms the increasingly contentious relationship between the large gaming companies and gamers.

Yo dawg I saw yo comment on Kotaku. ;P

Judging by how he presents himself through different networks, he shamed himself way too much before in his lifetime. For this case, it will definitely be his worse. If he uses the recent reactions to spark something, nothing good will occur and he will likely carry the negative burden.

Oh, snap. The moment Mike jumped in on the conversation, I grabbed a big bucket o' popcorn.

"Little kids unhappy with a PRE ORDER starting trouble and you email that to us , he’s a customer unless you’re his boyfriend then you should side with the company not the customer. Be Careful"

LOL WHAT?

UNLESS YOU TWO ARE HAVING GAY SEX TOGETHER YOU MUST SIDE WITH THE COMPANY, NOT THE CUSTOMER

WATCH YOUR ASS ;)

Oh WOW.

@ThePhantomnaut: Yeah, good ol Giant Bomb and Kotaku are my favorite places to find news about games and discuss games. I was so blessed to be able to contribute to Giant Bomb, and so, I'm doing my best to interact a bit more one on one here. :)

Though, sometimes, you state something on your mind in one place and realize you don't really have a much better way to put it elsewhere. ha.

To make amends for that, I shall post this here instead of Kotaku:

Finally got to read it.

I'm so happy to see a company self-destruct in real-time.

deja vo

I hope he gets fired. Would be easier to get him fired if we knew his full name but nooo. That's against this weird internet code that says something "don't give any names!"  
Kinda lame

@ZeForgotten said:

I hope he gets fired. Would be easier to get him fired if we knew his full name but nooo. That's against this weird internet code that says something "don't give any names!" Kinda lame

Isn't his name "Paul Christoforo?" It says so on the twitter account Mike linked to, in any case,

This was a amazing read and I must say that I really hope the entire company becomes a giant crater in the ground. And if I read it right that company is supposed to be making controllers for handicapped people, but hey if Ocean whatever does get destroyed then it'll allow some other group to takeover . Hopefully one that knows how to treat their customers'.

Speaking of which, I think the Twitter account's been hacked, unless Paul thinks retweeting Scott Lowe shit talking him is a good idea.

Wow. Apparently this is not the first time a gamer has made a public appeal regarding their mistreatment by Paul here:

http://www.natesnetwork.com/Poor-customer-service

Hopefully this incident will see the last of him.

Numerous grammar and spelling mistakes along with his childish comments make me believe that he is...

A douchebag.

@ZeForgotten said:

I hope he gets fired. Would be easier to get him fired if we knew his full name but nooo. That's against this weird internet code that says something "don't give any names!" Kinda lame

This guy seems to be the president and founder of ocean marketing.

http://www.ideamarketers.com/?OceanMarketingInc_Launched_for_Providing_Social_Media_Services_and_SEO&articleid=1185251&from=PROFILE

http://www.naymz.com/paulchristoforo2561451

http://th-th.facebook.com/notes/iwipa-designers/ocean-marketing-inc/157763100931847?ref=nf

@Beforet said:

Speaking of which, I think the Twitter account's been hacked, unless Paul thinks retweeting Scott Lowe shit talking him is a good idea.

I think there is an unfortunate likelihood that this is the real person.

If it was hacked, I think he'd go to far larger lengths. One reply insulting IGN isn't major. Now, if he just started replying to everyone and slurring his speech like he was in his e-mail replies, I would be suspicious. But this just seems like classic douchebaggery.

@gike987: Yeah, I don't think there's anyone else at Ocean Marketing. I'd bet dollars to donuts it's a guy working out of his parents' basement.

Damn it feels good to turn that one around!

@TruthTellah said:

@Beforet said:

Speaking of which, I think the Twitter account's been hacked, unless Paul thinks retweeting Scott Lowe shit talking him is a good idea.

I think there is an unfortunate likelihood that this is the real person.

If it was hacked, I think he'd go to far larger lengths. One reply insulting IGN isn't major. Now, if he just started replying to everyone and slurring his speech like he was in his e-mail replies, I would be suspicious. But this just seems like classic douchebaggery.

Oh man, this just shows how sleep deprived I am, as I didn't even notice the insult! Never mind, he's clearly having a breakdown.

Edit:

@Asmo917: I don't man, you don't get to be buddies with the Mayor of Boston working out of your parents' basement.

It's massively satisfying to watch that asshole perform career suicide.

I love that one of the first names he cites as a friend is 2005s Worst CEO in America, Paul Eibler. It's just so poetic that this guy claims to be friends with a guy that was so terrible at business that the investors overthrew the entire board of directors.

DAMN. that ocean media marketing website looks like it has been pulled straight out of a bad late 90s movie.

This is really far more entertaining than it should be. He's now retweeting clearly sarcastic messages about him thinking they're supporters. Example "If you got Twitter drama I feel bad for you son, I got 99 problems but OceanMarketting ain't one" This one could be supportive...if the original sender hadn't posted at least three previous messages calling him a douche, failure, etc.

This is glorious.

@Beforet: I wonder if the guy can even NAME the mayor of Boston.

I see Twitter trolling. Move along guys.

I kinda feel bad. Not for him, he's a prick, but for both whoever else works at the company, assuming it's not just him, and the developers of that controller. It seems pretty neat, if monstrous.

Man, his writing is on par with a 12 year old who just found out you can comment on porn videos.

After Scott Lowe from IGN denied supporting this guy, he responded.
In the same breath he calls somebody a douchebag then accuses them of being unprofessional.
Man I LOVE this guy!

Some no name company that makes a joke product that's worthy of a 3am adult swim infomercial commercial has bad customer service?!??!? I'm shocked. I found the whole thing to be funny. The customer was whiny and impatient. When you get customers like this, the best thing to do is to give them their money back and wash your hands of the situation. They aren't worth the trouble. The customer service guy was out of line but so was the customer. To me they are equally guilty.

The only person I think was in the wrong was the the PAX guy. He had zero stake in any of it and it seems extremely unprofessional to black list a company who seems like they make a reputable product solely because of a whining kid on the internet who didn't get special treatment and access to discounts that his order wasn't eligible for. It's a sad day when the whining internet kid who blows up on forums is able to take down a company singlehandedly.

But who cares, really? PAX is just PAX. If they're really in stores like the guy said and the product is good, there shouldn't be real issues.

Nice reviews:

http://www.amazon.com/Avenger-Xbox-360-Adapter/dp/B0051JSJ44/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324991181&sr=8-1

Terrible PR or absolutely genius viral marketing and social engineering?

Who knows for sure?

Naaah, he's toast!

Oh the sweet irony (From the 'Reputation Management' Tab of their website):

A prospective client Google’s your company’s name. What does he find? He finds negative publicity about you. Will he associate with you? Chances are that he would skip your name in the searches and hire your competitor.

Every day, Google receives over two billion search requests and this evidently proves that people want to learn and investigate on the net. Irrespective of their field of business, most of the companies or individuals search the whereabouts of any company on the net before starting a new business venture with them. The ones who search also look for the testimonials provided by the clients/customers of a company. For buying products, people check out the product reviews. Bad product reviews translate into lesser sales.

We help you to displace or remove the negative search engine results and listings about your organization or company. We use an effective lineup of techniques to dilute and eliminate the search engine results about you that are negative.

I think I am genuinely in love with this man.

The marketing dude's writing reminds me on the infamous Axeman13 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z2Z23SAFVA

I read the whole thing on PA this morning. Love me some delicious internet drama.