Penny Arcade exposes awful customer service from Ocean Marketing

I applaud this guy's sheer fucking crazy attitude to conduct himself like that without the slightest idea how much of a hole he's digging himself.

it seems he wrote an apology mail

http://gamerfront.net/2011/12/ocean-marketing-a-study-on-how-to-destroy-your-reputation-with-just-a-few-emails/15199

Hey Dave,I just wanted to apologize for the way our emails progressed from beginning to end , You caught me on an extremely bad day and I had been dealing with 100’s and hundreds of emails trying to explain the situation to everyone on where the product was and you just pushed me a little too much and I should have just apologized and tried to explain things better. Also I had a really bad day losing a friend to an overdose and the stress of my newborn baby and the Holiday ,missing my family and just stressing on getting product out to everyone and why it was held up in customs wore me out.I am deeply sorry for any disrespect , aggravation or lack of information on the delivery date. We knew when product was leaving china and we were trying to adhere to a strict deadline but due to port issues and air freight issues. The units are domestic now and awaiting pick up at customs . So we missed the 17th deadline and I apologize for that but it was out of my control and besides me no one else was helping me handle the situation so imagine the weight on my shoulders.I’m not asking for any sympathy just for some understanding and forgiveness , I’m human just like everyone else and made a mistake. I underestimated you and its cost me a lot of trouble thousands of spam emails , a lot of personal bashing , and internet spam and trouble and just overall stress with my wife and newborn. I ask that you please accept my apology as a peace offering I will refund your money and give you your 2 units/Avengers free of charge please help me to get some of this negativity removed or at least my personal name although its already all over the internet and the calls and emails will not stop but any help will be appreciated especially with penny arcade as Mike and edit his own website I owe him an apology too which I will write next.

to me this just reads as "fuck me, i underestimated the internet.. please feel sorry for me now ive apologized"

@sideshow said:

it seems he wrote an apology mail

http://gamerfront.net/2011/12/ocean-marketing-a-study-on-how-to-destroy-your-reputation-with-just-a-few-emails/15199

to me this just reads as "fuck me, i underestimated the internet.. please feel sorry for me now ive apologized"

His grovelling message to Gabe at Penny Arcade is even better.

It's amazing the way his language to Mike/Gabe has changed from "Ill put my marketing team on a smear campaign of you and your site and your emails" to "I have not slept yet dealing with all the spam and personal information intrusion as well as my family being smeared on the internet."

Also I had to chuckle at Cliff Bleszinski's surprisingly subtle response to his name being dropped in the original emails.

Thank you internet.

@SuperWristBands said:

@sideshow said:

it seems he wrote an apology mail

http://gamerfront.net/2011/12/ocean-marketing-a-study-on-how-to-destroy-your-reputation-with-just-a-few-emails/15199

Hey Dave,I just wanted to apologize for the way our emails progressed from beginning to end , You caught me on an extremely bad day and I had been dealing with 100’s and hundreds of emails trying to explain the situation to everyone on where the product was and you just pushed me a little too much and I should have just apologized and tried to explain things better. Also I had a really bad day losing a friend to an overdose and the stress of my newborn baby and the Holiday ,missing my family and just stressing on getting product out to everyone and why it was held up in customs wore me out.I am deeply sorry for any disrespect , aggravation or lack of information on the delivery date. We knew when product was leaving china and we were trying to adhere to a strict deadline but due to port issues and air freight issues. The units are domestic now and awaiting pick up at customs . So we missed the 17th deadline and I apologize for that but it was out of my control and besides me no one else was helping me handle the situation so imagine the weight on my shoulders.I’m not asking for any sympathy just for some understanding and forgiveness , I’m human just like everyone else and made a mistake. I underestimated you and its cost me a lot of trouble thousands of spam emails , a lot of personal bashing , and internet spam and trouble and just overall stress with my wife and newborn. I ask that you please accept my apology as a peace offering I will refund your money and give you your 2 units/Avengers free of charge please help me to get some of this negativity removed or at least my personal name although its already all over the internet and the calls and emails will not stop but any help will be appreciated especially with penny arcade as Mike and edit his own website I owe him an apology too which I will write next.

to me this just reads as "fuck me, i underestimated the internet.. please feel sorry for me now ive apologized"

Nothing this guy has done so far makes me believe anything he has to say.

Like Jim Sterling said, "I'm sorry I bullied you; I thought you would have been easier to bully." Having a "bad day" might explain an email, maybe two, but at some point something should have kicked in that said "Woah, I'm being a pretty big asshole right now, I should cool it." That didn't happen until too long after the fact. He also doesn't completely own up to it -- He puts some of the blame on Dave for "pushing him too far", and uses the word "underestimated". People don't "underestimate" the people they've wronged, they underestimate the people they've picked fights with. The word has a connotation of contest with it.

The greatest part of the Update is Gabe's closing sentence....

"I will personally burn everything I.ve made to the fucking ground if I think I can catch them in the flames."

If there are people around him that actually love him (hard to imagine I must add) they better take away all his devices with internet connection and lock him away in some room. A week at least.

I love the internet.

“You have the power Mike Please make it stop” - seriously? Shigesato Itoi would be proud of this dude's Giygas impression.

I also love how even GEICO makes fun of this guy and how his twitter feed is dead for 12 hours now. Just wow. And the best part is, I don't really need to feel sorry for him.

@Ghostiet said:

... his twitter feed is dead for 12 hours now. Just wow.

He's probably out trying to persuade the Mayor of Boston to tell the President to shut down the internet.

Man, clearly me being off the internet for only one day was a bad mistake. THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER.

I'm not usually one to wish for someone to lose their job, I know how difficult looking for work can be.. But Jesus Christ, this guy deserves everything he gets after this fiasco. I especially loved reading comments from former co-workers, about how he essentially strong armed himself into the job, it's very easy to believe that.

"Bully" sums him up perfectly. Being a jerk on the internet is one thing, but when you're working for customer support? How did he even think he would get away with this? I dread to think how many other customers he's treated this way.

And yeah, threatening to run a smear campaign on someone, then basically coming back crying after someone did it to him, is gold. He brought it on himself and has probably killed that company in the process. I really can't wait to see him fired.

Ah, some good internet drama. Nothing but respect for the way Penny-Arcade goes about handling things. They're good folks.

I work in a position where my job is to deal with people who find themselves in a situation beyond the capabilities of base-level support. Every day I deal with angry, frustrated people and most are courteous and polite when they realize I'm willing to listen and willing to work with them. Paul's e-mails are a textbook case of what NOT to do. You don't respond to complaints with a scripted statement (Doubly so if the customer has already seen/heard it), you don't make promises unless you know you can keep them, you don't keep the customer in the dark, and you NEVER respond to anger with anger.

Clearly, Paul has a lot to learn about customer service. A happy customer may mention their pleasant experience in passing, but an angry customer will stop at nothing to make sure the world knows you did them wrong.

In a way, I feel bad for the Ocean Marketting/Stratagey guy. He's clearly in over his head and is either too arrogant or too proud to ask for help and it cost him his livelihood. On the other hand, this may be the opportunity he needs to find a job that better fits his situation.

@Willin said:

I bet EA Customer Service and PR are thinking 'Thank you God for drawing their attention away from us'.

I just contacted EA asking if it is possible to gift people games over Origin, not only did they respond but they also gave me a 20% off coupon!

EA customer service is awesome!

Oh wonderful, his Twitter is blowing up.

[EDIT: Thanks @cstrang , there's a fake twitter out there that can be easily confused with his actual twitter.]

Here's Paulie doing the internet tough guy act on someone else 4 months ago.

This guy is the best holiday gift I've ever gotten.

Thank you internets.

@benjaebe: His is OceanStratagy, not OceanStretagy. This is just some dude trying to add gasoline to the fire.

Did all this really happen in a single day? I regret being offline for most of it.

This guy has to be either an elaborate troll or have some sort of mental problems because no normal person would respond like that.

This guy has to be either an elaborate troll or have some sort of mental problems because no normal person would respond like that.

@CL60 said:

@Dogma said:

@CptBedlam said:

https://twitter.com/#!/oceanmarketting

This is getting funnier by the minute...

The link does not go anywhere? Did the content get deleted? People should probably screen cap everything since much stuff seems to get deleted.

He changed his twitter account to another misspelling.

http://twitter.com/#!/OceanStratagy

Yup, it's gone. I made a screenshot, just didn't have time to upload it earlier:

It kinda makes me think of what a guy from the Jersey Shore cast would be like, working in Customer Support.

For as shitty and petty as gamers on the internet can be, it warms my heart to see everyone band together for a worthy cause like this. Internet justice has certainly been served on this day.

And goddamn do I love Penny Arcade, Mike specifically. He has his own set of rules and morals and he sticks by them no matter what, never taking any shit from anybody as a result.

@H2Oyea: Seriously, that's not him. His twitter account is OceanStratagy, not OceanStretagy. The posts on OceanStretagy exhibit much too high a knowledge and use of proper grammar and punctuation to really be our Paul.

@H2Oyea: Seriously, that's not him. His twitter account is OceanStratagy, not OceanStretagy. The posts on OceanStretagy exhibit much too high a knowledge and use of proper grammar and punctuation to really be our Paul.

@The_Laughing_Man said:

@cstrang said:

@H2Oyea: Seriously, that's not him. His twitter account is OceanStratagy, not OceanStretagy. The posts on OceanStretagy exhibit much too high a knowledge and use of proper grammar and punctuation to really be our Paul.

Link to it?

This is the real account. https://twitter.com/#!/oceanstratagy

This is the fake one (one of the fake ones, anyway). https://twitter.com/#!/oceanstretagy

@cstrang said:

@H2Oyea: Seriously, that's not him. His twitter account is OceanStratagy, not OceanStretagy. The posts on OceanStretagy exhibit much too high a knowledge and use of proper grammar and punctuation to really be our Paul.

Link to it? 

@H2Oyea: Just so you know thats a troll account, the real account is here

To add to what guy above me (cstrang) said, also he wouldn't dare continue this tirade for real. He's already lost too much.

Edit: The internet is faster than me haha

@The_Laughing_Man said:

@cstrang said:

@H2Oyea: Seriously, that's not him. His twitter account is OceanStratagy, not OceanStretagy. The posts on OceanStretagy exhibit much too high a knowledge and use of proper grammar and punctuation to really be our Paul.

Link to it?

Sure, but there isn't much going on on it. No activity for like the past 13 hours. Do you need to approve stuff for it to show up on your public twitter "wall"? I'm twitter illiterate.

http://twitter.com/#!/OceanStratagy/

@The_Laughing_Man said:

@cstrang said:

@H2Oyea: Seriously, that's not him. His twitter account is OceanStratagy, not OceanStretagy. The posts on OceanStretagy exhibit much too high a knowledge and use of proper grammar and punctuation to really be our Paul.

Link to it?

Sure, but there isn't much going on on it. No activity for like the past 13 hours. Do you need to approve stuff for it to show up on your public twitter "wall"? I'm twitter illiterate.

http://twitter.com/#!/OceanStratagy/

As a Paul myself, I must highlight that the 'President' of Ocean Marketing is not worthy of his name.

This blew up so quickly it's not even funny but that guy deserves the hate he receives for the deplorable responses he gave. Considering the fact he can barely spell I find it hard to believe he can optimize anything; especially not search terms.

I had a fairly shitty joke planned and since this will probably disappear as quickly as it began: What's the difference between Ocean Marketing and the ocean? One is liquid and the other is liquidating.

Apparently the guy also had the Xbox Live Gamertag of TheAngryPimp, which corresponds with the post on the steroid forums the same account appears on.

He retweeted an IGN employee who said he's lying. Does this guy have a single shred of common sense? 

I wonder if this is all even real. 

oh my god what the fuck is this bullshit, why is there a 10 page thread based on this stupid stupid thing that has nothing to do with anything, seriously

I applaud this moron for giving me something entertaining to read tonight. But in all seriousness, this guy is a Grade A Super Douche.

@Animasta said:

oh my god what the fuck is this bullshit, why is there a 10 page thread based on this stupid stupid thing that has nothing to do with anything, seriously

Your face is stupid.

@Rudyftw said:

@Animasta said:

oh my god what the fuck is this bullshit, why is there a 10 page thread based on this stupid stupid thing that has nothing to do with anything, seriously

Your face is stupid.

that doesn't detract from the fact that this is a stupid ass thing that doesn't deserve a 2 page thread, let alone a 10

@xMP44x said: I had a fairly shitty joke planned and since this will probably disappear as quickly as it began: What's the difference between Ocean Marketing and the ocean? One is liquid and the other is liquidating.

/slowclap.

@Animasta said:

@Rudyftw said:

@Animasta said:

oh my god what the fuck is this bullshit, why is there a 10 page thread based on this stupid stupid thing that has nothing to do with anything, seriously

Your face is stupid.

that doesn't detract from the fact that this is a stupid ass thing that doesn't deserve a 2 page thread, let alone a 10

If you would have bothered to actually click the link and read what it said you would maybe see why this thread has 10 pages.

@Rudyftw said:

@Animasta said:

oh my god what the fuck is this bullshit, why is there a 10 page thread based on this stupid stupid thing that has nothing to do with anything, seriously

Your face is stupid.

that doesn't detract from the fact that this is a stupid ass thing that doesn't deserve a 2 page thread, let alone a 10

What's that dude doing in any sort of customer service role...

Despite being the biggest douchebag in recent internet history, this guy claims to have a wife/family and newborn plus a history of steroid and substance abuse. His career is completely destroyed in his industry of profession, which will likely lead to divorce, and so forth.

He should be put on watch for high suicide risk because this will not end well. Gabe may have inadvertently just cost this man his life.

He... He REALLY should not be in a customer service role. Son.

Goddamn do I love his apology email, it basically reads as "Gee, sorry I got angry at you, I had no idea you actually held clout on the internet and I should of focused on people who couldn't have done anything about me ruining their customer service. I promise I'll only pick on the little guy from now on!". What an asshole.

@Buzzkill said:

Despite being the biggest douchebag in recent internet history, this guy claims to have a wife/family and newborn plus a history of steroid and substance abuse. His career is completely destroyed in his industry of profession, which will likely lead to divorce, and so forth.

He should be put on watch for high suicide risk because this will not end well. Gabe may have inadvertently just cost this man his life.

He did it to himself.

I believe his Twitter may have been hacked.

OceanStratagy Paul
Check this video out -- Ocean Marketing FAIL youtube.com/watch?v=xqV9kx… via youtube1 hour ago

Also, if any are still confused, this is the real account.