Paul Christoforo vs. The World or How to stop worrying and love the internet bomb

KalTorak · December 2011

I woke up this morning to this wonderful post by Gabe: http://penny-arcade.com/2011/12/26/just-wow1

tl;dr - Guy pre-orders controllers, emails customer support to see if he'll be getting them by Christmas. Customer support guy is at first cryptic and unhelpful, soon begins exuding douchebaggery of the highest magnitude. Guy includes PA and a few other gaming sites on the email chain, Gabe steps in when the CS guy mentions PAX. CS guy directs his douchebaggery at Gabe (apparently until Googling "Mike Krahulik"), claims to know the mayor of Boston.

The story has, to say the least, blown up a bit. It is currently the top link on the front page of Reddit; connections claimed by Christoforo have been disavowed by G4, IGN, others. Christoforo also doesn't seem to know how Twitter works, as he is for some reason retweeting tweets from people calling him a douche.

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

It's a small event in the grand scheme of things, but you don't often see someone (unprotected by the Greater Internet Theory) making such a tremendous douche of themselves. I can't remember the last time PA and Reddit have gotten their ire up at the same person; it's almost sad the extent to which this guy does not understand that you don't piss off those audiences without good reason.

Edit: DON'T BE FOOLED BY FAKE TWITTER ACCOUNTS

RhalloTonny wrote:

@OceanStretagy and @OceanMarketting are the fake ones.

@OceanStratagy is the only (presumably) legit one. You can tell based on how many followers he has- 20k.

@OceanStrategy is also not Paul's, but it's not claiming to be him either.

Mojo_Jojo · December 2011

It's impressive that he's refusing to apologise, or make an excuse or something, and seems intent on acting this way until he either runs the company into the ground (assuming it's just him working there) or he gets fired (if there is anybody else).

Deebaser · December 2011

This guy appears to be the president of an outsourced marketing company. Is that right?

Countdown until his last client deserts him in 5...4...3..

electricitylikesme · December 2011

I suppose 'tis the season of people destroying themselves publically.

bagehi · December 2011

I have the strong impression this is going to end up being the case of a disgruntled employee or a hacked account. As has been mentioned, it is really weird that he is retweeting people calling him out. It is like he is burying himself. Or he may be trying to create that impression as a scape goat to save his butt later. Just seems weird.

Deebaser · December 2011

bagehi wrote:

I have the strong impression this is going to end up being the case of a disgruntled employee or a hacked account. As has been mentioned, it is really weird that he is retweeting people calling him out. It is like he is burying himself. Or he may be trying to create that impression as a scape goat to save his butt later. Just seems weird.

Ehhh...I don't think so. They'd have to have access to his email AND his twitter.

RMS Oceanic · December 2011

Deebaser wrote:

bagehi wrote:

I have the strong impression this is going to end up being the case of a disgruntled employee or a hacked account. As has been mentioned, it is really weird that he is retweeting people calling him out. It is like he is burying himself. Or he may be trying to create that impression as a scape goat to save his butt later. Just seems weird.

Ehhh...I don't think so. They'd have to have access to his email AND his twitter.

Wouldn't there be a chance his password for one would be the same for the other?

It would be a shame if this turned out to be an elaborate troll.

CptHamilton · December 2011

RMS Oceanic wrote:

Deebaser wrote:

bagehi wrote:

I have the strong impression this is going to end up being the case of a disgruntled employee or a hacked account. As has been mentioned, it is really weird that he is retweeting people calling him out. It is like he is burying himself. Or he may be trying to create that impression as a scape goat to save his butt later. Just seems weird.

Ehhh...I don't think so. They'd have to have access to his email AND his twitter.

Wouldn't there be a chance his password for one would be the same for the other?

It would be a shame if this turned out to be an elaborate troll.

If he had just come out of the gate swinging with the ridiculous then it would be more likely. The email thread on the PA main page starts back on the 17th of December and shows a clear escalation in the stupid over time. I don't think any troll would bother playing a slow-game like that.

Barrakketh · December 2011

RMS Oceanic wrote: »

Deebaser wrote:

bagehi wrote:

I have the strong impression this is going to end up being the case of a disgruntled employee or a hacked account. As has been mentioned, it is really weird that he is retweeting people calling him out. It is like he is burying himself. Or he may be trying to create that impression as a scape goat to save his butt later. Just seems weird.

Ehhh...I don't think so. They'd have to have access to his email AND his twitter.

Wouldn't there be a chance his password for one would be the same for the other?

It would be a shame if this turned out to be an elaborate troll.

What about his phone?

[...]

After emailing my contact at N-Control, I got a phone call from Paul, who turned out to be the person sending these emails. We spoke for around fifteen minutes or so, and he assured me that despite the negative press, he’s been contacted by several companies, who have asked him to represent them. Paul also expressed confidence that this would simply blow over in a week or two.

He also told me that he’s received a lot of emails from customers, who were similarly upset about not receiving their product before Christmas. Apparently the only thing special about Dave was that he caught him at a bad time, and got under his skin. Of course, that still doesn’t excuse the way he treated a paying customer. Even if customer service isn’t your primary job (which is apparently the case, according to Paul), you still should treat the people trying to give you money with respect.

When I brought up the posts on Reddit that discussed the emails, and the backlash that was visible there, he more or less shrugged it off. He seemed annoyed by the amount of friend requests he’d received on Facebook, since someone managed to find him. He credited that to the fact that his information was posted at the bottom of the Penny Arcade piece, and said that he’d be talking to his lawyers about that later today. What’s more, he said that his job isn’t really to deal with individual customers like Dave, but rather to strike deals with companies like GameStop and BestBuy. Those companies are buying his wares, so he “doesn’t care about anyone else.” Why? Because as long as his products are on store shelves, people will buy them.

In the end, he conceded that it would be a good idea to send Dave an apology, and even hook him up with a couple of free Avengers as a gesture of good faith. After all, the guy just wanted his Avenger, and got some nasty emails for his trouble. While that’s good news for Dave, something tells me that he still won’t be getting a booth at PAX, or winning back the hearts of everyone who read the original emails.

Aldo · December 2011

This can't be a hacking case, someone would have stopped it by now.

Also: http://www.natesnetwork.com/Poor-customer-service from the main comic thread in the PA Hub.

syndalis · December 2011

Aldo wrote:

This can't be a hacking case, someone would have stopped it by now.

Also: http://www.natesnetwork.com/Poor-customer-service from the main comic thread in the PA Hub.

he has been doing this for at least a year.

wow.

dbrock270 · December 2011

p.s. You look really douchy be having one youtube video complaining about the noise of traffic next to your home and then another video showing off your obnoxiously loud rice rocket (which is nice, I gotta hand it ya).

Can anyone find these?

Henroid · December 2011

It gets better you guys. Not only have Kotaku and IGN stepped and told this guy to eff himself (politely and professionally, mind you), but now Think Geek has commented that they're considering not carrying the controller this guy makes / promotes / whatever.

Dark Raven X · December 2011

This guy seems to have been getting away with this bullshit for a long while. Name dropping and then shit throwing with one of the biggest names in the industry seems like a fast track to fucksville. Hopefully this guy will have to find a new line of work to screw up.

Might even make these companies re evaluate their customer service, but that's probably dreaming too big.

matt has a problem · December 2011

This reminds me of the guy in New York who sold knockoff, shitty sunglasses, then threatened the people and harassed them when they'd call and ask for refunds. He had the same "Negative publicity just makes me higher in Google" attitude.

He's serving 6 years in jail now. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/13/business/13borker.html

Of course, the charges were for wire and mail fraud since he was selling counterfeit merchandise, but it was his boasts about negative reviews giving him higher rankings that brought it to everyone's attention.

electricitylikesme · December 2011

matt has a problem wrote:

This reminds me of the guy in New York who sold knockoff, shitty sunglasses, then threatened the people and harassed them when they'd call and ask for refunds. He had the same "Negative publicity just makes me higher in Google" attitude.

He's serving 6 years in jail now. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/13/business/13borker.html

Of course, the charges were for wire and mail fraud since he was selling counterfeit merchandise, but it was his boasts about negative reviews giving him higher rankings that brought it to everyone's attention.

On the one hand I don't think anything quite so dramatic is going to happen here...on the other hand, if you work in an industry and think you're above one set of standards, the general pattern seems to be that you usually believe you're above some other, more important ones too.

Deebaser · December 2011

The ridiculous controller company has actually lucked into a brilliant marketing opportunity if they fire this ocean marketting inc HARD.

Henroid · December 2011

Someone pointed out in the Penny Arcade Hub that the only Amazon reviews for the product are five stars and those accounts have reviewed only that product, nothing else. "Sock puppeting" was the phrase used.

Deebaser wrote:

The ridiculous controller company has actually lucked into a brilliant marketing opportunity if they fire this ocean marketting inc HARD.

"We don't do business with people like this. We apologize to all our consumers." Yes. Yessssss.

TehSpectre · December 2011

This guy is amazing.

Ego · December 2011

Wow, you'd have to be a real jackass to fail so hard at correspondence with customers.

Smaug6 · December 2011

Can you recover from this? Does it really spell doom for this guys career? What if he changes his name, closes his business and tries again somewhere else? Would he come back? Can he?

I mean by simply spelling things right and using grammar it would be hard to know if he was the real guy or not (assuming the name change)

EDIT: Great Quote from this guys LinkedIn profile

"2. Integrity and honesty are at the core of our business values. We expect our leaders and people to maintain high ethical standards in everything they do, both in their work for Ocean Marketing and in their personal lives."

He has demonstrated this in spades.

curly haired boy · December 2011

total career suicide.

but he's the only guy working there, so it's not like he can be fired :P

how the hell did he get into marketing

Dark Raven X · December 2011

Getting a good position in public relations seems like the kind of career that relies on you being able to ride your reputation. Once this guy gets torn down, I imagine (hope) it'll be hard for him to recover.

Henroid · December 2011

curly haired boy wrote:

total career suicide.

but he's the only guy working there, so it's not like he can be fired :P

how the hell did he get into marketing

He says he has 125 people working for him! <_<

SquiddyBiscuit · December 2011

I can't believe someone that immature and unprofessional is in charge of marketing for a product that has had some moderate to high demand. Then again, I kinda get the impression that this is kinda true for the entire gaming industry, it just seems like it need to grow up as a whole in order to reach the standards of the movie/music industry.

TehSpectre · December 2011

I'm still in shock at the mental disconnect from reality this guy must have.

How the shit did he get into the marketting business?

I don't even

curly haired boy · December 2011

Henroid wrote:

curly haired boy wrote:

total career suicide.

but he's the only guy working there, so it's not like he can be fired :P

how the hell did he get into marketing

He says he has 125 people working for him! <_<

yeah, i don't believe that.

Henroid · December 2011

TehSpectre wrote:

I'm still in shock at the mental disconnect from reality this guy must have.

How the shit did he get into the marketting business?

I don't even

He's a bullshit-artist. It's kind of like a con-artist, only with bullshit.

tyrannus · December 2011

Deebaser · December 2011

TehSpectre wrote:

I'm still in shock at the mental disconnect from reality this guy must have.

How the shit did he get into the marketting business?

I don't even

Degrees in communnicattions are pretty easy to get.

Henroid · December 2011

Whenever someone says Twitter is dumb, I can point them to shit like that.

Deebaser · December 2011

I'm counting down to @oceanmarketing suing this tool.

PantsB · December 2011

He dropped MLG's name during his ranks too so I tweeted @ MLGSundance (the ceo who is involved in the gaming community) and @ mlg for his response.

Deebaser · December 2011

This incident will be studied in B schools for years as a textbook example of why outsourcing core functions like customer service is not always a good idea.

tyrannus · December 2011

Deebaser wrote:

This incident will be studied in B schools for years as a textbook example of why outsourcing core functions like customer service is not always a good idea.

I mean, note the contrast between this incident and what PWC, one of the Big 4 accounting firms, has to say about how a company should treat an online customer

http://www.pwc.com/gx/en/retail-consumer/retail-consumer-publications/global-multi-channel-consumer-survey/2011-multi-channel-survey.jhtml

hint: it's completely and utterly the opposite

Deebaser · December 2011

i want to work for PWC...

SquiddyBiscuit · December 2011

he’s a customer unless you’re his boyfriend then you should side with the company not the customer.

This is particularly stupid, but probably how plenty people feel in today's consumerist society.

So much for "the costumer is always right"....

Feral · December 2011

Henroid wrote:

TehSpectre wrote:

I'm still in shock at the mental disconnect from reality this guy must have.

How the shit did he get into the marketting business?

I don't even

He's a bullshit-artist. It's kind of like a con-artist, only with bullshit.

Yeah, he runs his companies from his personal gmail account. His website is full of web 2.1 marketing-speek about increasing your ROI with SEO. He's an idiot with more ego than brains and I can't tell you how often I run across douchebags like him. I dunno how Avenger got suckered by this guy, but I feel sorry for them.

Deebaser · December 2011

SquiddyBiscuit wrote:

So much for "the costumer is always right"....

You know what, Fuck that phrase. The customer is very rarely right and most often a total fuckstick.

I want to punch whoever came up with that phrase in the dick.

Syphyre · December 2011

The thing is, you don't even need to be an accounting firm or have a degree in marketing or communications to realize this is terrible customer relations and you shouldn't do this. If you need to be told to not do this, then you shouldn't be doing this, period.

One disconnect I have, this guy is apparently a Marketer, but he also handles customer relations? And feedback? And shipping? Is this device actually his baby? If not I feel sorry for the actual inventor he talked into letting him handle everything.

tyrannus · December 2011

Here's why the Avenger controller was designed originally:
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2011/04/15/inventive-teacher-gives-disabled-student-control/

Syphyre wrote:

The thing is, you don't even need to be an accounting firm or have a degree in marketing or communications to realize this is terrible customer relations and you shouldn't do this. If you need to be told to not do this, then you shouldn't be doing this, period.

One disconnect I have, this guy is apparently a Marketer, but he also handles customer relations? And feedback? And shipping? Is this device actually his baby? If not I feel sorry for the actual inventor he talked into letting him handle everything.

I'm pretty sure that's all covered by marketing.

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