When big name douchebaggery gets out of hand

mannyman said:
Well now, I think this needs some front page news action. I would never think any company would stoop to this. All the empty threats there is a lot of material for a suit here.
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The thing is that many companies are just one guy in reality. This guy paid some engineers in China to create the controller and financed the production using pre-order payments.

Most in the West don't have a grasp on how inexpensivly some electronics are made in the East. Yeah you get big name sites to take a Kinect apart and figure out that its production cost is like $80, but a lot of smaller stuff is really inexpensive. I bought some things from a reseller in China at less than 5% of the U.S. retail prices. That's from a reseller, including shipping and everyone who was part of the transaction already made money.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Avenger cost pennies to manufacture and it retails for $50.

EDIT: Best part of the Forbes interview "And then they realised how much actual juice this guy had." LOLOLOLOL
 
Yeah, I'd like more to come out regarding why he was kept on for so long. Apparently they were warned about his issues but kept him on. Seems to definitely be a 1 man show for someone who was looking to reduce expenses despite issues like this possibly arising.
 
Thuleman said:
The thing is that many companies are just one guy in reality. This guy paid some engineers in China to create the controller and financed the production using pre-order payments.

Most in the West don't have a grasp on how inexpensivly some electronics are made in the East. Yeah you get big name sites to take a Kinect apart and figure out that its production cost is like $80, but a lot of smaller stuff is really inexpensive. I bought some things from a reseller in China at less than 5% of the U.S. retail prices. That's from a reseller, including shipping and everyone who was part of the transaction already made money.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Avenger cost pennies to manufacture and it retails for $50.

EDIT: Best part of the Forbes interview "And then they realised how much actual juice this guy had." LOLOLOLOL
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Like those Wii sensor bars that cost like $50 for a wireless, "high range" version. I bought mine from Monoprice for about $5 and I bet their price was probably marked up 500%.

I am glad the inventor dropped Ocean Marketing all together. And for that douche bag, may he never step foot in the videogame industry again.

All this shenanigans has probably popularized the product that it's sales probably will increase double.
 
I hope the guy who owns the N-control company sues him for defaming them. On amazon at least the gamepads reputation is ruined.
 
This has been an awesome story from every angle. When I was in customer service, I would fantasize about ripping into some of our asshole customers, albeit with much more finesse than Paul. Of course professionalism and [mostly] common sense always grounded me in reality. At the same time, Paul's behavior was completely uncalled for and it makes me feel warm inside to see him go down in flames.
 
I'm not sure what kind of future he has in PR, but I wouldn't be surprised if he were capitalizing on his new-found infamy by pitching a reality show starring himself :rolleyes:.
 
The sad thing about this whole affair -

1. Even an asshole like Paul will get his 15m of fame, and probably be able to make some money off it. He sounds like an unrepentant jerk so I don't feel bad about him likely never getting a job again in the industry, but you never know.

2. I really really wish the controller itself does not suffer. It sounds like it could really help the disabled and be a worthwhile device.

3. I also feel bad for his family who are exposed to this shitstorm (which is forever preserved thanks to the Internet). There's nowhere to hide in this day and age and this lack of privacy is not a good thing.
 
I love how he compares himself to Obama and has considered legal action against PA. Ya that is going to work out well for you, luckily he has already realized that.
 
AmberClad said:
You know, I'm trying damn hard to feel some sympathy for him, but he's making it really hard.



Whatever you say hotshot.


And nothing was learned from this little incident.
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This guys clearly doesn't (referring to your quotes, not you) have any form of etiquette. It's quite impolite to say how much you make here or there. It's usually the ones that brag about "having connections" or "making this much" (or being able to "win a fight", being "large", etc etc) that don't really have any of those things.

The people with connections or make a lot of money usually don't go bragging about it simply because it draws unwanted attention (your third cousin twice-removed calls you for a loan, or Joe Blow who you had a brief class with in elementary school is in town and wants to see if you can "hook it up").

The guys an ass and clearly needs to reconsider how he goes about life, because he's doing it wrong. A simple customer service training session would blow his friggin' mind (wait, the customer is right?! I should listen and show empathy?). I learned this crap at 15.

"It's caused me more annoyance than anything else, but there are some threats and a lot of disrespect," he said. "My son's two months old ... that's uncalled for, you don't bring him into this situation."
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That's from the MSNBC article. I just wanted to say that, although I don't agree with threatening family members, I will say it was HIM who brought the child into the equation when he used it as an excuse. That was his fault alone.

He really could have avoided half this by simply saying "Hey, I'm sorry I treated you with such disrespect." That's all it would have taken, instead he kept digging and digging with excuses.

"If I had known, I would have treated the situation a little better."
Referring to the email thread that started the whole mess, Christoforo said that he didn't know who he was talking to in his initial, flippant response to Penny Arcade's Mike Krahulik.
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Great move there. Let's admit that we only treat the "powerful" people with respect and your main regret is that you didn't realize who you were dealing with. How about we learn the real lesson? You treat everyone with respect, you're not always going to know who is (and can) going to burn you for being a douche.

"Christoforo also said his response was driven in part by what he saw as the disrespectful tone of the messages that came before it." and "Ultimately, if I was able to control the customer [I could have avoided all of this]"
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Wow, just wow. This guys logic is customer-service rep of the year quality here. My experience has taught me that if a customer comes at you hot-headed (pissed off, aggravated), you do MORE to diffuse that customer and retain their business. You don't use that as an invite to be disrespectful.
 
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I like how he mis-quotes conversations as if there isn't an actual copy of it posted all over the place.

The only thing he is sorry for is this turning against him. The guy is an idiot. I don't feel bad for him for one second.
 
Wow. Total douche. The only thing the customer did wrong was not cancelling the order and buying from someone else.
 
that was entertaining and sad at the same time. That Peter guy needs some lessons in common sense and humility
 
HOLY SHIT

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114994-Ocean-Marketing-Attempts-To-Extort-Former-Client

Earlier tonight, Chiullan tweeted that Christoforo was holding N-Control's various email and social media accounts hostage. One of the first questions asked in the AMA was how this could happen. Chiullan's answer is below:

I've been trying to get him to give up the access to these things he's been holding hostage (email accounts, Twitter, etc) by asking nicely for a couple of days. The gloves are off now.

Paul told me on the phone two hours ago that "Eight months ago, I locked down all this stuff so they wouldn't be able to fuck with me. If they don't give me what I want, it's war." His demands include a contract written on his terms and substantial compensation, both immediate and for as long as the company continues to exist. He flaunted the PR debacle he created as proof that he "made the company a success", citing all the media and public attention as the "best thing that ever happened to Avenger".

He didn't count on the fact that I anticipated all of this and have been a computer hardware and web tech since I was 14.

The thing we did have is control over the AvengerController.com domain. It was transferred away from its original account, which Paul has complete control of. Because of how GoDaddy works, that old account retained all of the email addresses and their master control settings (forwarding and so on). He has continued to respond to customer emails from his personal GMail account and lied to me repeatedly about doing so.

I tried to play nice, and Paul played stupid, acting like he didn't have access to this master account, blaming his "Indian outsourced tech team" being on vacation. I gave him two days to give over N-Control's digital property.

He finally leveled with me tonight that he knew I wasn't that stupid and that he was lying about his access to all these accounts. That's when he issued the above-mentioned threat. He reiterated that he had the hosting, email, and everything on lockdown.
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Seriously? So underneath the outer layer of asshole is another layer of asshole which we already knew about, and underneath that is still more asshole? I don't even...
 
I want this on a t-shirt

I have buyers all over the place. And my buyers are going to buy from me. - Paul Christoforo

What I find interesting is that MSNBC is taking his side for whatever reason. I suspect some nerd baiting. I have a feeling Spike TV will do the same.
 
piscian18 said:
What I find interesting is that MSNBC is taking his side for whatever reason. I suspect some nerd baiting. I have a feeling Spike TV will do the same.
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He's picking softball old-school media outlets to interview with. Can't stand the heat from the real gaming websites.
 
piscian18 said:
I want this on a t-shirt

I have buyers all over the place. And my buyers are going to buy from me. - Paul Christoforo

What I find interesting is that MSNBC is taking his side for whatever reason. I suspect some nerd baiting. I have a feeling Spike TV will do the same.
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Not surprised. MSNBC often leaves me scratching my head. Facts about a situation do not really factor into the slant they put on a given situation.
 
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The plebes rising up and throwing down some corporate d-bag? Yeah, no wonder MSNBC is taking Paul's side.

And who wants to bet this guy is a new cast member for Jersey Shore? (Is that show still on...?)
 
Redshirt #24 said:
So underneath the outer layer of asshole is another layer of asshole which we already knew about, and underneath that is still more asshole?
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BRRRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHM



/inception



Paul Christophoro is still waiting for his 'kick' apparently
 
The latest round of Paul's stupidity is a good lesson in that you don't let an outside entity control your domain, email, and social media accounts. If I understand this correctly Paul never was an owner of the company, he performed work for hire. You don't let people like that be the primary account holder on your Internet presence, that's just common (or uncommon as it were) sense.
 
I really wish one of the news outlets who keep interviewing him grew a pair and called him out on all his lies ans BS. He's still trying to spin this so he benefits from the publicity and its sickening.
 
LoL - google the guys name - he is ruined.

Paul Christoforo

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So underneath the outer layer of asshole is another layer of asshole which we already knew about, and underneath that is still more asshole?
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I kinda anticipated that this will get interesting but this latest stunt beats all of my expectations. How douche can one guy be? He just cant let go of his pride and face the truth but keeps making things more and more difficult for himself.

Well, atleast the show goes on then.

*grabs a big sack of popcorn, box of beer and sits back*
 
Redshirt #24 said:
Seriously? So underneath the outer layer of asshole is another layer of asshole which we already knew about, and underneath that is still more asshole? I don't even...
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It's sorta like those tootsie pops but in this case you got a layer of asshole with a asshole surprize in the middle with an asshole of a stick to hold on to.....
 
he is such an asshole, what person would marry him, let alone choose his asshole sperm for use in procreation?

Kinda makes me wonder how much of an asshole his wife is.

...which then makes me wonder how much of an asshole his kid is going to be...
 
You have to feel sorry for his wife, family etc. I have a hard time imagining just how bad this guy must be in real life, if he's like this at work.
 
chockomonkey said:
he is such an asshole, what person would marry him, let alone choose his asshole sperm for use in procreation?

Kinda makes me wonder how much of an asshole his wife is.

...which then makes me wonder how much of an asshole his kid is going to be...
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Well, at one point, he had a (typically poorly written) personal ad on a dating website...under the name of "The Angry Pimp."
 
chockomonkey said:
he is such an asshole, what person would marry him, let alone choose his asshole sperm for use in procreation?

Kinda makes me wonder how much of an asshole his wife is.

...which then makes me wonder how much of an asshole his kid is going to be...
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Well, two negatives makes a positive, right? :D
 
kilgore777 said:
Well, everyone is entitled to their opinion.

My opinion is that I wish gay marriage were legal so that Owen and Paul could tie the knot.
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heh. awesome.

I had trouble looking past the overwhelming hypocrisy of a writer for the site that posted Paul's personal info on steroid sites attempting to pin a fair and balanced reporting spin on the whole thing.

He also seems to be of the opinion that it was the customer who started it, which while true, isn't really the thing. It was the reaction to the first few honest questions that sort of sparked the ordeal.
 
Kahnvex said:
heh. awesome.

I had trouble looking past the overwhelming hypocrisy of a writer for the site that posted Paul's personal info on steroid sites attempting to pin a fair and balanced reporting spin on the whole thing.

He also seems to be of the opinion that it was the customer who started it, which while true, isn't really the thing. It was the reaction to the first few honest questions that sort of sparked the ordeal.
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I even disagree with that. The guys first email was nice.
 
I've had old ladies threaten to punch me in the face, psychotics tell me the ATM was telling them to "do things" :eek:, even a dude piss his pants in front of me. Never once did I lose my cool, much less go all "bro" on someone...

This guys job is marketing and PR. I don't care if the customer called his mother a toothless whore, the proper response isn't to go all, "Bro, I know people BRO, and my dick is bigger than your dick and I can go places blah blah blah masturbation." Just cut the conversation off if the customer is being inappropriate - cancel their order, don't do business with them, whatever. But in this case the guy has waited months and this douchebag Paul has the balls to be a smartass to him, and he got smacked down. And rather than learn anything from it, he's still whining like a little bitch.

TLDR; fuck this guy he's dumber than a pile of rocks and apparently too dumb to learn even when smacked in the face with something.
 
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