Penny Arcade publishes revealing email exchanges from rude PR Firm, Ocean Marketing

It's understandable to get a little stressed out around the holidays.  But, unfortunately, if you work in customer service you will always be at the losing end of a who-was-right-and-who-was-wrong argument...especially if said customer has a copied thread of an entire month's worth of email exchanges including insanely unprofessional, condescending  and grammatically incorrect rants all saved in one publishable, compact document.  

Early this morning, such an email exchange documenting a discrepancy over the shipping dates of a gaming controller between Ocean Marketing PR representative Paul Christoforo and a disgruntled customer named Dave was published on the Internet for all the world to see.  The email captures a belligerent Christoforo bullying the concerned customer who apparently just wanted an update on the estimated arrival date of his already paid for purchase.

The emails started a few months ago when Dave ordered a new gaming controller in the hopes of giving it as a gift for Christmas.  As the case with online purchases, Dave was given an estimated shipping date at the time of the initial transaction.  However, when the product failed to arrive on the promised day, Dave then began what would become a series of emails with the Ocean Marketing representative politely inquiring after his order.

After several weeks, several emails and no results, Mike brought his plight to the attention of Mike Krahulik, one of the founders of a popular gaming website called Penny Arcade.  Krahulik not only stood up for the frustrated consumer, but took Dave's cause to a public forum and posted the whole body of the explicit email thread on his website http://penny-arcade.com/resources/just-wow1.html.



Mike Krahulik

Once Mike shared the emails on Penny Arcade, the ignorant sad sack at Ocean Marketing became instant fodder for Internet pundits, defensive nerds and well...just about anyone who has ever felt jilted by a customer service representative.

With the full weight of nerd nation behind him, will Mike's "email expose" be enough to put a careless company like Ocean Marketing in jeopardy?  I mean the rep. did claim to be "moving 20-50 thousand controllers a month," and from what I've read the product in question, the PS3 Avenger, is a highly desired item as a modified controller for disabled gamers. 

Dave himself even continues in the email chain to defend the quality and necessity of the product to Krahulik even after Ocean Marketing's horrible treatment, "I’m really gonna feel bad if I think that sick children may somewhere down the line have fewer avenger controllers because I got into a pissing match with a sad old man.  Please don’t cancel their booth on my account.  As much as I hate this asshole, I still WANT his product and think it should be out there.  GAH, I wish I was in a position to make a competing product to really stick it to guy."

So, will all this hubub actually make a difference?

Technically the Avenger Controller is made by N-Control which is good news for gamers who really want to buy this product and might, in light of the controversy, have a hard time putting any money into the pockets of a group of people who clearly don't have the consumer's best interest as a top priority.  It also makes it harder to boycott or penalize Ocean Marketing from a consumer standpoint.  Also, despite its missteps and apparent inability to spell (and even though every computer I've ever worked with has some sort of spellcheck feature) Ocean Marketing claims to work, know and/or distribute to several other large gaming corporations such as "all the other majors hell yeah , don’t forget to check Amazon, gamestop.com, play n trade , Myers , Frys and a ton of other local stores coming your way."  So, beyond public outrage I don't know if there is much we can do as consumers to bring about true justice for those wronged.

But, hopefully, thanks to the immediacy of the Internet and the power of an angry digital (and nerdy) mob, maybe this time the customer will actually get to be right and Mike and Dave's little slingshot will topple the meany, illiterate giant.  Maybe.  Til then, keep fighting the good fight holiday consumers and always remember to stand up for your right to information and keep all receipts.

P.S.
Even though I encourage you to read the entire email on Penny Arcade's website, here are some highlights from the infamous email exchange:

The professional public relations expert at Ocean Marketing, Paul Christoforo when speaking with "valued customer" Dave:

"Son Im 38 I wwebsite as on the internet when you were a sperm in your daddys balls and before it was the internet, thanks for the welcome to message wurd up."

After Paul from Ocean Marketing figures out who Mike Krahulik is, he shamefully inquires if Mike is going to CES and Mike responds:

"Please remove me from this mailing list."

After Penny Arcade posted Paul Christoforo's Twitter name at the end of the article, Paul changed it from the misspelled @oceanmarketting to the just as embarrassing name @oceanstratagy.