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Avenger controller company pisses off gaming community with bad customer support

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Re: Avenger controller company pisses off gaming community with bad customer support

#31

Post by TezzellEnt »

frou_dh wrote: post #3

The takeaway seems to be don't let a raging idiot near customers in the first place. There's a second documented encounter with the guy from 6 months ago: http://www.natesnetwork.com/Poor-customer-service

Paul Christoforo should never be in charge of a customer facing position.

Maybe he should take the advice on (his) Ocean Marketing's front page: "Your brand is no stronger than your reputation - and will increasingly depend on what comes up when you are Googled."

I wonder what will come up after all this is over.

Re: Avenger controller company pisses off gaming community with bad customer support

#32

Post by eli »

mikeash wrote: post #30
glimcat wrote: post #16

From about five seconds of Google, it looks like the actual product was made by David Kotkin and is considered to be rather significant for disabled users. http://www.ablegamers.com/hardware-news/interview-with-aveng... Paul Christoforo is just some schmuck at the contracted marketing company, because the product was put together by an art teacher trying to make small-quantity disability aids and not someone trying t…

If you contract a marketing company, surely you take some responsibility for how they interact with your customers.

Sure, but that doesn't necessarily mean you endorse it.

Re: Avenger controller company pisses off gaming community with bad customer support

#33

Post by elliottcarlson »

Both IGN and Engadget have tweeted about this:

.@OceanMarketting Please refrain from referring to me or IGN as support for you, your company or your clients. You do not have it.

http://twitter.com/#!/ScottLowe/status/151595644182740992

http://twitter.com/#!/engadget/status/151673881671905281

Re: Avenger controller company pisses off gaming community with bad customer support

#34

Post by BiosElement »

eli wrote: post #32
mikeash wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you contract a marketing company, surely you take some responsibility for how they interact with your customers.

Sure, but that doesn't necessarily mean you endorse it.

The moment you pay them, you're endorsing it. Sure, make your public "whoops" statements, but at the end of the day, it's your fault for hiring them and you get the rep hit as well.

Re: Avenger controller company pisses off gaming community with bad customer support

#35

Post by mikeash »

eli wrote: post #32
mikeash wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you contract a marketing company, surely you take some responsibility for how they interact with your customers.

Sure, but that doesn't necessarily mean you endorse it.

I think this is a case where it's justified to consider them guilty until proven innocent. Interacting with customers is what they paid these guys to do. It's not like he's doing this in his spare time or anything. Yeah, they probably don't endorse it, but as has been pointed out elsethread, this isn't the first time this awful marketing company pissed people off. When it comes to Googling for due diligence, surely the same applies to choosing your marketing company.

Re: Avenger controller company pisses off gaming community with bad customer support

#36

Post by Hominem »

Yeah, the inventor David Kotkin is/was a teacher and inventor in Miami Florida, he was actually on local news demoing it. It seems it is being sold by a company called iNcontrol Enterprises LLC.

Interestingly, all the press releases up until march 2011 for iNcontrol were done by a florida operation called The HAND Media who seem slightly more legit than Ocean Marketing.

Ocean marketing seems to be mainly interested in promoting his ebay auctions on Twitter.

Someone needs to get in touch with Kotkin and let him know the situation, that his marketing firm seems to have fallen down on the job.

Re: Avenger controller company pisses off gaming community with bad customer support

#37

Post by BiosElement »

DanBC wrote: post #23
manuscreationis wrote: post #4

At the risk of taking a potentially unpopular opinion on the subject, I don't think either one of those people come out looking too good. I'm all for doing the whole "CC your formal complaint letter to several outlets in hopes that someone will take notice" approach; My brother taught me about doing this when I was a little kid. He would write letters (this was before the advent of the internet) and note on the botto…

> I'm all for doing the whole "CC your formal complaint letter to several outlets in hopes that someone will take notice" approach; I recognise that many people working in customer support roles have lousy jobs with lousy wages and are treated like dirt by customers and by bosses. So my first approach is a nice, short, letter explaining the problem and asking for help. People like to help, and they like to help nice…

As someone who works in support on a daily basis, I can vouch that being nice makes everything go a whole lot smoother.

Re: Avenger controller company pisses off gaming community with bad customer support

#38

Post by mikeash »

manuscreationis wrote: post #12
skizm wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally agree the customer was in the wrong (at least somewhat) but I think this is more about the PR guy. The customer is allowed to be a jerk. The PR guy gets paid to handle people and what does he do? Gets in an argument with an angry customer. Anyone who has worked in customer service knows you always smile through your teeth. Worst comes to worst you can always just not respond, which would have been better than…

It's definitely more about the PR guy, no question. Above all else, those people are paid to be polite, courteous, and to relate to the customers. He dropped the ball big time

Dropping the ball implies a mistake. I'd say he took the ball and threw it right at the other guy's nose.

Re: Avenger controller company pisses off gaming community with bad customer support

#39

Post by DanBC »

BiosElement wrote: post #37
DanBC wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm all for doing the whole "CC your formal complaint letter to several outlets in hopes that someone will take notice" approach; I recognise that many people working in customer support roles have lousy jobs with lousy wages and are treated like dirt by customers and by bosses. So my first approach is a nice, short, letter explaining the problem and asking for help. People like to help, and they like to help nice…

As someone who works in support on a daily basis, I can vouch that being nice makes everything go a whole lot smoother.

The other tip I heard (which has worked for me) is to say something like "I need help to ask the right question, because I don't know how the process works. Here's what I want; what do I need to do to make that happen?". This is more for bureaucracy but also works for some customer service stuff.

Re: Avenger controller company pisses off gaming community with bad customer support

#40

Post by drzaiusapelord »

TezzellEnt wrote: post #31
frou_dh wrote: post #3

The takeaway seems to be don't let a raging idiot near customers in the first place. There's a second documented encounter with the guy from 6 months ago: http://www.natesnetwork.com/Poor-customer-service

Paul Christoforo should never be in charge of a customer facing position. Maybe he should take the advice on (his) Ocean Marketing's front page: "Your brand is no stronger than your reputation - and will increasingly depend on what comes up when you are Googled." I wonder what will come up after all this is over.

I picture Paul like a real life Tom Haverford from Parks. The "you got told bitch" line is pure Tom.
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