Welcome back readers and true believers. While we were enjoying a peaceful and relaxing winter break, the gaming industry still kept on trucking. Games were announced at the Video Game Awards; games of 2011 were distributed and lax customer service was making purchasing a simple gaming controller a hassle. I am, of course, referring to the controversy between Ocean Marketing/Avenger Controller representative Paul Christoforo and the customer and Penny Arcade founder Mike Krahulik. The released string of emails between these three parties has created a buzz that starts 2012 off on a positive note.
The conversation originally started off between Dave (the customer) and Christoforo. Dave was growing concerned about when his controller would ship after he pre-paid for it. Christoforo gave very vague answers and dates at first, but once Dave threatened to cancel his pre-order due to a $10 bonus given to new buyers as opposed to dedicated buyers, Christoforo replied with, “Feel free to cancel we need the units were back ordered 11,000 units so your 2 will be gone fast. Maybe I’ll put them on eBay for 150.00 myself.” Dave replied with a lengthy and in-depth complaint about Christoforo and his poor representation and unhelpfulness while stressing the quality of the controller. Paul responded in an unprofessional manner by saying things such as, “no one cares what you think” and “We do value our customers but sometimes we get children like you we just have to put you in the corner with your im stupid hat on.”
Things got really interesting around the point when Mike Krahulik, Penny Arcade founder and creator of the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) got involved.
“Holy s**t this is unbelievable. Dave, if this guy has a booth at Pax east we will cancel it,” Krahulik said in the email. Christoforo countered that he will get a booth if he wants one and that he has connections with big name companies all over the industry, which I assume have probably been damaged at this point. Christoforo ended the conversation with, “Wow, Ill put my marketing team on a smear campaign of you and your site and your emails.”
While the conversation between Dave, Christoforo and Mike ended, the rest of the gaming community wanted its voice heard. A quick search on Amazon of “Avenger Controllers” yielded that the product had been given less than three stars through user reviews, with such reviews citing the poor customer service. Chrstoforo even made an appearance on GT.TV to accept responsibility for his actions and he even said, “the reason why we’re here is because of my actions.” In addition to that, the company behind Avenger Controllers made a very generous donation of $10,000 to Child’s Play, a gaming charity, with a promise of $50,000 in accessories should the charity accept – we can assume it’s damage control. The article also confirms that N-Control fired Christoforo as their PR rep.
So there you have it folks: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly in the gaming industry. Anyone that has purchased anything gamer has dealt with some form of poor customer service, but this just goes above and beyond the call of duty with regards to Christoforo.
