It was revealed by a Penny Arcade reader known as Dave that Ocean Marketing has a less then helpful approach to his customer enquiries on a products they represent by berating him.

The incident started on December 16 with Dave asking Ocean Marketing if the 2 Avenger PS3 controllers he had ordered would arrive in time for Christmas as the controllers where marked for an early December release which was missed and he also stated he was unhappy about having to pay for them upfront since they had not arrived yet. Ocean Marketing responded by saying the controllers should be available December 17th. The email conversations began to continue over when they would arrive, but things began to look bad after the PR Company gave the latest update on arrival.

Then on December 26th Dave sent an email asking why no benefits were being given to those who had pre-ordered already. Here is an extract of the email.

December 26th email excerpt.

I noticed the updated info on the webpage, and I don’t understand why there is absolutely no benefit given to those like me who have already ordered, and paid their money. You’ve had my money interest free for nearly two months, yet now ANY new order will get $10 off….meaning I should just cancel my order for 2 controllers, get my money back, then re-order.

My other questions is regarding item compatibility. Ocean Marketing seems to be involved with the Xtendplay controller holder, so I was wondering if the Avenger N-Controller can be used in conjunction with the Xtendplay (for both Xbox and PS3)? Thanks

The Ocean Marketing rep  stated that people were not allowed to cancel an re-order a product and started becoming unhelpful.

December 26th email excerpt.

Things happen in manufacturing if your unhappy you have 7 days from the day your item ships for a refund. You placed a pre order just like any software title the gets a date moved due to the tweaks and bugs not being worked out and GameStop or any other place holds your cash and im sure you don’t complain to activision or epic games so put on your big boy hat and wait it out like everyone else. The benefit is a token of our appreaciation for everyone no one is special including you or any first time buyer . 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. Have a good day Dan.

After this Dave had informed various gaming websites about his treatment Penny Arcade’s Mike Krahulik got involved by saying  “Holy shit this is unbelievable. Dave, if this guy has a booth at Pax east we will cancel it.”

The rep later started boasting about knowing people and became abusive in an email. The rep became hostile after Dave outlined why he should be allowed to cancel and pre-order again (really long email which you can read in the credited source at the bottom of this article),  “stated I know the Editor N Chief of Kotaku , IGN , Engadget I’ll be meeting them at CES”, he then proceeded to end his email by saying “See you at CES , E3 , Pax East ….? Oh wait you have to ask mom and pa dukes your not an industry professional and you have no money on snap you just got told”.

After Mike Krahulik (Penny Arcade) came to Dave’s defence he got berated by the rep via email. The rep proceeded to dismiss Mike as the PA owner and PAX East creator and proceeded to state that PAX didn’t matter and boasted how he lived in Boston (PAX East takes place in Boston) and stated he knows people in the city. The aggressive email continued, but I think I will leave it there as I bet you can see how it is going.

People who the rep said he knew began to speak up with  Brian Crecente (Kotaku’s Editor N Chief) tweeting “@TheSlorg Yeah, just did. For the record. I have no clue who he is, and he certainly doesn’t have my support.” Other  Editor N Chief’s and companies the rep said he knew had their say as Engadget tweeted and IGN’s Scott Lowe tweeted  saying they did not support the rep.

Personally I feel the rep should have not said some of things he should have to Dave as he should have being allowed to pre-order and re-order the product and the whole attack on him was unneeded and unwarranted in my opinion.

After all this I hope N-Control (creators of the Avenger controller attachment) do let Ocean Marketing go for this, but I also hope they (N-Control) don’t get adversely affected by this PR reps behaviour. At this year’s E3 I met up with N-Control and tried out the Avenger attachment for the Xbox 360 and loved it and the developer there (whose name now escapes me) was helpful.

I guess only time will tell on what happens after this incident.

Source: Penny Arcade

Update: Some name mistakes were made in the article and were fixed.