It’s not just that Paul Christoforo, the recently-infamous PR representative who yesterday invoked the Internet’s wrath by bullying a customer, has directly hurt the reputation of the video game accessory he was hired to help sell. His actions are now indirectly hurting it, too.
That’s because Amazon users who learned about the debacle have since taken to that site in droves, and they’ve almost unanimously given one-star reviews to the product, an Xbox controller add-on called the Avenger.
If anyone was considering buying it on Amazon but hadn’t heard about Christoforo’s actions, they certainly will now.
“Probably the worst purchase i have ever made in my entire life, from the worst company to ever exist,” wrote RufusPFunkerdale next to his one-star review. It’s not clear if he actually bought the product or simply said he purchased it to express his frustration, but 421 out of 438 people marked his review as helpful.
Markk didn’t even try to claim he ever purchased the product. “The people who make this product are the worst kind of people. They have no respect for their customers, they’re only interested in getting your money and running. They will not help you if you have any issues, are unreliable and are frankly childish,” he wrote, also giving one star. 294 out of 309 Amazon users found him helpful, and only 15 disagreed.
Added N. Al-Balool. “This is a product created by the worst company ever existed. you better save your money and spend it on an actual game rather than this stupid controller.”
Before the debacle, the Avenger controller’s 57 reviews were overwhelmingly positive, and it averaged 4.4 out of 5 stars. But 122 of the 126 reviewers since yesterday have given it the lowest rating.
A few Amazon customers took to the product’s defense. Not only was it helpful to some people with disabilities, they said, but Christoforo works for Ocean Marketing, rather than the company that actually makes the Avenger. Ocean’s exact relationship with the Avenger controller is under question.
“That may well be, but the manufacturer needs to publicly fire Ocean Marketing before there’s gonna be any let up,” replied Stryker1050.
Some users joked about it. “This thing has actively made my life worse. I get up in the morning, pour some coffee, and BOOM, the Avenger is urinating in my cup. Why would you even build that feature?” wrote ShaggE adding to the heap of 1-star reviews.
The debacle and revenge of the masses recalls an episode earlier this month when, after news broke of a dentist tried suing her patient for giving her a bad review on Yelp, users of that site slammed her with one-star reviews.
The majority of those bad reviews have since been removed. Amazon did not respond to questions of how it will react.
Image by Max Sparber
