Some people are just TOO rude!
March 4, 2010 by Krissy
Filed under Adults/Parents, Barefoot Thoughts, Reviews and Giveaways
I’m not one to bring things on Barefoot Mommies that tick me off, if so I would really be in trouble 
However, yesterday when I was contacting some ‘Contact Worthy’ companies I received a VERY rude reply. Now let me say this, I don’t mind getting turned down. If someone doesn’t want to work with me, that is OK, but seriously..You do NOT have to be rude when doing so! I get turned down and receive the nice ‘turn downs’ such as; ‘No thank you, not at this time, but thank you for thinking of us.” Now that was nice! I reply back and thank them for letting me know and that I hope their company does wonderful.
Nice, easy and simple as that and I don’t contact again. If someone has an interest in my blog then they would tell me to contact back in such a such time frame.
I don’t take to heart when someone says no to me.
Now! If I sent someone a nice email and receive a response back such as; “No. And please do not waste our time further.” I get a little offended! Was I wasting your time? It took you maybe 2 minutes out of your day to read my email! Was that added bit REALLY needed? So my response to him was “Will do! Will also let my readers know not to waste their time in purchasing from you. Thank you for your time! ”
So if you don’t want to work with me, then just say ‘No Thank you!’ I would trash your email and not think anything about it. But not this guy! When I said that, this was his reply to me…
“You might also want to inform your ‘readers’ about click through revenue and being paid for the PR you are sending to the ‘Mommies’. Geez, get a real job please. Really sad.”
Haha. Okay! I don’t get PAID for my job unlike he does, but the difference? I don’t get paid and I love my job, he really shouldn’t be so hateful! I spend HOURS upon HOURS on my blog doing what I do, as MANY Mommy Bloggers do. There is no click through revenue on my blog and any other blog out there. This is offensive to me! This ‘man’, well I am not sure I can even call him a man because no REAL man would say this to someone who works their ass off, and probably A LOT harder than he does to get a real job!
I am a MOM, I am a blogger, I have worked with companies A WHOLE lot bigger than he is. I don’t know if this guy is the owner of this company or if he has a higher up!
His responses to me where uncalled for!
My response back to this man was very nice…I bit my tongue, a little hard I might had, made it bleed! I was mad, very, very angry! If someone doesn’t understand what us MOMMY BLOGGERS do, then they need to keep their offensive remarks to themselves! I don’t care to hear your thoughts about what we do is not a real job! I am a FULL-TIME mom, I am also a FULL-TIME blogger who works her ass of day in, and day out to find wonderful companies to work with and find those awesome unique products people may have never heard of before. I take PRIDE in what I do as every MOMMY BLOGGER ‘who needs a real job’ does!
This man was very offensive and if I can say ANYTHING please take this much out of it. He is beyond pathetic and I hope my readers on Barefoot Mommies NEVER purchase a thing from his site.
His name is Bob Melvin and works for http://www.coloradopen.com/
But that’s not all, they also have Social Networking – https://twitter.com/coloradopen and https://www.facebook.com/pages/Colorado-Pen-Direct/61016962616?ref=ts
Here is an update!
A blogger decided to write the president of the company, if it isn’t the same guy who emailed me, obviously the president doesn’t give a crap either.
Read her email and then his response…
Mr. Melvin,
I have to tell you that I am absolutely shocked at the way you treated a “mommy blogger” when she reached out to you to try to have a mutually beneficial relationship. She has a very large blog and many read and respect that blog. It seems that you think us “mommies” without “real jobs” don’t have much power or influence. However, I am afraid you are sadly mistaken on that. Mommy bloggers have an extremely loud voice, both in positive and negative situations. I have already read about this situation on mulitple blogs and tweets, as well as on facebook. I will also be posting about the situation. It shocks me that you can claim to have “extraordinary customer service” as your website says, but then treat someone so poorly. Perhaps it made you feel good to put down someone that you felt was beneath you due to their job status. However, I can tell you that moms, and mom bloggers, work just as hard if not harder than you to PROMOTE companies such as yours. In this case, you are getting plenty of publicity, but I think you will find it has negative consequences.
You may wonder why I care about this. I care because in your rude and unnecessary words, you personally offended me, and many people I know. It is astounding that you felt it necessary to be so rude to someone that you don’t know, someone that was trying to promote your company. It is obvious that you are completely ignorant about what mommy bloggers do and our influence in the world. You have missed out on a wonderful opportunity to bring a lot of POSITIVE attention to your products. And perhaps before you write someone off, call them sad, and spout off about things you know nothing about, you should educate yourself as to how Mommy bloggers really work, how they really affected the world, and how they can really help or hurt your business.
A PROUD mommy blogger,
Vicki
Frugal Mom knows Best
Then, here is his response to her!
“We’ve gotten another one of these earlier today! They are hilarious. Thanks for taking the time to write. Too much!”
Yeah, I wasn’t lying when I said he was a jerk-off asshole!
And believe me, it took everything in my power not to cuss him out, so instead, I decided to pass the word about him.
This man is the President of this company. He’s not just an employee. Hard to believe that someone would risk business just to be rude.
Makes you wonder what kind of man he is, especially if he has a wife and children!
His Email – president@coloradopen.com & cpdirect@coloradopen.com
Someone is right about not clicking his site. This is why I didn’t want to post his actual website. I don’t want to give him ANY sort of traffic, but I still want to get the word out about this man.
But he does have Twitter & Facebook
So now, we’re getting some people who have to leave their tid bits. I am however happy to forward my email, but I am not going to copy/paste my email I send out to companies onto my blog.
This would be very unprofessional of MYSELF.
I did NOT in no way put down this company when I chose to email them to see if I could work with them, it’s my normal email & if you ask ANY of the companies I have worked with they will tell you that I am in-fact very respectable to them, and their products, and my initial email is very kind!
Again, if you want to see the WHOLE email, I can forward it to you as I have other bloggers. Everyone’s thought on it is the same, and still the way I was spoken to was VERY unprofessional!
It’s not just a put down to me, but to ALL moms who either work at home, run a blog, or simply just stay at home with their children. JOB or NO job, being a parent isn’t easy and how dare someone tell someone ‘to get a real job’.
You can find my email in the contact section.
h4>Incoming search terms for the article:
What a jerk! Someone needs to tell him where he can stick his pens.
I will link to this post from my own blog as well. If all of us “mommy bloggers who need REAL jobs” put our power together then a LOT of people are going to avoid this company. That is the worst attitude I’ve ever seen.
I get rejections all the time and none of them bother me. But this one made me angry for you. It is just uncalled for.
I actually came upon through this site through another pen company’s newsletter; they apparently realize the need to treat people, customer or not, with respect. While I haven’t bought a $500 pen, I do love fountain pens and have spent quite a bit on them in the past few months, even though I’m a stay-at-home mom. As a pen customer, I was curious about the site and I see that they carry many things I have bought and will buy in the future, but this company’s treatment of you is really unbelievable and I plan to write them and tell them I plan to continue to purchase my pens from companies who treat customers, both current and potential, with respect. I would never purchase from a site who feels that “stay-at-home mothers” are beneath them. Please don’t let one pen company’s negative response keep you from trying others out there. Generally, pen people are very nice people who love their product and are willing to share their knowledge with others.
My email to them:
Dear Sir/Madam:
You should be deeply ashamed about the behavior and treatment you are showing people. Maybe if you dug your head out of your ass, you would realize the mistake you have made.
http://www.barefootmommies.com/?p=7031
Regards,
Melissa
I also joined the Facebook fan page and posted about how awful they are.
I’m not even a Mom but there is no need for that kind of rudeness.
Wow, this is just ridiculous! What a JERK, seriously! I can understand saying no, which a lot of companies do for whatever reason they may have. But couldn’t he have just left it at that? Bet he’s wishing he would have pulled his head out of his ass now!
Retweeted this for you, my friend. Pen companies are traditionally courtly in their dealings with customers (I’m a long-time customer of Swisher Pens, Nibs.com, FPH, others). I’ve never seen such rudeness! Man owes you a handwritten apology on Crane’s 100% cotton paper, and the Aurora 88 it was written with!
Move on, have a great day, you have exposed him for the ignorant marketing chauvinist he is.
inexcusable. If someone hasn’t beat me to it, I’m posting a link to this at the Fountain Pen Network forum. There are many respectful and respectable pen sellers out there; there’s no reason buy from someone so patronizing and rude.
If Colorado Pen responded as quoted, his remarks are truly rude. I would, however be interested in seeing your initial proposal to them that illicited such an angry response. There are probably two sides to this story.
You should submit this to The Consumerist. More people need to know about how terrible this company is.
Krissy, in the interest of fairness, would you post your *entire* email exchange with Bob instead of just paraphrasing it for the juicy bits? Before damning someone I’d like to see exactly what was said on both sides. What exactly were you asking for from them in the original email?
I have seen both sides as a writer for Krissy. Krissy is not lieing! I find it funny that you want to see both sides. Do you think that Bob is telling everyone both sides of the story??? See this is what pisses me off, is that we as mom bloggers have to listen to everyday. I know that you want to hear every juicy little detail, but honetly, why? That is not nice, and honestly you do not need to hear it all. He has a very rude man and that is all you need to know. What point does Krissy have to lie to you? Has she ever posted about a company here before? Then why lie about one now? Ok this is all I have to say, ok thi. Krissy Carr is a very kind and caring women who runs a fair and fun mommy blog. She is always there for her writers, and readers, and I am so lucky to be a part of barefoot mommies.
After reading both sides of the email exchange, I think you should have taken the high road and just not gotten into a snark war after his initial response. Both sides are to blame here.
You emailed asking for (at minimum) a review product or for him to advertise via your website. He responded (rudely) with a “No, don’t waste our time”. I can see where “Barefoot Mommies Blogs” might not be his target customer base.
This would have been the point to go “Okay, wow how rude” and moved on with things. However, you chose to snark back and it escalated from there. This is the point where I lose any sympathy I might have had for either side in this debate.
A note about “Wow, this guy was rude” would have been fine; I don’t think that it needs a MOMMYBLOGGERS UNITE GRAB THE PITCHFORKS LETS RUIN HIS BUSINESS response. In doing so, you’re potentially poisoning yourself to any possible future advertisers that may see this.
Amanda, I never said that Krissy was lying, I just wanted to see the entire email exchange (including her initial inquiry) before giving my opinion. She sent it to me directly, and I’ve now posted that opinion.
I think everyone involved needs to step back and take a deep breath, before someone overreacts.
Face it Krissy, there is no cure for stupid people like him.
‘Bob’ is in fact not telling both sides. As I said I would forward the email, now I have another one someone received from him basically saying I am a liar.
I will continue to do what I do and move on.
This has really boiled over. I had planned to move on, but I was told by other bloggers that I NEEDED to come out and let my readers know about what happened. Which I did! What everyone else is doing is their own thing, I never once said ‘HEY let’s get him ladies!’
I would love to post an email Mr. Melvin sent, but I’m not.
I’ll keep it for my records, how she wants to handle it is her choice. I’m keeping it and ALL of the original emails, as well as emails he had sent previous when first ask about this innocent. It’s really funny how now, his story has changed.
This has really become sad and I am sick of hearing how I may have disrespected this company, when in fact I did not. But to each their own
Everyone will have their own opinion, and from that there isn’t much you can do.
Why do you have to show people your Inquiry Letter? That is your stamp. If its the same one you email to ALL your companies then people shouldn’t have to see that part. I think that part is personal as I wouldn’t want to share my Inquiry letter with everyone.
I agree Jennifer, this is the whole reason I will not be posting my inquiry letter here on my blog for all to see. NO blogger should ever do that.
bill said…
A note about “Wow, this guy was rude” would have been fine; I don’t think that it needs a MOMMYBLOGGERS UNITE GRAB THE PITCHFORKS LETS RUIN HIS BUSINESS response. In doing so, you’re potentially poisoning yourself to any possible future advertisers that may see this.
Word. You may not have said “hey, let’s get ‘em ladies”, but you provided his contact info, what did you think was going to happen with all of that if not a go get ‘em session? He has a job just like you do, how would you like it if he found any additional contact info on you and posted it for others to email their compalaints about you in this exchange? Mom bloggers who find a PR rep to be rude can contact one another via other means than a main post on their blog to let them know to watch out if ever looking to contact said company.
Wow, what a piece of work he is. I appreciate the heads up about companies like this and will make sure to keep this one in the “do not buy” pile.
We collectively need to show this company how loud our voices really are.
thanks for the post, what a jerk! Thankfully this is a rare thing and most businesses and PR respect us.
There will always be a negative response to why I have written what I did. However, I have a lot of people behind me, not just women, but men as well.
I posted his contact information for those people who want to get in contact, how they handle it is up to them.
I just stated something that upset me, I wrote about it as MANY people do on blogs. I will not take this post down and I will approve comments good or bad about what people have to say.
To me this is over.
I will let the rest of the moms/bloggers and who ever else reply if they feel the need to. I didn’t do anything wrong, although it would have been wrong of me to NOT post.
Again, to each their own!
And, AGAIN, this wasn’t just a no, I don’t want to work with you. It was a rude way to say it, I’ve gotten TONS of great ‘no’s’ and I not once post. Has nothing to do about pointing out a company who says no…C’mon! I do NOT charge for reviews for a ‘GOOD’ review. To say I am is an insult to me & what all of us mom blogs do!
Thanks for the heads up. I will NOT buy from their company and let others know about them as well. Has he ever heard of word of mouth?
As both a non-job-having SAHM ( I just had to do that) and review blogger this not only offends me, it pisses me off as well.
There was absolutely no need whatsoever for the rude, childish, unprofessional way that he handled the situation. I am glad that you posted this, people need to be aware of the kind of people they are dealing with and after reading what I have I will make sure to stay far away from him and his business.
Disgusting. He has no idea what’s coming to him via social media. Rejections are fine, being a jackass about it isn’t.
I am in disbelief what a prick. I think I would have told him to shove his pens up his ass. I only like Bic.
Extremely uncalled for and RUDE. Wow. I would have been upset too. I agree, rejections are fine, we all deal with them, but being an ass? Where is his class? Thanks for the information. I will be sure to pass along this info if the need arises, to potential customers. I RT’d for you.
Wow. I have been the recipient of inquiry letters. Sometimes as many as 300 a day. When you count the 2 minutes it takes to respond to each, couple that with a really bad day at work, I sometimes got a bit testy too. And yes, it does waste time.
Krissy, you allowed a guy, having a bad day, get your goat. Then you devolved down to his bad behavior. As a mommy blogger, I would hope, that your response could set a better tone. Shrug it off as a guy having a bad day, a guys who’s a big jerk, and man am I glad I’m not married to him, response and move on. Could it be that you were possibly having a bad day too?
We are all in the middle of the worst recession in history and are stretched to the limit. Why not put on your big girl panties and give a jerk a break. You posted this on March 4, I’m the 77th comment in four days. Was it really worth it? I don’t think so. So turn that frown upside down and smile this guy away. Mommy bloggers already have a bad name going for them after the Blogher 09 disgrace. Can we try to set the bar a bit higher? We are the example for the future.
I’m a little bit confused. You say above that you don’t get paid for writing this blog. However, when I look at your disclosure page (http://www.barefootmommies.com/?page_id=6387), it appears that you are compensated via paid advertisements on the site, press release publication, free products you solicit from various vendors for your own personal use (and subsequent review), as well as sponsorships for travel to various conferences. I think it’s disingenuous–at best–to claim that you are not receiving compensation when even a cursory examination shows that is not the case simply because Mr. Melvin didn’t describe your revenue stream correctly.
His company is so huge, that I have never even heard of it.
I think his rude responses are more of a reflection of major issues on his part, than anything else.
I hate companies like that! Thanks for the heads up. I’ll make sure to pass the word along to my friends (online and off) and family about how this company treats their potential customers. I will never be purchasing from them. What a dick!
I am so SORRY this happened to you!
WTF? They sell pens; How busy can they REALLY be? Sorry you had to deal with such jerks!
Unbelievable! I actually just wrote about this topic on my blog today in a post entitled “Bloggers Working With Brands.” I’ve had some less than respectful interactions with brands and their PR reps before, but this takes the cake. Incredibly stupid on his part and he will be feeling that mistake for years to come!
Tamara
http://www.theunexperiencedmom.com
http://www.blogconferencenewbie.com
Today’s post about this same topic:
http://theunexperiencedmom.com/2010/03/bloggers-working-with-brands.html
Um… he’s selling pens to people who run websites.
Are you sure his name isn’t Michael Scott?
As both a blogger (on the side, my own time) and a marketing/communications associate, I know the time that goes into contacting organizations and going through requests. I don’t think the response that was supplied is appropriate. I get many emails and phone calls from bloggers similar to what Krissy has explained, and while they take time to go through, it is part of my job, and guess what, I get paid for that time. So did this guy. He may view it as a waste of time, but he also needs to realize that this “waste of time” just lost him thousands of potential customers. Though he didn’t stand to gain any with a “no thank you”, he also didn’t stand to lose any with that response. The reply he provided makes me wonder if he really wants to stay in business. From a blogger’s viewpoint, Krissy’s post was respectful and worthwhile. From a communication professional’s standpoint, this guy was way off base and he won’t be receiving any business from my organization (a nationwide company), or our partners and other vendors. I normally do not spread the word in a bad way, but seeing as mommy blogger’s have a tremendous impact on our bottom line, I cannot refer anyone I am associated with to this company.
I am appalled. As I live and breathe, I will never purchase (nor will anyone else I know) from this company again!
guess who will never get my business. that rude ass highfalutin colorado pen that’s who! i am not a mom yet, but this is so offensive. what is with people thinking they are so much better than an another person? just cause you sit at a desk all day and get paid doesn’t make your “job” any more respectful than raising up another human being. it’s so sad that in the year 2010 women are still being snubbed in such ways. ::rage::
I bet his loving the traffic but what a jerk! I hope his email gets FLOODED
What a bunch of idiots….. Great way to run a business and treat potential customers, I’ll be sure to pass the word on…
Thank you for posting about this! I hope that guys business goes under. Seriously. That guy is plain RUDE!!! I plan to write something to him as well. I’m so sick to my stomach to hear that!
Wow! I’ve never, ever experienced such rudeness from a company. The PRESIDENT??? I feel terrible that I indeed purchased fountain pens from them in the past. I’m a MOM, and I’m a fountain pen addict. Guess what? No more pens from Colorado Pen Company for me. Nope. Nada. Zilch.
I have actually met the man. I ordered a pen, then went to pick it up on a Saturday, they are mailorder/Web only, but he was nice enough to let me pick it up there. He seemed like a nice enough guy, very busy running a small operation, which probably has several mommies working from home for him. While there is no excuse for being rude, you never know what someone is going through when you contact them. How might you react if you had just been diagnosed with cancer the day after your spouse left you and you are trying to keep you business going for your children’s benefit?
Not saying that any of that actually happened, but you never know. Then again he may just be an ASS.
Once upon a time I had some experience with this company. The kind “lady” who once ran their store at the mall in Schamburg, IL was wonderful to me. But since that store closed long ago (now I understand why) I have had limited dealings with them and experienced some of the same type of unwillingness to be curtious and received hard core attitudes. Never in all my years of pen use and collecting has a company been so rude. Maybe that is one of the reasons one rarely hears about this company. I won’t even dignify the company with a email of distain or a click on their website or Facebook page. There are plenty of other great companies out there that actually want my business.
While I do agree that his response was fairly unprofessional, I have to say that your response was completely over the top. Smearing him because he was rude and doing so in the way you did seems the very least unprofessional and at most an example of over inflated personal value as a “blogger”. Sorry, but I just don’t see any value that you might have placed on the whole deal. Instead you seem to only want to shame him into apology. I think that if you approached me I might have thought little of you (I generally don’t like unsolicited emails and tend to be fairly rude in response) as well, and might have responded way more abruptly. That being said, I’ve been to his site looking for the occasional item and have always been turned off by his presentation. He’s not all that internet savvy or professional in the first place.
You are probably better off going after companies like GouletPenCompany.. He’s WAY nicer and a pleasure to deal with.
Though, what I’m writing will probably fall on deaf ears seeing as how I don’t totally agree with you.
Wow, that is a shame he represented the company in such a negative manner. With such a lack of communication skills he might want to change career fields or go back to school and take/retake the class on how not to be an ass. The sad aspect is the company carries some very nice products, but is probably losing sales because the marketing team is not open to new ideas. Moms have a way of spreading news like wild fires and can be an influential tool in increasing or decreasing sales. People like him have a way of taking a good company and driving it into the ground. I know I will never spend one cent there now knowing how he treated you!
Pen people can shove their pens and ‘fine products’ up their fine asses. That is rude and uncalled for. Good for you for standing up! *applause*
Never heard of them before. I guess that’s due in part to their fabulous customer service.
“Pen people can shove their pens and ‘fine products’ up their fine asses.”
You are rude and uncalled for.