It's quite a shame that our professional relationship, if there ever was such a thing, would have to end like this. Had you treated me, Mike, and the rest of SOTA with even half of the class and tact that other field owners or representatives exhibit, I could have virtually guaranteed you that SOTA would continue to produce and promote high-quality events at the Warpaint field. Of course, that translates to dollars in your pocket, both from our group and from others who would view you as a reputable person with whom they could comfortably do business with.
Unfortunately, you and your representatives (Scott, primarily) have consistently exhibited gross unprofessionalism throughout this entire process. Because of the blatant hostility and threatening nature of the exchange posted below, I have decided that it is in the best interest of the community at large to make them aware of just how disgustingly offensive you are when conducting business with your clients behind closed doors.
You contacted Mike on 12 April, the day after our event, with the following private message, threatening legal action against Mike/SOTA/Airsoft Ammo Supply. Please note that I have kindly removed your personal contact information:
Terror Management wrote:Mike
I am glad your game went off as you advertised it would, except for your turnout. This lack of players hurt our credibility, but there isnt much you could have done about that.
But we do have a rather large problem that I promise will not just go away.
By bringing Airsoft Ammo Supply to the event without proper compensation and permission you will be held in breach of contract.
We unfortunately have to name you personally, and AAS as a business, in this action Ash. We will send you a bill for a vendor fee. If this bill is not paid we will then send it to collections thus damaging your personal credit and we will take you and Airsoft Ammo Supply to court...where you will lose. I manage 8-10 million in commercial business in the highest regulated field in America daily so please take this message to heart as one that I can and will act on and as one you can not win.
We are sending this message to Rick Fisher DBA AAS as well demanding he pay the vendor fee. We do not want both of you to pay the fee. We simply wish to have the signed contract followed and the one proper vendor fee to be paid in full. We are also out the sales for the day but we will let that portion go if you step up and pay the vendor fee. I suggest you speak to Rick Fisher and try to work something out.
If this has to go to court we will seek all possible fees and losses. When we win you will also have to pay all legal fees associated with this action. And a civil judgement will go on your credit records.
I really wish it didn't have to go this way but when you showed us the biggest disrespect I have been privy to in years by bringing out a rival vendor to the field without compensation, against our previoiusly stated wishes and in breach of the signed contract you have left us no choice but to pursue this issue with at least as much vigor and aggression as the Team has on the field. I promise you the level of disrepect I feel over this has lit a fire within me personally that you haven't seen from me ever Ash, on or off of the field.
This issue will not go away through your inactivity, the way I assume you thought it would when you knowingly went against our wishes. I really thought better of you personally Ash....what happened? Why would you wrong me to my face this way when our position was made perfectly clear to you and Bad Karma prior to the game?
Was it a "f**k them we will do what we are going to do" moment? Because that is exactly what it feels like.
I will be handling this matter, Scott will not be available to speak with on this issue. 360-798-[redacted]. Dated April 12, 2010.
I have records of all of our private messages, in addition to a copy of our signed contract, both of which will act as solid evidence against your claims of breach-of-contract.
Terror Management wrote:We are sending this message to Rick Fisher DBA AAS as well demanding he pay the vendor fee. We do not want both of you to pay the fee. We simply wish to have the signed contract followed and the one proper vendor fee to be paid in full.
What vendor fee was that? The one you specifically waived in this PM to Mike? And while Rick was on-site to deliver his products, we a) never signed any documents stating that Rick would not be allowed on the field, and b) had an administrator assigned to Rick at all times to act as a SOTA representative for all sales.
Terror Management wrote:He can be a sponsor and have his logo up this time, no problem. But he cannot sell his goods on the field. And I truely prefer he not be on site at any time. I will try to meet you halfway and say you can sell his goods for him at no charge for us this time. I do this so your game post doesn't have to change at all.
Or perhaps you were referring to the contract Scott signed on the day of the event, clearly annotated (reference: line 13) in Scott's own handwriting that the 10% vendor fee would not apply?
Both the PMs and the contract clearly state that no fees would be assessed to our vendor(s). Your representative Scott signed that contract when Mike did, and you were well aware of the stipulations and modifications to that contract that were made to accommodate the waived fees. This is clearly a case of your sour grapes with Rick, and your arguments and claims of breach-of-contract have no foundation whatsoever. But, just for the sake of enlightenment, I phoned Rick and discussed his (abysmal) sales for the day: 8 bags of BBs, sold at the posted 2/$20 price in our event thread. So, $80 in sales at a 10% vendor fee works out to $8.00 in fees that you believe you are entitled to. After speaking with Mike and Rick on this matter, I will happily accommodate you on this fee, even though our contract specifically waives it.
Scott was on the field for the duration of the game. More than once, he, in no uncertain terms, expressed to SOTA administrators that he wanted Rick to be escorted off the field by police for trespassing. In your conversations with me and Mike, it was made quite clear that you and Scott share similar sentiments on the issue. I suppose this is neither here nor there, because Scott didn't even approach Rick at any point during the event to confront him about his presence, let alone call law enforcement to arrest him, but it wouldn't have mattered if you had attempted that, because you don't have the authority to tell us who is or is not allowed to be on the field that we are renting from Warpaint.
See, Mike and I also talked extensively with the field owner regarding your contract with them. To my knowledge, and I'd be happy to be presented with evidence to the contrary on this, nowhere in your contract with them, nor in your contract with us, does it give you permission to remove anyone from the field. That power lies with the field owner, and with the lessee (SOTA).
Perhaps we should instead discuss how you violated your contractual obligations?
I'm referencing, of course, line 5 of our contract. The part where it expressedly states that the Titan 1 Tactical Combat Park would be reserved solely for our use beginning at 4:00PM on 10 April. I was there at 4:00PM, Steve, and you were too. But you know who else was? About fifty paintballers who were booked for a private party through the field owner, and they were holding a night game that lasted well past 9:00PM. When I talked to Derreck, the field manager, he had absolutely no idea that we were scheduled to be there at all. Thankfully, he was incredibly flexible and apologetic for you not bothering to communicate to the field owner that we would be present for that weekend.
It was unfortunate, though, because it interfered heavily with my ability to prep the field for the game on Sunday, as well as making it impossible for us to run early registration and chrono. But because of the concerted effort of the Warpaint field staff to accommodate our campers, Mike and I decided to write off the negligence Terror Management/T1T demonstrated by double-booking us, and move past it.
We had 87 registered participants attend our game. At our negotiated (and I use that term quite loosely) price of $15.00 per head, you assessed us $1305 in field usage fees, which were paid by cash, in full, under the close observation of several SOTA members, including myself, Mike, and Tami. When Scott collected the cash he counted it out on a table to verify that it was correct. Perhaps it was accidental, and this is strictly my anecdotal observation, but I distinctly witnessed him count out the first five "hundred-stacks" of twenty dollar bills by placing six bills in each pile. The remaining half-dozen stacks were counted normally. When dealing with a large sum of money like that, I would understand if he had miscounted one or two piles, but five in a row? I don't think I'm the only one who finds that suspicious. In any case, he proceeded to tell me that we were short exactly $100, his eyes greedily darting towards our cash box.
Scott was clearly disappointed when I collected the bills from the table and proceeded to recount them for him properly, arriving exactly at the correct total. But he accepted that I wasn't about to let T1T take even more of our money, grudgingly shook my hand, and acknowledged that he indeed held $1305. Now, I don't know the exact breakdown of how you split those funds with the field owner, but I've heard the 50/50 figure more than once from various sources. If that's true, that's a lot of money, Steve. Especially since the only visible function you and yours served through this whole process was to lock the gate after the event.
I mention that, Steve, because Terror Management's reputation within the community is one that has been stained multiple times before. Perhaps you should keep that in mind if/when you are involved in future negotiations with other promoters (certainly not us), because when you let your ego interfere with your ability to be professional and cordial, you stand to offend many people, and in doing so you greatly jeopardize the possibility of return business.
Thankfully, SOTA will never have the displeasure of working with you again, Steve. But I'm writing all of this to warn the other promoters about just how frivolous, dramatic, extortionate, and unethical Terror Management/Titan1Tactical are in the hopes that I can dissuade others from making the same mistake we did in dealing with you. Yesterday, you could have privately lost eight dollars, but instead opted to publicly lose potentially thousands in future business negotiations. Threats and coercion are are quick way to turn clients into enemies, Steve.
With regards,
Justin Noland
Soliders Of The Apocalypse
EDITED: Multiple grammatical errors fixed.
UPDATE: UPDATE (also posted in the OP): Steve sent the following PM to Ash (Mike) today. Unless I am mistaken, demanding for money in exchange for deleting/removing slanderous content loosely constitutes blackmail.
Terror Management wrote:Karma called me and said that Riddick sold 8 bags so he owes me 8 dollars. I told Karma to get me receipts from AAS for the sold inventory. He said he would talk to Riddick, that is where it was left.
Of course there will be no receipts forthcoming from Rick as he doesn't use them. The IRS is interested.
I am willing to let it go completely,-------- with an written apology from Bad Karma and Pulsipher here on AP stating they are to blame for this fiasco and that they disregarded the contract we had-------. I have quit T1T over this and the Riddick issue. The money means nothing to me but the disrespect I have been privy too is too much to let go. In lew of this happening you can send the 150.00 bucks to Scott and we will erase all posts that have anything to do with the issue at hand.
I didn't get into it with you guys on the field as I didn't want to mess up your game, you had enough on your minds. You see, I tried to show you respect even when I truely felt pissed on.
If Brandon would have kept his mouth shut it could have been swept under the rug.
Steve, if you are reading this, you will not receive an apology from me. In fact, the only thing you will receive from me is an emphatic promise to continue bringing into the public domain any further libelous/unethical/threatening statements you provide privately to members of SOTA.
