A new low for Smart Parts?! Or should I say DLX Technologies...

[georgeyew]

I see some wiggle room in there if someone is looking to split hairs.

We all know what she meant

BTW....I don't like the look of the Luxe...reminds me of a banana.

[B-Pow]

What was the deal on PBN a while back where a vendor did something bad enough to be added to the bad words filter? Anyone remember?

Virtue was in the swear filter for a while the rumor was that they were sending sales reps into PbN to talk down the other aftermarket board companies, make up horror stories, talk up their company...they have since been removed from the swear filter.

Not to change the subject, but is the DLX gun even the SLIGHTEST bit appealing to anyone? It looks like a total POS, and even worse aesthetically.

no, it looks like anus...and all of their "remarkable technology breakthroughs" have been done already...several times...by better companies.

[Automagsam]

Well she has deleted any trace of that photo now lol. The guy who busted her must have changed her mind who she really is, cause the pic isnt her avatar or on her myspace anymore lol. Way to go guys!!!

[wyn1370]

Not so much. Even with the same ownership a different corporation is a different entity. You can just expect similar things from it. The only situation where it would be literally the same company is if they filed a DBA (Doing Business As).

actually in the business world if two companies (entities) are completely controlled by another company, you generally have to file taxes and SEC filings as if they are one. I have a little knowledge since it's what I do to pay the bills.
This isn't to say they couldn't operate seperately, but they are technically part of one larger company. I'm guessing it's all partnership ownership with the Gardeners owning all the interests in the end.

[Hilltop Customs]

haha wow this is too funny

"AO, disproving smart parts 1 employee at a time!"

I'd be almost willing to bet that "she" disapears and another DLX rep just happens to come around in the next few weeks. Either that or since "her" pic changed everyone will forget.

Either way its nice to know smart parts and its affiliates have no problems with directly lying to their customers.....even in something as trivial as a picture of an employee. Stupidity at its finest.

[snoopay700]

I sent the photog email, and he responded to me pointing to that thread. It's him.

Yeah, he sent me the same link, seems a few people clued him in to it, and i'm damn glad that he handled it how he did, sort of glad he didn't sue them because he might've gone broke, this hurts their reputation though.

And Big E, i think the gun looks horrible and also i hate how it's as long as a tippmann, i mean sure some people like longer barrels to wrap, but this one doesn't even have the feedneck NEAR the trigger, so it's needlessly long and it's a high performance gun. Plus, when i first saw it and it's "revolutionary designs" i thought the same thing as B-Pow, it's already been done by much better companies.

[sffudapparel]

muhahaha. I love it! Changing the world we are! props to boy_wonder!

[snoopay700]

muhahaha. I love it! Changing the world we are! props to boy_wonder!

Yeah man, congrats Boy_Wonder for starting all this, seeing as you pretty much caused their fall, and you were completely right. I'm betting and hoping their credibility takes a huge blow from this.

[Lohman446]

Either way its nice to know smart parts and its affiliates have no problems with directly lying to their customers.....even in something as trivial as a picture of an employee. Stupidity at its finest.

Thats a major thing. They could have easily come out and said they used a different picture of a professional model and been ok... or they could have used one of the professional models that (at least in the past) worked the major events for them.

To lie over something so trivial is the height of the idiocy and arrogance that they have shown. This lie had no possible good outcome for them in a business sense, when called on it owning up would have prevented any possibility of a PR disastor.

[georgeyew]

In no way am I defending what has been done, but there is a possibility that the fault may be on Audrey alone. She may have made the decision to post the photo without input from others in the company. Anyhow, I do believe that the company is reponsible for the actions of the employees, since they do often represent and speak on the company's behalf. Just a thought.

[snoopay700]

In no way am I defending what has been done, but there is a possibility that the fault may be on Audrey alone. She may have made the decision to post the photo without input from others in the company. Anyhow, I do believe that the company is reponsible for the actions of the employees, since they do often represent and speak on the company's behalf. Just a thought.

Lohman is right though (and that won't come from me often, we've had our differences :rofl: ) the company as a whole didn't provide any information when it was shown that they could have. This whole thing lies on the company as a whole now, even if it was her decision.

[raehl]

I don't know that I'd say this is as nefarious as some people are trying to make this out to be, although it was definitely a clumsy effort.

Fake avatar picture:

Everybody on PbN has fake avatar pictures. IF we all looked like our avatar pics, I look like a check mark.

Fake personality:

It's actually quite common for companies to have CSR personalities for communicating with customers on the internet. They don't represent a real person - they might represent one person for a time until someone else gets the CSR job, or might even represent multiple people. That lets the company have a consistent presence despite staffing changes.

Fake myspace page:

Lots of companies have 'fake' myspace pages. Seems every nightclub on myspace for example is a 25 year old hot female.


But, using a photo without permission was clearly an error, and it was clumsy to not be more clear about the nature of Audrey from the beginning. But there's a big difference between clumsy and nefarious.

DLX was trying to create an online CSR personality. There's really nothing odd, uncommon, or inherently dishonest about that. They just did a poor job of it.

It's not like they claimed their gun shoots further than other guns or something.

- Chris

[Hexis]

Creating a "personality" is one thing. Using a fake photo is not even that bad (if you use it with permission). Outright lying about it is something else all together. The issue is not with the cheezy initial actions, it is with the way it was handled by both PBN and DLX.

[snoopay700]

It's not like they claimed their gun shoots further than other guns or something.

- Chris

No no, those claims will come once the gun has been out for a bit longer. :rofl:

However, Hexis is right, it's how it was handled and the outright lying that's the problem.

[B-Pow]

No no, those claims will come once the gun has been out for a bit longer. :rofl:

However, Hexis is right, it's how it was handled and the outright lying that's the problem.

However I see it as a chance to show the rest of the population of PbN that we need to question athroity, hold people accountable, and that in an industry where the companies have been telling us what we want the little guy (the players) can still win one every now and again.

Not really a great victory, but with the way things have been going...it's better than nothing. Stubbing the giant's toe is better than nothing...it it shows the giant that we are not totally complacient.