Hey all, I send a formal letter of complaint to PMI, to several of their email addresses actually, which can all be found here: http://www.pmipaintball.com/contact.htm
I did not expect a response, but actually got not one, but two so far. I have not written a third time as of yet, but I feel it necessary to do so.
Here they are, in order of being sent and recieved.
Enjoy!
--------------------------------------------------------
To whom is may concern,
I am a paintball player, who has been using PMI paint
almost exclusively for the past three years due to its
proven track record of performing well in a myriad of
conditions in my paintball markers.
I also have used PMI products in the past, much to my
satisfaction.
However, I cannot express in words the level of disgust I
feel towards your "Evil" line of products. These products
promote everything that is bad in our little world of
paintball. T-shirts that promote cheating, unsportsmanlike
conduct, and disrespect for the officiators and the rules
they uphold are absolutely unacceptable. The
evil-paintball.com website is a disgrace to PMI. The
descriptions of items include encouragement of
fistfighting, and wiping paint breaks, as well as lying to
the referees. Is this what PMI has become?
Paintball is seen by many of the general public as a bad
thing, a war game played by crazy people. Speedball and
tournament play was one way that players tried in order to
remove the stigma of "militia training in the woods." The
addition of bright colored clothing, gear, etc, also
promoted this. Your new line of Evil products sets back
the public image of paintball a decade or more, as a game of
uncivilized, ignorant folk who take pleasure in shooting
each other.
Paintball is supposed to be about fun. Cheating takes away
the fun. Breaking the rules takes away the fun.
Unsportsmanlike conduct is not something that players in
other sports are rewarded for, and it is in fact a major
penalty in all other major sports, Paintball should follow
suite.
I would like to urge PMI to reconsider what it is doing
with this line of products. Will it sell? Probably. Will
it have a positive effect on the sport? Definitely not.
I for one, am saddened that a company that I once
considered to be one of the most respectable has stooped
so low. I am boycotting this "Evil" product line, and am
encouraging all of my fellow paintball players to do the
same. I hope the rest of PMI's products will not follow
this style of advertising, but I am sure there are several
other paint manufacturers that would be more than willing
to accept my money for their products as well.
Sincerely,
Fred Klein
Plymouth, MI
-------------------------------------------------------
Dear Fred:
Thank you for your e-mail and thank you for your support
over your playing career.
PMI is the exclusive distributor of all evil products.
Evil is a new line which is very much on the leading edge
of paintball technology. Because of this a more aggressive "tongue in cheek" advertising program was developed by the manufacture of these products to promote them.
The overall response to Evil has been great. Evil
acknowledge some of the problems our professional tournaments portray it does not endorse them! Evil is dedicated to the growth of our sport through the
application of improved technology. I am sorry to hear you
will not be taking advantage of many of the patent pending items the Evil line will offer.
Thanks again for your input.
Mike
-------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for your response Mr. Lukas, I honestly did not
expect one.
I would like to follow up a little bit.
Evil may well be the cutting edge. If it is indeed so, let
the products speak for themselves and prove their prowess
without the immature slang.
I find it hard to believe that your marketing people are
not endorsing unsportsmanlike conduct by including a
squeegee your gloves. Ski and snowboarding gloves have
squeegees to clean snow off of goggles, since a rag is hard
to keep track of while traveling at 45mph down a steep
slope, paintball gloves with such a feature do one thing:
Allow for the possibility of covert cheating.
If Evil is truely attempting to promote the sport, why
isn't it called GOOD? A positive marketing plan could
promote the technology you have developed, and it would
inspire a better attitude among players, as opposed to the
negative that seems to be permeating this product line.
Sincerely,
Fred Klein
----------------------------------------------------------
Fred:
The squeegee on the glove is a joke does not exist. That was a comment by a member of the media over far to many beers one night at World Cup.
With no disrespect intended I think we need to concentrate our efforts on discouraging professional players from conducting sniper activity from the woods rather than condemning a product line which has the attitude
"we have to be able to laugh at ourselves first in order to
advance the sport". Evil is tongue in cheek always will be. Sorry we can't see common ground here but that is the nature of life sometimes.
Your comments will be noted and brought up at the next product review meeting.
Beat wishes.
Mike
=====================================
Furthur letters can be sent to [email protected]
I would like to encourage all of my fellow AO members to write him and let him know just what you think.
Thanks for reading all this,
---Fred
I did not expect a response, but actually got not one, but two so far. I have not written a third time as of yet, but I feel it necessary to do so.
Here they are, in order of being sent and recieved.
Enjoy!
--------------------------------------------------------
To whom is may concern,
I am a paintball player, who has been using PMI paint
almost exclusively for the past three years due to its
proven track record of performing well in a myriad of
conditions in my paintball markers.
I also have used PMI products in the past, much to my
satisfaction.
However, I cannot express in words the level of disgust I
feel towards your "Evil" line of products. These products
promote everything that is bad in our little world of
paintball. T-shirts that promote cheating, unsportsmanlike
conduct, and disrespect for the officiators and the rules
they uphold are absolutely unacceptable. The
evil-paintball.com website is a disgrace to PMI. The
descriptions of items include encouragement of
fistfighting, and wiping paint breaks, as well as lying to
the referees. Is this what PMI has become?
Paintball is seen by many of the general public as a bad
thing, a war game played by crazy people. Speedball and
tournament play was one way that players tried in order to
remove the stigma of "militia training in the woods." The
addition of bright colored clothing, gear, etc, also
promoted this. Your new line of Evil products sets back
the public image of paintball a decade or more, as a game of
uncivilized, ignorant folk who take pleasure in shooting
each other.
Paintball is supposed to be about fun. Cheating takes away
the fun. Breaking the rules takes away the fun.
Unsportsmanlike conduct is not something that players in
other sports are rewarded for, and it is in fact a major
penalty in all other major sports, Paintball should follow
suite.
I would like to urge PMI to reconsider what it is doing
with this line of products. Will it sell? Probably. Will
it have a positive effect on the sport? Definitely not.
I for one, am saddened that a company that I once
considered to be one of the most respectable has stooped
so low. I am boycotting this "Evil" product line, and am
encouraging all of my fellow paintball players to do the
same. I hope the rest of PMI's products will not follow
this style of advertising, but I am sure there are several
other paint manufacturers that would be more than willing
to accept my money for their products as well.
Sincerely,
Fred Klein
Plymouth, MI
-------------------------------------------------------
Dear Fred:
Thank you for your e-mail and thank you for your support
over your playing career.
PMI is the exclusive distributor of all evil products.
Evil is a new line which is very much on the leading edge
of paintball technology. Because of this a more aggressive "tongue in cheek" advertising program was developed by the manufacture of these products to promote them.
The overall response to Evil has been great. Evil
acknowledge some of the problems our professional tournaments portray it does not endorse them! Evil is dedicated to the growth of our sport through the
application of improved technology. I am sorry to hear you
will not be taking advantage of many of the patent pending items the Evil line will offer.
Thanks again for your input.
Mike
-------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for your response Mr. Lukas, I honestly did not
expect one.
I would like to follow up a little bit.
Evil may well be the cutting edge. If it is indeed so, let
the products speak for themselves and prove their prowess
without the immature slang.
I find it hard to believe that your marketing people are
not endorsing unsportsmanlike conduct by including a
squeegee your gloves. Ski and snowboarding gloves have
squeegees to clean snow off of goggles, since a rag is hard
to keep track of while traveling at 45mph down a steep
slope, paintball gloves with such a feature do one thing:
Allow for the possibility of covert cheating.
If Evil is truely attempting to promote the sport, why
isn't it called GOOD? A positive marketing plan could
promote the technology you have developed, and it would
inspire a better attitude among players, as opposed to the
negative that seems to be permeating this product line.
Sincerely,
Fred Klein
----------------------------------------------------------
Fred:
The squeegee on the glove is a joke does not exist. That was a comment by a member of the media over far to many beers one night at World Cup.
With no disrespect intended I think we need to concentrate our efforts on discouraging professional players from conducting sniper activity from the woods rather than condemning a product line which has the attitude
"we have to be able to laugh at ourselves first in order to
advance the sport". Evil is tongue in cheek always will be. Sorry we can't see common ground here but that is the nature of life sometimes.
Your comments will be noted and brought up at the next product review meeting.
Beat wishes.
Mike
=====================================
Furthur letters can be sent to [email protected]
I would like to encourage all of my fellow AO members to write him and let him know just what you think.
Thanks for reading all this,
---Fred
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