Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Update: Discount-mats.jerk



Back in January, a Wisconsin-based online business received national, even international, attention.

A U.S. soldier in Iraq contacted the business via e-mail to order some mats.

Here's the exchange:

From: SGT Jason Hess
Sent: Tue Jan 16 3:25

Do you ship to APO address? I’m in the 1st Cavalry Division stationed in Iraq and we are trying to order some mats but we are looking for who ships to APO first.

*******************************

From: contact@discount-mats.com
Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 9:44 PM
Subject: Re: Feedback: from discount-mats.com

SGT Hess,
We do not ship to APO addresses, and even if we did, we would NEVER ship to Iraq. If you were sensible, you and your troops would pull out of Iraq.

Bargain Suppliers
Discount-Mats.com

The business was blown offline, for a while.

It's
back and using what was incredibly negative publicity as a testimonial.



To say that Discount-mats is misleading potential customers is putting it mildly.

"As Seen On: Fox News, CNN, NBC" is not an endorsement for their mats or great customer service.

How stupid!

Rather than putting the episode behind it, the company is highlighting it. It's inviting people to google and learn more.

Not a bright business decision.


(h/t Charlie)

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

maybe it was bad PR but a good business decision. thanks to you i went to their website and know their company name.

good work, agent knee-jerk eden!

Mary said...

Are you really as clueless as your comments make you seem?

It's not a good business decision to highlight the episode that brought the business to a screeching halt.

The company name is known for something extremely negative.

And now, the company with the "anti-American troops" employee is so slimy, it's trying to mislead the public with false advertising.

Are you interested in doing business with this company?

Anonymous said...

the first goal of advertising is to get your company name out there so people will think of you when they consider purchasing your products. they got a lot of free advertising from the gaffe, even if it was negative.

it's factual: they were featured on all those news broadcasts. are they lying? no because lying would actually make it "false".

just because one employee says stupid things, doesn't mean the whole company or the product they manufacture is bad. that's like saying the United States is a racist country because some politician says "niggers should go back to Africa."

so if i have a flooring need, why not consider Discount-mats?

i'm not clueless. in fact i possess more reason than you do wit.

Mary said...

The way you parse words reminds of Bill Clinton.

Anonymous said...

flattery will get you nowhere

Sabra said...

Late to the conversation – as usual – but when I wanted to comment last night I couldn’t remember where I’d originally seen Who is Behind the Muslim Websites. And, I don’t know if you blogged on this earlier or not – several did – and if you didn’t, the gist of Euphoric Reality's post [thorough investigation] was that Discount Mats is a cover-up for a bunch of other “sites” of questionable legitimacy:

"This network of Muslim individuals was brought to public attention because of one Muslim’s outrageous response to a simple inquiry by one of our soldiers. It would be the height of irony if nefarious purposes were exposed because he couldn’t refrain from announcing his anti-American sentiments to an American soldier.

So I’m asking…is all this just about some smarmy internet scam artists? Or it this about a covert communication network between jihadis, money laundering, drug or arms smuggling, or a home-grown terror cell?"

Anonymous said...

I just visited the Discount-Mats.com website, and it proudly announces that they sell “Anti Fatigue” mats!!! First they won’t sell mats to our troops, and now they sell mats that actually damage military fatigues!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For SHAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mary said...

Yeah, sure.