Tyger Talk
"First Choice" Paint, the fallout
At the risk of sounding like a 'whiner' or what not, I wanted to say this all
publicly. A lot of paintball goes on 'under the scenes'. The 'movers and shakers'
do things that never reach the surface. Because of this, decisions are made that
bother all of us, and nobody knows why except a few people. So, I type this.
Now, my situation is very strange. I have a t-shirt business (Team AnthroCo) that
was dropped into my lap. I've poured a lot of my energy and time into it, and I
think it's doing all right. However, my nature isn't into the 'vendor' thing.
First and foremost, I'm a paintball player. Second, I'm a reporter (and a
rather tenacious one at that.) And third, I'm a vendor. These three things
don't work well together, and never will. You write something true but bad
about an event, and the event sponsors and other folks don't buy your stuff.
If you candy-coat everything, then the readers say you've sold out to
sponsor's interests and won't trust your words anymore. It's a catch 22.
Either way you go, it hurts.
However, I have resolved not to forgo my personal integrity and have decided
not to candy coat anything. I am still a player at heart, and reporter by
nature. If this combination loses me a few t-shirt sales, that's fine by
me. I refuse to lie so I can make money. Enough other people do that on a
regular basis, and do we believe politicians any more? What I choose to
print is what I saw happen, or my impressions of what happened, not what I
want other people to see or hear. It's real.
Having said that, this becomes very entangled in politics, and that makes life
difficult for me, or it could. See, I trust people to overcome personal bitches when
it comes to business. biz be biz, personal be personal. That's all there is to it.
This whole affair started in October. I went to the Mansfield Scenario Game in Ohio.
The main problem occurred when I noticed after the game that the paint was not
washing from my clothing easily. It also 'bleached' several things (My JT Visor, the
VL-2000 I was using, my JT ear armour, even my JT Spectra lense!) that I had been
using as well that weekend.
My reporter instincts took over from there. I asked on the 'net if there had been
other players with problems. I got a lot of replies saying "Yes, the paint did stain
my stuff" I also got some replies saying that other paint of the same brand name did
not. So, I went straight to the source of the matter.
The paint was supplied from Paint Mania Supplies ("First Choice" 'Slime
Fill', White paint, lot # FQ87773 part # 5013) Among the HPS and camouflage systems
they market, they also sell "First Choice Paint". I got a card from the head man at
P.M.S., Hal Robinson. Being the only number I had readily available, I called it to
ask them directly if their paint stained or bleached.
I got Hal, and he told me flatly "No." He also told me that out of the millions of
paintballs they sold, that I was the "...first and only..." person to complain. I
was then told that what I had as far as an opinion went was wrong, and off the mark.
I felt insulted by his words (at one point asking how 'Cheap' my clothing was!), and
his lack of grace in handling the phone call from me. He then told me that unless I
had any further questions, our conversation was over. (Which I consider a mild form
of hanging up on me.)
Now, Paint Mania Supply is a big company. Their total lack of concern over a
complaint was something I found, well, irritable. So, I posted a "Consumer Warning"
on rec.sport.paintball about "First Choice" paint if that particular style ("First
Choice" 'Slime Fill', White paint, lot # FQ87773 part # 5013 to be exact.) I
recommended that players did not use this paint until I could run some tests on
material swatches and report back to the net at large.
This caused the uproar. Within a day or two I received a mail from Brad, the
internet person at Paint Mania Supplies. Apparently, I am the only person ever "to
say this paint has stained". Brad reassured me that he was running tests similar to
my own with First Choice paint. This was the answer I was waiting for, and I sent
Brad what responses I had gotten about the Mansfield paint for reference.
I did run my tests, but I had chosen not to make them public until now. Because at
that time I had figured that the issue was over and dealt with. Paint Mania had told
me, and in fact reported back to me, that they had acknowledged my report and planned
on doing tests on it for themselves. Issue over. So I thought.
Story continues at the Knoxville Indoor in mid Feb. I'm there with my T-shirt
company, "Team AnthroCo". While meeting the folks who are milling about I run into
who else? Paint Mania Supplies. They set up a booth near our own and across the
way. I had no problem, and I liked what they had there.
A while after stetting up their booth I was pulled aside by Hal Robinson. He took
quality time to personally bitch me out about my internet article. First, he alluded
that I was a 'cry baby' and a liar (In thinly veiled animosity.) He then bitched at
me about how he did not 'hang up' on myself (as I felt he had basically done.) He
then told me that my opinions were wrong, and my viewpoint was invalid.
"We have sold over 10 million paintballs. And you're the only person to complain
about them." was a sentence he kept repeating to me. I was told there's no problem
with the paint formula, and that it was not, nor were there plans to change it. He
was pulled away before I could at least answer or defend myself. I was left feeling
no better than a rape victim. He vented at me, then left me to ponder it.
He's given me ample time to, and now I exact my reply upon him, and the rest of the
world. I initially didn't let my findings be known because I thought the situation
was over and done with. So I pursued it no further. however, the Paint Mania camp
has made it fully clear to me that it is clearly not over.
Players and staff from the P.M.S. booth took time to tell me I was stupid in my
opinions. (In an unrelated argument, I was told that I was a moron, and then I was
later told that I was outright 'stupid' because of my local paintball fields.) This
was uncalled for, as well as being downright unsociable. I've been told many times
that P.M.S. has been bullying around people. I've been told about switched orders,
replaced orders, and general bad management. I've also been told that they run a
top-notch organization and players get what they want on time every time. Who do I
believe? I'll believe what I see.
What I see is an organization that is paranoid about a 'bad word' being spread about
a product or name. they seem to hold a grudge for a long time, and they don't seem
willing to drop it.
For example, you may notice that in their advertisements in Paintball Sports magazine
they have a picture ad for their barrel plug (Mr. Plug It). The copy reads "Safe
Enough for Angels". This marketing campaign came out of allegations back around 1991
that it would actually discharge from the gun, and wasn't a 'safe' barrel plug.
I was working for the Paintball Planet at the time, and was put on the case to report
on it. My findings were collected, as well as comparisons to other barrel plugs on
the market at the time. It never got to press. See, they had done "Damage Control"
by that time, and my story got spiked because of it. (The claim was put up that
Pneumatic Ordinance was spreading these rumors because they disliked service
rendered.) I still have most of the plugs, as well as the letter from Ordinance and
my (then) editor. Proof available upon request.
And, as recently as Sept '96 I've seen that ad in Paintball Sports saying they're
"Safe enough for Angels!" Hey, it's a done deal! The story is over, spiked, and
dead. And yet they carry that cross to this day. Why? Pride? Business? I don't
know.
It's one thing to defend a product of your own. If someone were to rip apart my
business I'd do the same. However, when one person is blown off, then insulted, then
verbally raped because of an OPINION placed on the internet, that's a whole other
story. I don't know if they were trying to scare me into submission, or if he
actually meant well and was frustrated for some other reason. That's beyond my
reasoning.
Paint Mania Supply has been making innovations in the sport for a long time. They
have nice High-Pressure systems, as well as nice alternaflage. However, by their
tenacity to not look into internal problems I have only to assume that they refuse to
admit, or believe, that a problem could exist. I understand defending one's own
products, but you have to also listen to what players are saying as well. Even if
it's one lone player saying it.
Most players of the game will not complain about the paint, because we expect it to
be lousy. If it stains, we generally accept that as part of the game. In this case,
however, I felt it nessary to voice my opinion of a style of paint that had bleached
some clothing. I got replies from others which read "Now that you said something..."
Am I a leader? No. Just someone who's interested in progressing paintball forward
in all rights as a sport, including it's paint.
And to Hal and Brad (Who I know this will get forwarded to eventually) I hold no
animosity towards yourselves. I only hold it towards how my complaint was handled,
and had continued to be handled after the fact was over and dropped. I commend
P.M.S. in their work in paintball so far, and I hope that P.M.S. does good work for
paintball in the future. However, I also hope that customer service improves, at
least in the complaints department.
Because one lone voice says something, that voice is not invalid.
My findings on the "First Choice" paint are as follows :
First Choice White (Lot # FQ87773, White SLIME FILL) was noticed to 'stain'
('bleach') more than other brands of paintballs. Appx. 50 paintballs of the test
variety (touted as an 'indoor' paint by game promoter), as well as 50 of RP Scherer
(also 'indoor' paint, green/white white fill). Subject paint was placed at 'indoor'
velocities and shot at swatches of material (BDU, 100% cotton, 50/50, plastics).
Each piece was machine washed, to label specs.
All paint came clean from clothing. First Choice did not come clean in some cases on
the first wash, but did come clean after a second or third. In plastics, the "First
Choice" brand did maintain a 'bleaching' effect in darker colors (black). In some
cases, the paint would not come clean (I have photographic evidence of a new Spectra
visor, and a stained visor. Stay tuned for that image.)
Many players had reported to me that plastic parts on paintball guns did not come
clean either. Pro-Lite grips, VL2000's, and other dark plastic parts did not clean
well in reported cases. However, it was also reported to me that several other
combinations from "First Choice" did not stain or bleach. (yellow, orange/white,
red/white, and purple/purple)
This leads me to two possible conclusions.
1) First Choice White Slime fill tends to 'bleach' clothing.
2) The batch for Mansfield was a 'fluke'.
Attempts to get information from the source company has resulted in run-arounds, and
dead ends with one exclusion. By e-mail, I was told the following :
|
From: paintbal@inlink.com
Date: Mon, 28 Oct 1996 09:53:53 -0600 (CST)
X-Sender: paintbal@inlink.com
To: tyger@luminet.net (Hobbes Patrol Headquarters)
Subject: Re: First Choice Testing (Fwd to Brad)
We have shot the first batch that you had at mansfield and another 3
different lot number and have not had any problem, we had 8 teams at world
cup shooting o/w, w/w, r/w, and purple/purple. So far no problems
|
So this tells me at the very least they did look into the problem. I will be
periodically checking with players who reported difficulties in order to see if
problems either persist or not.
-Tyger
Author: Rob Rubin Email: <tyger@luminet.net>
Last Updated: Wednesday, February 26, 1997