| Dr. Corbeaux , Thetoadsbool of Youtube |
| ***LOW LIFE TROUBLE MAKER STEALS OTHERS WORK*** |
| 24th of May, 2012 by Virgil is a Jerk |
Post a reply
8 posts • Page 1 of 1
Business Advice against an "Underhanded" Competitor
by sunnyone » Sun Aug 08, 2010 8:42 am
Sorry in advance for the long post! I need advice regarding a business competitor that has done some underhanded things to get ahead and steal some of our clients away in the process.
Although there are many other competitors out there we've always exisited together in harmony and shown each other respect (to me that promotes good karma), this one particular company however has taken it upon themselves to do some underhanded things to get ahead. Recently they started purchasing access on line to our products under a bogus name and have made several calls to our office posing as our client asking specific questions as far as where we market (so they can look for sales, etc), how discounts are given, etc.(we offer a professional online service). I realized this was happening when I took one of the calls and recognized the voice (as we've spoken before when they approached us about reselling our services/items, which we did not do).......did some research on the phone # that was calling & profile address only to find out it was this competitor. Once registered, our current clients also have access to our larger list of group purchasers so that they can identify themselves as being part of a particular group for reporting purposes. Unfortunately the way that we are licensed, we have to allow that information to be visible to our current clients. One of our larger loyal group purchasers also brought to our attention that this competitor was directly marketing them and bad mouthing us in the process.
Although alls fair in business competition to a point, some of the things they have done are just plain out of line! Besides the unfounded "badmouthing", they have gone as far as taking some of our online material and reformulating to suit their needs (unfortunately changing it enough to skirt around any copyright laws). They've also recently started advertising in the same places that we do and have even taken and used some of our ad slogens! The reason this is confusing to our clients is that the company in question recently changed their name and they say that in their ad.......since the ads are similar, it's leading our clients to believe that the ads are from our company (believe me this is no coincidence - it's an "in your face" obvious move on their part). There are several other things too that are over the top and very out of line as far as I'm concerned that I won't go into detail about here. Going the legal route isn't going to work (already looked into it) and obviously talking sense to them isn't going to work either. They HAVE done damage to us financially over the last 12 months, so here I am asking for help in what I can do to put a stop to this. We're a good & fair company so I don't appreciate being badmouthed unjustly and losing current or future clients due to bad tactics overall. Unfortunately, we don't have the deep pockets (as they do) to compete financially to gain back some of these lost clients or even win over some that have never used us. Winning our clients away fair and square is one thing, but they have done everything in their power to work underhandedly to do it.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, as time is of the essence. Thanks for reading this long post, it's appreciated!
sunnyone
Posts: 26
Joined: Fri Jul 02, 2010 8:38 am
Gender:
Top
Re: Business Advice against an "Underhanded" Competitor
by catherineyronwode » Sun Aug 08, 2010 10:10 am
This happens to me all the time. My own course students have done it to me. My own course GRADUATES have done it to me. One course graduate APPRENTICE came to study with me and hacked into my computer network to steal proprietary information. His name is Jon Hughett. He settled out of court with us and i suggest that everyone reading this remember his name and never do business with him. I also have a competitor in Hancock, Michigan who has copied my text and art and has bad-mouthed me regularly, and whom i have had to threaten with legal action to get to stop it.
So, what can you do?
Damage Control:
First do Stop Gossip plus straight Protection for your business.
Next, do Crown of Success work and Money Drawing, Attraction / Prosperity work to increase your business.
Retaliation (Optional):
Consider consulting a lawyer if you can afford it, otherwise, send your own polite and coherent cease and desist notices, dated and by certified mail -- and keep copies of all correspondence.
Don't suffer in silence. Tell all what is going on. Don't be reluctant to name names. Underhanded business moves like these resemble rape in that the victim is often embarrassed or ashamed to admit they were violated.
My business, friendship, and the sanctity of my very home were violated by Jon Hughett of Milwaukee, Wisconsin -- and i am not ashamed to tell the world that this hurt me so badly that i have still not entirely recovered my emotional equilibrium with regards to trusting those who seek me out as a teacher. A German man, a student of mine who goes under a variety of fake names, including Sean Belachta, Mario Menz, Oya Bale, and Igbale, has attempted to scam and sell my course in England and was expelled and exposed for these activities -- and i am not ashamed to tell the world that this hurt me both emotionally and economically. A woman in Hancock, Michigan, named Alice Pulaski, someone i have never met, appropriated trade-marked Lucky Mojo label art from my web site and placed it on her competing web site, and when i phoned her with a polite request for removal of the plagiarism, told me i had no legal right to my own materials; she took the art down swiftly, however, and i would have let the matter lay, but then she went to the telephone company and bought a business phone in the name The Lucky Mojo Bag Company, in what can only be seen as a blatant attempt to steal some of my company's reputation -- and i am not ashamed to tell the world that her sneaky attempts to use my company's name to further her comany's fame continue unabated to this day, damaging me economically by parasitizing my company's rightful market-share in the occult field. Right now a scam artist and business vampire named Virgil Bromaghin who lives near Fort Smith, Arkansas, and goes under the names thetoadsbool, thetoadsboon, thetoadsbone, and several other aliases, has started a Yahoo group with virtually the same name as my long-running Yahoo course group, in which he purports to teach a course in hoodoo with virtually the same name as the course i have taught since 2003, and, in addition, he bad-mouths me constantly to my own students -- and i am not ashamed to tell the world that this has caused me pain.
I compared these events to rape, and they really do feel like that.
In the first case, Jon Hughett was well known to me and we had a lot of interests in common; he had even helped me with some of my projects, and i felt that we would be friends for life -- making the experience feel like a home invasion and rape by a trusted co-worker who by that act suddenly revealed that he was a criminal. In the second case, Mario Menz a.k.a. Sean Belachta approached me as a friendly student, and i only found his back-trail of aliases and other wrongdoings after he had begun offering my course for sale in England -- making the experience feel sort of like an acquaintance-rape by a serial rapist who had briefly posed as a friend. In the third case, Alice Pulaski targeted me with coldly commercial motives and no prior acquaintanceship and tried to steal my art, my company's name, and my good reputation -- making her assault feel like a common street mugging and purse-snatch in which the rape was a humiliating after-thought. In the fourth case, Virgil Bromaghin literally came out of nowhere taking vicious verbal shots at me, my business, and my reputation on youtube and to my friends, and escalated to parasitizing my course, making racist remarks about me, and more -- making his assault seem kind of like a psychotic-stranger rape by a crazed and dangerous lunatic. Yes, these four business competitors victimized me. I got hurt by them. And i am not ashamed to admit it. It is always the shame of the victim that protects predators from exposure. Remove the shame, acknowledge the pain, name the name, and you end the game.
You can do mirror box or freezer work on the offending party or, my favourite for this kind of situation, a dripping DUME bottle, buried upside down and left to slowly drip their energy away. Read about it here:
http://luckymojo.com/bottlespells.html
You can, if you wish, go as far as attacking back via a tied and bound doll-baby (or worse) -- that's up to you. If you do, get some of their knock-off products and deface or destroy them and choke the doll baby to death with them.
Bolstering Your Customer Support Base:
Finally, if you sell actual objects, offer specials to your customers and dress the products you send with a specially prepared combination of Stop Gossip and Healing (for your reputation and the business relationship) and Prosperity (so they will make money reselling your goods and buy more).
Depending on what form the items take, your best method of application may be oils, powders, suffumigation in incense smoke, or dampening with bath crystals dissolved in warm water. If all you sell is electronic, suffumigate the computers you use with incense.
Good luck
catherine yronwode
catherineyronwode
Site Owner
Posts: 4972
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:09 pm
Location: Forestville, California
Gender:
Top
Re: Business Advice against an "Underhanded" Competitor
by Joseph Magnuson » Sun Aug 08, 2010 10:28 am
Thank you both for those thorough posts. This happens to the business I work for as well... Not as far as the computer hacking, but the phone calls posing as customers. It gets hard to balance how much information to give out while still retaining the possible-customer on the other line.
Thank you Cat for all of those great ideas to use against these practices. Thankfully the good outweighs the bad in all of this, almost always!
Good luck!
-Joseph M.
Joseph Magnuson
Lucky Mojo Course Graduate #1599,G
Joseph Magnuson
Posts: 1632
Joined: Sat Jul 25, 2009 8:38 pm
Location: San Francisco, California
Gender:
Top
Re: Business Advice against an "Underhanded" Competitor
by PapaToadBone » Fri Sep 17, 2010 7:52 am
(This didn't go through a few days ago. I believe it was due to computer error.)
This thread was brought to my attention by someone who buys from my shop because they thought I should come by and clarify that when you say "thetoadsbone", you weren't referring to me.
I know of the man you are talking about, and he goes by "The Toad's Boon" I believe. I know of no others who use toad and bone in a pseudonym. As my site is toadsbone.com, you can see my concern. Could you please clarify that? You and I have never had issue, and I plan to keep it that way.
Thanks, and be well.
PTB
PapaToadBone
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Sep 11, 2010 8:41 am
Gender:
Top
Re: Business Advice against an "Underhanded" Competitor
by catherineyronwode » Mon Sep 20, 2010 10:50 am
Hi, Papa Toad Bone --
Well, i hate to inform you, but Virgil Bromaghin not only goes by "thetoadsboon" and "thetoadsbool" online -- he has also posted on forums as "thetoadsbone." He is copying YOU.
You are a well-respected person in this field and i hate to be the bearer of bad news to you -- but Virgil Bromaghin IS bad news, and he seems willing to hurt many of us in his reach for notoriety. You are his chief target, but there are others he is parasitizing as well.
If you give me a phone call (you will have to make an appointment through Angela or Robin at my shop, due to my daily reading schedule -- Monday would be best as i do not read on Mondays) i would be happy to share my file of information about Virgil Bromaghin and his associates with you privately.
Just know this -- you are not the only one he is vampirizing, and there is more going on with him than you may know.
Call 707-887-1521 9-5 Pacific Time to make the arrangements for us to talk. Ask for either Angela or Robin and give your name and they will set time aside for us.
Always glad to help my colleagues --
cat
catherine yronwode
catherineyronwode
Site Owner
Posts: 4972
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:09 pm
Location: Forestville, California
Gender:
|
|
|
|
|
2012 comes, in order to thank everyone, characteristic, novel style, varieties, low price and good quality, and the low sale price. Thank everyone Welcome to
===== http://www.clothes6.org ====
Air jordan(1-24)shoes $30
Handbags(Coach l v f e n d i d&g) $30
Tshirts (Polo, ed hardy, lacoste) $15
Jean(True Religion, ed hardy, coogi) $30
Sunglasses(Oakey, coach, gucci, A r m a i n i) $15
New era cap $12
Bikini (Ed hardy, polo) $20
===== http://www.clothes6.org/ ====
===== http://www.clothes6.org/ ==== |
|
|
Post your Comment
|
|
|
