The Upgrade Company Threatened Audioholics with Legal Action

[gene]

I would just like everyone to know that a Mr. David J Schulte of the Upgrade Company has through his attorney Nathan Upfal issued a legal letter to my personal residence demanding I remove all slanderous content our forum members made towards his company or else I may face legal charges.

Until I received this letter I have never heard of the Upgrade Company. I offered to make his letter public domain should he decide to take legal action against my company or myself.

In the nearly 11 years of running this site, I've never been threatened by a manufacturer/company for the posts our forum members have made. This person didn't even have the courtesy of emailing or phoning me to let me know about the threads as other manufacturers have done in the past.

I presume this is the company in question:
http://upgradecompany.com/

I have not been able to identify the slanderous threads as of yet.

 

[gene]

Here is the email I just sent his attorney.

Nathan;

I received the threatening letter you sent to my residence regarding your client David J Schulte from the “Uprgrade Company”. Rather than your client contacting me in a peaceful matter to raise my awareness of the alleged comments our forum members made about his products/services, he obviously decided to take the sleazy way out by hiring you to threaten me at my personal residence. I find your letter both amusing and insulting and I have no fear of any legal repercussions you think you can threaten me with.

Let me offer you a counter to your letter. Should you decide to threaten me again with legal action, I will make all of our correspondences including the letter you sent me public domain on the homepage of my site that receives over 1 million unique readers per month. I will then have this correspondence syndicated on our partner sites and affiliates for greater exposure. I can assure you that the publicity your firm and your client receives from your threats against our readers free speech will be far more reaching to your client than the alleged posts our forum members have made.

I am hoping you and your client take the high road and instead of threatening legal action, attempt to address the concerns on our forum with me. However I am more than prepared to take this to whatever level you and your client would like to.

To show my intentions are sincere, I have already posted about this letter in the Steam Vent of our forums:
http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?p=709752#post709752

I look forward to hearing from you and/or your client David J Schulte.

Sincerely;

Gene DellaSala
President, Audioholics.com

 

[mtrycrafts]

Here is the email I just sent his attorney.

WOW. Cannot believe this is happening. But, it is super to read your response to a bully. Reminds me of the Monster caper

 

[MinusTheBear]

Not to mention AH has a resident forum member who is VERY well versed in dealing with sundry legal matters such as these.

Edit: Gene, this is the only thread I have found so far using the search regarding this company.

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61665&highlight=upgrade+company

 

[Jack Hammer]

I half expect to see more of these types of things happen in the future. It's just a matter of time til the abuse of the legal system comes our way.

 

[Zaluss]

Maybe he ment to send it to AVS? Theres a pretty lengthly thread on the Upgrade Company that would be considered slander. Infact, its pretty much hardcore bashing of the company.

 

[highfigh]

I seem to remmeber some threads or posts last year, regarding this company. I don't remember anyone being particularly impressed by the work done to the equipment but it would have been helpful for them to have included links to the posts.

This is similar to a woman smacking her husband upside of his head and when he asks what that was for, she stands with her hands on her hips saying, "I think you know!".

Gee- these posts must have made a huge impact of nobody remembers them.

Well- I found it. Actually, I just googled the company name and they found it.
http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61665

 

[gene]

Should they pursue an actual law suit against Audioholics, I may issue a counter suit challenging the legitimacy of their services and claims. Since I am a degreed EE, this would be kinda fun and make for great editorials after everything settles. I am confident I can solicit many of my colleagues to help in this effort for free should I require their assistance.

Years ago an unnamed exotic cable manufacturer threatened me and I offered to challenge their claims it court. I am still waiting on a response from them as they went completely silent when I also offered to involve the FTC.

 

[markw]

I think they got what they wanted.

Mainly, free publicitity. Remember, in show biz (and that's what theirs really is), any publicity is good publicity.

 

[droht]

Gene, very nice response. It is a reminder on how to say Go F Yourself in a civilized yet very direct manner. Kudos!

 

[bandphan]

Maybe he ment to send it to AVS? Theres a pretty lengthly thread on the Upgrade Company that would be considered slander. Infact, its pretty much hardcore bashing of the company.

Bashing with pics and all The guy has "allegedly" ripped off many people I love the fact that if you open the modded gear up to take a peak it will void the warranty.. pfft

 

[speakerman39]

Never even heard of the Upgrade Company or Tune-up Company or whatever it is called. Much of the legal process involves intimidation. However, Gene has made it perfectly clear he is NOT intimidated. Kudos to Gene for standing his ground! I doubt you will hear anything further from them other than an apology.



Cheers,

Phil

 

[Stereodude]

I'm not a lawyer, but shouldn't they be accusing Audioholics of allowing libel, not slander? Libel is written, slander is spoken.

Further, as I understand it, they would have to prove that the written statements are false, and that the people making the written statements knew they were false, but made them anyhow to defame The Upgrade Company.

 

[itschris]

LOVE IT!

Gene, this is a schooling on how to deal with threats. This kind of intimidation has become successful for two reasons: 1) they know most will capitulate either out of fear or lack of desire to "deal" with such things, or 2) because it's cheaper just to do what is asked.

The proper response to these types of attacks is the big double barrelled f-you. I absolutely applaud your stance.

 

[highfigh]

Bashing with pics and all The guy has "allegedly" ripped off many people I love the fact that if you open the modded gear up to take a peak it will void the warranty.. pfft

Technically, they voided the OPPO warranty when they modded it, unless they had explicit permission from OPPO. I fail to see how they will enforce any warranty of their own.

I fail to see how they can substantiate the claim that spending a certain amount of money will result in their stated corresponding increase in quality. Even someone who is considered "too trusting" would be skeptical of this.

Also, if the thread died at the end of last year and needed a letter from a lawyer to be resurrected, it shows that the small number who actually read and posted to the thread here probably wouldn't have bought their products, anyway.

 

[GO-NAD!]

Just read a few related posts over at AVS. When even Stereophile calls BS, it must be huge steaming pile!

 

[Jed M]

I recall reading a couple pages at AVS about this company last summer. Boy, if there was any company that deserved to sued. Although, I am sure the good people at Reynolds appreciate all his tin foil business.

 

[highfigh]

I'm not a lawyer, but shouldn't they be accusing Audioholics of allowing libel, not slander? Libel is written, slander is spoken.

Further, as I understand it, they would have to prove that the written statements are false, and that the people making the written statements knew they were false, but made them anyhow to defame The Upgrade Company.

What is it called when someone reads the manufacturer's comments and shouts "BULLSHYTE!!!!!!" at their computer?

Opinions don't count, AFAIK. Also, if there's any truth in it, it's OK, too.

 

[highfigh]

Just read a few related posts over at AVS. When even Stereophile calls BS, it must be huge steaming pile!

With flies.

 

[njedpx3]

... Also, if the thread died at the end of last year and needed a letter from a lawyer to be resurrected, it shows that the small number who actually read and posted to the thread here probably wouldn't have bought their products, anyway.

I thought all you had to do was enter a "BUMP" in the thread

Way to go Gene!

I went to the web site and actually read some of the testimonials and came to the conclusion ... P.T. Barnum was right


Peace and Good Sound ..let's all just be friends

Forest Man