I spoke with Joel this morning and we both explained our sides of the situation. What prompted the outing of him (not just leaking APR info), was that I was essentially threatened with legal action as relayed by him. When I indicated that if I was forced to prove that it was not libel, the conversation denigrated into a fit of one-sided personal attacks from him.
Now going back to the timeline, prior to Keith being let go, there was every indication and plan set forth for Joel to leave APR. Sentiments did not waver and he was an active component in making sure Keith would have ample time to mount up a proper defense for whatever MG would throw at him. When expected incendiary result never occurred, Joel was in a very bad position as he had outed himself as wanting to leave. Since MG was stunned by how prepared Keith was, they were certain that I had somehow hacked into the email server and promptly changed it and issued new security certificates.
Roughly speaking, Keith resolved his issues on the 29th. Starting the 2nd of February, I was aggressively approached multiple times by Joel to resolve my differences with APR, for the tune of $350 and the implied signing of legal documents. Joel continued to press this matter on and off with for the next 10 days, finally blurting out that I would be bringing legal action from 3 different firms upon myself on the 9th, and the pressure to sign docs with APR/MG continued through the 11th.
When asked if he would even take that deal, a $350 refund on non-received merchandise in exchange for a non-disparagement of sorts, he indicated “nope”. He didn’t contact me after the 11th. The final communication ended in Joel defending Arin, a person he despises, and making false statements about Arin trying to reach out to me multiple times and bury the hatchet. A quick look at many comments Arin started on his FB page would quickly discredit that claim.
After the 11th, texts and phone calls elicited zero response. Joel was given a draft of what would be posted on the 12th and no post was ever made until the 16th, giving him 5 days to respond. The initial post was made and no response from Joel. This thread was started on the 23rd and no response from Joel. The evening of the 23rd, I spoke with a mutual friend who helps design components for Ghostknit and he tried to bring both parties to a resolution. What this person told me is that he spoke with Joel and that he sounded very remorseful and that he was holding something back, which only furthered the suspicion that I was being sold out. Joel did call on the 24th and left a very monotone message, which lacked conviction or any further attempts to make contact.
All the silence and lack of communication left me to look at the warning of legal action as well as the complete personality shift by Joel, aligning with Arin. If there was no threat of litigation, he certainly did a great job of giving the illusion of imminent action. After much consultation, a decision was made to simply reveal the source to prove that there was no hacking or libel committed. Joel was given ample time to make contact and communicate leading to a resolution.
Looking at Joel’s statement, it is very obvious that he wants to move on, and rightly so. I disagree with his claim that these statements were made in jest and pointed out that in the period of 90 days (11/1-2/1) 147 screenshots were taken of his negative comments about APR, with many comments left out. This is on top of the usual 3-5 calls per week.
While it is unfortunate that he was forced out of APR, due to the almost 2 weeks which I didn’t speak with someone who would contact me multiple times a day, I simply didn’t know if he had executed his exit plan. As indicated by a statement he made on 1/27, he didn’t plan on being at APR in 30 days. I also never revealed the 4 other companies he was in talks with to leave APR, just the ones he indicated that were not going to pan out.
My feelings towards APR are unchanged. I also have no reason to believe that many of the claims which he made about APR were not truthful. At the end of this all one thing that Joel pointed out a few times still rings true: “This would have never happened under Stephen. He would have called you.” From the very beginning after MG asserted control, emails were sent to Kyle and Matt, and they garnered zero response. Employees were allowed to run rampant on Facebook, blatantly violating company non-engagement protocol and attacking individuals and MG showed zero care as to these actions. All in all, an olive branch was never offered and basic communication was never opened.
This is not an issue that occurred solely with me, but with vendors, distributors and individuals that had certain issues that needed attention. I’ll end this post with one final screenshot. This is how MG treated Chad of Sportech a long-standing APR importer in South Africa. Sportech was completely dropped by APR without explanation and zero communication allowed. That is neither good business nor appropriate for a key component of APR’s growth.
http://i.imgur.com/EUmrc1l.png
When I read over the vented frustrations I sent to David over the past bit I realize exactly how foolish I have been. It was wrong of me, it’s embarrassing, it’s out of line, and more importantly I said things about people that I care about in jest and frustration that caused hurt and pain.