----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Geraldine Kudaka <gkud...@rocketmail.com>
To: David Kusumoto <davidmkusum...@hotmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 7, 2012 9:23 AM
Subject: Re: [MOPO] An auction house to avoid
Very interesting. I'll have to google your name to see what this David vs.
Goliath case against Sotheby's was.
I had intended to post to the whole group initially and did not realize I had
merely replied to Bruce. But the time gap was accidentally fortuitous.
Between my initial response to Bruce privately and my group posting, I retained
legal counsel.
The cost of consigning my posters with Heritage has gone up.
________________________________
Fom: David Kusumoto <davidmkusum...@hotmail.com>
To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
Sent: Friday, April 6, 2012 7:10 PM
Subject: Re: [MOPO] An auction house to avoid
* That's true. If Geraldine posts again, we'll know more. But even if we
presume her e-mail program has a predictive text function - there's a big jump
between the "B" in Bruce and the "M" in MoPo List. Her note to the group seems
- on the surface at least - intentional to me. One other thing I forgot to
mention. Having once worked at a Fortune 500 company, I know the following as
FACTS. Big corporations are rarely fearful of litigation. That's what their
lawyers are for. One strategy is to drain a plaintiff's or a defendant's pool
of funds covering legal fees. And once the lawyers are involved, they almost
ALWAYS counsel NO response to further public attacks, e.g., putting up a stone
wall of silence to preserve their positions in potential litigation.
* However, these same corporations are almost ALWAYS WAY MORE FEARFUL of bad
press. They can't control the press - and the bad stories ultimately reaches
stakeholders/customers whose reactions - can have an adverse effect on a
corporation's revenues and industry reputation. Public opinion, not fear of
lawsuits, are responsible for the "180s" we see in the most prominent case
histories, e.g., Bank of America and the Komen Foundation. BTW, this is the
way environmental groups, for example, operate. Lacking budgetary resources to
fight lawsuits, they are very creative in their efforts to garner media
attention, feeding into the conflict-driven agendas of newsrooms. When I was a
reporter, I was always told to "test the demonstrators" by seeing if they
marched and shouted ONLY when the media was present. If they stopped when the
cameras left, it was a stunt. I was told to report the "demonstration" - but
to report it accurately as being staged
for media consumption. PETA operates on a similar principle, but its
over-the-top actions, while GUARANTEEING coverage, results in an extremely
divided view of that group's reputation. Heritage is a large company that has
been down the road of adverse (and positive) press before. The risk is losing
control of a dispute whereby third parties (the media) - can sway public
opinion in an adverse way that disrupts operations.
* When I took on FedEx and Sotheby's during the 1990s, it was the controlled,
managed use of potentially adverse press relations that resulted in resolving
my disputes with them. The lawyers came out with their knives intending to
bleed my bank accounts dry. But knowing how to spin "David vs. Goliath"
stories in a way that reflects a trend of errors affecting others like me -
"spreads the number of potential victims" out so that my woes served as a
"poster child" or a "proxy" - or a "tip of the iceberg illustration" - of
greater problems impacting consumers. This forces the responsibility out of
the hands of lawyers and goes all the way up the executive ladder. For most
big companies facing potentially bad press, it isn't worth battling in public
if small change is involved. If they're smart, they settle quietly and the
problem goes away quickly. But once it hits the press, it's impossible to reel
everything back in and it becomes a
nightmare. I've made my living working both sides of the fence and it's an
ugly business. I am so glad that my experience in the news media has equipped
me well enough to battle - or to "re-direct" reporters when my clients are
attacked, whether they are corporations or a little guy trying to influence
public opinion. In sum, I'm not Heritage, but if I was handling its P.R., I
would do everything in my power to make this problem go away - or to keep it
confined within the borders of a small group. It's not worth fighting a
volatile situation that can be solved - that risks turning into an issue that
becomes "everybody's problem," including present and prospective consumers who
would not otherwise care absent third party involvement. -d.
________________________________
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2012 17:25:18 -0500
From: brucehershen...@gmail.com
Subject: Re: An auction house to avoid
To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
David is certainly correct, but there is still the possibility that she did not
mean to post it to the list. Perhaps she thought of something she had forgotten
two days earlier and planned to send me
that info, but instead accidentally forwarded it to the list.
We will only know if and when she chooses to post again.
As for getting a response, I suspect this is what we will find:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zLfCnGVeL4&feature=fvst
Bruce
On Fri, Apr 6, 2012 at 5:19 PM, David Kusumoto <davidmkusum...@hotmail.com>
wrote:
My goodness, of course it was meant for the entire list. Just look at the time
stamps. There's a two-day spread between the original note "Geraldine Kudaka"
sent to Bruce - and when the note was FORWARDED to the entire MoPo group from
Geraldine herself. She is obviously a MoPo member. There is no other way an
e-mail like that could be posted to the group without first enrolling as a
member. Unfairly or not, I interpreted the note as an attack on Heritage, an
attempt to force a public or private response from group members - or from Grey
himself. In PR and news, there's a rule we follow: In the business world,
there is no such thing as a true "surprise." Most disputes broil beneath the
surface for weeks or months - before they finally explode into the public eye.
They are usually the penultimate step before the "course of last resort," e.g.,
taking grievances to the media for widespread dissemination to audiences
outside the core group
most interested in the outcome. It is at that point that a client is at risk
losing control of a story and is forever put on defense until a counterattack
or well-understood response is mapped out and executed. Successful response
case histories: Tylenol poisonings, beef percentages questioned in Taco Bell
products, antenna issues with the iPhone. Unsuccessful or "too late" response
case histories: Pink slime, Bank of America's $5 debit fee proposal, and the
Komen Foundation's "180" with Planned Parenthood. -d.
>
>
>
>________________________________
>Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2012 17:44:25 -0400
>From: pcontar...@triad.rr.com
>Subject: Re: Fw: [MOPO] An auction house to avoid
>To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
>
>
>
>
>Was wondering that myself.
>
>Peter
>
>
>From:MoPo List [mailto:mopo-l@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU] On Behalf Of lovenoir2
>Sent: Friday, April 06, 2012 2:00 PM
>To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
>Subject: Re: [MOPO] Fw: [MOPO] An auction house to avoid
>
>
>An interesting read.
>
>Was this meant to go to the entire MOPO list?
>
>
>
>
>
>On Thu, Apr 5, 2012 at 8:10 PM, Geraldine Kudaka <gkud...@rocketmail.com>
>wrote:
>
>
>----- Forwarded Message -----
>From: Geraldine Kudaka <gkud...@rocketmail.com>
>To: Bruce Hershenson <brucehershen...@gmail.com>
>Sent: Tuesday, April 3, 2012 11:45 AM
>Subject: Re: [MOPO] An auction house to avoid
>
>Your favorite auction house, Bruce -- Heritage.
>
>My husband, Charley, was a Hollywood executive. When we first did a Heritage
>consignment through Rudy Franchi, everything went fine. So fine, we sent a 2nd
>batch using my UPS account & return label which had my name on it. I use my
>maiden name, so I guess Heritage thought it was a cold submission from nobody.
>
>Thought we'd hear from them -- nada. We are pretty busy here and knew from our
>first consignment that Heritage plans their auction schedule months in
>advance. When I finally called Heritage to see when the posters were going to
>be auctioned. Carter told they had received the posters, and wanted to know if
>we wanted to put them in the weekly auction as there was nothing of value in
>the lot. I said, "What? What about the Get Carter and Lennon posters? Or the
>Fillmore posters?" Heritage claimed they had not received these posters in the
>lot we sent.
>
>I had mentioned this event on this newsgroup before. You responded with a
>derogatory comment about Rudy, then Grey threatened us with lawyers and I
>posted a comment here batting for Rudy.
>
>At that time this was going on, I did not want to deal with Heritage because
>we were building a house and had a high weekly payroll to meet. The headache
>of dealing with this Heritage problem was small potatoes compared to being the
>General Contractor on a house.
>
>After Grey threatened me with lawyers and I batted for Rudy, Rudy contacted
>me. He had spoken with Grey and the upshot was we were offered a deal for
>future submissions..
>
>That was months ago.
>
>I've come to the conclusion I don't want to do future business with Heritage.
>It's one thing to have a consignment set up by Rudy for my husband, Charley
>Lippincott, who had hired John Van Hammersveld to do the Get Carter poster and
>has the largest, most complete collection of John's work -- even more than
>John -- and another thing when little wifey using her UPS business account
>sends the 2nd consignment batch. As nobody me, if posters disappeared from my
>lot, who is to say that this doesn't happen to other people? On principle, I
>don't want to do business with Heritage.
>
>Life is too short, Charley's collection too huge, and it's just not worth my
>time.
>
>If Grey wants to have his lawyers come after me, fine.
>
>
>________________________________
>
>From:Bruce Hershenson <brucehershen...@gmail.com>
>To: Geraldine Kudaka <gkud...@rocketmail.com>
>Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2012 6:21 PM
>Subject: Re: [MOPO] An auction house to avoid
>
>Which auction was it?
>On Sat, Mar 31, 2012 at 8:54 AM, Geraldine Kudaka <gkud...@rocketmail.com>
>wrote:
>I sent things to a US auction house who, 6 months later, claimed they never
>got the high value posters.... and threatened me with a lawyer.
>
>
>________________________________
>
>From:Bruce Hershenson <brucehershen...@gmail.com>
>To: MoPo-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
>Sent: Friday, March 30, 2012 10:45 PM
>Subject: [MOPO] An auction house to avoid
>
>http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/2012/west-berkshire-auction-house-cameo-refutes-customers-payment-claims
>Customers claim West Berkshire auction house owes them cash
>--
>Bruce Hershenson and the other 24 members of the eMoviePoster.com team
>P.O. Box 874
>West Plains, MO 65775
>Phone: 417-256-9616 (hours: Mon-Fri 9 to 5 except from 12 to 1 when we take
>lunch)
>our site
>our auctions
>
>
>Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
>___________________________________________________________________
>How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
>Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu
>In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
>The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
>
>
>
>
>--
>Bruce Hershenson and the other 24 members of the eMoviePoster.com team
>P.O. Box 874
>West Plains, MO 65775
>Phone: 417-256-9616 (hours: Mon-Fri 9 to 5 except from 12 to 1 when we take
>lunch)
>our site
>our auctions
>
>
>
>
>Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
>___________________________________________________________________
>How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
>Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu
>In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
>The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
>
>Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
>___________________________________________________________________
>How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
>Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu
>In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
>The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
>Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
>___________________________________________________________________
>How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
>Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu
>In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
>The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
>
>Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
>___________________________________________________________________
>How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
>Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu
>In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
>The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
>
--
Bruce Hershenson and the other 24 members of the eMoviePoster.com team
P.O. Box 874
West Plains, MO 65775
Phone: 417-256-9616 (hours: Mon-Fri 9 to 5 except from 12 to 1 when we take
lunch)
our site
our auctions
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
___________________________________________________________________
How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu
In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
___________________________________________________________________
How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu
In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
___________________________________________________________________
How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
Send a message addressed to: lists...@listserv.american.edu
In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
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