Goldensound being threatened with a lawsuit by DCS over a negative review

[Inju]

Do you actually believe this?

You actually believe the owner of a company who agrees to send a legal letter out didn't think it would cause distress? You actually belive the person they fired mistakenly thought he had apologised and had a meeting? You actually believe that?

 

[invisiblekid]

I am pleased that this whole situation has come to an end.
I'm looking forward to visiting dCS next week, and for now the most important thing I ask is that people refrain from giving anyone at dCS a hard time. Particularly at CanJam this weekend.
The individual involved is no longer with the company, and I do not want anyone to be directing further messages their way nor giving any sort of hardship to employees who had nothing to do with this situation in the first place.

However, I would also like to sincerely thank everyone in the community for their support the past few days.

Considering their relatively quiet demo room, it's worth a visit.

 

[Inju]

I am pleased that this whole situation has come to an end.
I'm looking forward to visiting dCS next week, and for now the most important thing I ask is that people refrain from giving anyone at dCS a hard time. Particularly at CanJam this weekend.
The individual involved is no longer with the company, and I do not want anyone to be directing further messages their way nor giving any sort of hardship to employees who had nothing to do with this situation in the first place.

However, I would also like to sincerely thank everyone in the community for their support the past few days.

Ask them for a free Lina stack, it's the least they can do for you.

 

[Currawong]

Out of curiosity how do you know your theory is correct and the CEO wasn't aware of what was going on before it blew up in his face? He apparently lied about a meeting that didn't happen and litigation that was clearly aimed at silencing GS. I'm not so sure we can simply believe everything he says now.

Also recall GS did reach out to senior management trying to get DCS to drop their litigation against him and they declined deciding to stick by their marketing VP.

We don't "know" anything for sure. But, the irrational responses from dCS US to Cameron don't sound like something that would be shared internally in a company without someone else senior going "What the heck?!?". Even ignoring the abusive comments, consider the accusations about how the Bartok works, which countered what was in dCS' own documentation. At the very least, a US lawyer threatening someone in the UK? Again, we can't know for sure, but the whole time, on the probability of things, it looked like incompetence to me.

 

[chrisyak]

This was clearly damage control and advised by much better counsel than he was receiving earlier. I would have liked to have just heard we're going to leave the past in the past and look forward to the future and not discuss the review. That needs to be left alone and stop beating a dead horse. You're coming around and making the proper decisions. Don't go back to the scene of the murder.

Everyone makes mistakes and sometimes we don't handle all of them as best as we can, these get amplified when people involved are very passionate about their hobby. It can quickly spiral out of control for both parties and you need to tread lightly. There were plenty of chances for him to evaluate and reevaluate the situation and take a different approach and those weren't made. I don't absolve him of what has taken place and blaming employees is a cheap cop out in my mind. He is fully responsible for the actions of his employees and while I respect the open and transparent excuse he gave at the end of the day. He is the CEO of the company that manages the ship and obviously was letting the inmates run the asylum.

It is obvious that there is a management problem here based on their decision-making skills and checks and balances. This happened under the CEO's watch and he was more involved than he lets on. I do not let my employees dictate my statements. Especially when my business is on the line. As much as I trust them, if I am not involved fully enough to understand the full scope of the situation, how can I truthfully make a statement and back up my employ ees stances without knowing all the facts. I definitely question his leadership abilities. Employees have been let go and maybe some need to be hired. Or maybe the CEO needs to be more Hands-On? Or maybe it's time for him to step down. In this day and age. This should not happen. Mistakes happen but not to this level that they ever should make it to the CEO and him making poor judgment calls along the way.

I respect the attempts to do damage control and try to make things right with GoldenSound. However, he was pressured by a tsunami of bad press and changed his tune within 24 hours with a convenient excuse. I don't want to beat a dead horse just like he's been accused of doing but the company is going to need to make a lot more amends to how they conduct themselves in the future and moving forward than a cheap donation of an amplifier. I am skeptical of their intentions and their reasoning for this about face turn, but this is a no-win situation for them and they needed to stop the bleeding.


I do feel like the compensation to GoldenSound probably does need to be a monetary figure for dCS's ongoing bullying & harassment regarding this review. This is not something somebody should be subjected to regardless of their opinion of their product. The damage has been done and now the healing will take place. Actions will speak louder than words and poor business decisions will need to be corrected. It's clear that a leadership change at DCS is needed. I have no interest in doing business with the company or subjecting my employees to potentially be involved in a review with a company that has some erratic behavior. It's going to take a while for them to clean up the mess they've made and the pr nightmare they caused themselves.

Yes, everyone does need to move on. However, the accountability for their actions still need to be held accountable. All I heard was a lot of fluff and PR ear candy at the end of the CEO statement. Not truly meaningful change. You thought GoldenSound was a tough reviewer? Well now you have to deal with the audio community and your peers will be reviewing how you act moving forward and their will be your toughest critics ever.

 

[mfgillia]

We don't "know" anything for sure. But, the irrational responses from dCS US to Cameron don't sound like something that would be shared internally in a company without someone else senior going "What the heck?!?". Even ignoring the abusive comments, consider the accusations about how the Bartok works, which countered what was in dCS' own documentation. At the very least, a US lawyer threatening someone in the UK? Again, we can't know for sure, but the whole time it looked like incompetence to me.

Good points - I think it was pretty clear there was a massive amount of incompetence in how DCS behaved.

Still highly skeptical that it's all confined to one individual in the US office. In many companies hiring a law firm to send out cease and desist orders is not something the marketing VP can do by himself without the support of senior management.

 

[SilverEars]

Yah, I think it would be much better handled if they just made a simple apology for implication of legal threat (there was no need for this, which was big mistake). Just own up, and it would be much more respectable then being so defensive.

Just say they made a bad decision that they shouldn't have. Further denial makes it worse for them.

 

[GoldenSound]

I would just like to quell the rumours about the employee misleading people being an excuse.

Its up to dCS how much they wish to disclose. But there was absolutely deception going on with concrete evidence now surfaced. And I'm glad that David acted quickly upon it.

Im satisfied with the resolution, and would once again ask that people don't continue to go after any individual employees

 

[hermesani]

I would just like to quell the rumours about the employee misleading people being an excuse.

Its up to dCS how much they wish to disclose. But there was absolutely deception going on with concrete evidence now surfaced. And I'm glad that David acted quickly upon it.

Im satisfied with the resolution, and would once again ask that people don't continue to go after any individual employees

From what I'm told, David Steven is greatly respected in the industry much like his late father David Sr. who led the dCS' turnaround in the early 2000s to become what they are today. If Steven was involved, would've been a death blow to the company.

 

[Rolu]

Well all this looks to me as falling just too well in place to be true.
Anyways, more importantly, what now happens to the innocent bystander Headphones.com? Will they sell dCS again?

 

[Currawong]

Im satisfied with the resolution,

This is the key thing. As much as we are concerned about the behaviour of people in the company, if they are willing to own up to their mistakes and the people affected move on, I think we all should to.

 

[kakapo]

"Anyways, more importantly, what now happens to the innocent bystander Headphones.com? Will they sell dCS again?"

Don't think they sell it now

 

[audionewbi]

What was the resolution after all? While I'm happy @GoldenSound that all seems to have gone well, but I hate to imagine how many smaller reviewers have simply folded under the pressure and moved on.

I think this issue is slightly bigger than just mr x vs mr y. It would be good to have it on the record, so in future other larger company don't make the same mistake that dcs audio did.

Edit: Here is the update. @DJJEZ please update your first post with this.

https://dcs.community/t/goldensound-headphones-com-dcs-an-update/6740

 

[OhmsClaw]

I don't believe one word of this crap in this new statement.

You don't have to. Fact of the matter is, someone was sacked. Public apology has been issued. That's how this works. Public backlash succeeded. Whether or not we choose to, have the financial ability to, or proclivity to purchase/support dCS is a personal matter.

 

[George Hincapie]

DCS should give me a free Lina for the stress their behaviour has caused to me as a fine and upstanding member of the audio community.