Stefon of DPM Inc, a.k.a. BlackDog owes me $5000 and refuses to pay up.
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I have been in the adult entertainment industry for more than 15 years and an active and moderately successful contributor to its online community since 1997. During the course of business over these many years, the contacts I have made have ranged from those associates I can near enough call friends, whose business tactics are professional, consistent, fair, and who are all-around good people simply looking to prosper in the long- term, to those who summarily reveal themselves as the very opposite and who are simply not worth the time of any true businessman. Those outside the business would think us dishonest by nature by way of their morals. I believe this to be untrue. Business is business, and so I count myself lucky to have acquired those contacts that are committed to the industry?s survival and success. So, in the spirit of that commitment, I feel it my obligation to recount to you the details of a most unfortunate incident.
In so many years, I have never had the misfortune to be swindled and to such an extreme as I have presently been by Stefon of DPM Inc, also known as BlackDog. Now, I am not one to run the boards over every and any disagreement I have in business. My record and conduct are for all to see, and as we all know, irreparable burnt bridges can often be avoided by giving some time to healthy communication. At this time, however, and after due course, I feel it is paramount for those in our community to be made aware of my situation at hand; to be made aware of the character of person BlackDog has chosen to reveal to me in order to make an informed decision as to whether he has a place in their business or in our long-term minded community.
In September of 2008, I wired Stefon, a.k.a. BlackDog, $5000 for him to shoot 10 solo girl scenes for our sites BlackMama.com and BlackThickGirls.com. It is extremely rare that I send all the money upfront. This is, however, the only way he would do the deal, saying he had to pay the girls in cash the same day as the shoot to get the best rates. Please keep in mind, he proposed this deal to me. Please keep in mind, this was not the first time we had done business. We had transacted the same deal more than once with the only problem being task completion taking longer than we had agreed upon. But, this was no big deal. Those past deals were done, and our business could continue.
This, our most resent deal, was the same as those previous in that we, that is to say I, got exclusive content with all rights EXCEPT he got to keep the DVD rights. This deal brought the price per shoot down to $500, putting it within our budget.
Months passed.
Months passed and the content was not shipped.
I had not been dealing with him directly during this time. A competent and long-standing member of staff had been in charge of production. She deals with, on a day-to-day basis, all content issues?communicating with photographers and so forth. We approved numerous models and received many excuses as to why we had not received our content.
In December 2008/ January 2009, Stefon stopped communicating with my staff member altogether. I personally made attempts to contact him via ICQ and email with no reply. I had to make a post on GFY on 2/11/09 to induce a reply. See: http://www.gfy.com/showthread.php?p=...2#post15484052. This move to engage him was successful, but with dubious results.
He told me that he had shot 6 of the 10 scenes but was having trouble finding the remaining girls. He indicated an additional problem lay in his not having a "DVD line" for solo girls he had shot and that a business partner did not want to be out of pocket. I replied that the production had been in limbo for too long. All I wanted was for him to either send the 6 scenes he had shot along with a check for the balance owned for 4 scenes not shot ($2000), or he could refund the $5000 I sent 5 months prior and we could go our separate ways.
His response was that his "business partner" was not going to loose money on this and as he did not have a "DVD line" for the scenes he had shot, he wanted me to pay $900 a scene for the six scenes he had shot so that I would own them 100% exclusive (including DVD rights). In addition, he wanted me to pay an extra $300 a scene for previous 20 scenes so I would own all of those, exclusive with all rights.
Are you keeping track of how much more than the $5000 he already received that he wanted for having produced nothing?
I explained to him what my position was. We had a deal that he bought the DVD rights off the top and I paid $500 a scene. Post-deal, what he did with the DVD rights had nothing to do with me. Regretfully, it is not my problem that he cannot release a DVD line with the scenes to recoup his money. We had a deal upfront and that is business, whether it is with your long-standing associates or otherwise. His response was that he was doing me ?a favor" in taking the DVD rights. Firstly, I need no such favor. Secondly, he brought the entire proposal to me. And so I ask, am I supposed to give $5000 to a man and his ?business partner? and say, ?Thanks for nothing, here?s five grand upfront and a few extra thousand on top?? Unfortunately for some, I am not running a charity. None of us are.
In my mind, he has not shot ANY of the outstanding 10 scenes. He has not sent any. He refuses to send any. Why?--because the work has not been done. We cannot ignore the hard times that so many are facing these days, but one way out of such hard times is to do the work, and especially in our business, to make positive business connections and to make good on your word if only to ensure your future success. I have given Stefon of DPM Inc. $5000 to work. He has taken the money and he?s running. Congratulations to him if my loss is his short-term fix to whatever situation he is in.
This brings me back to the very reason for this alert. I truly hope the con ends here. And on a personal note: It is a sad thing, these are sad times, when a man has done business for so many years with thousands of people and never had such problems. These are times when we need to stick together, for the greater good. Now faced with the greatest misfortune a business man can face, a loss of profit, I have been obliged to delve deeper into Stefon?s business character. I have found that others have had similar problems. One of the largest adult companies online has been ripped off by him over VOD rights on scenes they purchased from him. With such things, we face the domino effect, and all can trip up or even fall without constant vigilance.
This is but a friendly warning to our community at large in regards to Stefon of DPM Inc, a.k.a. BlackDog; a cautionary tale against a man who has a history of not paying what he owes in due time if at all. The lesson I have learned is to never again pay 100% upfront for content when a questionable character is involved, maybe with anyone. Lesson learned, and life goes on.
Best Regards
James ( a.k.a. James_Click_Me_Media )
www.Click.MeMedia.com
---------------------------------------------------------------
I have been in the adult entertainment industry for more than 15 years and an active and moderately successful contributor to its online community since 1997. During the course of business over these many years, the contacts I have made have ranged from those associates I can near enough call friends, whose business tactics are professional, consistent, fair, and who are all-around good people simply looking to prosper in the long- term, to those who summarily reveal themselves as the very opposite and who are simply not worth the time of any true businessman. Those outside the business would think us dishonest by nature by way of their morals. I believe this to be untrue. Business is business, and so I count myself lucky to have acquired those contacts that are committed to the industry?s survival and success. So, in the spirit of that commitment, I feel it my obligation to recount to you the details of a most unfortunate incident.
In so many years, I have never had the misfortune to be swindled and to such an extreme as I have presently been by Stefon of DPM Inc, also known as BlackDog. Now, I am not one to run the boards over every and any disagreement I have in business. My record and conduct are for all to see, and as we all know, irreparable burnt bridges can often be avoided by giving some time to healthy communication. At this time, however, and after due course, I feel it is paramount for those in our community to be made aware of my situation at hand; to be made aware of the character of person BlackDog has chosen to reveal to me in order to make an informed decision as to whether he has a place in their business or in our long-term minded community.
In September of 2008, I wired Stefon, a.k.a. BlackDog, $5000 for him to shoot 10 solo girl scenes for our sites BlackMama.com and BlackThickGirls.com. It is extremely rare that I send all the money upfront. This is, however, the only way he would do the deal, saying he had to pay the girls in cash the same day as the shoot to get the best rates. Please keep in mind, he proposed this deal to me. Please keep in mind, this was not the first time we had done business. We had transacted the same deal more than once with the only problem being task completion taking longer than we had agreed upon. But, this was no big deal. Those past deals were done, and our business could continue.
This, our most resent deal, was the same as those previous in that we, that is to say I, got exclusive content with all rights EXCEPT he got to keep the DVD rights. This deal brought the price per shoot down to $500, putting it within our budget.
Months passed.
Months passed and the content was not shipped.
I had not been dealing with him directly during this time. A competent and long-standing member of staff had been in charge of production. She deals with, on a day-to-day basis, all content issues?communicating with photographers and so forth. We approved numerous models and received many excuses as to why we had not received our content.
In December 2008/ January 2009, Stefon stopped communicating with my staff member altogether. I personally made attempts to contact him via ICQ and email with no reply. I had to make a post on GFY on 2/11/09 to induce a reply. See: http://www.gfy.com/showthread.php?p=...2#post15484052. This move to engage him was successful, but with dubious results.
He told me that he had shot 6 of the 10 scenes but was having trouble finding the remaining girls. He indicated an additional problem lay in his not having a "DVD line" for solo girls he had shot and that a business partner did not want to be out of pocket. I replied that the production had been in limbo for too long. All I wanted was for him to either send the 6 scenes he had shot along with a check for the balance owned for 4 scenes not shot ($2000), or he could refund the $5000 I sent 5 months prior and we could go our separate ways.
His response was that his "business partner" was not going to loose money on this and as he did not have a "DVD line" for the scenes he had shot, he wanted me to pay $900 a scene for the six scenes he had shot so that I would own them 100% exclusive (including DVD rights). In addition, he wanted me to pay an extra $300 a scene for previous 20 scenes so I would own all of those, exclusive with all rights.
Are you keeping track of how much more than the $5000 he already received that he wanted for having produced nothing?
I explained to him what my position was. We had a deal that he bought the DVD rights off the top and I paid $500 a scene. Post-deal, what he did with the DVD rights had nothing to do with me. Regretfully, it is not my problem that he cannot release a DVD line with the scenes to recoup his money. We had a deal upfront and that is business, whether it is with your long-standing associates or otherwise. His response was that he was doing me ?a favor" in taking the DVD rights. Firstly, I need no such favor. Secondly, he brought the entire proposal to me. And so I ask, am I supposed to give $5000 to a man and his ?business partner? and say, ?Thanks for nothing, here?s five grand upfront and a few extra thousand on top?? Unfortunately for some, I am not running a charity. None of us are.
In my mind, he has not shot ANY of the outstanding 10 scenes. He has not sent any. He refuses to send any. Why?--because the work has not been done. We cannot ignore the hard times that so many are facing these days, but one way out of such hard times is to do the work, and especially in our business, to make positive business connections and to make good on your word if only to ensure your future success. I have given Stefon of DPM Inc. $5000 to work. He has taken the money and he?s running. Congratulations to him if my loss is his short-term fix to whatever situation he is in.
This brings me back to the very reason for this alert. I truly hope the con ends here. And on a personal note: It is a sad thing, these are sad times, when a man has done business for so many years with thousands of people and never had such problems. These are times when we need to stick together, for the greater good. Now faced with the greatest misfortune a business man can face, a loss of profit, I have been obliged to delve deeper into Stefon?s business character. I have found that others have had similar problems. One of the largest adult companies online has been ripped off by him over VOD rights on scenes they purchased from him. With such things, we face the domino effect, and all can trip up or even fall without constant vigilance.
This is but a friendly warning to our community at large in regards to Stefon of DPM Inc, a.k.a. BlackDog; a cautionary tale against a man who has a history of not paying what he owes in due time if at all. The lesson I have learned is to never again pay 100% upfront for content when a questionable character is involved, maybe with anyone. Lesson learned, and life goes on.
Best Regards
James ( a.k.a. James_Click_Me_Media )
www.Click.MeMedia.com
bump for awareness and your money!
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