You know, I’m a Capitalist. I believe in free market, I believe in enterprise, I believe that monopolies of any sort hurt industries on the whole. I believe in healthy, honest competition, because we don’t grow as a business, or as people, without it. I have very friendly, cordial, and mutually courteous relationships with companies in our industry for the most part, and I go through great pains to make sure that nothing that we produce is reminiscent of anyone else’s perfumes, be it oil or conventional parfum spray, and if something escapes my notice, I do my best to rectify the situation immediately. I do not believe that it is ethical to get ahead in life by stepping on other people’s faces. I do not believe that cheap shots, lies, and manipulation are acceptable business practices. I have never, not ONCE, had to demean myself, this company, my partner, my employees or our customers by resorting to bad-mouthing another company to prop BPAL up in any way. Every moment that I waste crawling in the muck in order to go toe-to-toe with unethical people stains me, makes me an ugly person, even if I am in the right, and I will not allow it to go any further. However, recent events have forced me to see that silence on my part does nothing more than encourage negativity from weak individuals who take my tactful silence to be an open door for further malice.

Such bullshit. Just because I refuse to fling shit with the mouth-breathers doesn’t mean I’ll tolerate getting a load in my face any longer. I guess I’m going to have to keep wallowing for a little while longer.

From the Atropa’s Cottage LJ, shown to me by my beloved Sunk:

“Atropa’s Cottage has NOTHING whatsoever to do with the crap/drama Beth (Kebechet) of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab is suddenly putting out.

I have nothing to do with them or their company. I don’t even know Beth personally. I’ve bought stuff from her. Many moons ago. That’s about the extent of our “relationship.” She and her company have been a non-issue with me for months. As a professional, I wish like heck she’d leave my business the fuck alone. It’s this stupid slander that’s going to bite her in the ass in the end. No one is above the law, not even wannabe celebrities. I could say more, but…why bother. Zombies will never stop feasting on brains…or in this case, drama.

We now return to your usual programming.”

– – –

Reiterating my reply, up front for the masses, and not buried in posts:

Courtesy of Makeupalley:

by ebonykawai on 12/11/2005 3:10:00 PM
Quote from another reviewer: “Once you try Black Phoenix, you’ll never go back to department store perfumes again.” Well, I have. As a matter of fact, I can thank BPAL for sending me back to wearing fine perfumes, if I can thank them for anything. I appreciate complexity much more these days. I became disenchanted with BPAL around last Christmas, when every limited edition I bought ended up smelling like play-dough. In my opinion, nothing good or original has come out of this company in well over a year. The last thing I liked was Sugar Skull in the autumn of 2004. The wait time on orders is ridiculous. How many people are working full time at this company?? There is absolutely no excuse for this low level of customer service. It’s a great marketing ploy, however. The longer you wait, the more you want to try, the more orders you put in. BPAL has always used this ploy, at least for as long as I’ve known the company. At first they ‘got behind’ because someone was supposedly stealing all their orders from the post office. Huh?? Come on, at least be realistic. That was years ago and they haven’t caught up since. Their cult following is, quite frankly, scary. Spend any time on their message boards and you too will be insulted. The smartest thing they could do is close the board down to reviews, but they never will. It’s not exactly a brilliant company. They discontinue blends due to “scarcity of ingredients”, then sell the discontinued scents (that are apparently and mysteriously found lying around?) for 20 times their worth on Ebay. And then they bring the discontinued blends back again! Surprise! I guess the scarcity went away. Meanwhile, they just made thousands of dollars selling these exact discontinued blends on Ebay. It’s disgusting. If the feeling of being used and manipulated by the company, as well as the horrible customer service, doesn’t get to you, all the cattiness and outright mean-spiritedness of the message board eventually will. It’s enough to chase anyone away, as it has many an old and loyal customer.

– – –

This predates my post here by over a month. If we’re a non-issue, why is she posting this garbage? She wants to talk about filing libel suits against members and admins on the bpal.org forum, who have never said anything even remotely libelous, and then posts this on MUA. I had forgotten about her, and then I’m shown that review. And *I* won’t leave *her* alone? Give me a fucking break.

Grab a dictionary, Lisa! Its time for a little schoolin’!

Main Entry: li·bel
Function: noun
Etymology: Anglo-French, from Latin libellus, diminutive of liber book
1 : COMPLAINT 1 —used esp. in admiralty and divorce cases
2 a : a defamatory statement or representation esp. in the form of written or printed words; specifically : a false published statement that injures an individual’s reputation (as in business) or otherwise exposes him or her to public contempt b : the publication of such a libel c : the crime or tort of publishing a libel —see also SINGLE PUBLICATION RULE New York Times Company v. Sullivan in the IMPORTANT CASES section —compare DEFAMATION, SLANDER
NOTE: Although libel is defined under state case law or statute, the U.S. Supreme Court has enumerated some First Amendment protections that apply to matters of public concern. In New York Times Company v. Sullivan, the Court held that in order to recover damages a public person (as a celebrity or politician) who alleges libel (as by a newspaper) has to prove that “the statement was made with ‘actual malice’ — that is, with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not” in order to recover damages. The Court has also held that the states cannot allow a private person to recover damages for libel against a media defendant without a showing of fault (as negligence) on the defendant’s part. These protections do not apply to matters that are not of public concern (as an individual’s credit report) and that are not published by a member of the mass media. A libel plaintiff must generally establish that the alleged libel refers to him or her specifically, that it was published to others, and that some injury (as to reputation) occurred that gives him or her a right to recover damages (as actual, general, presumed, or special damages). The defendant may plead and establish the truth of the statements as a defense. Criminal libel may have additional elements, as in tending to provoke a breach of peace or in blackening the memory of someone who is dead, and may not have to be published to someone other than the person libeled.

Now, who has committed libel? You didn’t even have the balls to divulge to the admins on MUA that you were a retailer, and your “review” of BPAL contains a staggering amount of slanderous, libelous, deliberately malicious and false information. What purpose does it serve other than to malign our shop, and thereby promote yours?

Give up the martyr act. It is unbecoming. You bring all your misery on yourself. As I said before, I’m sick of you relying on my tact and decency as permission to continue your self-serving, uncouth smears. Grow up. You keep threatening legal action against me, the boards, the members… all over the fucking place. You know why it isn’t going anywhere? Because /you don’t have a leg to stand on/. No one has said jack shit about you that can be construed as illegal, and your own words betray you. The next communication that you receive from me will be from my legal counsel. Save up your nickels and dimes, babyface, because I am not going to take your hollow threats any longer.