Occupy 4 Elephants
1/5
Every October 3rd, pple in over 100 cities around the world, march as one voice and raise awareness for the impending extinction of elephants and rhinos. I graduated from NAU and was very proud to be bringing the march to Flagstaff for the first time ever. We saw that Oktoberfest was also October 3rd, so we were hoping those in charge of the event would provide my org. with a bench to hand out flyers, put our logo on their flyers, ect and provide us a place to meet up before the march began. I posted this intention on the FB event page.. I contacted Peak Events, who's hosting Oktoberfest and spoke with a woman named Jennifer, the owner's daughter, who was incredibly rude and actually laughed when I asked if they'd be willing to put our logo on their flyers. She did offer a table though. Nevertheless, we continued to seek out other places because of her attitude.
A few hours later I get a series of harassing phone calls and text messages about my post on FB. Jennifer and her mother apparently believed I infringed on the copyright of Oktoberfest for mentioning Oktoberfest on my FB post. (huh) And also didn't believe I had the right to hold an event because she thought I needed a permit, which I didn't as my protest is protected under the 1st amendment (which she clearly didn't realize). She called the city on me to try have me shut down. I spoke with who I needed to at the city who confirmed I didn't need a permit bc I was exercising my right to free speech under the first amendment.
*EDIT* After publishing this review, I received a message from a woman named "Barbara" who claimed to be an attorney with a Flagstaff law firm, and said that she knew who I was, where I lived, what my phone number was, ect and that I was being sued by Peak Events for my google review. I immediately returned the phone call but the number was for a hotel. I called the law firm but they had been closed for an hour. Jennifer also texted me that she was suing me AND my org for "harassment".
Then I turn to my FB event page, and what do you know Jennifer has defamed me all over it. Saying I'm harassing pple in flagstaff (I don't even live there) and to not go to my event. Ok...Who would mess with a non-profit event that's trying to help save 2 species from extinction? What type of person does something so disgusting? These pple do.
I'm very well within my legal rights to leave a review reflecting on the experience I had with a business. That's the point of reviews. If I had treated someone like that, I would automatically assume they'd write me a horrible review on Google and they should have expected the same. What you CAN'T do is run around posting defaming comments about people by making up stories that didn't happen.
*UPDATE** I spoke with the law firm that Peak Event claimed they were using to sue me. The woman I spoke with was incredibly confused and concerned about what was going on. She confirmed their practice was not representing Peak Events--or anyone else for that matter--in any type of case against me or my organization.
I think Peak Events has successfully shown their true colors and proven beyond doubt that they are--at the very least--shady, and abusive business people who are willing to go to outrageous lengths and tell outrageous lies. If they're treating a non-profit in such an unethical way, I can only imagine what they're doing to their vendors and customers. I've had to contacted NAU PD and get them involved because I do not trust these people not to harass us or try and sabotage our event.
Our org. doesn't like getting caught up in shenanigans, but at the same time this situation was so shocking and egregious to us, we thought it were only fair to the community to provide this information and hopefully save someone from a huge nightmare by working with these pple.
