Is Mark from GTS a Scammer, or just a Scumbag?
 

So let's decide if Mark from Gallery Traffic Service is a scammer, or just the regular run-of-the-mill lowlife scumbag.

A bit of background: I used to work for GTS as their CTO. It was interesting work, and I created a number of technologies while I was there, and I was always complimented on my work. Several GTS employees who were there at the time have come out of the woodwork to confirm this publicly.

Mark made a thread here on GFY called "Irish Confessional Box," which included a funny joke about an Irishman and his priest. I found it amusing, and I told him so. I also included what I thought was a harmless jab about him finally paying me money that he's said he'd make good on for years now. I said:

A few people asked why I hadn't outed him before, and I explained:

Mark chimed in with:

He followed this gem up with:

Obviously all of these accusations are baseless and harmful to my reputation. He wasn't banned for posting these statements without backup or proof, for whatever reason.

For the record, I replied:

I even offered him a way to settle up by putting a mouth guard in that big mouth of his and showing this "failed" MMA competitor what he can do in the cage:

Of course people started asking him to deny it, which he can't because he knows he owes the money -- that part has never been in dispute.

He contacted me on ICQ after the posts in the original thread. Here was the result of that conversation:

Great punchline ...

sucks, will be interesting to hear the other side.

I think StuartD had a problem with him aswell.

Following that, I posted the following in response to questions in the thread:

Someone asked me why I wouldn't sue him over $38k. I replied:

Someone asked why the 4-year wait. I replied:

This was posted by an observant someone:

Yeah, I laughed myself to sleep every night for 4 years .. sigh.


Almost everyone who has ever worked for him has had a problem. Does that tell you something?

Up until now, I haven't received contact from Mark on ICQ or by any other form, and he hasn't posted any explanation. To me, it seemed like he was content to let the thread die and to allow people to draw their own conclusions. So, then, let's draw some. Is he a scammer, or just your everyday run-of-the-mill scumbag?

tl;dr: Mark from GTS owes me $38k, doesn't deny it, tried to make some excuses, and now doesn't reply.

tl;dr: Mark from GTS owes me $38k, doesn't deny it, tried to make some excuses, and now doesn't reply. :winkwink:

:helpme:helpme:helpme:helpme

let it go.............. havn't we been down this road before?


what bugs me the most about this is you demanding a BONUS?

WTF???? you had a point on the wages till you started DEMANDING a BONUS. Bonuses are used to reward people so they continue for future work, obviously that isn't the case. Bonuses are paid when someone is totally happy, obviously that wasn't the case. Even if someone is nice to you and says you did a great job, if you don't get the bonus...hummmm maybe it wasn't.

I tell women they look amazing all the time to make them feel better. YES, it's the absolute truth every time I say it...lol

Without a doubt -- he goes down this road with almost everyone he hired, unfortunately. Maybe there's a common denominator.

As far as letting it go, I did that for four years, suffering broken promise after broken promise. I can at least let people know about it now, no? This is the sort of thing I'd want to know if I were going to, for example, advertise with him.

been a while since we had some proper drama, lets see how this works out :)

are you expecting a bonus now? dude, wakeup call. it's going into crazyland.......

advise.

#1. stop mentioning the 'bonus'. you have almost no legal chance of EVER getting that. It's not going to happen. and it makes you look insane. You are not getting a bonus. Bonuses are at the employer's discretion.

#2. Wages, if they were wages, are provincially regulated. The province drops a heavy hammer on that shit if you don't pay someone. If it was true, you'd have gone to the province and they would have gone into his bank accounts and paid you, or seized his house. Wages aren't even bankrupt-able. They have to be paid legally. They will seize your house to pay them. If you haven't filed a claim, then you're the idiot.

#3. Contract. if it wasn't wages and a contract, then it's small claims court. and the time limit to sue is 2 years, you're past that. YOUR FAULT. time to let it go now.

wa wa wa - and I'm not trying to defend mark here but i don't see you as having a leg to stand on and I see it as your fault for not doing anything. suck it up buttercup, next time go to the legal authorities

did he not direct you to his lawyer?

Cliff notes anyone?

Place a burning bag of dogshit on his front door and ring the bell

I had no idea you were this kind of guy. I'd heard people say it, but aside from reading your interviews, I never really followed your posts. Enlightening, and fairly amusing.

As to the one point that you made, my bonuses were contractually obligated based on project completions, and weren't at the discretion of management. Projects were completed, satisfaction was expressed, and the money was due. He never came up with any claims of not liking the work, etc, until just now.

The more you post, the more it looks like you have a dog in the fight. I don't know what it is, but it's a bit difficult to understand where your hostility comes from. Anyway, no harm, no foul, I'm not here to make enemies -- I don't troll, and I've been around the block a number of times without really having any adversaries. Best of luck to you on rebuilding everything you lost. :thumbsup

man you must be ballin' cause 38k is a lot to be owed :2 cents:

My doc told me that my penis is rather small for a person my height :disgust:disgust

dictionary.com defines bonus as:

bo·nus   [boh-nuhs]
noun, plural -nus·es.

1.something given or paid over and above what is due.

2.a sum of money granted or given to an employee, a returned soldier, etc., in addition to regular pay, usually in appreciation for work done, length of service, accumulated favors, etc.

3.something free, as an extra dividend, given by a corporation to a purchaser of its securities.

4.a premium paid for a loan, contract, etc.

5.something extra or additional given freely: Every purchaser of a pound of coffee received a box of cookies as a bonus.


like I said - crazyland....... if you want to use a word OTHER then bonus, you have a point. if you use the word bonus and you demand it, maybe you should take some time to figgure out what the term 'bonus' really means

I'm not ballin' by any stretch of the imagination. I just moved into a very modest house that I *RENT*, not own, I drive mostly modest cars, and I have a very modest-sized penis. $38k is a fair sum of money, but it's not going to make or break most people. It's the principle of letting people get away with crap like this.

My apologies if my semantics offended you. When I said "bonus," I referred to it as such because it's how it was worded in my contract. Specifically:

So, if you have an issue with the word "bonus," take that up with Mark.

As far as the pejorative names you keep tossing around, I'm disappointed that any action I've taken in my years in this business have led you to refer to me as "crazyland," etc, but I think it's starting to shed light on the direction your life took, and how it affects your perceptions.

Babysitting you isn't really the point of this thread, so unless it amuses me, I don't think I'll bother to continue doing it. Apologies in advance.

if his contract says bonus, if mark feels it isn't completed in ANY way, even if it's functional, he doesn't have to pay that. He can say nice things to you to get rid of you, but that's about the sum of it.

on the wages part, i agree he owes there. why didn't you go to the province or court?

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

He's been involved with bullshit for as long as I can remember and I don't even pay attention.

Figures you'd stick your ignorant ass nose in here and take a buddies side. When someone tells you they will pay you something courts, bonuses, etc shouldn't fucking matter and you should be lampooned for your predictable, but still disgusting behavior. Not that you have anything to lose at this point.

He has and will always have his head stuck up the ass of his "bros". If he doesn't kiss their ass today they might not help him fix his own failed life later. I'm sorry you got fucked on this and believe you 100%. Sleazy taking up for them makes them appear twice as guilty. :2 cents:

I'd say $38K is enough to warrant involving a lawyer. It's not about whether or not $38K will make or break you, it's about A) How badly you want to get paid, and B) How strongly you feel it's worth it to make the point of making him pay.


Frankly I hate it when these types of issues hit the boards. If people would just honor their damn agreements and stop letting their egos drive their decisions the business world would be a lot better off. And I'm not necessarily directing that at Mark or anyone in particular, just business people in general. If there's X amount of dollars you owe someone, PAY THEM. How hard can it be? Certainly isn't rocket science. And if there's some legit reason why you shouldn't pay them and they keep on pressing, then let the courts decide it.

Christ people.

You are wrong, and an idiot as usual. Thanks for not letting us down. :thumbsup

I had no idea that even exists in Canada. In the U.S., when you don't get paid on small amounts like this, you just bitch about it -- which is what I'm doing right now. :winkwink:

If I'd known they'd seize his assets to pay me and others he stiffed, I would have done it just to have a laugh about it. Remember, though: Mark promised me all along that he was going to pay me any time now, so there was no reason to pursue anything. He told me that his wife was stopping him, etc, etc. Told me a lot of rotten shit about his wife, come to think about it, and it always made me uncomfortable to hear ... but I digress.

awe, someone got called an idiot years ago, had no defense, realized it was true and now being forced to face reality he can't let it go.......

He's and his wife are scumbags in my book. Plenty of instances over the years to justify this conclusion.

Even though he's trashed talked GFY and vowed to never come back...he's still here.

bottom line, you passed your time frames where you could have done something about it, for little to no costs.

wages are very serious here in Canada. Like I said before, you can't even bankrupt out of them, if you owe wages that debt will follow you for life till you pay them. They won't take everything, but they will take a percentage of everything you earn for life, and take all assets unless there is no or minimal equity in them. in other words, he can own something like 5% equity in his house, everything else will be seized, $3-$4K equity in a car, but leases are ok (every province if different but they are all similar, I don't live in Ontario, I'm in Manitoba)

small claims is just a debt that says on a person for i think it's 10 years. but any real estate sold pays that debt first.

but there are time frames to file, for small claims it's 2 years, i don't know the deadline for wages but i doubt you can get anything if it's 4 years

How true.

I heard about him completely screwing up his life, but I didn't pay attention to the details. I have a soft heart when it comes to people who are down and out, so I am trying not to be overly mean or kick him too much. He seems misguided and bizarre, but I'm not offended by the ranting and raving, so I'm just letting it go. You're right about it making the other party look even more guilty, though; that's always been my take on shady characters taking up for other shady characters.


True. I guess I just figured he's slime his way out of it anyway, or didn't have the money (which was one of his many claims at the time, that the business was failing, etc, needed to trim expenses, wasn't making money, etc, etc). He kept promising to pay until the statute of limitations ran out, and then was basically much less communicative. Well played, I guess, if that's the game you want to play.


Unfortunately, when it comes to money, the more of it people keep, the less of it they have to make. It's sad when things are weighed like that, but it's the reality of the business nowadays. Shit, I remember when sponsors used to track me down for not cashing their checks.

Not a single person here buys your bullshit anymore, the smart ones never did. You have publicly run your own life into the ground with the whole adult industry watching (laughing) the entire fucking time. Most of your "friends" carried their asses as soon as you didn't have something to offer them and you are a failure of epic proportions.

I don't particularly like drama and bullshit and don't wish bad things on anyone but if there was one motherfucker from GFY that deserves your life it would be you.

Oh, and the funniest part in all of this is the fact that your ignorant ass can't spell simple words but God damned did you dig out a dictionary to find some problem with the word "bonus" when one of your last friends had their reputation on the line. Maybe he should send you that $38,000 for taking up for him since nobody else is stupid enough to do so. :upsidedow

He does talk constant shit about GFY, that's for sure ... it must be doing SOMETHING for him -- he still advertises here. Kudos to him for not running to AVN with the "I'll pull my advertising dollars if you don't hide the fact that I'm a scumbag."


I had no idea that it was like that. That's interesting. I don't do much business with Canadian companies, and I don't expect to work for salary again, but I'll keep that under my hat. Thanks for passing the knowledge along.

response that big... yep.. nailed it :thumbsup

There's something fishy about the options on that poll...where's Ron Paul?

Mark has always been scum. He and his bros are very noisy but fortunately that makes them easy to spot too. One is chirping away in this thread. Can you find him? I bet you can.

Actually...he did. :1orglaugh