[Update: Telltale's Kevin Bruner has responded on Reddit, saying the company has been in regular contact with the Jeep's owner, but the insurance process has been time consuming. "To expedite this, I'll be writing a personal check to cover what we understand the damages to be -- this way we won't need to hash this out publicly any longer."]
Telltale Games has a Jurassic Park game coming out, as I'm sure you all know. In order to promote the game, the company contacted the owner of a (presumably) hard-to-find Jurassic Park Jeep to showcase at PAX. The man was already friends with the chap who owned last year's DeLorean, so he assumed it was a trustworthy deal, and that the car would be treated with reverence during its insured, enclosed flight to Seattle.
Unfortunately, the once-pristine car made it to the convention covered in scuffs, scratches and dents. The owner had already cut Telltale some slack when he discovered the Jeep's transport wasn't enclosed, and he then cut CEO Kevin Bruner even more slack by letting them still use the damaged vehicle until PAX was over. However, he claims to have not been given the same courtesy afterward, when he attempted to get retribution.
Telltale simply told him that the damage received to the vehicle was not due to the car carrier, ergo not Telltale's responsibility. It also claimed that the car had been inspected "in the rain" which might account for the damage not being noticeable. In any case, Telltale's rep -- who admitted to knowing nothing about cars -- signed off on the inspection and released the car carrier company from liability.
The owner is still trying to dispute the issue, but Telltale's been giving him the cold shoulder.
Jurassic Jeep [via Reddit]
Contest:
6:30 PM on 11.14.2011 | 
Let me write that one down.
Telltale Games knows to bring the pain.
Etc etc.
In before the Outrage crowd tells us that we should boycott Telltale.
Telltale develops videogames, Jurassic park is a forthcoming video game, and PAX is a convention showcasing video games...while the article might not be talking about the game in question to say it has nothing to do with games is obviously false. This and other game sites often post about cutural, economic, and technological topics that may otherwise be of interest to their readers if not directly related to games, gaming, or a particular game.
Response:
http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/mceic/about_that_jurassic_park_jeep/
I think the word you were looking for was "restitution," although I am warmed by thoughts of this man's Steven-Seagal-style quest for revenge.
I know I'm jumping to conclusions here but seriously, why doesn't the Telltale folk man the fuck up and take responsibility like they should?
Ok, the guy picked up the slack for the mistakes of ether his company or the shipping service.
I respect that.
http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/mceic/about_that_jurassic_park_jeep/
Paraphrases most upvoted comment on the page. o_O
I'm going to assume the dude owning the Jeep is okay though, so it's a bummer to hear. :(
It was an obvious accident during transport and nobody really knows the full story. I like to think that the transporters made T-rex costumes from cardboard boxes and repeatedly ran into the jeep out of boredom.
While I'm just kidding, now that I think about it, that jeep would be so badass if it had velociraptor bite damage on it.
This all seems very backwards. I don't see why Telltale needs to sign off and release the carrier from liability when it should be the insurance company that handles the transporters insurance doing that -or thats how I IMAGINE it should go. Way it should have gone is Telltale should have paid for the insurance (which it sounds like it did, although they could have not and that would explain a lot, if they didn't then THEY'D be liable) and it's the company transporting its problem if it gets damage -like taking out insurance on Christmas gifts your sending them to your family, you contact the carrier and they have to initiate conversation with their insurance company to file the claim and get you the money for your damaged goods. Either way Telltale's involvement should begin and end with hiring the transport company and they should actually be on the same side as the guy asking for retribution, because they got fucked right along with him by the transport company.
Also, rain or not, you can see scuffs and dents even if you know nothing about cars. Just because you know nothing about body work or engines or make and model doesn't mean you DON'T HAVE EYES IN YOUR HEAD AND CAN'T SEE COSMETIC DAMAGE. The cars got a custom paint job and sounds like it was pristine before it was shipped out -its going to be pretty obvious where the damage is unless its so minuscule you really can't see it(which it could be, and the owner is just being VERY anal -I can confirm this behavior because I'm anal-retentive about my things).
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3449116&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1 I'm not sure if the link will work for non-members.. but he's at fault for the damages. The car cover in the "in the rain" picture is not meant for a Jeep being transported on a trailer.
Shoulda just shut the fuck up when Kevin offered to cut him a check instead of going all over the internet to tell them how bad Telltale is.
Oh, so no wonder the guy is friends with the asshole who owns the Delorian. They deserve each other I guess.
...clever girl