nanog mailing list archives

Re: Zayo Extortion


From: "Kaiser, Erich" <erich () gotfusion net>
Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2016 09:19:01 -0500

In response to the original email they do do this I have experienced it
myself it is usually because of billing issues that they don't know how to
resolve.  It's complete BS worse than dealing with att.

On Aug 15, 2016 9:14 AM, "Paras Jha" <paras () protrafsolutions com> wrote:

Yeah, I see a wall of text, but no real evidence to substantiate it.

On Mon, Aug 15, 2016 at 8:29 AM, Mike Hammett <nanog () ics-il net> wrote:

Try more facts and less emotion.



-----
Mike Hammett
Intelligent Computing Solutions

Midwest Internet Exchange

The Brothers WISP


----- Original Message -----

From: "HonorFirst Name Ethics via NANOG" <nanog () nanog org>
To: nanog () nanog org
Sent: Saturday, August 13, 2016 11:50:46 AM
Subject: Zayo Extortion

Question to the NANOG community, Is anyone else being extorted by Zayo?
Is
Zayo threatening shutdown over bogus and fabricated charges?

The purpose of this message to the group is twofold: 1) to share our
experience being extorted by Zayo with the community and 2) to understand
the depth and extent of Zayo's less than ethical behavior by getting
feedback from the community.

Abovenet was a great organization with quality service, reasonable prices
and nice folks to work with. Since being acquired by Zayo we have seen a
significant degradation of service quality and responsiveness which is
not
unusual from a provider, but Zayo has taken things to a level of low
ethics
that would make Tony Soprano proud.
Most interestingly they seem to identify points where you are dependent
on
them and threaten a shut down unless you pay them some arbitrary amount.
In
our case we use multiple Zayo IP, Transport, and Colo Services -- they
set
their extortion amount at $128,000. A completely arbitrary and fabricated
number. They put significant pressure threatening to shut us down by
setting their lawyers on us.
Our detailed contract breakdowns, invoice and payment spreadsheets, along
with all other commonsense and professional efforts were simply
disregarded. At one point their lawyers and accounting people had the
nerve
to say "our accounting system does not track invoice details -- it only
shows the total amount due so your numbers mean nothing to us." All the
while they relentlessly levied disconnect threats with short timelines
such
as: "if you don't pay us $128,000 by this Friday, we will shut your
operation down."
We have had anecdotal feedback that we are not alone in our experience
and
that there are many more like us. If you and your company have had a
similar experience with Zayo, please share it with the group or if like
us
you are concerned about retaliation from Zayo, please respond privately.

If the group shares their experiences the public shaming may drive Zayo
to
stop operating like mafia thugs. If the problem is as common as we
suspect,
it may warrant getting the Attorney General involved.

In the mean time, I strongly urge anyone already in a relationship with
Zayo or considering a relationship to make sure your are well diversified
with other more ethical carriers. Otherwise please consider another
organization to work with.
In our case we were better of with Ransomeware, than Zayo as a vendor!
Its
cheaper and less damaging

A Zayo victim and a NANOG Member




--
Regards,
Paras

President
ProTraf Solutions, LLC
Enterprise DDoS Mitigation



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