Re: Cogent sales reps who actually respond

["Tim Burke" <tb () tburke us>]

Call me juvenile all you like, it doesn't bother me... :-) Being one of the younger folks in this industry, it's 
definitely not the first time. If you like Cogent, that's great, but don't attack me just because I think their sales 
reps are shady. 

I can assure you that the reps that were harassing me weren't just given a list of leads, they went out of their way to 
look through ARIN's new allocation list and spam the living crap out of people. With that said, I am a man of ethics 
and morals, and will do whatever I can to ensure that I do not do business with companies that employ people that 
engage in unethical tactics. 

I've had no other bandwidth provider engage in Cogent's tactics, including the three that I currently do business with, 
and have an extremely positive relationship with. 

On Sun, Sep 22, 2019, at 11:20 AM, Darin Steffl wrote:
> Tim,
>
> The reps themselves have not been unethical. They've not lied or been dishonest to me in the sales process at all. 
> Comparing them to a shady used car salesman is not a fair comparison. 
>
> They are likely given a list of leads and need to make so many cold calls to show they're trying to make sales. 
>
> That's not to say some reps will do unethical things vs other reps like ours who were nothing but honest, good 
> people. 
>
> I think it's juvenile to avoid a company solely on reps reaching out to sell to you. That's their job. If their 
> network and support is good and their cost is attractive, get over your petty reasons for avoiding them. You're stuck 
> on one point and hold a grudge because "their sales process is shady". 
>
> I've seen shady companies and cogent isn't one of them. Take CenturyLink where they quote a small business $100 for 
> internet and phone but the bill is actually $197 after all the hidden fees and tax. That's shady. Cogent has never 
> done that. They bill you exactly what's in the contract and not a penny more. 
>
> Zayo adds hidden fees and BS reasons for why they collect them and there's no way out of it. Again, not a problem 
> with cogent or Hurricane. 
>
>
> On Sun, Sep 22, 2019, 9:53 AM Dmitry Sherman <dmitry () interhost net> wrote:
> > They are not that cheap... 
> >
> > Best regards,
> > Dmitry Sherman
> > Interhost Networks
> > www.interhost.co.il
> > Dmitry () interhost net
> > Mob: 054-3181182
> > Sent from Steve's creature 
> >
> >
> > On 22 Sep 2019, at 16:49, Tim Burke <tb () tburke us> wrote:
> >
> > > Ethical business practices are quite important to me... I don't care how their pricing is, if every one of their 
> > > sales reps is on-par with a used car salesman, I want nothing to do with them. No other carrier I deal with acts in 
> > > this fashion. 
> > >
> > > If you're OK with cheap bandwidth sold by car sales rejects, that's fine... but I am most certainly not interested.
> > >
> > > On Sun, Sep 22, 2019, at 8:02 AM, Darin Steffl wrote:
> > > > It may be unethical to pull emails from ARIN listings but their sales guys have a job to do and quotas to meet.
> > > >
> > > > Don't get mad at the sales reps, maybe think a little higher up the food chain. Each rep I've had has been very 
> > > > fair and respectful. If I don't need anything new, I tell them to followup with me in 6 months and they do. At 
> > > > most they send me a 2 sentence email to see if I need anything. That's something a good rep should do to make sure 
> > > > they're always in the back of your mind and easy to reach. 
> > > >
> > > > Also, just because you don't like their sales process doesn't mean their network is bad. We've had them for 3 
> > > > years and never had a single outage. The very few times we did call them for routing questions, they picked up the 
> > > > phone immediately and knew what to do. 
> > > >
> > > > That already makes them better than some companies that cost 5 times as much. At cogent pricing, you should 
> > > > receive the worst support but it's damn good right along with HE support. Both are the most affordable transit 
> > > > providers but offer the best support. The more expensive guys should get their crap together. 
> > > >
> > > > On Sun, Sep 22, 2019, 7:54 AM Tim Burke <tb () tburke us> wrote:
> > > > > __
> > > > > That is just The Cogent Way™, unfortunately. I just had (yet another) Cogent rep spam me using an email address 
> > > > > that is _only_ used as an ARIN contact, trying to sell me bandwidth. When I called him out on it, with compliance 
> > > > > () arin net CCed, he backpedaled and claimed to obtain my information from Google. 
> > > > >
> > > > > Gotta love these awful bottom feeding companies. 
> > > > >
> > > > > On Thu, Sep 19, 2019, at 10:05 AM, Dmitry Sherman wrote:
> > > > > > Cogent are spamming seriously, they call me from different phone number in Frankfurt and USA in holidays or at 
> > > > > > night.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > -- 
> > > > > > Dmitry Sherman
> > > > > > Interhost Networks Ltd
> > > > > > Dmitry () interhost net
> > > > > > Mobile: +972-54-3181182
> > > > > > Office: +972-74-7029881
> > > > > > Web: www.interhost.co.il
> > > > > >
> > > > > >  On 17/09/2019, 3:25, "NANOG on behalf of Michel Py" <nanog-bounces () nanog org on behalf of michel.py () 
> > > > > > tsisemi com> wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > >  > If you don’t like Cogent - explain.
> > > > > >
> > > > > >  Besides the peering issues, they can't stop spamming. If after 20 attempts on the phone you have not picked up, 
> > > > > > they start to send email.
> > > > > >  They abuse whois. They are one of the primary reasons few people put their real phone number in whois.
> > > > > >
> > > > > >  And I have never talked to that level of incompetence. Tell their sales droids that you want a link over RFC 
> > > > > > 1149, or that you need BGT (instead of BGP), they will tell you no problem.
> > > > > >  Don't even try to ask anything about communities or RPKI; they can't tell the difference between a router and a 
> > > > > > connected coffee pot. If you must deal with them, record everything.
> > > > > >
> > > > > >  If someone has a cheap Asterisk trick so when the caller ID says COGENT it goes directly to Lenny I'll take it.
> > > > > >
> > > > > >  Michel
> > > > > >
> > > > > >  TSI Disclaimer: This message and any files or text attached to it are intended only for the recipients named 
> > > > > > above and contain information that may be confidential or privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, you 
> > > > > > must not forward, copy, use or otherwise disclose this communication or the information contained herein. In the 
> > > > > > event you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by replying to this message, 
> > > > > > and then delete all copies of it from your system. Thank you!...