[191043] in North American Network Operators' Group
Zayo Extortion
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (HonorFirst Name Ethics via NANOG)
Mon Aug 15 05:36:32 2016
X-Original-To: nanog@nanog.org
Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2016 16:50:46 +0000 (UTC)
To: "nanog@nanog.org" <nanog@nanog.org>
From: HonorFirst Name Ethics via NANOG <nanog@nanog.org>
Reply-To: HonorFirst Name Ethics <honorethics@yahoo.com>
Errors-To: nanog-bounces@nanog.org
Question to the NANOG community,=C2=A0 Is anyone else being extorted by Zay=
o? Is Zayo threatening shutdown over bogus and fabricated charges?
The purpose of this message to the group is twofold: 1) to share our experi=
ence being extorted by Zayo with the community and 2) to understand the dep=
th 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 a=
nd nice folks to work with.=C2=A0 Since being acquired by Zayo we have seen=
a significant degradation of service quality and responsiveness which is n=
ot unusual from a provider, but Zayo has taken things to a level of low eth=
ics 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.=C2=
=A0 In our case we use multiple Zayo IP, Transport, and Colo Services -- th=
ey set their extortion amount at $128,000.=C2=A0 A completely arbitrary and=
fabricated number.=C2=A0 They put significant pressure threatening to shut=
us down by setting their lawyers on us.
Our detailed contract breakdowns, invoice and payment spreadsheets, along w=
ith all other commonsense and professional efforts were simply disregarded.=
=C2=A0 At one point their lawyers and accounting people had the nerve to sa=
y "our accounting system does not track invoice details -- it only shows th=
e total amount due so your numbers mean nothing to us."=C2=A0 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 d=
own."
We have had anecdotal feedback that we are not alone in our experience and =
that there are many more like us.=C2=A0 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.=C2=
=A0=20
If the group shares their experiences=C2=A0 the public shaming may drive Za=
yo to stop operating like mafia thugs.=C2=A0 If the problem is as common as=
we suspect, it may warrant getting the Attorney General involved.=20
In the mean time, I strongly urge anyone already in a relationship with Zay=
o or considering a relationship to make sure your are well diversified with=
other more ethical carriers. Otherwise please consider another organizatio=
n to work with.
In our case we were better of with Ransomeware, than Zayo as a vendor!=C2=
=A0 Its cheaper and less damaging
A Zayo victim and a NANOG Member
