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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    402

    Switch and Data venting

    Recently, we expanded our space with Switch and Data. They didn't have any cabinets physically next to our current ones, so they offered us cross-connects with an NRC only (no MRC) between our own existing space and the new. (Of course I didn't get this on the same 1-year contract as everything else.) After a few months, I noticed they've been billing us for them, so I contact our rep. Apparently she "wasn't authorized" to do that, so after some heated emails they're removing the charges to date and charging us the MRCs moving forward. It's over $7K a year for the two.

    They also upped their minimum labor charge, so it now cost $175 to have them sign for a FedEx or have any other minimal amount of work done. We have an on-site employee who manages our equipment, but obviously he won't sit there waiting for UPS/FedEx a few times a month. Two instances last month there were employees on site and it cost an hour of labor for them to physically walk two packages onto the data center floor from the front office.

    While installing another cross-connect recently, they knocked our patch panel just enough to disconnect a fiber. They charged us for the two hours it took to debug and rectify the issue. The on-site techs assertion was that it must have been "loose" to begin with - of course it worked fine for 6 months prior. You would think a sales person would side with you in a case like this, but they wouldn't budge.

    They must be really keen on driving away customers. What really sucks is the connectivity available at their facilities is so amazing. I would brush it off as the cost of doing business if they were up front on all these things, but they aren't.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Reston, VA
    Posts
    3,131
    Oddly enough we've never been charged for someone to sign for a delivery..

    Xconnects to your own gear everywhere have no mrc.. only nrc...

    which facility are you in?
    Yellow Fiber Networks
    http://www.yellowfiber.net : Managed Solutions - Colocation - Network Services IPv4/IPv6
    Ashburn/Denver/NYC/Dallas/Chicago Markets Served zak@yellowfiber.net

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    402
    Dallas. We hadn't been charged for deliveries either until this past month when they changed the minimum support time to 1 hour. One of the boxes was larger, but one was two L5-30 connectors totaling a few pounds and was no bigger than 8" square. We were onsite doing some upgrades waiting for the priority overnight shipment, so they literally walked 100 feet and handed it to us immediately.

    I could live with the shipping thing since we don't do many deliveries if it wasn't for this latest cross connect ordeal. My general feeling is they are pushing people to use their service plans.
    Last edited by voipcarrier; 08-12-2009 at 06:14 PM.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2001
    Location
    Denver, CO
    Posts
    3,302
    Ugh.

    1. The cross connect contract (was there one, this is not clear to me?) should have been co-terminus with your existing contract.

    2. If she offered you something, in writing, as a representative of S&D, and you accepted it, that offer was very likely a legally binding contract, even if there was no long winded supporting contract to go with. For them to reneg on the offer now is at the very least, unethical and quite possibly legally actionable.

    3. We have never charged a customer to simply accept a package and put it in their cage, suite or simply hang on to it for a while for later retrieval. As a colocation customer, we were never charged for the same set of services. This includes packages weighing up to 600lbs that were palatalized. That they are charging so much to accept a package during normally staffed business hours is nothing but an absurd money grab.

    4. S&D is corporate enough that you could try a C level email bomb. It might get someone's attention. We've had luck going this route with Level(3) a number of times.

    5. Especially in Dallas, they are hardly the only shop in town. I'd suggest looking around at your alternatives and being coming up with a migration plan now, even if you won't be moving for a while. It seems they are hell bent on screwing you over. There are many other folks out there capable of giving you high quality network connections and reasonably priced remote hands and cross connects.
    Jay Sudowski // Handy Networks LLC // Co-Founder & CTO
    AS30475 - Level(3), HE, Telia, XO and Cogent. Noction optimized network.
    Offering Dedicated Server and Colocation Hosting from our SSAE 16 SOC 2, Type 2 Certified Data Center.
    Current specials here. Check them out.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Posts
    402
    Quote Originally Posted by Jay Suds View Post
    Ugh.
    1. The cross connect contract (was there one, this is not clear to me?) should have been co-terminus with your existing contract.

    2. If she offered you something, in writing, as a representative of S&D, and you accepted it, that offer was very likely a legally binding contract, even if there was no long winded supporting contract to go with. For them to reneg on the offer now is at the very least, unethical and quite possibly legally actionable.
    No, unfortunately there was only a service order for the cross-connect noting that it only had an NRC but there was no term set. It was not part of the contract for the space and power. In regards to item #2, I already pointed this out to the VP I'm working with and it didn't matter. I'm quiet amazed by their lack of willingness to honor this, as even he pointed out it was indeed on the order. Due to the lack of a finite term on the order, it could arguably be considered month to month. Legal or not, I still feel like we got screwed and it was used as a tactic to lock in the other services.

    This all started when our original sales person left the company. Since then, we have had an absolutely terrible relationship with everyone else we've dealt with on a corporate level. I'm in a situation where I've had nothing but problems for the last 8 months, and my contract is up in 4 on all but one of our cabinets. Unfortunately, moving seems like a better option.

    We're by no means a large account, but our monthly spend with them is nearly 5 figures. I'm surprised that they're willing to lose that over less than 10% of our monthly revenue.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Hyderabad India
    Posts
    1,103
    dealing with companies like this can be bad some times, however your sales rep should be good enough to get things done. $175 just to sign, is everybody like that?, also there will be no month to month term with big ones always min 1y. for any stuff. if u r paying 5fig a month they would think 10% extra or charging 175 to sign may not hurt any and continue to bill you

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Ashburn VA, San Diego CA
    Posts
    4,615
    Jay is 100% right on #5. Start your migration plan now; you are in a competitive market and there is nothing gold plated about their datacenter.
    Fast Serv Networks, LLC | AS29889 | DDOS Protected | Managed Cloud, Streaming, Dedicated Servers, Colo by-the-U
    Since 2003 - Ashburn VA + San Diego CA Datacenters

  8. #8
    I hosted with SXDC for years and I understand your frustrations. In my experience they're good at courting you and getting you in the door and then you become a stepchild that they don't care to maintain.

    Charging you to sign for deliveries? Wow. Maybe they don't want you to expand your space. I'd assume any new equipment someone is bringing in will eventually evolve into full cabinets and possibly more space? Talk with the site manager and see if you can come to some sort of understanding.. are his techs really that busy?

    Cross connects is part of their business plan but cross connects between your cabinets shouldn't be. It's pretty common to supply customers cross connects to multiple cabinets. There might be an upfront cost to install it, and it's typically high with SDXC, but monthly fees? Come on people.

    Sounds like you might want to consider taking your business elsewhere if they don't understand your needs or care to work with you. It's their loss, not yours.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    1,556
    Colo4Dallas has been unbelievably good to us. When I moved out of the infomart, I was talking with S&D since the move to them would be a simple down the hall move, but chose to go with Colo4Dallas down the road. I can honestly say that I don't regret that decision one bit. They don't charge for accepting packages, they only charge one time fees for cross connect, anywhere, and are extremely helpful in every regards. You would probably be better served over there honestly..
    James Lumby

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    6,896
    As a former S&D customer [large cage, > 1000a of power, etc.], I can empathize with the posters in this thread.

    From what I observed, S&D's approach to existing customers was typically "figure out how hard, and how expensive it'd be for a customer to move out, then react in a manner thats just short of that". It made things very frustrating, and for many years, has resulted in what I'd consider a pretty significant turn-over rate at their 151 Front facility.

    While I know the common definition of most businesses is "make as much money, as quickly as you can", theres just something unsettling about companies who are determined to live up to that definition, at any cost.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Reston, VA
    Posts
    3,131
    We spoke, they listened....

    *New Product Bulletin Alert*

    This Bulletin provides clarification of recent TechSmart Billing changes implemented July 1, 2009.

    In an effort to emphasize the value of Switch and Data services and data centers, as well as maintain high customer satisfaction, we will not charge a fee to receive a FedEx envelope or any inbound shipment at the site that takes 15 minutes or less of Tech time to complete. Therefore, customers will not be charged a full hour of TechSmart or use time against their TechSmart plan hours to receive these short duration (15 minutes or less) shipments. Additionally, Customer Access that takes 15 minutes or less will not incur a charge.
    Yellow Fiber Networks
    http://www.yellowfiber.net : Managed Solutions - Colocation - Network Services IPv4/IPv6
    Ashburn/Denver/NYC/Dallas/Chicago Markets Served zak@yellowfiber.net

  12. #12
    I can understand the frustration here to say the least. While many large data center brands operate the same way, they stick to rules and regulations so they have a clear operational policy. If they do one thing here and don't charge for it, it could become an expectation. I would suggest just keeping a close eye on what you are being charged for as we operate in 4 major data center brands and over 14 locations nationally. We HAVE to keep an eye on our costs or we cannot protect the bottom line... These add on services is what fuels revenue for these brands!

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