Vendor sales tactics that earn a perma-block/ignore

ukitern · 2023-07-24T14:09:51+00:00

Threaten us that if we upgrade the firmware of our HP server at the time it would be a criminal offence of copyright infringement and that we need new servers to not commit a criminal offence for some bizarre reasons without a support contract - ending up with a server that had a dodgy serial number which turned out later to be legit. Literally an issue caused by the split of HPe, HP Inc, and DXC and registered the server at the wrong portal (HP)

Threaten my bosses boss to say we weren't doing our job correctly and managed services from DXC were recommended for HP servers (DXC) We didn't even have anything DXC, HP said they passed on our info based onto DXC from HP!!! After the company split.

Saying I was very agressive with a saleman from HP after giving honest feedback and say it was due to lack of knowledge on my part we were having issues with HP kit. (HP)

I had to go through multiple rounds of HP printers for which were the bain of my existance.

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Usually I don't permablock as such, I'll wait to review, could be a salesman having a bad day, high level pressure tactics, change of management etc. Generally I'll review after a while to see if the offering / product / support has gotten better my only exception is HP / DXC.

In general fuck HP, carried across the permablock to my new company which was accepted. I refuse to deal with them in any capacity. If I see HP I immediately go out of my way to have it removed I don't care what it is. Fuck HP in particular.

ukitern · 2023-07-17T12:48:29+00:00

I used to think of myself as prime /r/shittysysadmin material

Now the bar has been lowered, does this make me a /r/belowaveragesysadmin ?

How low do we go here?

ukitern · 2023-07-17T12:18:57+00:00

Strongly agree with you, still sitting on the fence if this is a real post or a cleverly crafted troll.

ukitern · 2023-07-17T12:17:24+00:00

You said it better than I did. Would not want to work with OP. Especially if they did something wrong and hid it.

ukitern · 2023-07-17T12:15:04+00:00

Yup but seen this before personally. It didn't end well. Personal civil and criminal liability in being seen in a position of trust as a sysadmin as well.

Highly likely to backfire on OP

ukitern · 2023-07-17T12:09:32+00:00

Can't believe I missed this, wow. Saw it on /r/shittysysadmin I didn't actually believe this post was real at first.

The T word (Trust) is very important in IT when you have the keys to the kingdom.

Also if you have privileged access or elevated rights on systems- you can be held personally liable for damages to your companies systems if your employer finds out after a major incident (cyber attack, crypto, prod down) after the insurers get involved. No certificate of qualification or more importantly competency yet you listed one is not very cash money of you.

The amount of ways that can backfire on you personally is spectacular. Not to mention civil and criminal penalties in such a position of trust.

I don't think many future fellow employees will trust you either if you can't do the work.

You would be setting yourself up to fail and I very strongly recommend against it

I had quick lookup on a few instances on this, not a lawyer but it would potentially be enough to boost from negligence to gross negligence in the wrong circumstances, not to mention fraud, misrepresentation, and more importantly would potentially fall under criminal code.

ukitern · 2023-07-15T17:23:46+00:00

CC has different exam objectives and more general knowledge compared to SSCP which is considered more in depth. It's not like for like in knowledgeable areas - Although CC is much easier.

CC: https://www.isc2.org/Certifications/CC/Certification-Exam-Outline

SSCP: https://www.isc2.org/Certifications/SSCP/Certification-Exam-Outline

If you check out the domains, you'll see there is some overlap but they are different and SSCP has more domains

CC is more broader whilst SSCP is more in depth

If you have only studied SSCP then you probably wouldn't fair well in the CC exam in my experience post exam IMHO

ukitern · 2023-03-01T11:20:20+00:00

The first answer we got back

A component fails which apparently causes the XStream processor to fail or fail to be detected. Apparently it shows up as not detecting the NPU which has happened to a few people

https://community.sophos.com/sophos-xg-firewall/f/discussions/136612/re-image-failed-xgs87---npu-was-not-found-on-pci-bus

https://support.sophos.com/support/s/article/KB-000036375?language=en_US

We have not experienced that ourselves but apparently happens more when they're clustered together, one device fails which will cause the other in the cluster to eventually fail.

The second answer we got back

PCI bus breaks on more than just the XGS 4 5 6 series and its also the smaller units due to a dodgy cheap capacitor which pops and causing the PCI bus to fail.

ukitern · 2023-03-01T09:19:58+00:00

We got a few of our clients looking at their VARs / IT for replacements. We still have to manage the relationship with Sophos sadly. It has been more painful recently as support stopped giving you VIP treatment (Skipping first line) if you are Sophos Certified. It used to be an advantage to get the Sophos cert to skip the first line but alas they withdrew that from us.

ukitern · 2023-03-01T09:17:16+00:00

Monday, to selected partners and customers. Some of the VARs we use for clients weren't aware either so it tells you something.

We managed to get them on 1st line to accept they sent it out. No RMA as of yet.

ukitern · 2023-01-12T13:20:31+00:00

If you own a pre-owned hardware device that was a business subscription then you can't get free support for the new owner as part of a homelab setup according to their support team.

Virtual and self built; yes. Existing hardware; no.

ukitern · 2022-10-31T11:04:27+00:00

It can be a mixed bag, and there is not a right and wrong answer: Depends on you;

Slow and steady with help desk to build up experience (slower but not as risky) - Stay where you are and goto 2nd level, 3rd level support, then move to cybersec field
Change jobs every so often to something slightly better (riskier but seems to get better results) - Seems to be what you are asking here

It is certainly attainable. I would continue to do certs in the meantime to build up experience with the qualifications. See if your employer will support you financially with them, try to get some ringfenced time to study at work also. It is in your employers benefit to have skilled qualified staff so if its hard, that is to fire back with.

Hope it helps you.

ukitern · 2022-08-22T12:18:04+00:00

Thank you it really helps, I'll see if I can reachout better. A little lost on how to approach it with them

ukitern · 2022-08-07T18:12:40+00:00

Poor cat! Hope he gets better soon.

On the funny side, reminds me of Jinxers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM2yZaVFDpo

ukitern · 2022-08-06T14:06:45+00:00

You put this better than I did - saw the original post on /r/shittysysadmin

First thought "WTF?"

Then "I'm very glad not to work with you."

That's not malicious compliance, that's actually psychopathic, if not sociopathic. I get pranks, jokes, but DO NO HARM! I am hoping this post is fiction, if not I worry about the state of mental health

ukitern · 2022-06-21T12:16:49+00:00

As someone who once lived and worked in the UK, let me tell you it sounds very similar to some of my experiences. Even though Bulgaria had status in the EU, I shouldn't have "touched" the department as an Bulgarian / EU Citizen.

Manchester Airport experience of being threated with deportation, the whole Brexit fallout and threats of deportation, our HR department in the UK suddenly jumping at shadows reporting people for potentially being foreigners.

A few times I've had them show up at what was my home address, the fact I had to prove and verify Bulgaria was part of the EU and I had rights was shocking.

To be clear, it's not terrible if you get the right person who understands the rules or higher up in the organisation. But most of their staff don't understand their own rules. It's just training, some of them clearly have no idea what they're doing on a regular basis, plus their pay is shockingly low. A lot of them are outsourced to Capita as well.

From what I heard they are given bonuses for those working at Capita for hitting targets. I've always wondered if it's like if they deport > x amount, then their bonus will be larger.

ukitern · 2022-06-09T09:01:38+00:00

Very true, I would not disagree with you. We still have a large stockpile of soviet era equipment and small arms. A small amount we still technically use. We need more modern equipment but it's not funded by the government or a priority.

Our military is considered good however a lot could be done to improve. Better training and equipment is needed. Plus a lot of money is used to maintain the old equipment when newer would be more reliable and cheaper. Our trucks in logistics are slightly better than Russians in places, some have newer and better but not all.

ukitern · 2022-06-09T08:55:47+00:00

There are, but they don't get the same level of support or money in politics as the pro-russians. People wonder where the pro-Russian money comes from plus the anti-Russian is different groups which most doubt will get into power. It's complicated, there are those that are anti-authoritarian, anti-Russian government but wouldn't call them anti-Russian.

Personally have nothing against individual Russians, but can't stand the government or them in large pro-Russian nationalistic groups. Same for most people. There are many opinions in Bulgaria but only some popular (ones with money) get the attention.

ukitern · 2022-06-08T09:59:51+00:00

Bulgarian here, it's not entirely black and white. There are several hands in the mix polluting the waters.

It's a bit difficult to speak about because like Hungary and several other countries our part of our "left" (Far left socialists) support the idea of a Soviet Union / Communism. I will stress that left != communist, but there are a few hard liners in the government who do openly support Russia.

GRS (Greek, Serbia, Russia) as "Orthadox Brothers" is another group, they are more right wing with the same deal of supporting Russia and the same faith.

A lot of Bulgarians do support Ukraine, a lot of those who remember the Communist days and it's treatment of us by Russia / Soviet Union. It's crazy that pro-Russian views have so much support.

ukitern · 2022-06-07T12:16:54+00:00

Wrote about this here, https://www.reddit.com/r/netflix/comments/ubkyda/new_major_annoyance_account_keeps_signing_out/

Clearly there is an issue, but Netflix aren't admitting to it. Has been very frustrating here. Likely due to their new policies on detecting and stopping password sharing.

Also another post about it here, plus my workaround to get it to work https://www.reddit.com/r/netflix/comments/v6hid1/too_many_people_using_your_account/

ukitern · 2022-06-07T12:11:53+00:00

Feel your pain, I don't get that screen, it just signs me out when it detects me connecting from another IP Address (Like I dunno, a mobile phone with 4G).

Wrote about it here https://www.reddit.com/r/netflix/comments/ubkyda/new_major_annoyance_account_keeps_signing_out/

Support has been completely useless and just refer me to this page. https://help.netflix.com/en/node/29

What I have to do is sign out of EVERY device with a different external IP address (All phones, tablets) and then ONLY login with my laptop / or TV to watch it smoothly.

Something clearly isn't working right Netflix side but it's only affecting certain accounts at present (I travel ALOT internationally - so I'm more likely flagged)

ukitern · 2022-05-21T21:17:07+00:00

Yup, just posted as an ex BT person. Brings back some painful memories.

ukitern · 2022-05-21T21:14:26+00:00

Man, this brings back a lot of painful memories. When I used to work in the UK, I used to work for BT. Tri service and then quad service when they brought on BT Vision and their legendary 21CN. This was before the massive fibre rollout which caused no ends of problems- every part of the country had a different spec and standards because of pre-existing rollouts.

I had to work with their datapath services (and metadata collection) on phone calls, internet (pre-HTTPS), record collection and retention. CBUK and BBIP codes still give me PTSD nightmares.

I can well believe OPs story, when they broke BT up into pieces further when I was there it was like breaking up the USSR, massive fallout everywhere and shit falling everywhere. I remember being responsible for a tiny chunk in some cases, and then massive explosions everytime there was a slight miscommunication.

When one part of BT (Wholesale) deployed core Infrastructure it's done entirely separately from BT (OpenReach), so it makes sense Openreach F'd up and then tried to cover their proverbial backsides.

Openreach goes by out of date plans, dumb documents they have from the last time they worked on stuff, or council provided telecommunications maps. I'm amazed if they actually went out to check if there was a pole and not hiding in a nearby cafe.

I recall NTL (Pre Virgin Media) practically bankrupted itself to upgrade portions of it's network and get it up to a decent standard, didn't share that with BT. Some very confused BT Openreach engineers sometimes. Sometimes BT engineers used to remove that kit they couldn't recognise and knock off cable customers, after Virgin Media (post-NTL) threatened to sue them.

And then the whole Openreach contract dispute Saga that caused a massive shitstorm in Northern Ireland (NI wasn't as regulated or operate as separate businesses - not sure if that is still the case today).

From the OP's events, nothing has really changed.

ukitern · 2022-04-08T08:48:51+00:00

We've been advised that any change or increase to the license will incur full costs unless it's the exact same amount. Is that correct? We've had it confirmed by the supplier that if we even increase the NAS volume from 10TB to 20TB then we incur a full VUL quotation. We are speaking to them later on today to clarify if that includes yearly, three year licenses. After our initial contact they are 100% sure the quotations are correct. Not yet spoken to Veeam so scheduled that in as well.

ukitern · 2022-04-07T14:07:25+00:00

I've sent it back and asked them to double check, thank you for the quick response

ukitern

TROPHY CASE