Cisco Vice President Customer Assurance - Curtis Hill:
"Specifically, Cisco will be an active participant in the Governor's proposed task force, we will support the redeployment or return of the routers identified by the State's comprehensive site capacity study, and we will extend the already-discounted router maintenance agreement by 3 years."
In a stunning development in the scandalous and sordid saga of the Cisco router ripoff of the State of West Virginia, Charleston Gazette investigative reporter, Eric Eyre, has reported today:
"On Thursday, Cisco said it would take back routers if West Virginia can't find an appropriate place to put them... Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin directed state officials Thursday to reconsider where they've installed hundreds of high-capacity Internet routers paid for with $24 million in federal stimulus funds."
The Eyre report continued, "We're going to look at the sites and say, 'It's justified, or it's not justified,' said Rob Alsop, Tomblin's chief of staff. 'We're going to go try and fix what needs to be fixed.' The state is considering swapping out the large routers with smaller ones, or possibly asking for refunds and exchanges from Cisco, Alsop said.
"Alsop said he talked with Cisco CEO John Chambers, a West Virginia native, and the company also has agreed to extend router warranties an additional three years at no cost. 'The state of West Virginia is an important customer for Cisco, and we are focused on their satisfaction,' said John Earnhardt, a Cisco spokesman."
"The state wasted at least $7.9 million - and up to $15 million - by purchasing oversized routers."
It's my opinion that Eric Eyre's report today, further confirms that Cisco did indeed define the buying agenda of the State of West Virginia, and that the sales culture under the leadership and direction of Cisco CEO John Chambers, is primed to ripoff any unsuspecting customer that believes Cisco has that customer's best interest in mind.
