I think if hosting an RMA form requires paying for 500x more bandwidth than it’s supposed to just because it’s being hammered by bots on VPNs, and this was your company, you’d block them too.
No, I would rate-limit them. OP is getting a non-rate-limited block. If OP has an ISP problem where they can’t access the site, this VPN may be their only option.
I think catloaf’s idea is good, but no tech company accepts RMA requests by paper mail.
I think it depends on where the bottleneck is, and what they’re actually trying to prevent, as to whether or not rate-limiting would actually help anything.
If they are blocking source IP addresses explicitly, it could be for a more specific concern we’re not aware of, like trying to limit the amount of email “spam” that would be sent out from automated requests. A rate-limit wouldn’t fix that issue, only slow it down.
We’re all also assuming any of this is even intentional on their or anyone’s part.
I think if hosting an RMA form requires paying for 500x more bandwidth than it’s supposed to just because it’s being hammered by bots on VPNs, and this was your company, you’d block them too.
I don’t think this holds in court. “I breached my contract with the plaintiff because other actors inconvenience me.”
I think you assume that there is even a contract, and that if it did exist, it wouldn’t allow this.
Going to court for this would also cost way more than the product is worth.
You must be from the U.S., where there are no customer rights and the law only serves the rich.
No, I would rate-limit them. OP is getting a non-rate-limited block. If OP has an ISP problem where they can’t access the site, this VPN may be their only option.
I think catloaf’s idea is good, but no tech company accepts RMA requests by paper mail.
I think it depends on where the bottleneck is, and what they’re actually trying to prevent, as to whether or not rate-limiting would actually help anything.
If they are blocking source IP addresses explicitly, it could be for a more specific concern we’re not aware of, like trying to limit the amount of email “spam” that would be sent out from automated requests. A rate-limit wouldn’t fix that issue, only slow it down.
We’re all also assuming any of this is even intentional on their or anyone’s part.
Yup. You can probably do it by mail, if you’re so inclined.