I’ve always used wording such as “I’m contacting you on behalf of so-and-so.” If they ask further I usually tell them I’m a consultant. 



On Feb 20, 2021, at 11:29 AM, Mike Hammett <nanog@ics-il.net> wrote:

Leave aside any conversation about whether the business has the ability (or approval) to pay for it or not.


Is it appropriate for organizations that provide services to end-users to require that you are a paying customer to contact their support?

Is it appropriate to pretend to be your complaining customer to get support on network-level issues (IP Geolocation, false VPN notices, buffering, despite a clean path to their CDN, etc.)?



-----
Mike Hammett
Intelligent Computing Solutions

Midwest Internet Exchange

The Brothers WISP