Neal,
an important piece of information here is the company that the inquiry was made to and who you actually spoke to. I personally know who both were but shed some light on who you spoke with and the relationship of said company to your team's location.
Those factors were the most important reasons why I recommended that you speak to those specific people and also why I was insanely surprised by this person's response to 2554. It was upsetting for me to hear
-Akash
P.S.- The company in question is a market giant...this was why I was surprised by the response.