I have. It's all about "I've sent all the formally required emails. Now preparing the popcorn and going to polish that bombastic blog post". If he didn't find the correct person and correct words, he hasn't done his job.
It sounds to me like they did a lot more than required in trying to convince people this was a bad idea. But they also didn't go out of the loop to find the right person.
28 phone calls in 14 days too. And with everyone seemingly aware, another phone call probably wouldn't have helped
What is their job? Their job is to turn off the devices. They're not in charge of new device procurement.