You're obviously not a sysadmin, living on the front line between the non-technical, and mountains of computer hardware. I've worked at more than a few places where "I can't send an email more than 500 miles." translates to "One person 500 miles away has had their automatic spam filter nab my message."

I'm much more inclined to believe user error first. That said, the words "consultant" and "upgrade" give me cold chills...