From Lars Ingebrigtsen and Ned Deily, this blog comment with the puzzling expression run around the ringer (boldfaced in the quote):
(1) … it’s getting burned by these borderline deceptive tactics that drive small software companies to begin to take harder stances on things like this. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve been run around the ringer for discounts, extra support, customizations, etc. only to suddenly not hear from the person anymore, or find out they went with someone else with absolutely no explanation. (link)