Service Agreement Question??

[BillyCarpenter]

I like this idea. If you keep good documentation, as time goes by you can adjust the monthly rate based on any number of factors (# of PCs, type of business, etc). Here's a good example: We used to have a real estate customer that was constantly rotating through employees. About every 3 weeks there were 5 new salespeople to setup, and 5 old salespeople to un-setup, printing, email, scan to folder, job accounts, etc. And they ALWAYS expected that to be free.

It's really hard not to burst out laughing when the third person in one day says: " ... no, I don't know my username/password. Can't you just look it up somewhere on the internet?" =^..^=

That's the other thing that I run into at this church. They have new pastors that cycle in and out and other people that come and go and we have to set them up to print and scan. I've always done it but that, too, has been problematic. When I would arrive they would inform me that so-and-so person wasn't able to make it and that I would need to come back in a few days to take care of them.

It's enough to make a person lose his religion.

[J_Arnold]

That's the other thing that I run into at this church. They have new pastors that cycle in and out and other people that come and go and we have to set them up to print and scan. I've always done it but that, too, has been problematic. When I would arrive they would inform me that so-and-so person wasn't able to make it and that I would need to come back in a few days to take care of them.

It's enough to make a person lose his religion.

Have you thought about remote software like gotoassist? I think you can get a single license for around 600 bucks a year. But will cut down on all the onsite driver installations and print job troubleshooting. Plus bill them a remote fee. Make it affordable but ensure it pays for the gotoassist service over time. There are probably more affordable options but that's what I use.

[mojorolla]

We charge the normal CPC and then offer an optional $10 a month connectivity fee. This includes remote support to fix printing and scanning issues relating to the copier. It does not include issues with PCs or laptops, Windows updates that kill printing, network problems, etc. If it falls out of these parameters, it's a billable call.
If they know it's free, they will just keep calling.

And yes, church are they most un-Godlike customers to deal with. WWJD, apparently, he would complain about every little thing while enjoying tax exempt status. Ugh

[BillyCarpenter]

Update:


I went to the church this morning and the pastor (Greg) that I had trouble with in the past was no longer there and the new pastor was very nice. That was a pleasant surprise.

The first thing I found was no link light @ copier. I go to the network closet and noticed that a new connector was installed on the cat 5 cable. I ran this network drop when I installed the cable and I know I didn't use that color of rubber boot. When I would wiggle the connector the light would come on. So, I cut it off and put on a new one and that corrected the problem.

I didn't charge them. Being nice goes a long way with me. Act like an idiot and I'm gonna charge you. lol

Anyway. Everyone is happy, happy, happy.

[rthonpm]

Coming in a little late on this: since we have customers where we do ALL of their IT, as well as some where we only do their printers or MFPs, for the latter group we are very clear that once the problem moves out of the machine and into the cable we are no longer responsible. We will do a first look to confirm where the issue lies, but beyond that it either becomes billable, or gets passed onto their IT. There are a few customers that we have done a solid for in the past, mainly where it's something simple like a broken cable or changing an IP, and for some I've even done the phone call to their IT support and told them the change made. For the customers that still drive ahead and want us to fix the issue, that's fine, but they're paying our network support rate, which is a two hour minimum even if the problem takes ten minutes to fix. I've personally found that usually dampens their belief that the issue exists in the machine as opposed to the switch or wherever the real issue resides.

[slimslob]

Coming in a little late on this: since we have customers where we do ALL of their IT, as well as some where we only do their printers or MFPs, for the latter group we are very clear that once the problem moves out of the machine and into the cable we are no longer responsible. We will do a first look to confirm where the issue lies, but beyond that it either becomes billable, or gets passed onto their IT. There are a few customers that we have done a solid for in the past, mainly where it's something simple like a broken cable or changing an IP, and for some I've even done the phone call to their IT support and told them the change made. For the customers that still drive ahead and want us to fix the issue, that's fine, but they're paying our network support rate, which is a two hour minimum even if the problem takes ten minutes to fix. I've personally found that usually dampens their belief that the issue exists in the machine as opposed to the switch or wherever the real issue resides.

We had a problem once where a color MFP would not print. Cycle power and everything in queue would spool and print. After about 5 minutes of setting idle the problem returned When we were finally able to convince the customer that it was most likely not the MFP, they swapped it with another on in a different part of the building. Problem stayed with the location. They replaced a 5 year old 32 port switch. The problem went away. The problem a few computers connected to the same switch also were no longer getting dropped off the internet.