[thelist] Website Tech Support Contracts

Chris Dempsey evolt at cubeit.co.uk
Thu Mar 8 06:09:18 CST 2007


We're increasingly spending more and more time each week dealing with tech
support issues.  Way back in the day when we were much smaller with fewer
clients if we had an email support request or the likes we'd just fix it
there and then at no cost.

Consequently we now have hundreds of clients who have been with us for years
and have come to expect free tech support on demand and this is pulling us
away from the development work we are scheduled to be doing.

Obviously we need to implement some kind of Support Contract system so that
we can bill clients for the extra work done.  I can see us needing two
options:

- On demand - client pays an hourly rate and is invoiced monthly
- On contract - client pays an annual fee for xx hours of support per month

We briefly considered and then rejected options such as a premium rate
phoneline for tech support - too clumsy and clients are just going to call
the regular landline anyway.

Has anyone been in a similar situation and got any advice of what to or what
not to do?

In addition we intend to set up an FAQ / Tutorial area for clients who
prefer not to pay for tech support and they can use the info there
themselves at no cost.

Any ideas or comments welcomed.





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