Commercial Web Developers

[MarkBrown]

This question is purely for commercial webdevelopers who design for other customers...

As well as designing Actinic shops I resell hosting to my clients. I've just had a problem with one clients site where the hosting company did something to stop the scripts from working. It took a considerable amount of my time to prove this was the case, then get them to fix it.

How do you typically cover your labour costs for such a scenario? Do you charge the customer for your time? Do you take such time as being an overhead, or have a contract to cover it? Would you seek compsensation from the hosting company? (ha ha).

Your views would be interesting and appreciated.

Regards

Mark Brown.

[pinbrook]

in the example you site, I wouldn't charge the client. Your time for this has to be taken from the profit you take whilst reselling.

[jont]

As far as your client is concerned you are responsible for their site hosting - you should be lucky they don't seek compensation from you! As Jo says this should be part of your package to handle contingencies if your supplier fails.

[RuralWeb]

Down to you I am sorry to say. This is one of the pitfalls of being a reseller, clients pay you to maintain thier hsoting and this comes under that area. If they had a contract directly with the host then you could act for them and try to get compensation from the host but I assume they have the contract with you. I can only suggest that you seek compensation from the host company that you resell under your contract with them. Either way the client is not liable.

[irishactinic]

site

I agree, it is your responsibility to maintain the site, its a pitfall of doing business this way.

Andy

[Ruthie]

Hi Mark,

fully understand your situation but I would have to agree with the other guys, it's a grin & bear it.

Couple of things you could try though to help in the future - make sure you get to know the hosting company that you are reselling REALLY well. The better the relationship you can build the more likely they are to help out when things go bad. If this doesn't seem to be two-way street then re-think the arrangement - you need them to be helping you - after all, as a reseller of theirs you are their customer. Big isn't always best. We have been reselling a small ISP's services for many years. They are flexible, reliable, quick to assist and comeback to you when you have a query. We don't do truck loads of business with them but we have a good relationship.

Secondly, think about some ongoing maintenance contracts for your customers if you don't do this already. This brings in some guaranteed monthly income which helps cover the times when you have to go that extra mile to get things sorted (even when it's not your fault!). We offer customers a fixed monthly fee for so many hours of work on updates etc. Perhaps it's a little easier for us as, being a general IT support company, a lot of our web customers have general IT support contracts anyway, but they seem to go for it!

Cheers

Ruth