Imagine waking up and your business has been destroyed
What Went Wrong
I know a business owner who put trust in the wrong IT guy. The IT guy had NO contract for this person to sign. Everything was done with a handshake on good faith.
While trust is key and one of my core values, transparency is just as critical.
Not having a contract in place is so risky, and here’s why. It leaves your business open to so many kinds of risks and unspoken boundaries.
Boundaries are needed to determine what happens to your company's data, what happens to your programs, what happens to your servers, and what happens if the bill doesn’t get paid for 30 or 60 days.
The business in this story had NO contract and NO boundaries in place. This led to the business owner getting the short end of the stick on all fronts.
Buckle up for a screwed-up story about a business owner and their rouge IT guy.
If you are in this situation, Contact Us >>
The Juicy Details
I am sitting in my office just like any other day when the phone rings. Little did I know this phone call would result in the single most stressful job I have done for a customer.
The person on the phone tells me their IT guy has shut down their server, and they cannot get in to do their work. Sounded like a simple job, right? Nope…
Upon arriving at the client's house and checking out the server, I quickly noticed that the password the client provided did not work. I double-checked and triple-checked the password, but nothing. I asked the client if I could call their current IT guy, and they said, sure, go ahead. (Ring ring, and the IT guy answers the phone) I talked with the IT guy and let him know that I am on-site, and the client cannot get into the server, and also, the internet is down, so the phones are not working either. The IT guy on the phone tells me: "Yup, they didn’t pay the bill, and they are going to have to call me to get in." (Click, phone hangs up)
I let my new client know that the IT guy on the phone was rude and said you would have to call him back to figure it out due to payment issues. Not much I can do to help for now.
The next day, I get a call from the new client, and they tell me they really need help figuring all this out. Please come back. So I went back to see how I could help. This time, when I get to their house, they let me know that their website has been shut down and is no longer working. I look online and research their website to find out that their domain name has been put up for sale, and the sale price was $17,000. I thought to myself, what the hell…
So I call their current IT guy back on the phone and start asking him questions. He immediately tells me that he has shut down their company, and he is owed $30,000+ to get everything back, or else he will destroy it all. I asked the guy, what is it that we can do to get back into the server? Can you please send me the password? He says NO, talk to the customer, and hangs up. While I was working on trying to get the internet up and running, my new client was talking to the rogue IT guy and paid him $7,000 to get the server password. When my client told me this, I just about passed out. I couldn’t believe someone would pay this rogue IT guy a penny for the way he had been treating them. But my client was desperate to get their business back up and running. So I called the rogue IT guy and got the server password. While I was on the phone with him, I told him I got into the server, but it appears to be a blank account, and I asked what is needed to get things back online. The rogue IT guy chuckled at me and said, "You broke it." This guy was going to be of NO help at all, even after getting paid… a true criminal.
Upon getting into the server, I knew this disaster would be a lot of work. So, I asked a tech buddy of mine, Brian Rouley, to help me. Two brains are better than one. At this point, now two techs were working on the situation at hand. I was inside the server, and my friend was trying to get the network up to get the internet working. By the end of the day, we realized the following about the new client:
1. The server had been locked out of and tampered with.
2. The custom server program that ran the company had no documentation.
3. The server was failing and had dying hard drives.
4. The website was down and deleted.
5. The domain was put up for sale.
6. The email accounts had been deleted.
7. The phone system had been disabled.
8. The internet router had been tampered with to break the internet connection.
Could you imagine? A business that does around $2 million in revenue a year was completely crippled within 24 hours due to NOT having a contract in place with a trustworthy, reputable IT provider… just sickening.
If you have experienced something like this, Contact Us >>
Tech Hero Saves The Day
I spent the next two weeks dedicated to getting the company back on its feet. Everything that the rogue IT guy destroyed, I had to rebuild.
1. I had to learn the custom server program and get all the staff back into the server.
2. I had to repair the server's dying hard drive.
3. I had to purchase a new domain name.
4. I had to build a new website.
5. I had to create all-new email accounts and recover what data I could from computers.
6. I had to get into the phone account and reestablish connection.
7. I had to reconfigure the router and work with the internet provider to get things back online.
When all was said and done, it took two weeks to get the company operational again while still dealing with the collateral damage of losing specific data they could never get back.
I was a true hero to the client, and they were so appreciative that they signed a contract with me for ongoing support of their entire company. Every one of my clients who is subscribed to my services has to sign what is called a Master Service Agreement. This agreement is what holds the IT company accountable and transparent regarding what happens in specific situations.
Check Out Our Master Service Agreement HERE >>
Lets Peel Back The Covers On A Contract
I am going to help you understand some of the most important parts of the agreement:
1. The length of the agreed-upon contract.
2. Termination clauses and what happens if the client cancels service within the contract.
3. Non-payment issues and what happens if payment is late (this is important).
4. A data confidentiality agreement dictates what the IT company can do with data (critical).
5. Who owns the servers and what happens in the event we part ways (critical).
6. Hardware lease terms if the customer is leasing hardware as part of the contract.
7. Dispute resolution terms on how to handle a dispute.
These are just a few terms within the agreement, and there are many more. So here’s the thing: in life, we must have boundaries in place to protect ourselves and the ones around us. It is the same for an IT agreement. The Master Service Agreement is a list of boundaries between the IT provider and the customer. These boundaries are important because the relationship must work for both parties.
Be Careful Who You Trust To Do IT Services
In conclusion to this story, be careful who you put your trust in for handling your IT. It could be the IT guy who is a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. When that bomb does go off, you better pray your company is not an innocent bystander in the disaster. If my client had more than a handshake in place with a real agreement, they would have known a clear picture of what happens when they simply miss a payment or what happens when they fire their IT guy. Their business would NOT have been completely destroyed overnight and held for ransom for $30,000+.
The Master Service Agreement holds the IT provider accountable for its actions. If shit were to hit the fan like they did for this customer, then they would have had a clear path to take and understand who they are doing business with. If you are in a situation where your IT guy doesn’t have a contract in place, and you feel stuck, like you’re being taken advantage of, or like you cannot trust them. I suggest booking a call with me to discuss it, as I can help guide you into freedom.
