Handover Package

[freedomit]

I'm in the process of taking over the IT Support for a company and they have sent me the below which is part of there current contract. Is this normal behaviour? To me it seems outrageous to charge £1,000 to handover passwords and documentation...

 

[dgoglio]

It is not uncommon at all to charge. Is $1000 a little high, maybe, but they are covering any possible expenses related to the client leaving.

 

[freedomit]

It is not uncommon at all to charge. Is $1000 a little high, maybe, but they are covering any possible expenses related to the client leaving.

For a company of 20 users it just seems a lot to handover a few admin passwords. Personally if a customer wants to leave me then im happy to hand over everything for free.

 

[Tech Savvy]

For a company of 20 users it just seems a lot to handover a few admin passwords. Personally if a customer wants to leave me then im happy to hand over everything for free.

Well it’s not just passwords, Visio diagrams take time to do and keep up, documentation for ISP acct numbers and info.

Plus not to mention I’m sure there might be a transition period where some things need to be answered by the previous staff. Where is such and such, or forgotten things. All that takes time. Answering the emails, phone calls, possibly arguments on whose responsibility is what.

And although you may not do these things and just tackle everything head on yourself and really only use the passwords and diagrams they provide, there’s a lot of others that won’t be so driven.

For me $1000 is a little over 8 hours. Would I think it would take 8 hours to bring someone up to speed on network/account info, software licenses, phone system, firewall restrictions? Probably not, but it can easy surpass that with a bunch of phone calls and back and forths. They just want to cover themselves for worst case scenario.

I would make sure you get all that info that they said they will though, but not necessarily go through your client to ask for things. Get their contact info yourself, possibly even have an introduction, and handle things yourself like the client expects you to. Business is business, a professional won’t be salty about it.

 

[MichaelBits]

I've never seen the like around here...

I can understand a fee if a client wanted to break a contract early, but to charge for them to get their info?
I would think passwords and some of that information is actually "owned" by the client in question, the IT company was only "managing" it for them.

I suppose it could all be down to the wording in the contract.

 

[microtech]

If a company was run well, all that information should already be stored in a single document. The handover should be given freely to the (ex)client assuming they do not have any outstanding invoices. Charging $1000 is asinine.

 

[JoelM]

Here's the point I find interesting. A comment was made about the time it would have taken to make the Visio drawings.
Wanna bet they charged the customer for the time it took for them to make them and every time they updated them.
They are double billing.

 

[nerd2u]

Kind of also the customers fault for signing a document with that clause in it.

They should have read it more carefully and fully understood what they were signing.

How do I agree with it no not at all. I can see charging for any additional support required in the hand over but not to give back passwords.

I've been on both ends of this where I was being phased out, I handed over all documentation free of charge but charged when they wanted to have a telephone call to learn about some of their access control systems.

Being on the end of taking over I have never had a problem getting required information from another firm.

Sent from my SM-G870W using Tapatalk

 

[Tech Savvy]

Here's the point I find interesting. A comment was made about the time it would have taken to make the Visio drawings.

Not necessarily, it all depends on their service structure. If they have an AYCE, it would be in the best interest of the MSP to create the documentation for themselves.

Do they have to do it? No. But it’s a tool they made to help make their job easier. And that extra time they spent is understandable that they want to charge for it.

 

[CaliZ]

Not necessarily, it all depends on their service structure. If they have an AYCE, it would be in the best interest of the MSP to create the documentation for themselves.

Do they have to do it? No. But it’s a tool they made to help make their job easier. And that extra time they spent is understandable that they want to charge for it.

This I can agree to. I have done a couple of takeovers and have never been charged for the documentation from the previous IT company, (Though after finally obtaining their information, do see why they were kicked to the curb) but understand if the client/customer was not billed for it, then having a fee for it is simply an "option" for discovery of information.

(If I was in that case, I would recommend the customer look at paying for the previous company's documentation vs paying you to discover it all over, including possibly resetting logins.)

 

[jzukerman]

Grammar is not that company's strong suit. The agreement might not be enforceable due to that.