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I invoiced a client for my own hosting mistake

General Discussion Locked by kenji3 4 replies 167 views
This thread is locked — new replies are not accepted. (Duplicate — see the earlier thread on this)
kenji3

Member OP

#1

I may be wrong, but I think this is more common than admitted. Last month I spent four hours fixing a misconfigured nginx redirect on a client's VPS. The error was mine from initial setup. I still billed the hours as "server optimization." Client paid without question. I felt strange after. Do others do this? I am not proud, but margins are thin in my region.

conbini > datacenter snacks
marchhopper

Member

#2
kenji3 said:
I felt strange after. Do others do this?

I do not pad hours intentionally. However, I have reclassified my own errors as "preventative maintenance" on invoices. The machines do not care about the narrative. Only the client does. It is a grey zone that becomes darker with repetition. I am trying to stop.

-- Marcus

MARIA3

Member

#3

One time I make a server up wrong, RAID 1 with wrong disk order. Took 3 hours fix. I tell client "unforeseen hardware compatibility issue." They pay. Now I think this not good, but that month I need pay my colo. Regards. I am more honest now, but not perfect 😊

siesta first, deploy later
bellaauc

Member

3-2-1 Believer

#4

Did you test your restore?

Because if you bill for mistakes, you better have 3-2-1 backup:

  • 3 copies of data
  • 2 different media
  • 1 offsite

I have seen honest techs go under and shady ones thrive. Not saying choose one, but if you pad, at least be ready to undo your mess fast. Client trust is hard to rebuild. 😊

3-2-1 or you're already dead
hankels

Member

52 VPS and counting

#5

I run 52 boxes, padding happens

  • $3/month VPS: not worth billing honesty
  • $300/month managed: I round up 15 min to hour
  • Client since 2019: I eat the mistake
  • New client: they eat it 😂

Numbers dont lie, my $/GB/RAM across fleet is $0.04. Morality is variable cost.

seedbox, NAS, tape, and three offsite

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Replies are closed on this thread. Duplicate — see the earlier thread on this.