Re: Service Contracts

[Patrick W Gilmore <patrick () ianai net>]

On Dec 9, 2004, at 2:23 PM, Sam (Walter) Gailey wrote:

> Hopefully this is not too off-topic; I'm looking for guidance in 
> penalty clauses in service contract agreements. I run a small WAN for 
> a town. We have an internet T-1, an internal frame T-1, five 
> point-to-point T-1's and a small smattering of PVC's and low-bandwidth 
> frame lines. I know we're small change, but I've had lines down for as 
> long as four days and gotten little more than an apology from our 
> current provider. Our contract expires soon and I'd like the next one 
> to have a few more teeth, as in "if you're down for X hours you owe 
> the customer a credit of X dollars."
>
> Is this common practice?  What are typical penalty clauses like? Any 
> guidance would be welcome, off-list is fine, I will summarize if 
> people are interested.

SLA credits are usually horrifically low if you accept the service 
provider's standard contract.  Ask for something with more teeth and 
you might get it.  I like 1 day of credit for every hour of downtime.  
(For four days of downtime, you'd get the month free - they usually cap 
it at 1 month credit per month.)

But I'm mean to my service providers. :)

--
TTFN,
patrick