Just let me do my job!
We have a client that's purchased Aurora from us. We've had it setup and running on our servers, and everything is great. They wanted to move it to Westnet, which is fine, but makes it more work for us (and as a result, less economical for them).
First up Westnet's team gave me the wrong URL for their PHPMyAdmin interface.
Then they give me the right address, but the server's down.
I mean, it's not Westnet that I'm annoyed at - why does the client have to be making decisions which make life hard for everyone.
To top it off, their launch timeframe puts more pressure on me as a result of the mixups at Westnet.
Charge them like a wounded bull. Charge them!
Out of interest, they used 4 hours of my time, which is about $500. Then you take into consideration that we’re cheaper than Westnet to start with, and it’s really not a smart idea. But hey, the’yre the customer, right? :)
I’d be annoyed at Westnet and happy the client is allowing me to bill like this. At least the first few times it happened.
That’s if you’re just after the bucks, and job satisfaction isn’t high on the list.
But I do see where you’re coming from, slut.
Its a fine line in some ways as you can keep them happy and show your ability to prove to them your willing to do anything and at the same time you have to make money and bill them for using your time.
For instance a simple 30-60mins of your time sure I’d possibly do it for nothing but 4 hours is quite a lot of time you could be working on someone elses project or whatever.
They have to understand that for them to be using someone elses services rather than what you recommend they will/would have to be billed for your time to accomodate this.
Thats one of the points you can make when you say/said we are cheaper and it makes more sense for it to be hosted by you guys.
Tell me who screwed you around and I’ll lay the smack… Chuck Norris style!
It was just a few small mistakes that grew into big things because of the chain they had to go through to get to me. We had a few different contacts at Westnet who were talking to our client’s IT guy, who was talking to our client who was talking to me. So by the time I figured out the password was wrong, and sent it upstream it took an hour turn around.
I still maintain Westnet rules, and these little problems would have meant I did my part in 30 minutes instead of 15, if we didn’t have the client getting in the way.