[76414] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: Service Contracts
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Patrick W Gilmore)
Thu Dec 9 15:07:16 2004
In-Reply-To: <4E56F1619DE759418301AE94BE16ABE201850D42@mailroom.mansfieldct.net>
Cc: Patrick W Gilmore <patrick@ianai.net>
From: Patrick W Gilmore <patrick@ianai.net>
Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 14:54:27 -0500
To: nanog@merit.edu
Errors-To: owner-nanog-outgoing@merit.edu
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=20
> penalty clauses in service contract agreements. I run a small WAN for=20=
> a town. We have an internet T-1, an internal frame T-1, five=20
> point-to-point T-1's and a small smattering of PVC's and low-bandwidth=20=
> frame lines. I know we're small change, but I've had lines down for as=20=
> long as four days and gotten little more than an apology from our=20
> current provider. Our contract expires soon and I'd like the next one=20=
> to have a few more teeth, as in "if you're down for X hours you owe=20
> the customer a credit of X dollars."
>
> Is this common practice?=A0 What are typical penalty clauses like? Any=20=
> guidance would be welcome, off-list is fine, I will summarize if=20
> people are interested.
SLA credits are usually horrifically low if you accept the service=20
provider's standard contract. Ask for something with more teeth and=20
you might get it. I like 1 day of credit for every hour of downtime. =20=
(For four days of downtime, you'd get the month free - they usually cap=20=
it at 1 month credit per month.)
But I'm mean to my service providers. :)
--=20
TTFN,
patrick
