We’ve all heard of the expression, “The customer is always right.” But, as anyone who works with customers can tell you, this isn’t always true. In fact, the whole reason for our industry is to step in when the customer doesn’t know what’s right.

Still, we are partners in the success of our customers, and just like in any partnership, things can get complicated at times. But what do you do when “complicated” turns into “dangerous?” In this week’s blog, we’ll be talking about what to do when your clients start potentially putting you in a position where you might need to protect yourself from liability.

Talking to a Wall

It’s ironic when someone goes through all the time and money of hiring an MSP and then ends up not listening to their advice. Maybe in your personal life, someone didn’t listen to you and then got into a bad relationship or made a poor financial decision. As an MSP, if your clients don’t listen to you, they could be exposing themselves and their systems to hackers. After that, they’ll be wide open to endless negative possibilities, such as loss of data and productivity as well as lawsuits if their clients’ data gets leaked.

If you find yourself in a situation where your clients aren’t listening to you, try a different approach. For instance, if you normally engage via email, try calling or stopping by. But remember, at the end of the day they make the final decision. If they don’t want to upgrade their software or make recommended changes in their system, don’t push it. Secondly, if you find yourself with a client who won’t budge, document everything. This is a situation where having things in writing comes in handy. Just remember to be friendly and professional throughout this as you don’t want to cause any unnecessary friction between you and the client.

Working Behind Your Back

What do you do if you find out a customer purchased their own hardware or software without your knowledge? Maybe they didn’t know any better and it wasn’t made clear that you were required to be involved. After all, it’s best not to assume bad motives from the client unless you have a solid reason to do so.

A lot of this has to do with how you found out. Did they tell you as soon as they did it or did or you find out only after there was a problem that needed your servicing to fix? While most of the time this is more of an inconvenience, at what point does it become a liability? By our clients purchasing their own hardware or software, not only would we be cut out of the equation financially, but the system could be set up incorrectly, making a headache for us down the road. Even worse, if there was some sort of breach or other major technical issues as a result, they may want to come back to us for damages.

The important question is, where do you draw the line?

Protect Yourself

If your clients don’t listen to your advice or are making software and hardware purchases behind your back, what happens if something goes wrong? Depending on the circumstances, you as the MSP could be held liable. So, what can you do to protect your company? You may want to consider a Wavier of Liability form.

A Waiver of Liability is a document that can be as simple or complex as you need it to be. It will describe that you will not be considered responsible if your client doesn’t follow your advice or goes against the terms of the contract. This step can take two different forms: The first is at the time of signing the contract and is generally considered the best way since it causes the least amount of friction.

The other time you can provide a Waiver of Liability form will be after an issue has arisen. This isn’t considered the best time to bring up this topic because you may get pushback from your client. In their eyes, it may seem like you’re backing out of your contractual responsibilities and they may even refuse to sign. What should you do then?

Drop Them

If your client is making changes or not following your advice, you have every right to remove yourself from them as a liability. It may hurt at first, but getting rid of a client like this can save you in the long run. For example, suppose you have a client who is in the medical profession and refuses to upgrade from Windows 7. We’ve covered how quickly Windows 7 users are being hacked and how medical offices are especially targeted. A client like this is a ticking time bomb that you want nothing to do with.

Dropping a client is one of the hardest things to do since it obviously means that you’ll be losing a stream of income. However, those who have been around for a while can tell you that not all clients are worth keeping, especially if they put you at risk.

Hopefully, it won’t get to that point. But just in case you find yourself in a sticky situation with a less-than-stellar client, know that you have the right to protect your company with a Wavier of Liability form. This is a strong case for you to be proactive and get them to sign the form when you bring them under your umbrella. Believe us, if you find yourself in a reactive situation and try to get them to sign a waiver after they’ve had issues, you might find yourself in some very hot water.