Agency contract says: 'Technical support: 09:00-17:00 Mon-Fri'. We do e-commerce, traffic is high on weekends. If the site crashes at 15:00 on Sunday, is the agency liable? What if we get hacked at 21:00?
Does the lack of '24/7 support' in the contract mean limited liability? If customers are paying, how are they supposed to use a system running 24 hours without support?
How do other companies solve this? Do they hire a freelancer as a backup? Or do they pay extra to another agency?
Technical support hours are a standard contract term. '09-17 Mon-Fri' is usually the time allocated for standard packages. Some agencies can offer 24/7 support for '+5000 TL/month'.
The valid point: if your site runs 24/7 and has high traffic, getting 24/7 support makes sense. However, you should have requested this in the contract from the beginning.
Options: 1) Ask the agency about a 24/7 support package. 2) Hire a freelancer (set up monitoring tools + emergency contact), 5000-10000 TL/month. 3) Hybrid: agency + freelancer. 4) Managed hosting provider (Kinsta, WP Engine) — support comes from them.
same thing happened to me, site went down on the weekend couldn't reah the agency. anyway after calculating the damage over 10 hours I switched to a 24/7 support package. 3000 TL/month but it gives peace of mind.
if 24/7 isn't written in the contract, the agency won't take responsibility if the site goes down during maintenance hours. you should have gotten it in writing.
note: I wrote this based on my own experience, it might not apply to everyone.
Support Hours Models: - Standard (9-5 Mon-Fri): Basic package - Extended (8am-10pm daily): +1000 TL - 24/7 (incl. weekends): +3000-5000 TL - Emergency on-call (24/7 + 1hr response): +8000+ TL - SLA guarantee (99.9% uptime): +5000+ TL
So have you assessed how 'critical' our site is? E-commerce = high criticality. Corporate site = medium criticality. Weekly blog = low criticality. Do you have revenue tied to the site (sales)? If so, the cost of 24/7 support pays for itself.
Here's what you can do now: 1) Ask the agency about their 24/7 support package — how much extra? 2) Find a freelancer backup (Google: 'PHP developer Turkey 24/7 support'). 3) Set up an uptime monitoring tool (UptimeRobot free) — get SMS/email alerts when the site goes down. 4) Change the contract, get a written guarantee. 5) Compare other agencies.
The answer above hits the nail on the head. Everyone rushing into technical support hours gets stuck at the same point.
That's all, sorry if I went on too long.
There are three things to check when doing this. In legacy systems, the most expensive thing is unknown dependencies.
When we decide without measuring, we always end up in the same place. Proven by experience.
Doki · Phishing awareness training · 2023
There's a trap here let me mention it. Taking notes for two weeks yields better results than a six-month estimate.
People defend habits, not processes. Resistance comes from there. If you have questions, write them; I'll answer as best I can.
We experienced almost the exact same thing last year. If acceptance criteria aren't written, when the work is done is open to debate.
Mistakes made on the technical support hours side are usually reversible but expensive. This is my opinion, I'm not claiming it's absolute truth.
There's a trap here, let me mention it. If it's your first time, start small; scaling comes later.
I'm also curious if anyone does it differently.
The most overlooked point about technical support hours is this: The real issue isn't the number, but what it's based on.
That's all, sorry if I went on too long.
Just a heads-up. When we decide without measuring, we always end up in the same place.
If acceptance criteria aren't written, when the work is done is open to debate. That's all, sorry if I went on too long.
I felt relieved reading this answer, so it's not just me. If you don't write this down from the start, it leads to arguments later.
If I were you, I'd go this route.
Let me speak from the other side; Im on the supplier side... Code without setup documentation isnt yours even if you have it.
Absolutely. honestly if I were to add anything: When we decide without measuring, we always end up in the same place.
Proven by experience.
let me share what happened to me; it might be useful... the biggest time-waster for us was not knowing who had the final say.
if you have questions, write them; Ill answer as best I can.
Could you elaborate on that? Don't hesitate to ask; those who don't ask always pay more.
If you get three different answers on a topic, the question was asked wrong. I'm also curious if anyone does it differently.