Damage Control and Learning Experiences

4 replies
How do you handle situations where something goes wrong with a clients site or project?

The reason I ask is because a clients email server just went offline which is hosted through a third party provider and they had to go through the tech support with that hosting company to get it online again. I'm just starting out so I'll chalk this up to a learning experience.

But I felt terrible even though I'm not entirely to blame for it. They had to pay the host to correct this situation and have it done the right way. I know my credibility took a hit with this client and I'm worried they won't want to keep me on as their go to web guy.
#control #damage #experiences #learning
  • Profile picture of the author danielkanuck
    Was the reason their email server went down something that you suggested your client to do?
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    • Profile picture of the author Ehanson
      No, actually it was something the hosting company suggested me to do.

      I wanted to make sure they would be able to use their email after the domain change so I waited till the weekend, must have called hosting tech support about 4 or 5 times during the weekend to make sure everything was going according to what they told me, obviously this task was s a bit out of my scope.

      His hosting company is taking care of what he originally wanted to do (for a price), still feel a bit bad for temporarily disrupting their email server.
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  • Profile picture of the author Leanne King
    make sure you don't sign up as techie god to clients. You are there to help them with their online presence, advise on marketing strategies etc, which might include advising about services but generally other people should be doing the techie stuff.
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  • Profile picture of the author redcell1
    1.) When dealing with email related, such as changing domains etc. I would wait till friday night, so that way if anything happens you have 2 days to fix it.

    2.) Never trust the hosting company to fully have your back on stuff. I would suggest that if your not techie then have someone who will know what to do so that doesn't happen.
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    Just here to see the shenanigans.

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