Customer Terms/Conditions & Contracts

Hi Tom,

I’m in the process of setting up a business very similar to yours in Australia. It’s early days but we’ve already gained a few clients with very little effort (people who know us and like us).

With either your break/fix clients or managed services contracts, how do you help protect yourself from instances of “I wasn’t made aware of this” or potential future litigation because something went wrong?

For example, you mention backups constantly in your video. Let’s say you have a client who did purchase a backup solution from you, but something happened to those backups (either the client did something or the world just came crashing down and the backups just failed).

How would you protect your business against liability?
What kind of guarantees do you make (or not make)?
Do you include a separate contract or do you outline general terms on your invoices?

Judging by your quality of work and personality, I’m assuming the likelihood of this happening is very low, but just like a car crash, some people can’t help but lie or point the finger at anyone else if it might get themselves out of trouble.

I completely understand that you’re not qualified to give legal advice and that consumer laws and legal systems vary not just between countries but individual states, I’m just after some general information and pointers, after-all, this is business, most of your clients aren’t your mates.