What people keep running into with msp
Complaints tagged msp, each raised by more than one person. One-off posts are not included.
16 recurring problems · 164 people · 25 forums we read
Raised more than once
Most people first.
- 62How to handle unexpected software subscription price hikes and slow supportVendors often spring surprise price increases on renewals just before the deadline, even after reassuring account reviews, or leave billing errors unaddressed for months until accounts hit delinquency. This leaves teams trapped paying inflated rates or forced to let bills lapse just to get a response from support.
- 21How do you deal with a rigid and untrustworthy service provider?Bad service providers often impose strict cancellation policies while delivering subpar work, cutting corners, and acting unprofessionally. This leaves clients constantly chasing answers, feeling unable to trust the work being done, and trapped by burdensome rules that make it difficult to walk away.
- 11How to track business vendor contracts buried in emailContract details are scattered across long email threads and calendars instead of a centralized place, making it easy to miss renewals and forget what was signed months ago. Keeping track of prorated terms, split licensing, and hidden price hikes requires digging through dozens of back-and-forth messages, turning routine management into an exhausting chore.
- 10Should I take an internal job transfer for more pay?Deciding on an internal career move means weighing higher pay and growth against losing a hybrid schedule and taking on intense union negotiations. This uncertainty makes it hard to commit to a pivot without second-guessing whether the trade-offs are worth it.
- 9Hardware vendors cold calling my clients behind my backMajor vendors like Dell frequently bypass channel partners to contact end customers directly, often undercutting active deals. This long-standing practice undermines established partner relationships and forces managed service providers to constantly defend their client base.
- 9What happens when a WordPress plugin gets acquired?Once a parent company takes over, basic infrastructure like license authentication and file downloads frequently break while support tickets go unanswered for weeks. Without access to necessary add-ons or technical help to launch their projects, developers are forced to eat the cost and rebuild client websites from scratch using different tools.
- 7What to do when half your team quits and isn't replacedWhen massive turnover cuts a department down to a skeleton crew without backfills, remaining employees are left to absorb a crushing workload that pushes them from 40-hour weeks to nearly 60. This chronic understaffing leads directly to burnout, forcing people to either scale back their output or abandon ship entirely.
- 6Client tries to reverse cancellation during offboardingWhen a departing client attempts to reverse their cancellation late in the transition period, it creates immediate legal, liability, and operational confusion. Managed service providers face the dilemma of halting a handover already in progress or trying to restart a relationship where documentation and access credentials may have already been signed over.
- 6Why won't users adopt self-hosted tools instead of familiar apps?Everyday users refuse to adopt self-hosted tools because switching to separate web interfaces or new workflows creates too much friction compared to their native applications. This forces them to fall back on familiar tools like Outlook or standard portals, leaving self-hosted software completely unused despite having access.
- 5Competitors got my MSP client list and license expiration datesWhen a vendor accidentally exposes a complete MSP client portfolio, competitors gain immediate visibility into exact license counts and renewal dates. This leak forces service providers to scramble through mandatory data breach notifications while facing severe reputational damage and the risk of clients being poached.
- 5How to catch all account dependencies during user offboardingStandard offboarding catches email and licenses, but misses hidden dependencies like Power Apps, custom flows, and SharePoint ownership tied to the departing account. This leaves administrators manually digging through every admin center to prevent broken workflows and orphaned assets.
- 4How to bill clients for API costs and software licensesBundling software licenses into a single per-user rate stops clients from seeing individual tool costs and questioning the value of your services. However, because some AI providers restrict reselling, agencies are forced to let clients pay the providers directly, exposing those exact costs. This visibility leads to exhausting, repetitive conversations where you have to constantly defend your service fees against line-item software expenses.
- 3How to stop accidental production deployments from policy cloningSelecting a global folder during policy cloning with auto-deploy enabled can instantly push un-scoped patches and task sequences across all client endpoints. This triggers widespread system outages, breaks legacy applications, and forces teams to handle emergency rollbacks during critical business hours.
- 3Unauthorized third-party software integrations on client networksVendors or employees install third-party applications onto client systems without permission or knowledge, triggering severe privacy violations and client panic. This leaves managed service providers facing furious clients, threats of legal action, and a breakdown of trust while scrambling to figure out how the software was introduced.
- 2Should you charge clients when you switch their software tools?Charging clients for a tool migration you initiated for your own operational or quality improvements is widely considered unfair because they didn't ask for the change. Attempting to bill them for this labor risks damaging the client relationship over a transition that offers them no direct requested benefit.
- 2Does switching from SentinelOne to Huntress and Defender lower security?Switching from SentinelOne with a Managed SOC to Huntress paired with free Microsoft Defender leaves a gap in advanced endpoint protection features that Defender Free does not provide natively. Without paying for higher M365 tiers or adding third-party tools like ESET, IT providers risk losing critical security capabilities and going backward in overall protection.
Comes up alongside
Topics that keep appearing on the same problems — not topics with similar names.