Sage 100

Yesterday a client had an issue with printing the invoice register with the error database connector error - Vendor code:9. They had 495 invoices in the AP_InvoiceHeader table, so I exported them and found the 4 records which had bad invoice and due dates. I fixed them and they were able to update. The comment from the client was ""Your not billing me for this right? This is a software issue"". Of course they are getting billed but I'm looking for a way to easily tell them it's more network related than software. If it was software, it would occur constantly. How have you addressed issues like this with clients.

I have had this happen repeatedly at a number of clients but have not been able to determine how this occurs. It was a rare occurrence until the last year when it seems to happen more and more. If anyone has a concrete answer to how and why this happens it would be good to know.

We address these issues up front when we onboard a customer. We point out that we do not warranty the software - Sage does that. They could elect to work with Sage directly on issues like these, and we often point that out. But if it's data manipulation it's a paid engagement for us.

Of course you're not being billed -- if you are on a support plan with Schulz Consulting. If you've opted against joining then we do in fact bill and we don't bill hourly so don't expect a 1/4 x $$125/hr bill. It's going to be more in the $400 - $1,200 range depending upon the complexity and the price we give before we start."" Here's the plan I've used for years. https://docs.google.com/a/s-consult.com/document/d/1U8kubJ1HIrVUTl-RjJ8OTAosdwKmuusUxoy5POwe79w/edit?hl=en_US For users who are not pre-existing customers and who find me on the web I use this: http://www.s-consult.com/request-information/diagnosis/ Also customers on plan have 5 cases / year with Sage for free. The user can also call Sage direct at no added cost. Their choice.

I agree they should be on a support plan, but like they told me, we call you less then 3 times a year. However, that being said, what is the cause of this issue?

Since it happens all over Sage 100, I suspect there is a flaw in an underlying date validation routine, or a way that when a date entry is cleaned up for display, a bug at times sends the actual messed up typing as what gets saved, not the cleaned up version that is displayed.

Ditto others comments. Being frank is best. Options are: call Sage and use on of your 5+ cases, call us at no charge if on our support plan, or pay as you go. We warranty neither the software, your operating environment, or your data.

@LloydSmith I had someone with this last week. They felt that their keyboard might have been dropping characters due to faulty keyboard. Admittedly this should be error trapped by the software. So one possibility could be faulty error trapping on the date field? WRT the billing issues - there is noting that says ""we only call you 3 times a year"" must equal ""we pay in 1/100th of an hour increments at your best billing rate"". If I had $1 for every person who comes in on the web and asks ""can we buy xx of your time"" .... Answer: No. I have learned the hard way that hourly rates often don't equate to the value someone receives. More than half the people who want to pay fractions of an hour also expect to call you at 5:59 the day before Thanksgiving or Friday pm and receive the same level of service (but at pay as you go prices) as your best customers. PS - If the people are calling 3 x per year or less (at presumably less than hour long calls) -- who cares if you lose them? PPS - The old war chestnut of ""well we make margin on their maintenance renewal"" is often not true for a couple reasons. First most of these people drop maintenance - and secondly Sage is hard at work making sure you make less every year off maintenance renewals.

Rant alert ... And if they only call you 3x per year and expect you to drop what you're doing to save their bacon while recalling not only everything about their system configuration and people and usage and clairvoyantly detect any changes to that environment and personnel and usage, then your resolution is exponentially more valuable than time x rate. Since plumbers and exterminators and roofers educate their customers of this reality, and stick to their pricing justification, we should too.