Some companies think they can get away with misleading their clients.

This man was part of a team that relied on third-party IT support.

After the vendor reinterpreted their service agreement to cut costs, response times became painfully slow.

Their actions technically followed the contract, but the impact was anything but helpful.

Read the full story below for all the details.

24-hour support

This is about a malicious compliance by our 3rd party IT support.

For years, their 24-hour response meant that problems would get a technical response within a working day.

Or they would be in breach.

Their third-party IT support decided to cut costs and redo their contract.

After some cost-cutting by them, they reviewed the contract.

And reinterpreted the 24 hours to mean 24 working hours, which is the same as 3 working days.

So a problem reported Friday lunchtime would have to be looked at by Wednesday lunchtime the following week.

They saved money temporarily, but lost the contract eventually.

They were still compliant with the letter of the contract, but definitely not the spirit.

They saved money in the short term.

They lost the contract in the long term.

Our contracts team made sure that the working days / 24 hours ambiguity never appeared again.

Let’s see how others reacted to this story.

Who writes these contracts, asks this person.

This user gives their honest opinion.

This one shares their personal thoughts.

Here’s a valid point.

Finally, someone who used to write contracts shares their experience.

Cutting corners might save money today, but it can cost you more sooner or later.

Every single time.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.