IT support near me: seven things to check before you ring
Type “IT support near me” into Google and you’ll get a map with three pins, ten websites that all say roughly the same thing, and no way to tell them apart. Every one of them is “proactive”, “trusted” and “local”. None of them tells you the price.
I run one of those companies, so this is a checklist from the inside: the seven things that actually separate a provider you’ll be glad you rang from one you’ll be leaving a one-star review about in eighteen months. Use it on us as well. If we fail any of them for your situation, I’d rather you knew now.
Want to skip the checklist? Ring 0151 452 3060. A person picks up, and in fifteen minutes you’ll know whether we’re the right size for you and what it costs.
1. Who picks up when you ring?
The single biggest thing. Ring the number on their website at eleven on a Tuesday, before you’ve spoken to sales, and see what happens. A person? A menu? A voicemail? A ticket number by email? Whatever you get is what you’ll get in a year, on a bad day, when your only laptop won’t start.
Us: in the day, it’s me. Anything in writing has a reply within two working hours.
2. Where’s the price?
If it isn’t on the website, ask for it before the meeting, per person per month, everything included. A provider that won’t give a number until you’ve sat through a presentation is telling you how they’ll behave about the invoice later. The honest ones have a number and a list of what’s in it.
Us: £55 a person a month, every machine that person uses. Charities £35 a machine. It’s on the page.
3. What does “local” actually mean?
“Near me” is the search, so every site claims it. Ask two questions: where is the person who’ll answer my call, and how often will anyone actually come out? Most IT support is remote now because remote is faster: the engineer is on your screen in minutes rather than in a van for forty. A provider that sells you on-site response is selling you something you’ll rarely use and paying for a fleet with your monthly fee.
Us: I’m on the Wirral. Support is remote first, on site by arrangement for the things that need hands. There’s no ongoing on-site response promise. You won’t be sold one here.
The short version
Who answers. What it costs. What “local” means. How long you’re tied in. Who owns your accounts. Whether the backup has ever been restored. What happens when their one engineer is off. Get those seven in writing and you can compare any two providers in ten minutes.
4. How long are you tied in, and what happens at the end?
Twelve months is common and reasonable for a first year, because setting a business up properly is real work. What matters is what happens after. Does it renew for another twelve automatically? Is there a notice window? Are there exit fees? Ask, and get it in writing before the meeting.
Us: after your first year, rolling 30-day notice, no exit fees. If you want to leave, that’s our problem to fix, not yours.
5. Who will own your accounts?
Your domain name, your Microsoft 365, your backup subscription. They should be registered to your business with the provider as an administrator, never the other way round. Ask this before you sign, because it’s the thing that makes leaving hard later. A good provider answers instantly; a bad one changes the subject.
Us: yours, always. We hold admin access; you hold ownership.
6. Has the backup ever been restored?
Everyone says they do backups. Ask when they last restored a file from one for a customer your size, and what it covers: files, email, both? A backup that’s never been tested is a hope with a monthly fee. And ask specifically about email, because “we back up your files” often doesn’t include it.
Us: files and email, daily, and we restore something from the backup during your first week so you’ve seen it work, not taken our word.
7. What happens when their engineer is off?
Worth asking everyone, and especially worth asking small providers, us included. A one-person firm has one person; a fifty-person firm has a rota and a ticket queue. Neither is automatically better. What you want is a straight answer about cover, in writing, rather than a promise of “24/7” that turns out to mean an answering service.
Us: the monitoring, backups and updates run whether I’m at a desk or not, which is most of what keeps you safe. For the phone, ask me on the call and you’ll get the honest arrangement for your size of business, not a brochure line.
Then ring two of them
Not five. Two providers that pass the list, fifteen minutes each, and ask the same questions in the same order. You’ll hear the difference. The one that answers the phone, gives you a number, tells you what’s not included and explains how you’d leave is the one to go with, and it’s usually obvious inside the first three minutes.
