Avoid Return to Service Fees, Backdating, and Other Reinstatement Penalties with Third Party Support

Our team won’t encourage a lapse in equipment coverage of any length. But at the same time, we understand 2020 was a tough year for businesses across the globe. Enterprises everywhere were hit hard by the economic impacts of a global pandemic while manufacturer support rates remained unchanged. As OEM coverage can cost upwards of $100,000 per device after year five in the hardware lifecycle, it’s no wonder such extortionate maintenance contracts were one of the first expenses to go.  

But with the global economy now on an upswing, many organizations are seeking to be placed back under manufacturer coverage. And in return, they’re being told they must first pay for that past year of unsupported time. In the industry, this is referred to as backdating. But why should you be charged for a year of service you didn’t receive? You shouldn’t! In this post we’ll discuss how OEMs seek to benefit from reinstatement policies and how you can easily avoid it with the help of third-party data center hardware maintenance. 

What Is a Reinstatement Policy? 

If an insured person fails to pay their premium, and as a result the insurance policy gets terminated, coverage can still be renewed. However, this process of getting back coverage after the policy has lapsed is known as reinstatement. 

Within the IT industry, a reinstatement policy stipulates the terms and conditions for getting “unsupported” equipment back under manufacturer coverage. In fact, most all OEMs require that customers reestablish support in order to obtain regular TAC support, software updates, and/or hardware replacements. For example, Dell charges a recertification fee to reinstate support that has lapsed or has been terminated for more than 60 days. Such fees are commonly based on a percentage of the then current annual support rate. Reinstatement policies also cover penalties like backdating, late fees, return to service fees, and software relicensing fees. 

OEMs Benefit from Your Temporary Lapse in Coverage 

Reinstatement penalties are common across the industry. In fact, many HP support customers are familiar with them, as the popular manufacturer has a reputation for harsh return to service fees. Service policies from HP mandate that the vendor can not only charge customers a fee if they experience a lapse in coverage, they can also make clients perform hardware or software upgrades at the OEM’s suggestion. 

For OEMs like Cisco, support purchased more than ninety (90) days after product purchase or support which has expired and is more than thirty (30) days overdue for renewal, is subject to reinstatement. 

Consider Cisco third party maintenance with Park Place instead. 

NetApp doesn’t even offer a grace period, meaning that IT managers who fail to renew their warranty with NetApp before the contract ends will face a fine if they try to sign up with NetApp again. 

Consider third party NetApp hardware maintenance with Park Place instead. 

Juniper and Dell even stipulate backdating within their reinstatement policy; this means that when a support contract has lapsed, the warranty on a new support contract may be backdated to the end of the expiration date of the previous warranty period. Backdated support can be made retroactive up to 365 days. Do you really want to pay for a year’s worth of time that you weren’t under support?? 

Consider third party Juniper maintenance and Dell third party server support with Park Place instead. 

How Park Place Technologies Can Help 

Unlike many original equipment manufacturers, we don’t charge clients for unsupported time. Our support–and corresponding service fees–start the day your contract is scheduled to begin and end whenever you so choose! Additionally, if you do allow support to lapse for any reason but later decide you’d like to renew, reinstatement is no issue at all. We’ll simply pick up support starting from the current date–no fees or penalties necessary! 

Conversely, if you permit a lapse in coverage with the OEM but then seek out their support later down the road, there’s a good chance they’ll have to charge you for that past period of unsupported time. 

Reinstatement Penalties Got You Down? Contact Us Today! 

Is your organization currently experiencing excessive reinstatement penalties for a lapse in coverage back in 2020? There’s a better way! Contact Park Place Technologies today and learn how we can help you avoid those costly return to service, backdating, and reinstatement fees while ensuring the success of your data center infrastructure.