An MSP Got Sued Because Their Marketing Lied. Here’s What You Can Learn From It.
In 2020, a managed service provider was hit with a lawsuit after their client suffered a $1.75 million phishing loss. The plaintiff alleged breach of service order and professional negligence. But here’s the part that should make every business owner pay attention: the lawsuit quoted the MSP’s own marketing materials to show potential jurors what the customer had been promised, things like being a “one-stop shop for all IT needs” and that there would be “no need for any other service providers.”
The marketing wrote the checks. The service couldn’t cash them.
If you’re a business owner currently shopping for an MSP, or you’re second-guessing the one you have, this post is for you. The point isn’t to make you cynical. The point is to help you separate real capability from well-rehearsed marketing, so you know what you’re actually buying before you sign.
The Problem With “Irresistible Offers”
I’ve owned my MSP for over eighteen years. In that time, I’ve attended countless marketing and sales seminars and training events. Many (if not most) included coaching on how to craft “irresistible offers,” even when the promises aren’t achievable. You’ve seen them: “We make all your IT problems go away!” or “Never worry about viruses again!” It’s the IT equivalent of “Vote for Pedro, he’ll make all your wildest dreams come true.”
What matters more: flashy promises or practical evidence? Obviously practical evidence. But nobody’s asking the questions that actually reveal whether an MSP can deliver. Questions like:
- “Tell me about your organizational management cadence.”
- “What are the five most important KPIs you use internally to make sure service delivery meets your publicly stated goals?”
- “How do you build a culture of professionalism and commitment to your own business and to your clients’?”
I know these are awkward questions to ask. I know because I ask them of almost every vendor I talk to. I also ask about cybersecurity certifications, declarations pages for cyber and general liability insurance, and other standard items. But what I really want to know is how solid the business is. Do they belong to industry peer groups? Industry associations? Because if an MSP isn’t well-organized, the quality of service you receive probably depends on just one or two people within the organization. If that person leaves, you’ll be left wanting.
A Sign on the Wall That Stuck With Me
Years ago, even before that lawsuit was filed, I was working at a client site. The client was a large, well-known architecture firm, and they seemed exceptionally well organized. On the wall was a sign that read: “Contractual words we do not use.” Below it was a list of forbidden words and phrases, things like “promise,” “guarantee,” and “ensure.” All words that are impossible to stand behind without clear, documented repercussions for when a “guarantee” fails to meet expectations.
That sign has stayed with me ever since, and I’ve seen countless examples of why it matters.
The Bathroom Remodeler Who “Promised” on His Word
I was getting quotes for a bathroom remodel. One company came in with a strikingly low monthly payment spread across ten years of financing (you see where that’s going). But the real red flag came when I asked about the warranty.
“Do you guarantee or warranty the product?”
“I guarantee you will never have any leaks,” the salesperson said. “We’ve done thousands of bathrooms without any issues.”
“Great. Show me that in writing.”
He couldn’t.
“I promise on my word that you will never have any issues.”
“Sounds great. Put that in writing.”
Again, he couldn’t. Or wouldn’t.
I said goodbye and found another local, reputable contractor. When I asked him the same question about leaks, he said, “I can’t guarantee anything, but if any of my workmanship causes a problem in the first year, I’ll fix it for free.” I asked him to put it in writing, and he did. His work was excellent, and we’ll use him again.
The Roofer With the Fifty-Year Shingle
I had a similar experience with a roofer who used a very specific shingle from a newer manufacturer. I was told the roof would last more than fifty years. When I read the actual warranty, it covered fifteen. I researched the manufacturer and found multiple lawsuits over shingle delamination. The manufacturer’s response? After ten years of use, they’d cover a third of the cost of replacement shingles, but not the labor. Which was, technically, in keeping with their warranty.
The verbal promise said fifty years. The contract said fifteen. Reality said even less.
Industry-Wide Marketing Lies Every MSP Shopper Should Know
The lies above are the ones I’ve seen personally. But there are several more that are so common across the managed services industry that almost any honest IT professional will nod in agreement when they’re listed. These aren’t stories about a single bad actor. They’re patterns. If you’re evaluating providers, these are the claims that deserve the most skepticism and the most follow-up questions.
Lie #1: “Guaranteed Response Time”
Almost every MSP website advertises a response-time “guarantee.” Fifteen minutes. One hour. Same day. The number is usually printed next to a checkmark and a stock photo of a smiling technician.
Here’s what the number almost never tells you:
- Response is not resolution. A fifteen-minute response can be an automated email that says “We’ve received your ticket.” That is technically a response. It is not someone working on your problem.
- Response clocks often pause. Many SLAs stop the clock the moment a technician asks you a clarifying question, and restart it only when you reply. If the tech asks five questions in a day, the “one-hour response” can stretch across a full business day.
- Severity definitions are written by the MSP. A “critical” outage to you may be classified as “high” or “medium” priority under their ticket system, which carries a slower response window.
Before you sign, ask to see the actual SLA document. Ask what counts as a response. Ask how severity is defined and who defines it. Ask what happens, in writing, if the SLA is missed. If the answer is “we’ll credit you next month’s service,” that’s a weak remedy for a real outage.
Lie #2: “We Monitor Your Network 24/7”
This one is almost universal. Every MSP claims around-the-clock monitoring. In practice, there is a big difference between monitoring and watching.
A monitoring tool generates alerts 24/7. That’s true of nearly every RMM platform on the market. The honest question is: what happens at 2:47 a.m. when an alert fires?
- Does a live analyst see that alert and triage it?
- Or does it sit in a queue until someone shows up the next morning?
- Is there a Network Operations Center (NOC) with human eyes, or is it an inbox that the owner checks over coffee?
Some MSPs operate legitimate 24/7 NOCs, either in-house or through a reputable outsourced partner. Many do not, even when their website implies they do. Ask directly. Ask how many analysts are on shift overnight. Ask for the average time between an after-hours alert firing and a human taking action. If they can’t tell you, you have your answer.
Lie #3: “Certified Engineers on Every Ticket”
Another favorite of MSP marketing. The website lists a wall of logos: Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA, Fortinet, and so on. The implication is that when you call, a senior certified engineer picks up.
In reality, almost every MSP of meaningful size uses tiered support. Tier 1 handles password resets, printer issues, basic user requests. Tier 2 handles more complex workstation and server issues. Tier 3 or engineering handles architecture, escalations, and project work. That model is not wrong. It’s how you keep costs sustainable and how you make sure senior people aren’t doing work that a well-trained tier 1 can do faster.
The dishonesty is in pretending the model doesn’t exist. The honest version sounds like: “Our tier 1 team handles roughly seventy percent of tickets at first touch. The rest escalate to tier 2 or our engineering team, usually within the same business day.” That is a real, defensible answer. “You’ll always get a senior engineer” almost never is.
Lie #4: “All-Inclusive Flat-Rate Pricing”
Flat-rate managed services pricing is a legitimate and often very good model. The lie is in the word “all-inclusive.”
Almost every flat-rate MSP agreement includes carve-outs. Common exclusions:
- Projects, migrations, and major upgrades
- New office build-outs or relocations
- Onboarding of new hardware or new users beyond a threshold
- After-hours emergency work outside defined windows
- Third-party vendor management beyond a set number of hours
- Cybersecurity incident response and forensic work
None of those exclusions are inherently bad. They’re how the math works on a flat-rate contract. The problem is when the sales pitch says “everything is included” and the contract says something very different. Read the exclusions list. Ask for the hourly rate that applies to excluded work. Ask how project pricing is quoted. You want no surprises the first time something real happens.
How to Pressure-Test Any MSP’s Marketing
There’s a simple move that works for every claim in this post. It’s the same move that saved me from the bathroom remodeler and the fifty-year roofer:
“Show me that in the contract.”
If a claim is real, it will be in the master services agreement, the statement of work, or the SLA addendum. If the salesperson has to “circle back” or “check with the owner,” the claim is marketing, not contract. That’s not automatically disqualifying, but it should shift how much weight you give it.
For a deeper breakdown of the operational questions that separate mature providers from the rest, see our MSP Performance Guide. It walks through what “good” actually looks like inside a managed services organization, from ticket metrics to escalation paths to how a healthy MSP runs its own internal operations.
The Lesson You Already Know (But Need to Hear Again)
None of this should surprise you. But it still needs to be said, because businesses, including MSPs, keep making these mistakes, and their clients keep falling for them.
Match words to contracts. If someone uses contractual language like “guarantee” or “ensure,” find that language in their written agreement. If it’s not there, it doesn’t exist.
Walk away from misalignment. If the marketing says one thing and the contract says another, that’s not a gray area. That’s your cue to leave.
Dig into operational maturity. Even if the contractual language checks out, make sure the organization is mature enough to deliver on what they’ve committed to. Ask about their structure, their internal and public-facing metrics, and how they hold themselves accountable.
Run from verbal guarantees. Any salesperson who uses words like “promise,” “guarantee,” or “ensure” without the authority or willingness to put it in writing is giving you the clearest possible signal: when something goes wrong, you’ll be on your own.
Your IT provider’s job isn’t to make your wildest dreams come true. It’s to deliver consistent, documented, accountable service, something you should expect if you are working with managed IT services in Tulsa, OK, and to tell you the truth about what that looks like before you sign on the dotted line.
A Note on This List
This post is going to keep growing. The industry-consensus lies above are the ones most honest IT professionals will recognize immediately. But I’ve collected many more specific examples from our own engagements over the years, situations where marketing and reality didn’t match, and I’ll be adding those as I work through a fresh round of client conversations.
If you’ve been pitched something that didn’t feel right, or you’ve lived through an MSP relationship that didn’t deliver what was promised, I’d like to hear about it. Real stories make this list more useful for every business owner reading it.
Shopping for an MSP in Oklahoma?
If you’re in Tulsa, Oklahoma City, or the surrounding region and you’re evaluating managed IT providers, we’d welcome a straightforward conversation. No “irresistible offer.” No promises we can’t put in writing. Just a clear look at what we do, how we measure ourselves, and whether we’re a fit for your business.
Start with our Managed IT Services overview, or read the MSP Performance Guide for the longer version of how we think about service delivery. When you’re ready, reach out and we’ll show you, in writing, exactly what a partnership would look like.
Brian Largent
Father to five, husband to one, founder, CEO, and all around swell fella (or so I'm told)
