Questions on Partner/Reseller Options

[Craig H.]

We recently acquired a company who is a 3CX reseller. There are several customer accounts that we wish to disassociate from and no longer be a reseller for. We have several that are set to auto-renew on 12/31/24 that we no longer wish to support. Can anyone help me understand what our options are here?

Are we able to just unlink accounts that we no longer wish to support or how is that handled?

Thank you everyone in advance!

Craig Harmsen

 

[Evolute IT]

Those you see renewing at the end of the year is probably just the free Standard licenses. You can simply go into each that you want out, and click the blue "Unlink" button.

For paid licenses, there's no auto-renew. Those need to be renewed before the expiration. Also, note that in the last 30 days, 3CX might send emails directly to the customer to make sure they renew and have not been forgotten by their partner/reseller. It is recommended to renew at least 60-days in advance.

 

[fxbastler]

Is it because you really no longer want to work with these clients, or because the cost/benefit analysis doesn't add up?

We experience this occasionally as well.

Then talk to the customer. Performance costs money. Raise the prices in a way that fits your portfolio.
If the client leaves, so be it.
If the client stays and you want to continue, then start a new business relationship at a different level.

 

[Craig H.]

Both, honestly. Cost benefit does not add up and we are not setup to support these customers at an adequate level. We are a Managed Service Provider and don't wish to be a phone reseller. It just doesn't fit the business model. For those customers that also use our managed services, we support their phones out of necessity but it's not our bread and butter and there's just not enough margin in it to make sense for us if they are standalone.

So if we unlink the accounts, does 3CX find them another reseller/partner or how does that work? Obviously we want to let these customers know what is going to happen and what they need to do to continue support but I'm not sure what to tell them.

 

[fxbastler]

Same here.

Then explain to them that you are not resellers, but partners, working together with the customers and also with 3CX. Different costs are involved, but they can expect help and support.

If the customers don’t want that because they want to remain independent, tell them that they should find another reseller, not a partner, and unlink the license by mutual agreement.

3CX will not proactively assign them a new partner. Once the license expires, the phone system will no longer function. The customer will need to take care of it themselves. Tell them so.

As long as their own email address is registered in the 3CX license, they can log into the Customer Portal and manage their status themselves.

 

[Craig H.]

One other question would be the timeframe. Are we able to separate with the customer at any time, regardless of the contract renewal, or does that renewal "Lock" us inf or another year?

 

[Evolute IT]

One other question would be the timeframe. Are we able to separate with the customer at any time, regardless of the contract renewal, or does that renewal "Lock" us inf or another year?

Anytime you want. They can always buy directly from 3CX if they have a commercial key. If they use the free keys (Standard 4SC), then it's free so doesn't matter.