Would You Overpay $200 for Dinner? Don’t Let It Happen to Your IT Budget

Would You Overpay $200 for Dinner? Don’t Let It Happen to Your IT Budget

By Steven Blumberg, VP of Client Operations

Imagine this: You’ve just wrapped up a perfect Valentine’s Day dinner with your significant other. The ambiance was great, the food was outstanding—the steak cooked to perfection, the wine paired beautifully, and dessert arrived at just the right time. You leave satisfied, pay the bill without a second glance, and head home happy.

Fast forward a few weeks, and your credit card statement arrives. Something doesn’t add up—you’ve been charged $500 for dinner. Confused, you check the receipt and realize the waiter accidentally charged you for a $200 bottle of wine you never ordered—it was meant for the table next to you. Now, instead of reminiscing about a great night, you’re stuck in a frustrating loop of phone calls with the restaurant and your credit card company, trying to correct a mistake you never noticed.

While this might be an annoying one-time hassle in your personal life, businesses face these kinds of billing errors every single day when purchasing technology—often at a much higher cost.

Avoiding Costly Mistakes in IT Deployments

At Bluewave, we recently worked with a well-known luxury retailer opening a new store—where a similar billing nightmare almost became their reality.

For IT teams in retail, technology deployments come with major challenges:

• On-site staff aren’t IT experts. When a network technician asks about demarcs or telco closets, confusion can delay progress and add unexpected costs.
• Missed technician appointments cause setbacks. Store openings have a lot of moving parts and IT delays can push timelines back by weeks.
• Billing errors are common. Service charges often start on activation, but without careful tracking, businesses can end up paying for services they never used.

No Surprises, No Overcharges: Bluewave’s Proactive Approach

For this client, everything seemed set—the IT team secured the right bandwidth, and technicians were scheduled well in advance. But when installation day arrived, the technician was a no-show, and the billing clock had kicked off.

That’s where Bluewave stepped in. Our Client Success Manager immediately escalated the issue, securing a next-day dispatch. We worked directly with on-site staff to confirm activation, keeping all stakeholders accountable and ensuring the project stayed on track.

When the first bill arrived, our proactive review caught a ~$2,000 overcharge. Billing had started too early, and extra technical visits were mistakenly charged. We proactively jumped on the phone, resolved the issue, and ensured our client only paid for what they actually received.

For this luxury retailer, Bluewave’s advocacy meant a store opening delivered on time and on budget, with the critical technology in place for success.

That’s the Bluewave difference—we proactively advocate for our clients every day, so there are no surprises.

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