[Hidden-tech] errors & ommisions insurance for web designers

[Rich]

I personally have avoided E+O for a long time, we were forced into it by 
some large client contracts, and negotiated down
the coverage they required anyway -- it is really only necessary if you are:

1) Providing a critical service that could result is legal 
responsibility if a failure on your part would result in clearly 
identifiable losses,
like Amazon knows that they lose $XX zillions if their web site is down 
a minute and it's your fault.
They really do meter their web site that exactly, few others do.

2) You have serious assets to protect -- like your $50 million house on 
the Rivera (hum, not on US soil, ok, on the CT gold coast),
(which now dipping below $1 mill now anyway)

In short - it's a waste of money for most small esp independent 
developers.  To be sure, talk to a good insurance agent.
Better yet,  keep your clients happy or cut them lose when they make you 
unhappy.

FYI - we did use Techinsurance.com for our first round of such insurance 
-- and it was a real pain to buy, LOTS AND LOTS
of sub-clauses -- some of which totally negated the purpose of the 
insurance for us, you MUST read the fine print and the back and the 
REALLY fine print, etc, etc etc,.

What is really important is liability and for most smaller businesses 
that is related to having an Umbrella policy,
that might over-lap with your personal house policy -- talk to your 
agent to understand it better.

And we ended up with a very competitive combined policy for our house 
and office and general liability for not a lot more then our normal 
house insurance (I'm thinking under $1000 more for $2 million umbrella, 
nit don't recall exactly)

In short, Caveat Emptor
Rich

Nancy Salwen wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
>
> I am interested in hearing what other web designers are doing about 
> errors and omissions insurance - do you guys think it's a good idea? I 
> belong to a business group full of non-web designers who insist that I 
> should have it - and I do think it would make me more comfortable but 
> as I've looked around I see awfully high prices - higher that what 
> some medical practitioners are paying!
>
> Any thoughts or recommendations in general? Any suggestions about 
> where to shop for liability / errors and omissions ins. for web 
> designer-developers? Are there associations with good group rates? 
> I've looked around but not found any...
>
> Thanks so much!
> Nancy
>
> ______________________________
>
> Nancy Salwen
>
> nancy at salwen.net <mailto:nancy at salwen.net>
>
> http://www.salwen.net
>
> 603-357-4693
>
>
> Salwen Graphic Design
>
> for Marketing and Communication
>
> In Print and on the Web
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Rich Roth
CEO On-the-net

Bringing you complex online systems since the net was young
http://www.tnrglobal.com - http://www.on-the-net.com/rr/