How do I check an IT company's references?
Ask for two current clients of a similar size in the Dallas area, and one who left. Speak to them by phone rather than email, and ask about a specific bad day rather than general satisfaction. Read online reviews for detail, not for ratings: a review that names the person, the problem and the timeframe is worth a hundred that say great service.
Answered by Anthony Omini, Cross River Tech, Dallas
Key takeaways
- Ask for two current clients of similar size and one former client; the former client is where the real information is.
- Call, do not email. References give honest answers on the phone and polite ones in writing.
- Ask about a specific bad day, not general satisfaction, because everyone is satisfied until something breaks.
- Judge reviews on detail, not rating: a named person, a specific problem and a timeframe are the marks of a real one.
- A flat refusal to provide any reference is a serious signal. A cautious, confidentiality-based process is not.
How do I check an IT company's references?
Ask for three: two current clients of roughly your size and type in the Dallas area, and one client who has left. Then phone them, and ask about a specific bad day rather than about how happy they are. That is the whole method, and the third reference is the one that matters most.
Most reference checks fail for two reasons. The first is that they are done by email, which produces two polite sentences and nothing else. The second is that the questions are too general. "Are you happy with them?" gets a yes from almost everyone, including people who are quietly looking for a replacement, because nobody wants to speak badly of a supplier to a stranger.
Specific questions get specific answers. Ask what happened the last time something serious broke and you will hear how the provider behaves under pressure, which is the only thing you are actually buying. Combine that with a careful read of public reviews and the checks in how to check that an IT company is legitimate, and you can form a fair judgement in an afternoon.
Are IT company reviews trustworthy?
Individually, mostly not. In aggregate and read carefully, yes. The rating number is close to worthless; the text is where the information is. Here is how I would sort them:
| Signal | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| Names a person and describes a specific problem | Almost certainly real and worth reading closely |
| Mentions a timeframe or a sequence of events | Real. People invent praise, not chronology |
| Generic praise with no detail at all | Could be real, tells you nothing either way |
| A cluster of short positives posted close together | Usually a request campaign, sometimes worse |
| Reviewer profile with one review, ever | Weak evidence on its own, weaker in a cluster |
| A detailed complaint with a calm reply from the owner | Often the most useful item on the whole page |
| A detailed complaint with a defensive or hostile reply | You have just seen how a bad day is handled |
| All reviews inside a short window, then silence | Something changed; find out what |
Read the negative reviews first and the owner's replies second. A business with no negative reviews at all is either very small, very new, or curating. None of those is damning, but it does mean the page is not telling you much.
One caution specific to this industry: many IT companies operate under a trading name that differs from the registered one, and reviews may sit under either. Search both. And be sceptical of reviews on a provider's own website, which are selected by definition.
What should I ask an IT provider's current clients?
Five questions. Ask them in this order, on the phone, and let silences run.
- What happened the last time something serious broke? Not whether the provider is good. What actually happened, on what day, and how it ended. This single question does most of the work.
- How long does it usually take to hear back, and does that change after five o'clock? You are listening for a real pattern, not a promise. Ask specifically about a Friday afternoon and about a weekend.
- Has anything ever been billed that you did not expect? The answer reveals how the scope is drawn in practice, which is different from how it is drawn in the agreement.
- What do they do that you did not ask for? This is where you find out whether maintenance is actually happening: patching, backup restores, account clean-up, license reviews. A client who cannot name a single proactive thing is being supported reactively.
- If you were signing again tomorrow, would you, and what would you change? The second half of that question is the one that gets the truth. Almost everyone answers yes to the first half.
Two more if the conversation is going well: has the provider ever told you not to buy something, and do you know who would handle things if the person you deal with were unavailable. Both answers say a lot about honesty and about continuity.
Why is the former client the most useful call?
Because they have nothing to protect. A current client is, whether they mean to be or not, defending their own decision. A former client will tell you exactly what went wrong, and more usefully, they will tell you how the exit went.
How a provider behaves on the way out is the truest test of the whole relationship. Ask the former client four things:
- Why did you leave? Listen for whether the reason is something that would bother you. Price and personality are subjective. Missed maintenance and lost data are not.
- Did you get everything back? Passwords, documentation, administrator access to the email tenant, firewall and switch configurations, backup data. This is the answer I would weigh most heavily.
- How long did the handover take, and was it cooperative? A provider who drags out an exit was never really working for the client.
- Did anything break during the transition? And in their view, whose fault was it.
If a provider will not give you a former client, ask why. There are honest answers, but "nobody has ever left" is not one of them. Ownership of accounts and data is worth understanding before you sign with anyone, and who owns your passwords, domain and equipment sets out what to put in writing up front.
What does a refusal to give references tell you?
It depends entirely on the shape of the refusal. There is a real distinction between a provider protecting client confidentiality and a provider who has nobody to put you in touch with.
Reasonable answers: "I need to ask them first, give me a few days." "Two of my clients are in regulated work and will not do it, but here is a third who will." "I will connect you with someone in a similar business, but I would rather not name the others publicly."
Unreasonable answers: a flat no with no explanation, an offer of written quotes from unnamed clients instead of a call, a claim that everything is confidential while their website carries client logos, or a change of subject followed by a discount.
My own position, since it is fair to state it: I do not publish client names or logos, because who I work for is their business rather than marketing material. If you are seriously considering hiring me, ask, and I will ask a client whether they are willing to take a call from you. If they say no, I will tell you that rather than inventing something. In the meantime, everything I claim about myself is checkable: the phone number reaches me, the rates are published on the pricing page, and my background, including MCSA and CCNA, is listed on my LinkedIn profile.
What else can you check without a reference at all?
Quite a lot, and it takes about fifteen minutes. Run these in parallel with the reference calls rather than instead of them.
- The business registration. A Texas business name search tells you whether the entity exists and how long it has been filed.
- The phone number. Call it during business hours without warning. Note who answers, or how quickly a call is returned. This is the number you will be using at the worst moment of your year.
- The address. A real one, and honest about what it is. A home-based or remote-first business is fine; a fake suite number in a virtual office listed as headquarters is not.
- LinkedIn. Look for a work history that matches the claims, and for a person rather than a logo. Consistency over years is what you are checking.
- The website's own claims. Do the prices exist? Is anything promised that no honest provider could promise? Are there badges implying partnerships that would be easy to overstate?
- How they answer a hard question by email. Ask what is excluded from their plan. The speed and directness of that reply is a live sample of the service.
Where to find candidates worth checking in the first place is a separate problem, and referrals beat search every time; I wrote it up in how to find a reliable IT person in Dallas.
How does this fit into choosing between two or three providers?
Do it last, and only on your shortlist. Reference checking is slow and it consumes goodwill, both yours and the reference's, so it is wasted on candidates you have not already decided you could work with.
A sensible sequence: shortlist three from referrals and search, have a first conversation with each (what happens at that first meeting covers what to expect and what to ask), get written quotes, normalise them so you are comparing the same scope using how to compare IT support quotes, and only then spend an hour on references for the top one or two.
By that point you are not asking whether a provider is competent. You are asking a narrower and more useful question: does this person behave the way they described when a real thing goes wrong. If the reference calls and the first meeting tell the same story, you have your answer. If they contradict each other, believe the reference.
What do you do with what you find?
Write down the two or three things you learned that were not in the sales conversation, and raise them directly with the provider before you sign. How that conversation goes is itself the last reference check.
If the references were good but you are still unsure, start small. Hire the provider for one piece of hourly work first and watch how it goes: a new computer setup, a security clean-up, a Wi-Fi problem. My hourly support exists partly for this, at $100 an hour remote and $150 onsite in business hours, $150 and $225 after hours, one-hour minimum. Nothing commits you to a managed plan, and mine is month to month anyway, so even the plan is a short test rather than a marriage.
If you already have a provider and you are doing this research because something feels off, the symptoms worth taking seriously are in signs you need to change your managed service provider. And if you want to run any of these questions past me before you use them, get in touch; I will help you vet somebody else just as readily.
Questions people ask
How do I check an IT company's references?
Ask for three: two current clients of similar size and type in the Dallas area, and one client who has left. Call them rather than emailing, because written replies come back polite and short. Ask about a specific bad day instead of general satisfaction, and let silences run. The former client is usually the most informative call, particularly on how the handover was handled.
Are IT company reviews trustworthy?
The ratings are close to meaningless; the text can be very useful. Trust reviews that name a person, describe a specific problem and mention a timeframe, because people invent praise but rarely invent chronology. Read the negative reviews first and the owner's replies second, since a calm, specific reply to a complaint tells you more than any amount of generic praise.
What should I ask an IT provider's current clients?
Five questions: what happened the last time something serious broke, how long a reply usually takes and whether that changes after five o'clock, whether anything has ever been billed unexpectedly, what the provider does that was never asked for, and whether they would sign again and what they would change. The last half-question gets the honest answer that the first half never does.
What if an IT provider will not give me references?
It depends on the refusal. Needing to ask clients first, or being unable to offer clients in regulated work, is reasonable and normal. A flat no with no explanation is not, and neither is offering unnamed written praise instead of a phone call. Watch for a provider who claims total confidentiality while displaying client logos on their own website, which cannot be both.
Should I ask to speak to a client who left?
Yes, and it is the single most useful call you can make. Former clients have nothing to protect. Ask why they left, whether they got everything back including passwords, documentation, administrator access and backup data, how long the handover took, and whether anything broke during it. How a provider behaves on the way out is the truest test of the relationship.
Do you provide references?
I do not publish client names or logos, because who I work for is their business rather than marketing material. If you are seriously considering hiring me, ask and I will ask a client whether they are willing to take a call. If they decline, I will tell you so. Everything else I claim is checkable: the phone reaches me, rates are published, and my background is on LinkedIn.
