An SLA credit is a discount your carrier owes when a circuit misses the service level in your contract, usually a percentage of that circuit's monthly charge. In most contracts it is not automatic: you must have reported the problem, then request the credit in writing within a deadline, with the circuit ID, ticket number and times. Keep a record of every outage, claim every eligible one, and check the next bills to make sure the credit actually appears. Repeated claims also build the record you need to use a chronic outage clause or to negotiate at renewal.
We explain what an uptime percentage really promises, and why a credit is never insurance, in what a 99.99% SLA actually buys. This article picks up where that one ends: the outage has happened, and you want what the contract says you are owed.
What can earn a credit
SLAs on business circuits, especially dedicated internet access and private lines, commonly cover some combination of:
| Metric | What it promises | How a breach is usually shown |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | The circuit is up for a set share of the month | Outage time from the carrier's trouble ticket |
| Time to repair | A failed circuit is restored within a set number of hours | Ticket open and close times |
| Latency, jitter, packet loss | Performance across the carrier's network stays within limits | The carrier's own measurements between its points, often averaged over the month |
| Installation date | Sometimes, service is delivered by a committed date | The firm order commitment and the actual turn-up date |
Not every contract has every one. Shared fiber, coax and other best-effort services often have no SLA at all, or a much lighter one. Check which metrics your contract includes before you plan a claim around them. Performance metrics are explained in latency, jitter and packet loss explained.
Find the SLA before you need it
The SLA is often a separate document from the order, referenced by the master agreement or the product terms, and sometimes published on the carrier's website. Some agreements allow the carrier to update that document over time, so the version that applies to you may not be the one you read at signing. Our guide to business internet contract terms covers where these documents live.
Pull out five things and keep them with the circuit records:
- The credit schedule: how much is credited for how much downtime or delay.
- The claim deadline, which is often counted from the end of the month in which the outage happened.
- How claims must be submitted: a portal, an email address, a form, or through your account team.
- The cap on credits per circuit per month.
- The exclusions.
The exclusions that sink most claims
Exclusions vary by carrier, but these are common:
- Unreported outages. The outage clock usually starts when you open a trouble ticket. An outage you noticed, worked around and never reported may not exist as far as the SLA is concerned.
- Scheduled maintenance inside a notified maintenance window.
- Your equipment or wiring, including your own router, firewall and inside wiring past the demarc.
- Delays you caused, such as a technician who could not get into the building or a contact who could not be reached to test. Many contracts stop the clock during that time.
- Events outside the carrier's control, as defined in the contract's force majeure clause.
- Power failures at your site. If the carrier's equipment in your building lost power because the building did, that is usually on you.
- Accounts in arrears. Some contracts deny credits while invoices are overdue.
Step by step: claiming the credit
1. During the outage, report it
Open a ticket with the carrier as soon as you confirm the problem is on their side. Write down the ticket number, the time you opened it and the name of anyone you spoke to. If repairs drag on, ask for escalation, and note when you did.
2. Keep your own record
Your log is your evidence if the carrier's times differ from yours. Note when service dropped, when you reported it, every update, when service returned and when you confirmed it was working. Monitoring that records when the circuit went down and came back is far better than memory; see network monitoring for small business.
3. Ask for the reason for outage
A written reason for outage tells you whether the cause was the carrier's and whether it is likely to repeat. It also helps if the carrier later argues that an exclusion applies.
4. Submit the claim in writing, on time
Use the channel the contract names, and keep a copy. Include:
- Your company name and account number.
- The circuit ID and service address.
- The ticket number or numbers.
- The start and end times of the outage, and the total duration.
- The SLA section or credit schedule you are relying on.
- The credit you calculate, and a request for written confirmation.
A short claim can read like this, for an invented company: "Acme Logistics, account 12345, requests an SLA credit for circuit ID ABC-0001 at 100 Main Street. Ticket 98765 was opened at 9:12am on March 4 and service was restored at 1:40pm, an outage of 4 hours 28 minutes. Under section 3 of the service level agreement, this outage qualifies for a credit of the stated percentage of the monthly recurring charge. Please confirm the credit amount and the invoice it will appear on."
5. Check the bill
Approved credits usually appear on a later invoice, often one or two billing cycles after approval. Put a reminder in your calendar and check. If the credit is missing or smaller than confirmed, reply to the approval, not with a fresh request.
When the outages keep coming: the chronic outage clause
Many business contracts include a chronic outage or chronic trouble provision. The wording varies, but the idea is that if a circuit fails a set number of times or for a set total duration within a set period, you may terminate that circuit without paying the early-termination fee. The trigger is usually built on the same tickets and claims as the credits, which is why claiming every eligible outage matters even when the credit is small.
Read the clause before you rely on it. Some require each outage to have qualified for a credit; some require you to give notice within a window after the latest failure; some apply only to the affected circuit, not the whole account. If it applies, invoke it in writing, citing the tickets. Our guide to early termination fees covers the alternatives when it does not.
A worked example
Hypothetical: the circuit price, credit schedule and outages are invented to show the arithmetic. Every carrier's schedule is different.
A company pays $1,200 a month for a dedicated circuit. Its SLA pays credits per outage on this schedule: 5% of the monthly charge for 30 minutes to two hours, 10% for two to four hours, 25% for four to eight hours, capped at 100% of the circuit's monthly charge.
In one month the circuit has three problems:
| Event | Duration | Status | Credit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fiber cut on the street, ticket opened at once | 4 hours 28 minutes | Qualifies | 25% of $1,200, or $300 |
| Overnight drop, noticed in the morning, never reported | About 3 hours | No ticket, no credit | $0 |
| Carrier maintenance inside a notified window | 1 hour | Excluded | $0 |
The company claims $300 for the first event and receives it two invoices later. The second event is the lesson: an unreported outage earns nothing and does not count toward the chronic outage clause either. After this month, the office manager sets the monitoring tool to open a ticket automatically, or at least alert someone, whenever the circuit goes down outside business hours.
The $300 is small next to what four and a half hours offline cost the business. Its real value is the record: two more qualifying outages in the next few months could trigger the chronic outage clause, and the history goes on the table at renewal regardless.
More than one circuit, more than one carrier
Credits are almost always per circuit. If a business runs several sites, or a primary and backup from different carriers, each carrier's SLA, deadline and claim process is different. A single outage log covering every circuit, with each carrier's deadline beside it, is the easiest way to stop credits expiring unclaimed. Our multi-site internet guide covers keeping that inventory.
Use the record at renewal
A file of tickets, reasons for outage and credits paid is a negotiating asset. It supports a request for better SLA terms, a lower rate or a move to another carrier when the term ends; see the renewal trap. Before signing anything new, ask for the claim process to be simpler, the deadline longer, and credits applied automatically if the carrier will agree.
Questions to ask your carrier
- Where is the current SLA for our circuits, and can it change during the term?
- How and where do we submit credit claims, and what is the deadline?
- Are any credits applied automatically?
- What are the exclusions, and how is time spent waiting on us treated?
- Is there a chronic outage clause, and what triggers it?
- How soon do approved credits appear on the invoice?
Having someone else chase it
When FiberX places a circuit, Phil Morales stays your one point of contact, which includes helping with tickets, escalation and credit claims with the carrier. When several carriers bid on your address, we compare their SLA terms and claim processes alongside the price. The carrier pays FiberX, so there is no markup, and the quote is free with no obligation. You usually hear back the same day. Send us your address or your current contract, call 478-758-8091 or text (347) 870-0965.
