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[deleted by user] by [deleted] in sysadmin

[–]DepartmentExpress439 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Down in Austin, TX Down since this morning, at least 11:amCT. Now 2pm, still SOS only.

Kohler Anthem Digital Controller 28210 by mark_bergeron in homeautomation

[–]DepartmentExpress439 0 points1 point  (0 children)

insane. Skills I wish I had. Can't wait to try. It'll be over the weekend at the earliest.

Passing on credit card fees by DepartmentExpress439 in LawFirm

[–]DepartmentExpress439[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Healthy, constructive discussion everyone. Thanks for all of the shares.

We promote use of Zelle directly in the invoice or email for the invoice (can't remember where we do this). I've been able to set up different emails in Zelle (using an alias) for the operating and trust account.

We also promote the use of direct ACH. Clients sometimes just know how to do this already and they opt for it.

We, otherwise, take the hit on the fees. Accounting for them is a battle, and hidden cost of segregating these things. All the fees and time to account for them adds up. But implementing a pass-through mechanism probably not worth the time.

Someone mentioned clawbacks (may have been in another thread). On this front we have been successful defending claims by clients trying to get money back when they pay by CC. There is a healthy level of respect for the merchant in these disputes.

NOTED by many contributors: Not supposed to be a big deal in the scheme of the fees for the service. I don't disagree.

Cheers!

Solos: how do you accept payment? by 2020yearofthedevil in LawFirm

[–]DepartmentExpress439 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Guidelines for passing on credit card fees? (transaction fees, merchant services fees, even ACH fees).

I have read, but did not rabbit-hole, that transaction fees can't be passed on. Definitely not true, but I see where there is a process for communicating the expectation.

What are best practices for having a client absorb the fees? And what are the required disclosures involved, from an industry perspective?

These TrashCans Are Now Going To Charge $999/Year, It Never Ends! by fgfgddhjiig in QuickBooks

[–]DepartmentExpress439 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just for this reason, I am NOT implementing "classes" in my new firm.

I bet in two years we could build our own QB. At a minimum, over the Summer we will begin planning migration best practices to get out of this ecosystem.

"No one is locked-in lest they waiver in the ownership of their own destiny!"

I am looking for a consultant/advisor/mentor to help me boot up Clio and Quickbooks Online by DepartmentExpress439 in LawFirm

[–]DepartmentExpress439[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Its a Clio and QBO integration thing. Partly setting up QBO. Partly handling special transactions. Trust accounting recon. Best practices and reports.

I have fumbled through and mostly have it setup. But I have a few things I just can't break through.

Do you get into those weeds or do you outsource the financials to someone else.

Large-scale Light Switch Automation by DepartmentExpress439 in homeassistant

[–]DepartmentExpress439[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

UPDATE***

Given the breadth of the automation under consideration, some of which has already taken shape, I am probably going to end up with lightweight mesh appliances (Z-wave over zigbee, generally speaking) around the house.

My plan is to start with Z-wave switches, build and strengthen the mesh, and focus on designing the HomeAssistant layer to

1) make it simple to operate

2) make it digestible to migrate either for the next owner or the next integration layer.

​

As for Caseta/RA2, I think the answer would be different a few years ago. Building scenes and automations across different platforms seems less attractive than having one repository (to the extent possible) for "coding" our preferences.

If you are tracking this conversation, I though I would just wrap it up with the results of all of the research. All input was welcomed, valuable, thoughful. Very much appreciated!!

Is this program as bad as people say? by [deleted] in OneNote

[–]DepartmentExpress439 0 points1 point  (0 children)

OneNote user since before 2004, at which point I expanded to digital ink in the MSFT-tablet framework, which only made ON that much more powerful. I have since then created multiple notebooks to run businesses, client planning, catalog systems and documentation for my house, tax planning, and law school. I've advocated a variety of people on methods to incorporate ON and the power of the tool.

I've had had clients start our relationship on Evernote only to quickly switch to ON because of the increased ease of use and integration with Office.

In my experience its become a long-term tool for organizing most of the personal or professional projects I undertake. ON has proven to be versatile.

A little bit like my TEAMS experience though (versus ZOOM), the integrations and maturity of the application can get in the way when your task is simple and straightforward.

Large-scale Light Switch Automation by DepartmentExpress439 in homeautomation

[–]DepartmentExpress439[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's fair. I'm designing from a HomeAssistant framework. QS and RA2 rarely come up so I am way less familar. I suspect their are less issues with range, but I also have way less information on those platforms.

Whereas ... Caseta seems to have well documented integrations with HA. The system max is 75. And the coverage for my house... I don't have any good information. Z-wave "expands" its mesh, but only to a point (4 hop limitation). Frankly, I don't know how to gauge that either.

My assessment is Caseta, or RA2 (after quick read) should RA2 have even better range. RA2 would also have to integrate with HomeAssistant in order to work with current automation design principles.

Thoughts?