Our CRM migration failed 3 days in, lost 2000 prospect records

Happened last Tuesday. We were moving from HubSpot to a cheaper platform (saving $400 a month supposedly) and the API just dumped everything into the wrong fields. Company names ended up in phone number slots. I spent 6 hours with support trying to undo it. Finally just restored from a backup we took before the switch. Has anyone else had a data migration go this sideways? What did you do to recover?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_derek1mo agoMost Upvoted

Ha! That's not a migration, that's a data ransom note written by a blind monkey with a keyboard. Six hours with support? You got off easy, I've seen people lose entire weekends to that kind of chaos. The "cheaper platform" savings probably just got eaten by your own wage for the day you wasted, so congrats on that math. Honest question though, did the backup actually restore clean, or did you end up with 2000 records that look like they were filed by a hurricane? At least you had the sense to take a snapshot before the switch, which puts you ahead of half the people I know. Next time, maybe just pay the $400 and keep your sanity, or at least hire a temp to manually type everything into the new system.

sandralee1mo ago

Honestly asking @the_derek, is a long support call really the same as a hurricane? Sure it sucks, but you're acting like the data got eaten by a gremlin. A backup that restores with some weird field layouts is still a backup, and most people don't even have that. The 400 bucks thing is funny too, cause the new platform probably pays for itself in a few months if you don't burn it all on overtime. Maybe the real lesson is just to plan for a messy day and move on. Was the snapshot actually bad, or just annoying?