Hosting Company refuses to hand over site!

[sticker]

Hey all,

Quick question -

I have been approached by a new client to overhaul his existing website. His hosting and domain have expired within the past week. The hosting company in question produced the same website for him some time ago.

They are now refusing to send him the old site unless he renew his hosting and domain with them for a further year... I have suggested alternative domain and hosting options that are a fraction of the cost he was paying and is being asked to pay. He obviously want to go with this new option.

Would it not be the case that the old website is his property and as such they should forward the site to him in a compressed archive by email?

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[Dara]

Is the domain in question registered by the client himself or did the hosting/web company register in their own name on his behalf?

I would have a serious issue with anyone acting on my instructions i.e registering a domain for me and then holding me to ransom. You normally have about 30 days grace in which to renew an expired domain so IF the client registered it himself he can easily renew. No idea is a contract in place or anything like that so just my opinion.

 

[cgarvey]

Would it not be the case that the old website is his property and as such they should forward the site to him in a compressed archive by email?

Yes and no!

It would normally be the case that the client would own the website, yes.

However, it wouldn't be normal for the hosting company to do anything with that data *after* a contract has expired (other than delete it, of course).

The normal scenario would be that the client retains ownership of the data, and the responsibility to have a local copy of it should he decide to move elsewhere. Any backup facility, or and out-of-contract backup facility would be a feature of a hosting plan, and the latter would be an extremely unusual one.

If the hosting company in question is really a managed services company (we'll set up your site, and maintain it for you) then the lines are a bit blurred, but, again, it would be unusual for them to have any service to offer the client *after* the contract expired.

Ultimately the client is the owner of the data and is, therefore, responsible for it's upkeep. If he outsourced that to a managed services company then he should have some provisions in place for what happens once the contract expires (i.e. have a local copy of his data).

Is there something you're not telling us that makes you think the company (now out of contract) is obliged to do anything (like a contract with specific features like a backup>email service on contract termination, or something along those lines)?

Is it a regular hosting company (most of whom state the user is responsible for the content backups)?

 

[sticker]

Is the domain in question registered by the client himself or did the hosting/web company register in their own name on his behalf?

I would have a serious issue with anyone acting on my instructions i.e registering a domain for me and then holding me to ransom. You normally have about 30 days grace in which to renew an expired domain so IF the client registered it himself he can easily renew. No idea is a contract in place or anything like that so just my opinion.

The Hosting company in question did everything - build, register domain, organise hosting. The site was live with them for two years.

 

[Pixelcraft]

how long has the service period lapsed? You're paying a host for hosting, not an eternal backup of your files. The responsibility is with the website owner for keeping their files imo

 

[sticker]

how long has the service period lapsed? You're paying a host for hosting, not an eternal backup of your files. The responsibility is with the website owner for keeping their files imo

Normally I would totally agree - But this is the classic case of a guy running a small business entrusting the web development company with all aspects of his online pressence. He's not technically literate to backup the site. He contacted me yesterday. The hosting expired last week.

I honestly think that any progresive web service would honour their clients wishes - even ones cancelling a service by simply mailing them the files they were paid to produce in the first place. There's absolutely no effort required in what he asks.

As a matter of interest, would anyone here who provides hosting do the same?

 

[adrian5750]

HI Folks

If the site is still live on the 'net then you might be able to grab a copy of it... depends very much on the type of site (simple html - easy to grab, complex database, not so easy!)

I'm not a lawyer - but, purely for the sake of a good reputation, I've always given any ex-customers copies of their sites (on cd, or 3.5" floppy in the early days <g>)

After all - only minimal effort is involved in comparison to the goodwill generated - and to have a 'dog-in-the-manger' attitude just looks petty and spiteful...

The more computer-savvy clients tend to ask for a site backup when the site goes live...

HTH
Adrian

 

[achieve]

In addition to developing websites for clients, I also in most cases, host my client's sites on my own dedicated server. If I was the hosting company in the above scenario, I would send release copy of the site.

 

[sticker]

HI Folks

If the site is still live on the 'net then you might be able to grab a copy of it... depends very much on the type of site (simple html - easy to grab, complex database, not so easy!)

I'm not a lawyer - but, purely for the sake of a good reputation, I've always given any ex-customers copies of their sites (on cd, or 3.5" floppy in the early days <g>)

After all - only minimal effort is involved in comparison to the goodwill generated - and to have a 'dog-in-the-manger' attitude just looks petty and spiteful...

The more computer-savvy clients tend to ask for a site backup when the site goes live...

HTH
Adrian

Good points all round!

 

[link8r]

Just out of curiosity - is the new hosting bill extortianite?

 

[sticker]

Just out of curiosity - is the new hosting bill extortianite?

They're "standard business hosting" package (without domain) comes in at €180pa! There's another one above that with a few more bells and whistles for €300+pa

Thats pretty extortianite in my opinion!

 

[letsmove]

have you checked the internet archive way back machine ?
Internet Archive: Wayback Machine or google cache. You may be able to grab a version of the site and put it together. shouldnt be to hard if its a straight forward brochure site. hosting company and design companys have no right to act in this way in my opinion. if the client have paid for the site and nothing is outstanding then they should forward a copy of the site. its the client property once paid for. you can try to get the domain back from the registrar (will be someone like godaddy or enom not the hosting compnay). they have procedures for this kind of thing. name and shame!!!

 

[mneylon]

If they provided site design + hosting then they aren't a hosting provider.

 

[sticker]

have you checked the internet archive way back machine ?
Internet Archive: Wayback Machine or google cache. You may be able to grab a version of the site and put it together. shouldnt be to hard if its a straight forward brochure site. hosting company and design companys have no right to act in this way in my opinion. if the client have paid for the site and nothing is outstanding then they should forward a copy of the site. its the client property once paid for. you can try to get the domain back from the registrar (will be someone like godaddy or enom not the hosting compnay). they have procedures for this kind of thing. name and shame!!!

Thats one SERIOUSLY impressive tool! Many thanks for posting it.

Looks like there's only three pages coming up from early 2007 for the site in question. But cheers all the same!

 

[sticker]

If they provided site design + hosting then they aren't a hosting provider.

Why is that?

 

[sticker]

name and shame!!!

I'll happily do this once the business is closed off!

 

[mneylon]

Why is that?

It's a totally different ball game, as was mentioned earlier in this thread.

If you buy hosting from a hosting provider you get disk space etc., The provider has nothing to do with the content.
If you fail to renew then you lose access to your files.
Simple.

As you're not paying the rent for the space, then you lose any rights to access it

If, however, there is a design / development contract then the entire thing is much mukier, as the design etc., could be seen as being different to the file space

 

[sticker]

It's a totally different ball game, as was mentioned earlier in this thread.

If you buy hosting from a hosting provider you get disk space etc., The provider has nothing to do with the content.
If you fail to renew then you lose access to your files.
Simple.

As you're not paying the rent for the space, then you lose any rights to access it

If, however, there is a design / development contract then the entire thing is much mukier, as the design etc., could be seen as being different to the file space

I see what you mean - thanks

 

[adrian5750]

HI Michele

It's a totally different ball game, as was mentioned earlier in this thread.

If you buy hosting from a hosting provider you get disk space etc., The provider has nothing to do with the content.
If you fail to renew then you lose access to your files.
Simple.

As you're not paying the rent for the space, then you lose any rights to access it

If, however, there is a design / development contract then the entire thing is much mukier, as the design etc., could be seen as being different to the file space

The cached pages suggested that the company doing the hosting was also responsible for designing the site.....

It's the same old story, really, reminiscent of the Namesco domain transfer 'ransom' earlier.

When you have a customer who is sufficiently fed up to want to leave you - then is the time to do everything reasonable to help them to leave - and not try and make life difficult by putting obstacles in their way...

The more hassle you make for them, the longer they'll remember the 'negatives' - and the more folks they'll tell their story to....

Unless the small print says otherwise, the op's client owns the website - and the ex-hosting company should give him a copy of it. After all - how much time & effort would it take ?

Adrian

 

[mneylon]

Adrian

As I said - the design aspect of it clouds the issue quite a bit. ...

With pure hosting it would be black and white. If the client is not happy they can move, but if they let their hosting expire then it's their own fault -sorry, but it's that simple

Michele