So now I have a website I can't access to amend, can't update my calendar, loads of errors and omissions, and no sign of the webmaster...... What do I do now?
Help - what do I do now? Can't update my site
Help - what do I do now? Can't update my site
All ideas and suggestions gratefully received, I originally had my website done by someone who then went to live in France themselves and their level of service dropped dramatically, I left them and switched to another webmaster who had set up in business and was at Uni (mature student) with my son who thought very highly of him. I paid for the change and had him do some revamps and amendements and although I liked his work I was less than impressed when the amended site went live before I had a final look and found numerous mistakes, typos and omissions. Now I can't get hold of him at all, the last contact was over 6 weeks ago and despite lots of e-mails, postings on his intranet, phone messages and texts, I've heard nothing from him at all.
So now I have a website I can't access to amend, can't update my calendar, loads of errors and omissions, and no sign of the webmaster...... What do I do now?
So now I have a website I can't access to amend, can't update my calendar, loads of errors and omissions, and no sign of the webmaster...... What do I do now?
My epitaph will read: well at least she tried.
Hi Teresa,
What a shame
In your position I would cut your losses if you has been so long with no contact - though have you asked your son? Just in case there is a genuine problem....
For future reference, I would not pay upfront for this kind of thing - a split of 50% on starting the job and 50% on completion is quite normal for smaller jobs. (Larger ones might be 33/33/balance on completion)
I assume that you have the hosting details for the site?
(host name, user name and password)
If for any reason you don't have these, you should contact your hosting company and get hold of them.
A check on your site shows that the admin contact is:
Davis, Amanda amandadavis@holidayaccommodationinfrance.com
newtechdevo
Bernege
Clairac Clairac, 47320
France
+33.0553792648
Who's this? Possibly the person who originally set up the site?Unless this is a business partner or similar, you should get the contact transferred back into your name by Godaddy.com (your registrars - look on their site for email contact and explain the situation.)
It's very important for you to have this information yourself, so that you can instruct whoever you want to work on the site.
Then you need to find a more reliable programmer, I'm afraid!
Perhaps someone here can recommend you one....Or you could maybe learn to make simple changes yourself.
I love the domain name by the way! and the places look lovely
What a shame
In your position I would cut your losses if you has been so long with no contact - though have you asked your son? Just in case there is a genuine problem....For future reference, I would not pay upfront for this kind of thing - a split of 50% on starting the job and 50% on completion is quite normal for smaller jobs. (Larger ones might be 33/33/balance on completion)
I assume that you have the hosting details for the site?
(host name, user name and password)
If for any reason you don't have these, you should contact your hosting company and get hold of them.
A check on your site shows that the admin contact is:
Davis, Amanda amandadavis@holidayaccommodationinfrance.com
newtechdevo
Bernege
Clairac Clairac, 47320
France
+33.0553792648
Who's this? Possibly the person who originally set up the site?Unless this is a business partner or similar, you should get the contact transferred back into your name by Godaddy.com (your registrars - look on their site for email contact and explain the situation.)
It's very important for you to have this information yourself, so that you can instruct whoever you want to work on the site.
Then you need to find a more reliable programmer, I'm afraid!
Perhaps someone here can recommend you one....Or you could maybe learn to make simple changes yourself.
I love the domain name by the way! and the places look lovely
Hi Teresa,firebug wrote:I assume that you have the hosting details for the site? (host name, user name and password)
If for any reason you don't have these, you should contact your hosting company and get hold of them.
A check on your site shows that the admin contact is:
Davis, Amanda amandadavis@holidayaccommodationinfrance.com
I agree with firebug, but let me just expand on the part above to avoid confusion as the situation looks a little more complex than this. The name servers on the Whois database indicate that although the domain name was purchased through Godaddy.com, possibly indirectly through a reseller, the site is being hosted by a company called Lemonslice.co.uk, whose contact details are:-
Lemonslice Technologies
19 Northgate Street
Devizes
SN10 1JT
Telephone: (0870) 3834142
Sales: sales@lemonslice.co.uk
Support: support@lemonslice.co.uk
I assume you are paying lemonslice directly for the hosting, if not, contact whoever you are paying.
However, you are not going to be able to make changes on your domain name without a bit of a hassle. The registrant name of record is Amanda something, not Teresa anything and the domain is in "locked" status, which means you (the client) cannot make changes without unlocking it first, and you need Amanda to do that as she is the Admin Contact. If Amanda purchased Privacy on the domain, then in the Godaddy internal records, you may indeed be the Registrant of Record, and Godaddy will recognize your authority over the domain name, but that's not something I can see from here.
If Amanda (whoever she is) is one of the people who are currently uncontactable, then you're in trouble, but worse case scenario, we'll help you pick another domain name, hopefully even better!
If Amanda is around and does agree to transfer everything over to you, then you will need to set up your own account at Godaddy in order to take over control of the domain name.
This is where to start that process:-
Go to www.Godaddy.com and type in your domain name as if you want to buy it. When it pops up "domain name already taken", click the link underneath for "more info" and it will show you the Whois Record.
I would phone and email every one of those names and see how far you get.
You may also need to buy new hosting for another website and build it from scratch, cancelling the old hosting account, or maybe there's a way for you to salvage the old website. I think you'll need to talk to Lemonslice in order to find out more info on that aspect.
So to recap, your problem is twofold (sorry if this makes it even worse than you thought!) :-
A. You need to gain control over your domain
B. You need to gain control over your website
Good Luck and let us know how you get on. There's plenty of help here for building a new website if that proves necessary.
Last edited by A-two on Wed May 31, 2006 11:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Help - what do I do now?
Hi Firebug & Joanna
Yes Jon & Amanda Davis were the original webmasters/designers, but I did have the domain name transfered to me so I don't know why it's still showing as in Amanda's name and lemonslice is the current webmaster I can't get hold of. I didn't pay up front, I only paid for the transfer and hosting, in fact I still owe lemonslice for the work done on the masthead and amendments (even though with errors) as he's never invoiced me for them. As he'd been having problems (family/domestic) while doing the original work and it had taken quite a while, he'd said that the charges would be reduced and I had paid promptly before. So that's not the issue. My son has no idea what's happened to him and is shocked by the situation and feels quite badly that he's recommended someone that's proved less than reliable.
The thing is that I'm not that computer literate or web wise, I just tick over doing the necessary basics so I feel completely out at sea.
To all intents and purposes, Jon & Amanda are no longer on the scene and the last communications between all of us was about the software I'd received from Jon to update my calandar and which now no longer functions - Jon wanted lemonpeel to give him the new password and was refused due to security issues, it was suggested that Jon rang me (or I rang Jon) to talk me through whatever needed to be done but that never materialised. Even though it went totally against the grain to give up on something I'd paid for, I was prepared to link my calendar to one of the websites I'm already on in order for the availability to be seen but that was when it all went pearshaped and contact with lemonpeel ceased.
I'm beginning to feel jinxed with webmasters and feel totally let down - I hate having to rely on someone else for this anyway but I just don't have the knowledge to go it alone (even my son agrees about that). At the same time I don't like playing the heavy and don't see why I should have to - when I ended the original contract, I was told I should have kicked ass before deciding to change webmasters - that surely shouldn't be necessary, I expect professional behaviour from a business - am I being naive?
Yes Jon & Amanda Davis were the original webmasters/designers, but I did have the domain name transfered to me so I don't know why it's still showing as in Amanda's name and lemonslice is the current webmaster I can't get hold of. I didn't pay up front, I only paid for the transfer and hosting, in fact I still owe lemonslice for the work done on the masthead and amendments (even though with errors) as he's never invoiced me for them. As he'd been having problems (family/domestic) while doing the original work and it had taken quite a while, he'd said that the charges would be reduced and I had paid promptly before. So that's not the issue. My son has no idea what's happened to him and is shocked by the situation and feels quite badly that he's recommended someone that's proved less than reliable.
The thing is that I'm not that computer literate or web wise, I just tick over doing the necessary basics so I feel completely out at sea.
To all intents and purposes, Jon & Amanda are no longer on the scene and the last communications between all of us was about the software I'd received from Jon to update my calandar and which now no longer functions - Jon wanted lemonpeel to give him the new password and was refused due to security issues, it was suggested that Jon rang me (or I rang Jon) to talk me through whatever needed to be done but that never materialised. Even though it went totally against the grain to give up on something I'd paid for, I was prepared to link my calendar to one of the websites I'm already on in order for the availability to be seen but that was when it all went pearshaped and contact with lemonpeel ceased.
I'm beginning to feel jinxed with webmasters and feel totally let down - I hate having to rely on someone else for this anyway but I just don't have the knowledge to go it alone (even my son agrees about that). At the same time I don't like playing the heavy and don't see why I should have to - when I ended the original contract, I was told I should have kicked ass before deciding to change webmasters - that surely shouldn't be necessary, I expect professional behaviour from a business - am I being naive?
My epitaph will read: well at least she tried.
Teresa,
My advice FWIW (for what it's worth) is to chalk it up to experience and start again. It's not naivete, rather it's a wild west out there and some of these people who get into the business insist on keeping control over every aspect, probably with the best of intentions, then evaporate for whatever reason, leaving the client (you) in the kind of situation you now find yourself in, and completely powerless without their intervention of your behalf.
If I were you, I wouldn't hold my breath that anyone you have dealt with in the past is going to step up to the plate and fix this for you any time soon, rather I would spend my time reading the section of this forum called "Building a website from Scratch".
I appreciate that you are not a technie, but the more you read up on it, the more you are empowered to know how to avoid a problem like this, and how to fix a problem when something goes wrong.
As Amanda seems uncontactable, (and do try one more time), then please contact Godaddy and find out if you're the Registrant of Record on that domain. If so, tell them the Admin contact has evaporated and you need them to make you Admin contact. Come back here for more advice if that becomes a reality and we'll walk you through other steps you may need to take.
It's still not going to solve the other problems, but at least you can then build a new website with the existing domain. This assumes you want to keep the existing domain name, if not, it's a lot easier to buy a new one.
There are trustworthy professionals and skilled amateurs on this forum who can help you build a new site - you could ask members for their recommendations and PM Paolo to verify any that may contact you as a result of this thread. I don't know everyone here of course, but I do know that Marcus has an "off the shelf" solution that might suit you quite well and I believe Living In Italy is a professional designer and helped build the example site used on the forum. There's also quite a few threads on the subject of availability calendars, both paid and free. Last but not least, I think I can name several members who said they could never manage their own website, but have somehow managed to pull it off really well. Don't be discouraged!
Hope this helps.
My advice FWIW (for what it's worth) is to chalk it up to experience and start again. It's not naivete, rather it's a wild west out there and some of these people who get into the business insist on keeping control over every aspect, probably with the best of intentions, then evaporate for whatever reason, leaving the client (you) in the kind of situation you now find yourself in, and completely powerless without their intervention of your behalf.
If I were you, I wouldn't hold my breath that anyone you have dealt with in the past is going to step up to the plate and fix this for you any time soon, rather I would spend my time reading the section of this forum called "Building a website from Scratch".
I appreciate that you are not a technie, but the more you read up on it, the more you are empowered to know how to avoid a problem like this, and how to fix a problem when something goes wrong.
As Amanda seems uncontactable, (and do try one more time), then please contact Godaddy and find out if you're the Registrant of Record on that domain. If so, tell them the Admin contact has evaporated and you need them to make you Admin contact. Come back here for more advice if that becomes a reality and we'll walk you through other steps you may need to take.
It's still not going to solve the other problems, but at least you can then build a new website with the existing domain. This assumes you want to keep the existing domain name, if not, it's a lot easier to buy a new one.
There are trustworthy professionals and skilled amateurs on this forum who can help you build a new site - you could ask members for their recommendations and PM Paolo to verify any that may contact you as a result of this thread. I don't know everyone here of course, but I do know that Marcus has an "off the shelf" solution that might suit you quite well and I believe Living In Italy is a professional designer and helped build the example site used on the forum. There's also quite a few threads on the subject of availability calendars, both paid and free. Last but not least, I think I can name several members who said they could never manage their own website, but have somehow managed to pull it off really well. Don't be discouraged!
Hope this helps.
O don't think it's naive to expect professionals to behave professionally but when they don't there comes a point when you have to cut your losses. Joanna's advice is, as usuual, excellent and I would go with what she says.I expect professional behaviour from a business - am I being naive?
I am always disapointed when people don't treat me as I would treat them so I know how you feel.
Help - what do I do now?
The really galling thing is that I love my website as it is now and apart from one or two tweaks, correcting the typos etc, I'm happy with it and don't want to start again with something different, this also goes for the name as it's always been very well received and remembered. Could it not be taken over by another webmaster ( a reliable one this time) just as it was by lemonpeel? Also I really don't have the spare time to start learning about constructing a new site myself and I have to be realistic and practical about that no matter how much it might empower me in the future. My website is my shop window and I can't afford to have it off line for any time at all regardless of how many other sites I'm advertising on as I'm getting quite a few enquiries from it lately.
My epitaph will read: well at least she tried.
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Alan Knighting
- Posts: 4120
- Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:26 am
- Location: Monflanquin, Lot-et-Garonne, France
Teresa,
I’m not suggesting any direct answers to your current problems because I have none.
You clearly like your web pages, and so you should, and you would like to continue with them.
An alternative might be to start again with another web designer, a different host and a (slightly) different domain name but with your present content. Your new web designer could use a tool such as WinHTTrack, a website copier, to capture the whole of your present web pages and work from there.
Just a thought.
Alan
I’m not suggesting any direct answers to your current problems because I have none.
You clearly like your web pages, and so you should, and you would like to continue with them.
An alternative might be to start again with another web designer, a different host and a (slightly) different domain name but with your present content. Your new web designer could use a tool such as WinHTTrack, a website copier, to capture the whole of your present web pages and work from there.
Just a thought.
Alan
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marcus
- Posts: 624
- Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2005 10:37 am
- Location: Lot-Garonne / Dordogne borders
- Contact:
I'm sure if you can't retrieve the name you could probably get the same name with an .eu name
I wonder, do you know who pays for the registration of the domain? and for how long it has been paid? Is it possible the domain could be allowed to expire, and then you can simply buy it again, in your name?
Otherwise as Alan says, it would be possible to take a copy of the site and upload it to a different domain name.
Luckily (?) there only seem to be a couple of links to the site so you could get them changed to a slightly different domain name if necessary - your main link seems to be from qualitypropertiesinfrance - I know them a little and I'm sure they would change it happily.
So all is not lost. But I would still try and track down the current 'owner' and get it changed before exploring other options. Are you sure you don't have access details to go in and change it somewhere in a dusty cupboard?
I wonder, do you know who pays for the registration of the domain? and for how long it has been paid? Is it possible the domain could be allowed to expire, and then you can simply buy it again, in your name?
Otherwise as Alan says, it would be possible to take a copy of the site and upload it to a different domain name.
Luckily (?) there only seem to be a couple of links to the site so you could get them changed to a slightly different domain name if necessary - your main link seems to be from qualitypropertiesinfrance - I know them a little and I'm sure they would change it happily.
So all is not lost. But I would still try and track down the current 'owner' and get it changed before exploring other options. Are you sure you don't have access details to go in and change it somewhere in a dusty cupboard?
Help - what do I do now?
All is not lost - I've managed to find someone who has contacted lemonpeel and is the server on which my site is hosted. He's offered to do the amendments and promises that I'll hear from lemonpeel shortly. Obviously, if I don't think there was a good excuse for the prolonged silence I'll definitely be looking at other options but at least it's given me some breathing space and time to sort out the domain name ownership issue.
Thanks for all your help and I'll certainly be taking it all into consideration. Thanks again
Teresa
Thanks for all your help and I'll certainly be taking it all into consideration. Thanks again
Teresa
My epitaph will read: well at least she tried.