Pricing: WordPress troubleshooting and clean-up

The diagnosis is free, in every case

No work begins before we have looked at your site. That first examination is never charged for, even if you then decide not to go ahead, and even if the conclusion is that there is nothing for us to do.

What we look at

The state of the files and the database, the server error logs, the user accounts, the scheduled tasks and the PHP version installed. On a site suspected of being hacked, we also look for backdoors and injected code, because that determines whether a simple clean-up will be enough.

What you receive

A call or a message telling you three things: where the problem comes from, what needs to be done to fix it, and what that costs. The price is given before we touch anything. You decide afterwards, with no commitment and without having to answer within the hour.

What stays free even if nothing follows

Sometimes the problem does not come from the site at all but from your host, your domain name or your mailbox. Sometimes a single action on your side is enough to put things right. In those cases we explain it to you and you pay nothing.

Cleaning up a hacked site: a flat fee

Cleaning up an infected site is charged at a flat fee because the method does not change from one case to the next. Whether the infection is recent or has been there for months, the same steps are applied in the same order.

What the flat fee includes

A full backup of the current state before anything is touched, analysis of the files and the database, removal of injected code, fraudulent accounts and backdoors, closing the hole that was used to get in, restoration, then verification that everything works again: pages, forms, emails and payments. The review request to Google is included when a warning has been displayed.

The clean-site guarantee

If traces reappear after our work, we clean the site again at no extra cost, as many times as needed. That is what separates a proper clean-up from a quick scrub: until the way in is closed, the job is not finished.

When a quote replaces the flat fee

Three situations fall outside it: a very large site, a multisite installation with several domains, and an old infection that has reached the backups. In that last case there is no clean restore point left and the site has to be rebuilt from what remains. The diagnosis says so immediately, before you commit.

When this flat fee applies

A brochure site, blog, institutional site or shop of average size, redirects to dubious pages, a “This site may be hacked” warning in the search results, content or administrator accounts you never created, mass mailings from your domain. The full step-by-step process is described on the hacked WordPress site clean-up page.

Fixing a site that is down: quote after diagnosis

A fault cannot be priced as a flat package. Two sites showing the same blank page may take ten minutes of work or two days, depending on what broke and on what is left to recover.

Why there is no list price

Disabling a plugin and rebuilding a database are not the same job. Advertising a single price would mean either overcharging for simple faults, or discovering halfway through that the package does not cover the real case and asking you for more. We prefer to look first.

What makes the price vary

The origin of the fault, first: a plugin conflict is settled far faster than a corrupted database. Then whether a usable backup exists, which often cuts the work to a third. Finally the general state of the site: an up-to-date, clean installation is always quicker to repair than a pile of abandoned plugins.

When this service applies

Blank page, 500 error, database connection error, site unreachable after an update, lost administrator access, data deleted by a wrong move or by a failure at your host. The method and timescales are set out on the WordPress troubleshooting page.

What is never charged on top

We take the job on within 24 hours of your call, with no emergency surcharge. The prices quoted exclude tax and carry no administration fee, no compulsory subscription and no hourly billing.

The written report

You receive the detail of what happened, what was done and what to watch afterwards. It is written in plain English, without jargon, and it is included in both services.

After the work

You don’t need a subscription to get help. A maintenance plan greatly reduces the risk of another emergency, but it remains optional, and declining it changes neither the price nor the timescale of the work.