Website Support

Important Support FAQ

Do not skip this important FAQ. It contains essential information on support such as support hours & charges.

What are the support hours?

Monday to Friday.

9am to 5pm.

(Excluding national & Bank holidays)

Late Friday afternoon support: Support tickets raised after 2pm on Fridays will be picked up on the next working day.

What level of support do I have?

All clients have Pay as you go support
Response time: 48 hours (Average response time: within 4 hours). We aim to respond to all support requests in two to four hours if they are received within our normal working hours.
Fees: Standard hourly rates – see here for details.
Support channel: Email to the helpdesk.

What are the support rates?

We charge our standard hourly rates for support.

Our rates can be found on our How we charge page.

We’ll make sure your support costs stay in line by allocating an initial 2 hour limit to your ticket before seeking approval for additional time.

That vast majority of support requests are resolved in 1 hour or under.

What support is chargeable?

Support requests that result in a task are chargeable.

Typically when something on your site needs changing, testing, investigating or resolving it requires an action or task.

All communications for your support ticket are included in the charges, such as reviewing and responding to your ticket replies and any emails or telephone calls required to progress your ticket.

Training on how to perform tasks on your site is chargeable.

Is there any free support?

There a few very limited instances where we won’t charge for support.

In brief, this will be tasks that take around 5 minutes from ticket opening to ticket closure.
(These require no work tasks and usually a simple quick reply)

There is no charge to:

Reset your website login
Resend your artwork
Refer you to your hosting, email, domain provider

If any of the requests above look set to exceed significantly the 5 minute rule of thumb, then we will advise you.

A brief note on enquiries

There’s no charge for enquiries. Enquiries are not classified as support. If the enquiry needs investigating or research so you can choose to move the enquiry forward or not, that time maybe chargeable.

If you want a to enquire about a new project, that’s an enquiry too.

Do I pay to resolve a problem on my website that you built?

In the very unlikely and rare event that our work directly causes a problem, we will resolve that problem at no cost.

All other requests or issues are chargeable.

We build all sites using 3rd party software. Meaning it’s software created and provided by someone other than us or you. Such as the WordPress Platform.

Your website is dynamic it has 3 main elements that are continually updated with bug fixes, new features, performance updates and security updates.

WordPress Core (The platform and core features)
Theme (Design)
Plugins (Extra features/functions)

We are not the authors of these elements, they are provided by 3rd parties. If a problem or error occurs on your site due to an update from one of these elements it may require chargeable work to investigate and resolve.

What we do and don't support

What we support

We are your web designer, our support includes.

Your website design, layout, text, imagery, features and functionality.
License renewals for software
Website access (logins)

What we don’t support

Tasks that are not carried out by a web designer.

See the section below “Who is responsible for what”

Who is reponsible for what?

To keep your website running smoothly, it’s important to understand who manages which parts. Here’s a clear breakdown of responsibilities across all parties involved.

Client (that’s you)

You are responsible for the day-to-day checks and admin that relate to your business and content.

Check that all website forms are working by sending a test submission (we recommend monthly).
Check any third-party forms (e.g., mailing list sign-ups) work correctly.
Check that any login areas (for you and/or your customers) are functioning.
Check that links to external websites, apps, social media platforms or CRMs are still accurate.
Renew any third-party licences your business uses.
Maintain all legal compliance (Cookies, GDPR, Terms & Conditions, Policies).
Use strong passwords for your website and any third-party services and update them periodically.
Review emails from providers and take any required action – especially verification or security emails to keep accounts active.

Web Designer (that’s us)

We are responsible for the design, layout and functionality of your website.

Our responsibilities include the following when requested via the correct support channels:

Updating website text or images.
Making changes to the design or layout.
Adding new features such as a shop, blog, or gallery.
Digital marketing services (SEO, paid ads).
Search engine indexing and setup.
Providing training on how to update your website.
Adding contact form spam-reduction tools.
Purchasing and renewing any licences we provide.
Requesting or resetting website logins on your behalf.
Fixing website errors if the website is online.

Website Host (not us)

Your hosting company keeps the website “live” on their servers. They handle the server-side environment, security and uptime.

They are responsible for:

Web hosting services.
Domain names (if purchased through them).
DNS changes relating to domain names.
Server-side email spam (not website form spam).
Website errors if the website is down.
Website blocks or locks (firewall rules).
Issues with outgoing emails sent from the website.
Investigating issues to confirm whether hosting is the cause.

Website maintenance provider (not us)

A maintenance provider ensures your site stays secure, monitored, updated, and backed up.

They typically manage:

Website security (firewall).
WordPress core updates.
WordPress plugin updates.
WordPress theme updates.
Investigating issues after updates and rolling back if needed.
Referring complex issues to the host or developer where necessary.

Email provider (not us)

Your email account is never provided by your web designer.

It may be supplied by:

your web host,
Microsoft,
Google, or
another email service provider.

They are responsible for all email services, inbox issues, and email account management.

Domain name provider (not us)

This provider is responsible for:

registering your domain name, and
renewing it each year.

Your domain may be managed by your web host, a dedicated domain provider, or another third-party service.

The RIGHT way to get support ...

You can do this in two ways:

The WRONG way to get support ...

While you may have a team members direct email, mobile, WhatsApp etc., we do not accept support requests this way.