Dumb business owner here.
Long story short: I paid a reputable looking local development company to redo our WordPress site. After bad results, I want to self host. I paid their $280 fee to switch to self-hosting, all they did was send me a .ZIP with my content and told me I needed to “find a new server” to host on. Now I’m locked out of all admin, and they want me to build the whole site back from scratch myself because they claim their “own servers”. I can’t access plug ins, can only change text and images.
Context: Site is only built with Elementor Pro.
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I had originally built the site nyself myself and ran great for years (We are a graphic design agency and have limited, but a little experience with WP/Elementor/DIVI)
We were looking for a SEO company to help us improve ranking and traffic, and this company was highly recommend by our clients.
They came to our office in person to pitch, promised all these results and deliverables. Paid $6k for a 5 page site that we created all content for and provided copy text that they likely just ran through AI. Some of the text is identical to our old site.
1 year later, the site ranks worse than before and they are radio silent on any updates. Haven’t sent me a single email since launch. Didn’t deliver on almost anything but the bare minimum, and had me on the hook for a large monthly fee SEO contract that ended last month.
I pulled the plug, told them I wanted to take back the site and manage it myself. They gave me a log in, and the credentials don’t let me change anything. To my dismay, the entire site is just cheap elementor templates worse than what we made ourselves.
I’m left with a .ZIP file and no way to switch the plug ins to my own subscription.
What can I do?
Do I demand they give me full access back, and call their bluff on their “servers” that they are afraid will be affected?
Am I just an idiot and have to rebuild from scratch with a new WP account?
Who owns the domain?
It’s understandable why they wouldn’t give you access to their server, and depending on who paid for any premium plugins, they may not be willing to give you a full migration either.
But as long as you have the database, the theme and the uploads folders you can generally get a site back up and running.
All plugins can be downloaded again and any data needed for them will be in the Db or the uploads folder.
Zip file, assuming that it has both the files and database, is all you need. However you do need your domain which they can point to your new server, if they still have it, while you transfer ownership to yourself. Not a very big job. DM me for any help.
That zip folder (likely) has what you need. There should be files and folders, to include one .sql file.
Any reputable host will be able to help you get that uploaded and configured on a server pretty easily.
There’s a lot to digest with the rest of your post. I don’t get the impression you’re a difficult client and have genuine concerns, although I’m unsure of what the agreement entailed. $6k is a *fair* price and the use of Elementor doesn’t justify cost one way or the other (assuming you don’t have super specific custom needs), although it sounds like they could have tailored your site a little better for you (I don’t use Elementor, just an observation).
In the short term, you can spin your site up with a new host so you can have access to your site. You can sort out the rest later. I don’t believe you need to abandon Elementor. You just need a trustworthy web dev who cares about your business. I’m sure this post will have no shortage of unsolicited pleas for work… probably not them.
1. Get your site running on a reputable host.
2. Fix the issues you might see with your site.
3. Reassess whether or not Elementor is right for your biz. Don’t get hung up on the underlying tech. Elementor is not my first choice but it’s certainly acceptable.
If you own the domain you are good. Get a hosting site (hostinger business account is $3/month). Upload that zip to wordpress, reinstall all the plugins used, and connext the domain to the new site and your golden. Let me know if you need more step by step help.
Sorry this happened to you. There are a lot f things to unravel here (site control, admin rights, seo, migration). You want to take this one step at a time, and fix the most immediate problem first. That problem is regaining full control over the intellectual property you bought and paid for. Happy to jump on a call to help (pro-bono). This kind of behavior gives everyone in the space a bad name.
If you have access to the DB you can hash a new password for an admin user or change your own role manually in SQL.
[https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-add-an-admin-user-to-the-wordpress-database-via-mysql/](https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-add-an-admin-user-to-the-wordpress-database-via-mysql/)
As long as the ZIP include an SQL file, and wp-content/uploads, themes and plugins, you have everything you need.
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Zip file
Unzip it check
If this have sql file
Plugin files
Theme files
Wp-config file
Even if you have theme and plugins without sql file you will never get your website back
So make sure to get all backups from them
And buy cloud server from contabo or hetzner
If you want i can help you out with whole setup and get you up and running in few hours if you have all required files
If you need some help dm me i will do it for free😇
This sounds like you just need someone from this group who knows what they are doing and not looking to rip people off.
You have a zip file so sounds all good to me.
You have zip file make sure you also have your database file too and were are they hosting the domain did the transfer that also?
If you need help I can also guide you too
Advise to business owners. Always register your domain by yourself. You don’t need to attach hosting account to it. You can also get your own hosting too. Just a little research and you can find a very good host for your WordPress site. Both of those info are very important to you as a business owner.
The zip file is really all you need assuming it contains all your site data and database. With that you can redeploy the site and create a new admin user on SQL. Easy to do, even you can do it.
If you do not have your domain you need to get that as it is part of your business asset you can make a legal case and have that handed over to you. You can give devs/designers access to it but never relinquish that.
If you still need help there’s lots of capable hands here that can help you get situated. You can dm me for that.
Finally, depending on your type of business you might be better of hiring someone in-house to develop and manage your site. Sometimes a focused approach might yield better results.
Good luck if you need it.
What I’d do first:
– Install localwp in your pc, and select “install local site” following instructions to install a fresh wp site
– Install the updraft free plugin, and restore your website on top from the .zip provided
If everything works as expected, can look around to upload your site online in a host of your choosing. Mind you also need access to the DNS records of the online domain (implying you’re the owner) to point to the IP of the new host.