What to Do When Your WordPress Agency Stops Responding?

Your WordPress agency stopped responding. Emails go unanswered. Slack messages sit unread. You have a site issue — maybe urgent, maybe not — and the people who are supposed to help have gone silent.

First: don’t panic. Second: secure your access credentials before the relationship fully dissolves. Third: figure out if this is an emergency or just frustrating. This guide walks you through all three.

 

Quick Summary: What to Do Right Now

1. Try other channels — phone, LinkedIn, different email, someone else at the company
2. Secure access — WordPress admin, hosting, domain, backups, payment gateways
3. Decide urgency — site down or hacked = emergency; can’t make changes = inconvenience
4. Set a deadline — send a clear handover request with a date (1-2 business days)
5. Get help if urgent — stabilize first, long-term partner second

 

First 1-2 Business Days: Before You Assume the Worst

Before declaring your agency dead, give them a brief window. Not because they deserve it — but because it affects your next steps.

 

Check the obvious first:

• Is it a holiday in their country? (Many agencies are international)
• Did your main contact leave? Try reaching someone else at the company.
• Have you tried a different channel? Email, phone, LinkedIn message.
• Did something change on your side? Unpaid invoices sometimes trigger radio silence.

 

Document everything now

Take 10 minutes to screenshot or save:

• Your last 5-10 email exchanges
• Any contracts or agreements you have
• Their quoted rates or proposals
• Project files they’ve sent you

You may need this later if things get complicated.

 

Don’t burn bridges yet

Sending an angry email feels satisfying. It also makes the next conversation harder if this turns out to be a misunderstanding. Keep your messages factual: “I sent X on [date] and haven’t heard back. Please confirm you received this.”

Give them 1-2 business days. If silence continues, shift from “following up” to “preparing for transition.”

Secure Your Access Now

This is the most important section of this article. If your agency controls critical access and the relationship ends badly, you could lose control of your own website. Check each of these right now:

 

WordPress Admin

Log into `yoursite.com/wp-admin`. Can you access it? If not, do you have the username and password stored somewhere?

Red flag: If only your agency has admin credentials, that’s a problem regardless of whether they’re ghosting you.

 

Hosting Panel

Do you know who hosts your website? Can you log into cPanel, Plesk, or whatever control panel they use? Do you have the account credentials?

Where to check: Look for emails from companies like WP Engine, Kinsta, SiteGround, Bluehost, or GoDaddy. Or ask your agency (while they’re still responding to at least some messages).

 

Domain Registrar

This is critical. Whoever controls your domain controls where your website points.

How to check: Go to lookup.icann.org and enter your domain. Look for the “Registrar” field — that’s the company managing it. Then check if you have login credentials for that account.

Worst case scenario: If your agency registered the domain in their name, transferring it requires their cooperation. Start this conversation early.

 

Email Hosting

Is your company email (you@yourcompany.com) tied to the same hosting as your website? If yes, moving your website could affect your email.

 

Backups

Do you have recent backups of your site? Where are they stored? Can you access them without the agency?

Reality check: Many agencies store backups on their own systems. If you can’t access them, your site data is effectively held by someone who isn’t responding to you.

 

Git Repository (if applicable)

If development involved version control, do you have access to the repository? No repo access isn’t always fatal — but it often indicates weak development practices.

 

WooCommerce-Specific (if applicable)

• Payment gateway accounts (Stripe, PayPal) — are they in your name?
• Shipping integrations — whose API keys are those?
• Plugin licenses — who purchased them?

 

Security Note: Sharing Access Safely

When you eventually share access with a new developer:

• Use a password manager (1Password, Bitwarden) instead of email
• Create separate user accounts rather than sharing one login
• Enable two-factor authentication where possible
• Rotate passwords after the transition is complete

 

The Access Audit Outcome

After checking all of the above, you’ll be in one of two situations:

Situation A: You have access to everything. Good. The agency ghosting is frustrating but not dangerous. You can take your time finding a replacement.

Situation B: You’re missing critical access. This changes your priority. Getting those credentials becomes urgent — more urgent than finding a new agency.

Is This an Emergency or an Inconvenience?

Not every agency ghosting situation requires emergency response. Knowing the difference saves you stress and money.

 

This Is an Emergency

Act within hours, not days:

• Site is completely down. Visitors see an error page.
• Security breach. Site redirects to spam, shows strange content, or you received a “your site was hacked” notice.
• Checkout is broken. Customers can’t complete purchases (WooCommerce).
• SSL certificate expired. Browser shows “Not Secure” warning.
• Critical business function broken. Forms don’t submit, bookings don’t work, something customer-facing is failing.

 

This Is an Inconvenience

You have time to handle this properly:

• You want to make changes but can’t reach anyone.
• Updates are overdue and you’re nervous about security.
• You’re frustrated with response times (even when they do respond eventually).
• You’re planning a new feature and can’t get their attention.

 

Why This Distinction Matters

Emergency situations may require hiring someone immediately — even at premium rates — just to stabilize things. Inconveniences give you time to find the right long-term partner, not just the first available one.

 

If It’s an Emergency: Getting Help Fast

When your site is down or compromised, you need help now. Here’s how to get it effectively.

 

What to Tell a New Developer

Don’t start with the full history. Start with:

1. What’s broken (specific symptoms)
2. When it started
3. What access you have
4. What access you don’t have

The more clearly you can describe the problem, the faster someone can help.

 

Information They’ll Need

Have this ready:

1. WordPress admin login (if you have it)
2. Hosting panel login (if you have it)
3. Domain registrar access (if you have it)
4. Recent changes (did anything happen before the problem started?)
5. Timeline (when did you last see the site working?)

 

Realistic Timelines

For context on what to expect:

• Site down due to hosting issue: Often fixable in 1-2 hours if you have hosting access
• Hacked site: Initial stabilization 2-4 hours, full cleanup 1-3 days
• Broken checkout: Depends entirely on what’s broken — could be 1 hour or 1 week
• SSL expired: Usually fixable in under an hour with proper access

These are rough estimates — your situation may vary based on hosting setup, access availability, and the specific problem. If someone promises to fix everything in 30 minutes without knowing the details, be skeptical.

 

If It’s Not an Emergency: Finding a New Agency Right

When you have time, use it well. The goal isn’t to find any agency — it’s to avoid ending up in this same situation again.

 

Send a Clear Handover Request

Before you start looking for alternatives, send one final message with a specific deadline:

Subject: Access handover request — [Your Company] website

Hi [Name],
We’ve tried to reach you on [dates/channels] without success. We need to proceed with a transition.
Please provide the following by [date — 1-2 business days from now]:
– WordPress admin credentials (or confirm our admin access works)
– Hosting account access
– Domain registrar login
– Backup access (where are backups stored?)
– Git repository access (if applicable)
– List of plugin licenses and API keys we should know about

If any of the above isn’t possible, please explain why.
[Your name]

This creates a clear record and often prompts a response.

 

Questions to Ask Potential Agencies

• “How do you handle access credentials? Will I own all logins?”
• “What’s your typical response time for non-urgent requests?”
• “If someone on your team is unavailable, who’s the backup?”
• “What happens if we decide to part ways? What’s the handover process?”
• “Can you show me your process for taking over an existing site?”

 

Red Flags in Their Response

Watch for:

• Vague answers about access (“we handle all that for you”)
• No clear process for emergencies
• Unwillingness to document the handover process upfront
• Pressure to sign quickly without answering questions

 

What Good Looks Like

• Clear answer: “You’ll own all credentials. We store them in a shared password manager you control.”
• Defined SLA: “We respond to urgent issues within 4 hours, routine requests within 2 business days.”
• Backup plan: “Your project manager is X, but if they’re unavailable, you can reach Y.”
• Exit clarity: “If we part ways, here’s exactly what we hand over and how.”

 

What a New Agency Needs From You

Once you’ve found a potential replacement, you’ll need to prepare for the transition. The more organized you are, the faster (and cheaper) onboarding goes.

 

Access Credentials

Everything from the “Secure Your Access” section above:

– WordPress admin
– Hosting panel
– Domain registrar
– Email hosting (if separate)
– Backup access
– Payment gateways (WooCommerce)
– Any third-party integrations

 

Site History

What you know:

• When was the site originally built?
• Has it been significantly updated since?
• What plugins are critical to business operations?
• Are there any known issues you’ve been ignoring?

 

What You Don’t Know

Be honest about gaps:

• “I don’t know if there are custom code modifications.”
• “I’m not sure when the last backup was.”
• “The previous agency handled everything — I don’t know what’s standard vs custom.”

This honesty helps a new agency assess the situation properly. Pretending you know more than you do leads to surprises later.

 

Budget Expectations

A new agency will likely want to assess the site before quoting ongoing work. This assessment might be:

Free: Some agencies offer a quick review to win your business

Paid audit: A thorough code audit that documents everything before work begins

If you’re coming from a bad situation, a paid audit is often worth it. It tells you exactly what you’re dealing with, rather than discovering problems one by one.

 

Why Agencies Ghost (and How to Prevent It)

Understanding why this happens can help you avoid it in the future.

 

Common Reasons Agencies Go Silent

They’re overwhelmed. Small agencies often take on too much work. When capacity runs out, some clients get deprioritized. Avoidance feels easier than admitting they’re behind.

Key person left. Your relationship was with one person who’s no longer there. The rest of the team doesn’t know your project or doesn’t care.

You’re not profitable for them. If your project is small or your requests are frequent, you might not be worth their time at their current rates. Rather than raise prices or end the relationship cleanly, they fade away.

Financial trouble. Agencies in financial distress sometimes just… stop. No formal closure, just silence.

The relationship was already strained. Maybe there were disagreements about scope, money, or quality. Ghosting is unprofessional, but some people choose it over difficult conversations.

 

How to Prevent This Next Time

Own your access. Never let an agency be the only one with admin credentials, hosting logins, or domain control.

Have a maintenance contract with defined response times. Vague “we’ll handle it” arrangements fail. Specific SLAs (response within X hours) create accountability.

Stay in touch even when nothing’s wrong. Monthly check-ins keep the relationship active. It’s harder to ghost someone you just talked to.

Know more than one person at the agency. If your only contact leaves, you should still have someone to call.

Watch for early warning signs. Gradually slower responses, missed deadlines, excuses about workload — these often precede full ghosting.

 

FAQ

 

How long should I wait before assuming I’ve been ghosted?

If you’ve tried multiple channels (email, phone, LinkedIn) and heard nothing for 7-10 business days, the relationship is effectively over — whether they admit it or not. Start planning accordingly.

 

Can I force my old agency to hand over access?

This depends on your contract and local laws — we’re not lawyers, and this isn’t legal advice. Start with a formal written request specifying exactly what you need. Many agencies will cooperate rather than escalate. If they refuse, consult a qualified lawyer in your jurisdiction.

 

What if the agency owns my domain or hosting?

This is the worst-case scenario. You may need to negotiate a transfer, which could involve payment. Your registrar may have an ownership or dispute process, but if the domain is registered in someone else’s name, resolving it can take time and may require legal help. In the future: always register domains in your own company’s name.

 

How much will emergency WordPress help cost?

Expect premium rates for urgent work — often significantly higher than standard rates, especially outside business hours. Costs vary based on complexity: a simple hosting fix is very different from full malware cleanup. Always get a clear scope and estimate before authorizing work, even in emergencies.

 

Can a new agency work with my existing code?

Usually yes. Professional agencies deal with inherited codebases regularly. The main questions are: how well was it built originally, and how well was it documented? A code audit helps answer both.

 

What about my SEO if I switch agencies?

Changing agencies doesn’t affect SEO directly. What matters: keeping your domain, maintaining your content, and not breaking URLs during any migration. A good new agency will make sure nothing gets disrupted.

 

We Can Help With WordPress Site Takeovers

At Osom Studio, taking over WordPress and WooCommerce sites from other agencies is something we do regularly. A significant share of our work starts exactly like this — previous agency disappeared, stopped responding, or couldn’t deliver.

We have a process for this:

1. Assessment first. We look at what you have, what access exists, what state the code is in.
2. Stabilize if urgent. If there’s an active problem, we fix that before discussing long-term work.
3. Clear handover. We document everything. You own all credentials.
4. Ongoing maintenance with defined response times. So this doesn’t happen again.

If you’re dealing with a ghosting agency and need help — whether it’s an emergency or you just want to talk through options — contact us. We respond to inquiries within one business day.