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anjalisareen1
Community Member

My freelancer disappeared and my website is consistently giving error messages

I need help from Upwork support, ASAP.

 

I hired a freelancer three years ago, she built a website for me and hosted it SOMEWHERE. Well, that website, that was my business, is now gone. The site says Forbidden Error when I try to log in to wordpress! This was my BUSINESS and I need upwork support desperately.

 

The freelancer is still on the platform but so far has not responded ot me at all. All i need is the hosting fix and then I can find someone new but i literally can't fix my website at all without the freelancer and she won't respond. 

ACCEPTED SOLUTION
lysis10
Community Member

If I were you, I would offer her money to dump the files and the database and send them to you and then you can get someone to set you up. You should create the hosting account and let them upload the site.

 

Take a look at what she normally makes and offer her double what she usually makes, fixed price. That'll get her attention and she'll probably make you a priority.

View solution in original post

8 REPLIES 8
prestonhunter
Community Member

Anjali:

You have two separate issues here.

 

One: Can Upwork help you get in touch with the freelancer who originally worked on your website?

 

The answer is:

Probably.

 

If this freelancer is still on the platform (as you say), then an Upwork representative can contact the freelancer on your behalf and ask that freelancer to talk to you, so that you can pay the freelancer to help you with your current situation.

 

So that's one thing: A service that is a little outside the norm... Upwork does not normally intervene directly like this. But this IS something that Upwork employees will do from time to time when clients really need help.

 

(This doesn't guarantee that the freelancer WILL help you... Upwork has no way to force a freelancer to do so. But Upwork's intervention CAN definitely get a freelancer's attention and spur them to action.)

 

THE OTHER THING IS THIS:

You shouldn't be in this situation in the first place.

 

As a website owner and project owner, you let yourself down by not making sure that you had complete control over your resources.

 

A wise project owner who commissions the creation of a website will make sure that all of the files and resources used by the website are backed up and copied to a location that ONLY SHE CONTROLS. This is a location on a separate server or location that the original developer has no access to and ideally doens't even know about.

 

THAT WAY: If something ever goes wrong with your hosting (which has actually happened to you)... you would be able to quickly deploy your website (perhaps with the help of a professional) simply by securing a new hosting account and pointing your domain name to that new host.

 

If your website's dynamic database was set to be dumped and sent to YOU automatically on a regular schedule (daily or weekly, for example), then your backed-up resources could be coupled with your database data and you would end up having lost little or nothing except for some down time.

Thanks, it's incredibly helpful to be told what I should have done in the
past, when I had ZERO knowledge about websites and was literally building
my first one and teaching myself as I went along with an incredibly limited
amount of funds or help. In the future, maybe keep the snarky and
completely useless "help" to yourself.
lysis10
Community Member

If I were you, I would offer her money to dump the files and the database and send them to you and then you can get someone to set you up. You should create the hosting account and let them upload the site.

 

Take a look at what she normally makes and offer her double what she usually makes, fixed price. That'll get her attention and she'll probably make you a priority.

Thank you. I will do this.

Go to www.whois.com and type in your web address and you can see where it's hosted.

You should probably go ahead and start interviewing for a new WordPress developer, and hand this off to them as soon as possible. They can help you figure out where you stand and get you setup with new hosting and domain registration that you control.

 

Also the previous freelancer might be more inclined to cooperate with another freelancer.

 

I agree with Jennifer! 

 

An experienced WordPress developer should be able to get you back up and running quickly with the files and the database. The only thing will be is how long the DNS will take to propagate.

 

I just hope that you at least control the domain and they don't. 

BojanS
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Anjali,

 

One of our team members will reach out to you directly to assist you with this concern. 

 

Thank you for your patience!

~ Bojan
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