You are paying over £100 a month and still cannot get a straight answer
If you are paying more than £100 a month to a web agency and cannot get a straight answer about what they do for it, you are not being difficult. You are being managed. Agencies routinely deprioritise small retainer clients once the contract is signed, because the money comes in regardless of whether they reply.
Why the replies stopped
When you signed up, you spoke to a salesperson. They were responsive, friendly, asked good questions. That person has moved on to closing the next client.
You were then handed to an account manager who looks after thirty or forty other small retainers. Your monthly fee, in their world, is a rounding error. The agency's real attention goes to the clients paying four or five thousand a month.
This is not malice. It is maths. A junior at an agency costs them roughly £200 a day. If your retainer is £120 a month, you get about ninety minutes of actual attention before you start losing them money. Everything beyond that is them quietly hoping you do not ask.
What you are actually paying for
Most £100-200/month retainers cover three things on paper: hosting, security updates, and a small allowance of changes. In practice, two of those three are automated.
- Hosting costs the agency between £5 and £15 a month per site. They charge you ten times that.
- Security updates on a typical website are scheduled to run automatically. No one is sitting there clicking buttons.
- Your changes - the bit that actually needs a human - get queued behind every other client.
The account manager who emails you twice a year to check in is, conservatively, £30 of your monthly bill.
The questions they keep dodging
Notice which questions get a fast, clear answer and which ones get "let me check with the team" followed by silence. The pattern is consistent across agencies.
Fast replies: anything about renewing your contract, upgrading your plan, or adding a new service.
Slow or no replies:
- Can you send me a breakdown of what was done last month?
- Who owns the domain name - me or you?
- Can I have a copy of the website files?
- Why is the site slow on mobile?
- What is your notice period if I want to leave?
The slow replies are slow because the honest answer is uncomfortable. Either nothing was done last month, or the agency holds something you assumed was yours, or the answer requires actual work to investigate.
How to test your agency in one email
Send this. Word it however you like, but ask all four things in one message:
Hi, three quick questions. One - can you send me an itemised list of work done on my site over the last three months? Two - who is the registered owner of my domain name? Three - what is the notice period if I wanted to move providers? Four - can I get a copy of the website files? Thanks.
Time how long it takes to get a complete answer to all four. A good agency replies within two working days with all four answers in plain English. A bad one will answer one, ignore two, and try to schedule a call about the fourth.
If you do not get a clean reply within a week, you have your answer about whether this relationship is worth £100+ a month.
What to do next
You have two real options. Push the agency to actually do what they are paid for, or move.
Pushing rarely works long-term. The economics that caused the silence are still there. You might get a flurry of attention for a month, then drift back to being ignored.
Moving is easier than agencies want you to think. Whether you run a salon in Sheffield or a letting agency in Cardiff, a small business website is not complicated to migrate. SkipTheAgency's Maintained plan is £65/month for direct contact, same-day replies, and up to 10 changes a month - what most agencies charge £150/month for. I handle the migration end to end, including getting your domain and files back from your current agency, at no extra cost.
Frequently asked questions
How much should I be paying for website hosting and maintenance?
For a small business website with occasional changes, £40-65 a month is fair. Anything above £100 should come with direct human contact, same-day replies, and a clear monthly report of what was done. If you are paying £100+ and getting none of those, you are overpaying.
Is it worth switching web agencies if mine ignores me?
Yes, in almost every case. The agency that ignores you now will not change after a complaint - the underlying economics are the same. Switching to an independent provider is usually cheaper and faster to deal with, and a competent one will handle the move for you.
How do I find out who owns my domain name?
Ask your agency directly, in writing. They are required to tell you. You can also look up your domain on a public WHOIS lookup tool, though many agencies hide the details behind a privacy service. If the agency owns the domain rather than you, that is a problem you want to fix before you try to leave.
What should I do if my agency will not give me my website files?
First, check your original contract - in most cases the files are yours once paid for. If they refuse, a written request citing the contract usually shakes them loose. A good replacement provider can also rebuild the site from the live version if needed, so a hostile agency cannot trap you forever.
How long does it take to move a website to a new provider?
For a typical small business site, a clean migration takes two to five working days from start to finish, with no downtime for visitors. The slow part is usually getting your current agency to release the domain, not the technical work itself.
Will my website go down if I switch providers?
It should not, if the migration is done properly. The new site is set up and tested on the new server before the domain is pointed across, so visitors see no interruption. Anyone who tells you downtime is unavoidable is cutting corners.
Get straight answers and a fair price
If your current agency cannot tell you what they do for your £100+ a month, I can. SkipTheAgency's Maintained plan is £65/month, includes free migration, and you deal directly with me - not a queue.
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