ems internet-who owns my webpage?

hildamay1 · 23 March 2009 at 1:58PM

I have been advertising my website for self catering accommodation with Freecom hosting for quite a few years. They built the web page and I have no problems with it. However, I was contacted by ems last month who promised that I could have exactly the same service for half the cost. I googled them and they do seem to be a good company and so I paid them £125.35 for this service which appeared to be a simple case, according to ems, of Tag transfering and cancelling the payment to Freecom. Freecom said that they cannot do this. The Web page is built on their software and they have copyright. Also they say that I agreed via e mail to keep the hosting for another 12 months in January this year. ems say that they cannot do this and that the site is mine. ems say they will direct my mail to the Freecom website, but Freecom say that if I transfer the Tag they will close down the website. ems said that they can take a copy and build a new website but it would take 3 weeks and for me to be without a website at this time of year would be a big mistake as I have most of my business from overseas. I really could do without this problem that ems have given me as I do not know the rules of this problem. I just want my money back from ems as I feel that they bullied me into something.
Any advice please

mrJ_5 · 23 March 2009 at 4:13PM

sounds like they have, and they don't really have any right tell Freecom what to do - since the account is in your name

GeoThermal · 23 March 2009 at 5:54PM

Your best bet may be to ask EMS for a refund based on you having agreed a new contract with Freecom in January.

I'm no expert but I'd guess that content/copyright on the site you provided will be yours, copyright on the design of the site may be Freecoms depending on your contract. You can easily take your content and add it to a new site but if you have agreed to another 12 months with Freecom there will be no point moving as you will then be paying for two hosts.

mrJ_5 · 24 March 2009 at 3:26AM

but its the OP's responsibilty to check that they are contracted or not.... if you signed up with Vodafone in January for another year, you can't just signup to O2 today and get Vodafone to cancel - they won't. So then you go to O2 (be it a contract or putting £50 on pre-pay) saying that you want your money back as Vodafone wouldn't let you cancel... it's not really O2's problem, as you should know where you stand contractually, and thus won't let you cancel or get refunded.

Your best bet is asking EMS for a refund, but they don't have to... if you have a contract with them saying they will provide the service provided that Frrecom release you, then they should refund you.

GeoThermal · 24 March 2009 at 11:26AM

That's pretty much what I said. The difference with your phone analogy is you would have two seperate services with two phone numbers whereas with the hosting the OP is paying twice but only getting the original service. As such EMS "might" be willing to refund so worth asking.

hildamay1: Cheaper is not always better and as it is a business site you have hosted I would be careful of moving based on price. Make sure you read plenty of customer reviews if and when you do move.

Darth_Trader · 24 March 2009 at 11:41AM

It would be worth checking the original contract with Freecom, or TOS on their website regarding copyright - I assumed people get their own paid webhosting (like I'm just about to do) in order to have full control of what content goes on the web. So if it was 'blogging', best to avoid Blogger and Wordpress.

But as another responder has said, Freecom might own the design rights.

Still, as my search for a web hosting provider continues, at least I know of 2 to avoid!

ems internet-who owns my webpage?

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