IT Support/Website Hosting Supplier won't let us leave

[grahamm]

We have become disillusioned with the local IT company which supports our system and also designed and hosts our website, they also administer our domain name(s). We wish to move to another supplier but the existing supplier is resisting our leaving, claiming to have a signed contract which I have not been shown yet. When I asked for sight of the contract they started asking for longer notice as a matter of common courtesy. Does anyone know what I can do and what the legal position is. I have a meeting with them next week and would like to know what my position is beforehand.
Thanks
Graham

[TheD]

If there is no contract then they should hand over all information to you including any passwords etc although they may charge an admin fee for it. As for the domain name that could be a bit different. Did you buy the domain name? Is it registered in your name? They can be made to release it but it can be a lengthy hassle.
Try to keep things civil and explain why you want to move to another company. Say you appreciated what they have done but you feel more can be gained blah blah or something similar.
I run an IT support company and most companies will do a hand over no problem. It just isn't worth the hassle. If they have been in the game long enough they will realise this, as IT support and companies sometimes just don't get on.

[bitchstewie]

If it's a .uk domain name and it's registered to your business you can skip the supplier and go directly to Nominet and have it moved for a small fee.

This is Nominet's way of preventing this kind of situation, though of course it won't absolve you of any contractual obligations you may have to your incumbent.

[grahamm]

Thank you for the replies. I have tried to keep it civil but have had a frankly unbelievable bad reaction from the head of the IT company. He seems to think he owns all the things he has charged us for and we cannot move until he chooses!

It is reassuring to know we can get our domain names back!

[bitchstewie]

grahamm said:

Thank you for the replies. I have tried to keep it civil but have had a frankly unbelievable bad reaction from the head of the IT company. He seems to think he owns all the things he has charged us for and we cannot move until he chooses!

It is reassuring to know we can get our domain names back!

Keep them onside until you know who the domain is registered to - some companies "helpfully" register clients domain names in their own name - if that's the case it could get messy so wait until you're sure.

[miniman]

Not in the Chippenham area is it?

[grahamm]

bhstewie said:

Keep them onside until you know who the domain is registered to - some companies "helpfully" register clients domain names in their own name - if that's the case it could get messy so wait until you're sure.

Thank you for the advice. Will try to find out.

[grahamm]

miniman said:

Not in the Chippenham area is it?

I cannot really give any clues at the moment

[Magic919]

You should get registration information from a normal whois.

[bitchstewie]

grahamm said:

Thank you for the advice. Will try to find out.

http://www.tucowsdomains.com/whois

Check it shows your company.

[Don]

grahamm said:

Thank you for the replies. I have tried to keep it civil but have had a frankly unbelievable bad reaction from the head of the IT company. He seems to think he owns all the things he has charged us for and we cannot move until he chooses!

It is reassuring to know we can get our domain names back!

You mention "a system". If this is bespoke software they wrote for you then be aware that, indeed, the IT company may well own the software. Your contract would state that you have a licence to run/use the software but that they retain the Intellectual Property Rights.

This is common practice with software companies as they will often be using things they wrote for other people to speed up writing things for you. Without this practice bespoke software would cost an absolute fortune as it would have to be written from scratch each and every time. You can have contracts like that where you buy the rights to the software outright - but for most people the cost is utterly prohibitive.

Good luck. I hope the above is relevant and useful.

[grahamm]

Don said:

You mention "a system". If this is bespoke software they wrote for you then be aware that, indeed, the IT company may well own the software. Your contract would state that you have a licence to run/use the software but that they retain the Intellectual Property Rights.

This is common practice with software companies as they will often be using things they wrote for other people to speed up writing things for you. Without this practice bespoke software would cost an absolute fortune as it would have to be written from scratch each and every time. You can have contracts like that where you buy the rights to the software outright - but for most people the cost is utterly prohibitive.

Good luck. I hope the above is relevant and useful.

Thank you.
There is no bespoke software. Just Sage accounts (multi user), website and emails using our domain name.

[Don]

grahamm said:

Don said:

You mention "a system". If this is bespoke software they wrote for you then be aware that, indeed, the IT company may well own the software. Your contract would state that you have a licence to run/use the software but that they retain the Intellectual Property Rights.

This is common practice with software companies as they will often be using things they wrote for other people to speed up writing things for you. Without this practice bespoke software would cost an absolute fortune as it would have to be written from scratch each and every time. You can have contracts like that where you buy the rights to the software outright - but for most people the cost is utterly prohibitive.

Good luck. I hope the above is relevant and useful.

Thank you.
There is no bespoke software. Just Sage accounts (multi user), website and emails using our domain name.

Cool. In which case you will have a licence to use Sage from Sage so that's no problem. You should be able to move website hosting easily enough.

[Kudos]

Don said:

Cool. In which case you will have a licence to use Sage from Sage so that's no problem. You should be able to move website hosting easily enough.

Not necessarily. Perhaps Sage was bought by the reseller?

Also, moving a site may not be easy if it's hosted on one of their servers, they can just switch it off.

If you move domain name to another provider you will need to set up all DNS info otherwise email etc won't work

[Du1point8]

Kudos said:

Don said:

Cool. In which case you will have a licence to use Sage from Sage so that's no problem. You should be able to move website hosting easily enough.

Not necessarily. Perhaps Sage was bought by the reseller?

Also, moving a site may not be easy if it's hosted on one of their servers, they can just switch it off.

If you move domain name to another provider you will need to set up all DNS info otherwise email etc won't work

Thats what someone like TSOHost will do for free and very very quickly.

I use them when register1 started acting fun with customers, didn't have to lift a finger to get my commerce site or the email system switched across.