WordPress Emergency
WordPress is broken and you need it back today.
Four faults cause most of it. Three have a first step you can try before calling anyone.
Those steps are below, in full, because a page that only says “call us” isn’t worth reading. If you’ve tried them and it’s still broken, that’s what we’re for.
Try the three free steps first. If they don’t work, a written diagnosis and a fixed price in about 4 business hours.
~4 hrs
To a written diagnosis
$0
To find out what broke
Daily
How often we’re in WordPress
The short answer
Four things break WordPress sites more than anything else: a plugin conflict after an update, the white screen with no error at all, being locked out of wp-admin, and an update that broke the layout without breaking the site.
All four are recoverable, and three of them have a first step you can try yourself before calling anyone. Those steps are below, in full.
If you've tried them and the site is still broken, text 562-726-2287 or describe it here. You'll get a written diagnosis and a fixed quote in about 4 business hours, you're never billed for the diagnosis, and nothing starts until you approve it. Work starts the same day you approve, if that's during business hours.
There's no price on this page. WordPress emergencies run from a ten-minute plugin deactivation to a two-day recovery, and quoting before someone has looked would be a guess.
Sound familiar
If any of this is you, you're on the right page.
You log in and all you get is a blank white screen. No dashboard, no menus, nothing.
You're new to WordPress, and every fix you find may as well be written in another language.
An update ran and took the site with it, and you swear you didn't touch a thing.
You're locked out of wp-admin, and it just says to try again in five hours.
The developer who built it has gone quiet, and it feels like the site's being held hostage.
You don't have to know which one it is. Naming it is the job. Try the free steps below first, and if they don't work, text us.
What's broken
Find your screen in the left column.
| What you're seeing | What it usually is |
|---|---|
| A blank white page, no error | A PHP fatal error, almost always a plugin or theme |
| The site loads but looks wrong | A theme and core mismatch after an update |
| You can't log in to wp-admin | A security plugin lockout, a changed admin email, or a reset email that never arrives |
| An error 500 and nothing else | A plugin conflict, a PHP version change, or a corrupted .htaccess |
| Everything's fine but the forms stopped | Mail configuration, not WordPress. Common after a host migration |
| The site is showing content you didn't write | Stop reading and get in touch. That's a compromise, not a bug |
Try these first
The free steps, in order.
Number two is the single most useful thing to know about WordPress, and most support pages won't tell you.
wp-content/plugins. WordPress reads a renamed folder as an absent plugin and deactivates it.Longer walkthroughs, one per symptom: the site is down, it broke after an update, locked out of WordPress.
When to stop and call someone
- You've tried more than one fix and none worked. Two problems tangled together take longer than one.
- You're about to restore a backup on a site that takes orders or form submissions. Restoring loses everything since the backup was taken, and people find that out a week later.
- The site is showing content nobody on your team wrote, or your host has suspended it. That's a compromise, and cleanup is different work.
- You're about to edit files over FTP and you aren't sure which one. This is the point where a two-hour recovery becomes a two-day one.
Who else you might call
Most people try the host first.
It usually fails for one specific reason: hosts fix servers, not sites. If the server is running and WordPress is broken, they've done their job and you still have a problem. The plugin author is worth trying when you're certain which plugin it is, and you aren't losing money while you wait.
| Your host's support | The plugin author | A marketplace freelancer | Us | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Will they look at your site | They check the server, not the site | They check their plugin, not your combination of them | After you write a brief describing a problem you can't diagnose | Yes, before quoting |
| How long | Fast, and usually "not us" | Days, and it's free, which is why | However long the back and forth takes | Diagnosis in about 4 business hours |
| What it costs to find out | Nothing | Nothing | Nothing, but you pay in time | Nothing |
| If it isn't their thing | You're back where you started | Same | Refund, and start over | We tell you who it is and what to say |
What we actually do
A WordPress emergency here is an ordinary Tuesday.
Before you text
When we're the wrong call.
You need someone at 2am
Not a 24/7 hotline. About 4 business hours, during business hours. Text at midnight and you'll get a reply in the morning.
You want managed hosting
We don't sell it, and we don't monitor your site unless you're on a retainer.
You're looking for a $50 fix
There are marketplaces for that, and we'll say so rather than waste your afternoon.
Questions we get
What people usually ask.
Not to diagnose. To fix it, usually an admin account, which you create and delete when we're done. We never ask for a password by email.
We take that on. It's different work from a repair, so it's scoped and quoted after the diagnosis rather than priced up front, starting around the cost of a Quick Fix and rising with what we find. Say so early if you suspect it.
Yes, and often that's faster. We hand back a written explanation of what was wrong so they can carry it, rather than making you a client to keep.
Then the fix addressed the symptom and not the cause, and we didn't do our job. If updates keep breaking your site, a retainer costs less than the repairs.
Related
Emergency website repair
The hub, for any platform.
Quick Fixes · $200
One thing, and it can wait two days.
Support retainer
When it keeps happening.