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Today’s blog post takes a look at how you can come unstuck if your rent or licence your practice website rather than purchase it outright.<\/p>\nToday’s blog post takes a look at how you can come unstuck if your rent or licence your practice website rather than purchase it outright.<\/p>\n
Perhaps too often, we’ve seen dentists trip up over the small print of web design and maintenance contracts; so here we take a look at another example of how this can happen and the problems which result.<\/p>\n
Forewarned is forearmed, so please watch out for this scenario when you sign up for a new dental website<\/a>.<\/p>\n A dentist recently called us for advice following a recommendation he’d received about our services, coupled with disenchantment with his existing supplier. He basically wished to transfer his website to our safekeeping following numerous problems he’d experienced with his supplier, together with escalating monthly costs. Other marketing services he’d been promised had not been delivered, even though he’d waited patiently for a number of months for projects to be completed; so he decided to cut his losses and move.<\/p>\n Having discussed what we understood to be the background with the dentist, we opened discussions on his behalf, with the intention of moving his website and email from the existing supplier across to our infrastructure. We’ve done this on numerous occasions previously and typically it’s straightforward, however this time, it proved not to be the case. Almost immediately the supplier wrote to the dentist re-iterating that he was actually just “licencing” his website and that he didn’t actually own it or the content. It was made clear in no uncertain terms that any attempt to transfer or use the website would class as copyright infringement. The poor dentist could not even access his domain name as this was controlled but the supplier.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We discussed the situation with the dentist who was just as surprised as us that he didn’t own his website. They advised him that what he’d actually paid at the outset was a “reduced” fee and that the monthly fee he was now paying was effectively for “licensing” and hosting. It also became clear that the same website template was being licenced to other dentists – so not even unique.<\/p>\n Checking back to the small print of the contract, the client realised that he’d signed up to the contract although he believed it had not been explained to him at all. He had actually paid quite a lot of money in the first place and a considerable monthly fee for what he assumed was website maintenance and hosting; not “licensing” as became clear too late.<\/p>\n At this stage we had to withdraw from the discussions as we could not assist in any dispute about whether the contract was actually fair or not. However, we were able to offer a complete new start with a new website as an alternative. This will pay for itself very quickly versus what the dentist is paying now – and importantly, he’ll also own his website!<\/p>\n Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n Whether via tricky web design contracts or onerous ongoing maintenance agreements, there are numerous ways a dental marketing agency may try to lock you in to contracts which may well prove to be disadvantageous. So it really does pay to seek out a full explanation and read the small print.<\/p>\n If you are confused about what marketing or website services you are being offered, whether they offer good value and are free from expensive lock-ins, please call the Dental Media digital marketing<\/a> team for assistance. We’re available for no-obligation advice on 01332 672548<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Avoiding onerous, tie-in contracts Today’s blog post takes a look at how you can come unstuck if your rent or licence your practice website rather than purchase it outright. Perhaps too often, we’ve seen dentists trip up over the small …<\/p>\n