Ecommerce rescue
Ecommerce platform gone wrong?
We take over ecommerce systems that have become unreliable, difficult to maintain or abandoned by their previous developers.
What we take on
The situations we’re called in for
Failed development projects
A build that overran, was delivered half-finished or never launched.
Broken checkout
Orders failing, payments taken without an order, or errors only some customers see.
Unreliable integrations and API failures
Stock, orders or prices drifting out of step with the ERP or warehouse; expired credentials, rate limits, retired API versions.
Outdated code and difficult upgrades
Unsupported PHP or platform versions, updates skipped for years, customisations that stopped working when Shopify Scripts stopped running on 30 June 2026.
Abandoned by the agency
No response, no handover and sometimes no access to the code, hosting or accounts.
Slow websites, app and plugin conflicts
Slow pages and a slow admin, timeouts at peak, two extensions fighting over the same data.
Unexplained errors and security issues
Intermittent faults nobody has traced, unpatched software, admin accounts nobody recognises, code that shouldn’t be there.
Undocumented custom functionality
Business rules that exist only in the code, written by someone who has left.
How a rescue runs
Stabilise first, then improve
- 01
Secure access
Domains, hosting, code repositories, platform admin and third-party accounts brought under your ownership, and full backups taken before anything changes.
- 02
Triage
Problems ranked by what they cost the business: checkout, payments, orders and stock first; the cosmetic later.
- 03
Stabilise
Fix what’s breaking, and add monitoring so we hear about the next failure before your customers do.
- 04
Document
What exists, how it’s deployed, where the business rules live and what depends on what.
- 05
Plan
A written list of improvements in order of value, and an honest view of whether the platform should be kept. Usually it can be.
Getting started
What helps us start quickly
- Whatever access you have: platform admin, hosting, code repository, domain registrar
- Who built the platform, and when they were last involved
- What’s broken, what has already been tried and what it’s costing
- Any deadlines: a sale, a season, a contract renewal
Don’t have access to some of it? Tell us anyway. Recovering ownership of domains, hosting and platform accounts is often the first job in a rescue.
A platform that is losing orders is triaged ahead of planned work. Tell us how urgent it is when you get in touch, or call +44 (0)303 666 5485.
Straight answers
Questions we’re asked at the start
Do we need to rebuild?
Usually not. Most inherited platforms can be stabilised and improved where they are. Where rebuilding is the better answer, we’ll set out why in writing before you commit to anything.
Can you work on code another agency wrote?
Yes. That’s most of what a rescue is. We read it before we judge it.
Will you keep the platform we’re on?
That depends on what we find, not on what we prefer to work with. We recommend the platform that fits the business.
What happens after it’s stable?
That’s up to you. Some clients take the documentation and move on; others keep us for ongoing development.
Next step
Something on the platform has gone wrong?
Tell us what’s happening, what has already been tried and who has access.