Guide · Fixes
WordPress fixes: the small things that break
The most common failures, what usually causes them, and where the line falls between what counts as upkeep and what becomes a project.
What breaks most often
A site rarely goes down completely. It drifts in small places, and each of those faults ends up waiting weeks because nobody knows who to hand it to.
The form stops sending you anything
The most frequent, and the most expensive. A form that has stopped delivering may produce no visible error at all. Sometimes the problem only surfaces after a missed enquiry. The cause is almost always upstream of the form: a mail plugin that was updated, an email setting that was lost, a spam filter that got stricter.
The layout has slipped
Spacing that doubled, an image that overflows, two columns sitting on top of each other. This usually follows a theme or page-builder update. The content is intact; the way it is displayed has changed.
Something has been wrong since the last update
The easiest case to solve when you know what was updated, and the longest when everything was done at once. That is why updating in batches changes everything.
Two plugins contradict each other
Two plugins that each worked on their own start getting in each other’s way after one of them moves on. The symptom is often odd and intermittent: a function that works every other time, a field that empties itself, a display that depends on the page.
Something displays badly, but only on a phone
Cut-off text, a button you cannot reach, a table that forces sideways scrolling. These faults go unnoticed for a long time because people rarely reread their own site on a small screen.
One thing needs changing, and nobody knows where
An address in the footer, opening hours, a phone number that appears in three places. It is not a failure, it is a change, but it drags for the same reason: you have to know where to go.
Fix, change, project
Three words often used for one another, when they in fact decide how the work is billed.
A fix restores what was working. The form sent email, it no longer does, we put it back.
A change alters what works. The text was correct, you want a different one. Nothing was broken.
A project builds what does not exist. A new feature, a redesign, an integration with another system.
The first two are upkeep and come out of the included time. The third is quoted separately, with its own schedule. We set out exactly what upkeep covers.
Worth remembering
The useful question is not “is it complicated”, but “did it exist before”. If it did, it is upkeep, even if the repair takes time. If it did not, it is a project, even if the addition looks small.
What comes out of the included time
Every plan includes a monthly amount of change time: thirty minutes, two hours or five hours. Updates, backups and checks are never counted against it. They are part of upkeep.
To give a sense of what that time represents, replacing two photos and correcting three pieces of text fits comfortably in an hour. Repairing a form takes more, because most of the work is finding the cause before fixing it.
When a request risks going past the included time, we tell you before we start, never after. You then decide whether to wait for next month or open a block of hours.
Stop letting these things drag
You write down what you need, the request carries a number, and you can follow it.
Request coverageWhat falls outside upkeep
Developing a feature and redesigning the site are projects. That is the most common boundary, and the easiest to state.
Two other situations fall outside the scope for a different reason: they belong to another trade. A security weakness, an intrusion or a vulnerability analysis belongs to Repère Security, which works under its own written authorization. A Quebec Law 25 gap, a consent banner or a privacy policy belongs to Repère Québec.
If your site is down right now
Two different situations, and it is better said plainly.
If you are already a client, write to us: a site that is down goes ahead of everything else. The Priority plan guarantees a same-day reply on weekdays. On the other plans we do our best and tell you where things stand.
If you are not, we are probably not the right call today. We do not do one-off emergency work: our job is following sites over time, which means knowing them before something happens. For an immediate outage, an emergency repair service will be faster than us.
In the meantime, do not rerun updates and do not deactivate things at random: every extra move makes the cause harder to find. Write down what was done last. That is almost always where the answer is.
Common questions
How long does a fix take?
Depending on your plan, you hear back within three business days, within one, or the same day on weekdays. A small fix is usually done right along with the reply. Cases that require finding the cause take longer, and we tell you what we find as we go.
What if the problem comes back?
A fault that returns is not the same fault: it is a sign the cause was not addressed. Those cases get solved by going further upstream, often to a plugin that needs replacing. The work stays within upkeep.
Do you fix a site you did not build?
That is the most common case. Coverage starts with a review of where the site stands and a catch-up pass, precisely so we know the ground before working on it.
So it stops
happening.
Regular upkeep does not eliminate incidents. It makes them rare, and quick to untangle.
Request coverage