# My web host won't help me: what your host should actually do Source: https://dijihost.co.uk/guides/what-your-web-host-should-do/ Updated: 2026-10-18 > Every web host, at any price, owes you a working server, a straight answer about whether their side is at fault, your data on request, notice of changes and a reply from a person. How far into your website they go depends on the plan. dijihost managed hosting covers updates, backups and fixes for £1 a day + VAT. ## Key facts - Every host draws a line between the server and your website; managed hosting moves that line. - Your files, database and content are yours, and a host should hand them over on request. - A good host tells you about planned maintenance and PHP versions being retired before they happen. - Budget hosting is fine for a simple site, but rarely includes debugging plugins or code. - A well-written ticket with exact errors, times and one clear question gets answered faster. - Refused access to your own files, missing backups or a domain held in someone else's name are reasons to move now. - dijihost has no ticket queue or chatbot, monitors around the clock, and costs £1 a day + VAT. ## The line every host draws "My web host won't help me" means one of two things. Either the host is refusing something that is genuinely theirs to do, which is a problem. Or they are refusing something that was never part of what you pay for, which is disappointing but fair. Telling those apart is most of the argument. Every hosting company has a line between the server and your website. On one side: the machine, disk, network, mail service, PHP version and firewall. On the other: your theme, plugins, code, content and shopping cart. Budget and unmanaged hosting draws that line hard, and it is not unreasonable. For a few pounds a month, nobody can afford to debug your checkout. The trouble is the line is rarely explained at sign-up, so you meet it the day something breaks. Managed hosting moves the line. That is the whole product. The host takes on the updates, the backups, the security and the "why has this gone wrong" question, which is why it costs more and why we can talk about your site specifically. Our guide to [managed vs unmanaged hosting](https://dijihost.co.uk/guides/managed-vs-unmanaged-hosting/) sets out the difference. ## What you should get at any price Some things are the floor, and a host that will not do them is one to leave whatever you pay. - **A straight answer about the server.** Not a diagnosis of your code, just a yes or no about their side. If they will not say, that is itself the answer. - **Your data when you ask.** Files and database in a usable form, without delays because you mentioned leaving. - **Notice of changes.** Planned maintenance, [PHP versions being retired](https://dijihost.co.uk/guides/php-version-no-longer-supported/), moves to new hardware. Finding out from your own error page is not acceptable. - **Updates during an outage.** "We know, we are on it, here is the page to watch" beats silence. - **Freedom to leave.** Domain lock lifted, [transfer code or tag](https://dijituldns.co.uk/guides/transfer-co-uk-domain/) provided, access kept until you go. - **A reply from a person.** Slow is survivable. An endless loop of bot answers and canned articles is not. ## What is fair to expect from cheap hosting On a few pounds a month, expect the server to be there, the disk to hold your files, and a ticket queue that gets to you eventually. For a personal site or a page with a phone number on it, that deal is fine. It is not fair to expect someone to read your error logs at ten at night, restore last week's version of one page, find which plugin update broke your booking form, or explain why your emails go to spam. Those are hours of a skilled person's time, and being turned down is not the host misbehaving. That work is what [managed WordPress hosting](https://dijihost.co.uk/wordpress-hosting/) covers. The mistake is not choosing cheap hosting. It is leaving a website there long after it became how customers find you, then being surprised nobody was minding it. Our guide on [whether cheap hosting is worth it](https://dijihost.co.uk/guides/is-cheap-hosting-worth-it/) goes further. Most real problems also start as a mystery: the site is slow, email lands in junk, the cart empties itself. A poor host uses that grey area as a shield. A good one spends fifteen minutes narrowing it down, even when the answer is your side, and tells you what they found. If your host has never once told you something useful about your own website, it probably means nobody there has opened it. In fairness, some requests belong to somebody else: writing content, designing pages, building features, SEO, fixing a bug in someone else's plugin, or recovering data from a backup that never existed. A host can often help, and dijitul has built sites since 2006, but it is separate work with its own price. A host who says so up front is doing you a favour. ## Getting a stuck ticket moving Before leaving, send one properly written message. Most tickets stall because the first person to read them cannot tell what is being asked. - Say what happens, on which page, at what time, and paste the exact error text. - List what you have already ruled out, so nobody sends the article about clearing your cache. - Ask one specific question they can answer, such as "please check the server error log for this domain between 2pm and 3pm today". - If the reply misses the point, ask politely for escalation to someone with server access, in those words. - Keep everything in writing. If it comes to a dispute or refund, the thread is what you have. ## When it is time to go Some signs test your patience: the same fault keeps returning and nobody will say why, nobody answers out of hours when your business does not stop at five, or you spend more time chasing your host than running the company. Others are the fire alarm. You ask for a backup and there isn't one, or it cannot be restored. Access to your own files or database is refused, delayed or made conditional. Your domain is held in somebody else's name and they will not correct it (you can [check who owns your domain](https://dijituldns.co.uk/guides/check-domain-ownership/)). Any one of those is a reason to start moving that week. Leaving is easier than it feels. The domain and site are yours, and a decent host does the moving. We have written out [how to move a WordPress site step by step](https://dijihost.co.uk/guides/move-wordpress-site-new-host/). ## What support means at dijihost There is no ticket system and no chatbot. There is a phone number, **01623 650333**, and an email address, and whoever answers is one of the people who look after the servers. Monitoring is genuinely around the clock, and out of hours Olly, our director, picks it up himself. It is a small UK team who will already know your site. [dijihost Complete Hosting](https://dijihost.co.uk/complete-hosting/) is **£1 a day + VAT** on UK servers, with updates, daily off-site backups, security monitoring and the move itself included. We would rather charge that and fix things before you notice than charge a few pounds a month and argue about whose fault it is. ## FAQs ### What should a web host actually fix for free? Anything on their side of the line: the server, the network, the mail service, disk problems and the software they installed. Beyond that it depends what you bought. Unmanaged hosting stops at the server, while managed hosting is meant to cover updates, backups and the awkward question of why your site is misbehaving. ### My host says the problem is my website, not their server. Are they allowed to? Often, yes, and often they are right. Themes, plugins and custom code are not their responsibility on a basic plan. What they should still do is confirm whether their side is healthy and point you at the evidence, such as the error log. A host that will not even check the log is a different matter. ### Can my web host refuse to give me my website files? They should not, and it is a serious warning sign if they do. Your files, database and content are yours. Ask in writing and keep the reply. If the answer is still no, take a copy through whatever access you do have, and start planning to leave that day. ### Is it reasonable to expect out of hours support from a web host? It is reasonable if you are paying for it, and not if you are not. Many hosts run office hours with monitoring behind them, which suits plenty of businesses. If your website takes orders at nine on a Sunday, choose hosting where a person answers then. With dijihost, out-of-hours problems are picked up by the director personally. ### How do I move away from a host that won't help? Get a full copy of your files and database, make sure the domain is in your name and you can get its transfer code, then let the new host do the move. dijihost moves sites free as part of its £1 a day + VAT plan, so the technical side of leaving is handled for you. ## Pricing and ordering dijihost Complete Hosting is £1 a day + VAT (£365 a year + VAT). Order at https://clients.dijitul.uk/order or call 01623 650333.