A dispute between a tire sales company and its IT service provider ended with a costly lesson for the customer, complaining about a site that had become too slow and a loss of visits after migration.
It is often said that the customer is king, but when it comes to migrating a website and natural referencing, things are sometimes more complicated. The company CB Motors found itself paying quite significant costs in a case opposing it to its IT service provider. In a judgment rendered on October 4, 2023, the Paris commercial court ruled in favor of the service provider, who was accused of having failed in the migration of the tire seller’s website.
A migration of the website which, from the client’s point of view, seriously impacted its natural referencing
At the start of 2021, the company CB Motors (CBM) called on the company Yateo, a communications agency specializing in website design and natural (SEO) and paid (SEA) referencing, to ensure the migration of its platform to a dedicated site, whereas the latter was until now shared with other users. Which caused some malfunctions at the time.
The migration of the site, costing 7,860 euros including tax and carried out one month after signing the contract, did not satisfy CBM. Three months after the transfer, CB Motors has not noticed the slightest improvement in the activity of its website, nor in its natural referencing. The second migration will not change anything: CBM then complains of a notable drop in its commercial activity, slowness of the site and points out the damage to the model and the corruption of certain data.
But the court, which had to determine whether these deteriorations were due to Yateo’s errors or not, ruled in favor of the latter company. The reasons for the decision are interesting…
The client finally sentenced by the court
The court considered CBM’s grievances, including the continued slowness of the system. He concluded that the initial contract did not cover this aspect, given its low amount. Yateo had, moreover, proposed a “ front slowness audit ”, which was ultimately not realized. The opinion of the new host, OVHCloud, tipped the scales in favor of the provider. The company indicated that “ the disks are not efficient enough for your activity », which proved that the slowness of the site after migration was not attributable to Yateo.
Regarding the damage to the module and the deterioration of natural referencing, the judge investigated the causal link. It found that CB Motors had commissioned another company for a technical audit, which could not prove that migration was the driving factor in the loss of traffic. The court noted that Yateo did not have a mission in terms of SEO, since CBM had directly refused a proposal for assistance in this regard.
The court ruled that Yateo had to incur costs to assert its rights, and thus ordered CBM to pay it 5,000 euros in damages. CBM was also denied all of its requests, in addition to the order for reimbursement of legal costs incurred by its service provider. The note is steep, but it highlights the importance of prudent management of IT contracts, the clear definition of responsibilities and obligations, as well as effective communication between the parties, to avoid costly litigation.
Source : Legalis
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