Locked out of your own Google Ads, domain or website? We get it back in your name.
A previous agency set it up, and now it's theirs. The ad account, the domain, the hosting, the Business Profile. You pay for all of it and can't get into any of it. We find out who actually holds what, ask for it properly, and move it into accounts you control. Then we lock it down so it can't happen again.
Three ways people end up locked out
None of them involve doing anything wrong. Someone helpful set it up under their own login years ago, and nobody thought about it until it mattered.
"They've stopped replying."
You've given notice, or you're about to, and you've just realised the ad account, the domain and the website login were never in your name. The monthly invoices still arrive. The access doesn't.
"The person who built it has vanished."
A freelancer, a mate, a former staff member. The site is live, the domain renews on somebody's card, and nobody in the building knows the login. It works right up until the day it doesn't.
"I'm not sure what I actually own."
You'd like it in writing that the four things your business runs on are in your name, with your card and your recovery email, before the day something goes wrong. That's the cheapest version of this job.
Find it, ask for it, move it, lock it
There's no trick to this. It's knowing exactly what to ask for, asking politely and specifically, and sitting with you while the screens change hands.
Find out who holds what
What we check. The public record first. A WHOIS lookup on the domain, through the Domain Name Commission for .nz. DNS records, to see where the site and email really live. Your Google Ads customer ID, if you have it. Who's listed on the Business Profile.
What you get. A short email, same day: here's who holds each of the four, and here's what we'll ask them for.
Ask, in writing
What we send. A specific request to the old agency, registrar or host: the exact access, the exact account, a reasonable date. Sent from you with our wording, or from us on your behalf with your say-so. You're copied on everything.
What we don't do. Accuse anyone. Most agencies hand over within a few days once asked properly. The script is further down if you'd rather send it yourself.
Move it into your name
What changes hands. Admin on the Google Ads account under your Google login. The domain transferred to a registrar account you pay for. Hosting in your name, or the site moved to a host you pay directly. You as Primary owner on the Business Profile.
How. On a call with you, screen by screen. Nothing passes through our accounts on the way.
Lock it down and write it up
What we set. Two-factor on every login. Recovery email and phone changed to yours. Renewal reminders to your inbox, on your card.
What you keep. A one-page record: what's where, who has access at what level, when each thing renews. Then we remove our own access, or stay on as a manager you can remove any time. If the account needs fixing next, that's a the $595 Audit, and the rescue is free with it.
Four things. Exactly what to ask for.
Most lock-outs drag on because the request is vague. "Can you give me access to the website" gets a polite non-answer. These four cards say what owning each thing actually means, and the one sentence that gets it handed over.
- Ask for the specific thing. Admin access, not "access". The UDAI, not "the domain". Primary owner, not "added to the listing".
- Use your own logins. Every transfer lands in an account with your email, your card and your recovery phone.
- Keep the record. The status column is the deliverable. When all four say recovered, you're done.
The 10-digit customer ID sits under your own Google login with Admin access. Any agency is linked through their manager account, which you can unlink.
"Admin access to the ad account for my email, or the customer ID and a transfer."
The registrant on the public record is your business, at a registrar account you can log into, and the renewal is on your card.
"The registrar login, or the domain's authorisation code. For a .nz domain, the UDAI."
The hosting account is in your name on your card, you hold the admin login to the site itself, and you have a full export: files, database, images.
"The hosting account transferred to my name, plus a full site export and the admin login."
Your Google account is listed as Primary owner of the profile. An agency is a Manager at most, and you can remove them.
"Make my email the Primary owner on the Business Profile."
Usually a week or two. The slow part is waiting for replies.
Nothing here is technical. It's knowing what to ask, asking it clearly, and following up until it's done.
You tell us what's missing
Which of the four, who set it up, and the last email you had from them. We check the public record the same day and tell you who holds what.
The ask goes out
Specific things, a specific date, polite. Our wording, from your address or ours. You're copied on every email, both ways.
Handover, screen by screen
On a call with you. Admin accepted, domain transferred, hosting moved, Primary owner set. You do the clicking; we tell you which button.
Locked down, written up
Two-factor, recovery details, renewals on your card, a one-page record of where everything lives. Then we remove ourselves unless you ask us to stay.
Hi [name], thanks for the work over the past [time]. We're bringing our accounts in-house. By [date, a week out], could you please:
1. Give [your email] Admin access to our Google Ads account, customer ID [if known].
2. Send the UDAI for [yourdomain.co.nz], or transfer the registrar account to us.
3. Transfer the hosting account to our name, or send a full export of the site files and database, plus the admin login.
4. Make [your email] Primary owner of our Google Business Profile.
Happy to pay any reasonable handover cost, and to settle any outstanding invoice first. Thanks, [you].
Short, polite, specific, dated. It doesn't argue about who owns what, because it doesn't need to. Delete the lines that don't apply.
What's yours, what might be theirs, and what's gone
We'll tell you what's normal and point at the clause to check. We're not lawyers, and if this turns into a real dispute over a contract, you need one.
The things that are your business
The domain, if it was registered for you and you paid for it. The Business Profile, which is a listing of your business, not theirs. The Google Ads account and its history, if it's in your name or on your billing. Your logo, your photos, the words you wrote or paid to have written, your customer list. Ask for all of it without apology.
Things they may legitimately keep
Custom code, a theme or a template they built and reuse across clients. Their design files. Licences for plugins and tools bought in their name. And, awkwardly, the ad account itself, if your ads ran inside their account rather than one set up for you. Check your contract for "intellectual property" and "on termination" before you push on these. If it's silent, ask nicely and see.
When we say so, and what we do then
An ad account that was never yours can't be transferred, only replaced. A site built on a platform that doesn't export can't be moved; you can copy the words and pictures out, not the site. A domain registered in the agency's own name that they refuse to release is a slow dispute. In each case there's no charge for the attempt, and the answer is to rebuild with you as owner from day one: a website you own, a Google Ads account in your name.
Recovered into your hands. Not ours.
It would be easy to rescue your accounts into our own logins and become the next agency you can't get rid of. So, in writing, what we won't do and what we will.
Flat fee. Nothing if we fail.
All four assets, or whichever of them you're missing. Free when you book the $595 Audit, because we're in the account anyway. If we can't get something back, you don't pay for that attempt.
Get it back →- Public record and DNS check, same day
- The written request, drafted and sent
- Follow-ups until it's done, or until it clearly won't be
- Handover on a call, screen by screen
- Two-factor and recovery details set to yours
- One-page record of what's where and when it renews
Registrar and hosting fees are paid by you, directly. A .nz transfer with a UDAI is normally free; a domain renewal is what you'd have paid anyway. If the old host won't release the site and it has to be moved to a new host, that's quoted separately in writing before we start. Setting the recovered accounts up properly afterwards is a separate job with its own page and price. $295 covers the access assessment and up to three hours of recovery work across the four assets. Disputes that need longer, or a lawyer, are quoted separately or handed on. We can\'t promise recovery: some accounts were never yours to begin with.
Before you ask
Will this annoy my old agency?+
Probably a little, and that's fine. The request is polite, specific and offers to settle any outstanding invoice first. A professional agency hands over within days; plenty do it with good grace. If yours refuses to let you have your own domain or ad account, that tells you something about the last few years, and it also tells us which official process to use next.
What if they've deleted it?+
It depends which thing. A Google Ads account can't be deleted, only cancelled, and an admin can reactivate it with the history intact. A removed Business Profile can usually be re-verified for your address. A .nz domain that's been allowed to lapse sits in a pending-release period before anyone else can register it, so speed matters; email us the day you notice. A website deleted from its hosting with no backup is gone, and the honest answer is a rebuild you own.
How long does it take?+
The ad account and the Business Profile are usually same-day once the other side responds. A .nz domain transfer with a UDAI is often done within hours; other domain types can take several days under the registry's rules. Hosting depends on the host. The slow part is always waiting for a reply, which is why the request goes out on day one with a date in it.
How much of this is automated?+
Almost none of it. A WHOIS lookup and a DNS check are forms we fill in. Everything else is a person writing emails, making phone calls, chasing replies, and sitting on a call with you while you click the buttons. Which is why it's a flat fee rather than a subscription.
What if the account was never mine?+
Then it can't be transferred, only replaced. The common case is an agency that ran your ads inside their own Google Ads account, which is legal and, to be fair, once was normal. The history stays with them. We set up a new account in your name from day one, with tracking that's yours too. That's Google Ads set up properly, and you don't pay the rescue fee.
Can you rescue Meta, Mailchimp or other accounts?+
Yes, same fee. Meta Business Manager and Page ownership come up most, and the process is the same: find who holds it, ask specifically, move it to your login. If you're planning to run Meta ads afterwards, we'll do the ownership tidy-up as part of that setup.
Get it back
We reply within one working day with a fit check. If it suits you, the reply has the invoice, the access steps and a delivery date. If it doesn't, it says so.
Don't put passwords, customer or patient details in this form. Access, where needed, is granted inside the platform after the fit check. How we handle your information.
$295 incl. GSTGet it back →