Digital work has the same protections as physical work
People assume software is a grey area. It isn’t. A website build, an app, a data migration, or a transcription job is a service — and for consumers it carries the same Consumer Rights Act 2015 protections as a plumber’s visit: reasonable care and skill, reasonable time, and delivery matching what was described. The Act also covers “digital content” directly, requiring it to be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose, and as described.
Business-to-business projects sit under contract law and the supply-of-services principles rather than consumer law, but the practical evidence-and-escalation playbook is almost identical.
Common digital-delivery failures and what they mean
- Non-delivery: the deadline passed and nothing usable was handed over — a clear breach of “reasonable time.”
- Broken delivery: the site or app was delivered but doesn’t function as specified — a breach of “as described” and “fit for purpose.”
- Partial delivery: some milestones done, others abandoned — you owe for what works, not for what doesn’t.
- Failed migration: data moved incorrectly or lost — often the most damaging, and explicitly coverable.
Your recovery playbook
- 1Freeze and document: keep the contract or brief, the spec, all messages, and evidence of what was (or wasn’t) delivered — screenshots, error logs, the repository state.
- 2Withhold unpaid milestones: never release payment for milestones not delivered to spec.
- 3Demand a re-do in writing with a firm deadline — the provider is entitled to one reasonable chance to fix it.
- 4Chargeback or Section 75 if you paid by card and they refuse.
- 5Platform service guarantee: if the project ran through a platform that covers failed software delivery, claim against the signed receipt for the fastest resolution.
- 6Small claims or contract action for the balance if all else fails.
Why milestone receipts matter so much in software
Software disputes are notoriously messy because “done” is subjective. The defence against that is a signed record of the agreed specification and milestones. When a project runs through a Gera platform, each booking carries a signed action receipt capturing the agreed scope and the warranty cap, and the Action Warranty includes dedicated cover for failed software delivery, broken website delivery, and incomplete data migration — each capped and claimable. That converts a vague “it’s not what I wanted” argument into a concrete “delivery did not match the signed scope” claim.