Shop Repair & Emergency Support: When It Needs to Be Fast
Shop down, white screen, checkout broken after an update – every hour of downtime costs revenue. We handle the emergency fix, even if we haven't managed your shop before, transparently billed at our EUR 30 hourly rate, no emergency surcharge.
An outage costs revenue and customer trust with every passing minute. Whether it's a failed update, a compromised server, or a broken checkout – in these moments, the priority isn't the perfect long-term solution, it's a fast, clean fix that reliably gets the shop back to taking orders without creating new problems.
This service explicitly also covers shop owners who are not currently under one of our maintenance contracts – you don't need an existing agreement to reach out to us in an emergency. We regularly work on unfamiliar Magento installations whose setup we first learn about at the point of contact, and we have a process built for exactly that: reaching a diagnosis fast even without prior knowledge of your shop.
01
Typical Emergency Scenarios
These are the problems that reach us most often as an emergency request – usually paired with the worry about how long the shop might have already been down unnoticed:
Shop Completely Down / 500 Error
The shop shows only a server error or won't load at all – usually after a failed deployment, a full disk, an expired PHP session configuration, or a PHP fatal error in production. Every minute in this state is a minute without orders.
White Screen of Death
No error message, just a blank, white page – a classic symptom of a PHP fatal error whose output is suppressed server-side (display_errors set to off). Nearly impossible to diagnose without access to PHP or exception logs.
Checkout Broken After an Update
Payment methods disappear, the "place order" button stops responding, or the confirmation page loads forever – often triggered by an extension or core update colliding with an existing payment or shipping module. The shop looks fine at first glance, only actually placing an order is impossible.
Hacked or Compromised Shop
Unknown admin accounts, unfamiliar code in template files, redirects to unrelated sites, a Google "This site may be hacked" warning, or unordered products suddenly appearing in the catalog – this calls for a fast, methodical response, not panic deletions that can destroy evidence.
Database Errors or Corrupted Tables
Failed migrations, aborted indexer runs, or a disk issue can leave tables inconsistent – the shop appears to keep running normally, but orders go missing from the overview, stock levels no longer match, or product data shows wrong prices.
Fallout From a Failed Deployment
An interrupted setup:upgrade, a half-uploaded release, or a forgotten cache:flush can leave the shop in an inconsistent in-between state, where some pages work and others don't.
02
How an Emergency Request Works
Four steps designed to minimize the time between your report and a working shop again:
STEP 1
First Contact & Diagnosis
You describe the issue briefly, ideally with a screenshot or error message. We get access (SSH/admin/FTP, whatever's available) and narrow down the source.
STEP 2
Immediate Action
Enable maintenance mode, secure a backup, then fix the actual problem – priority is getting the shop back online and ordering as fast as possible, even if a deeper root-cause analysis is still pending.
STEP 3
Verification
Checkout, product pages, search and admin are actively tested, not just "page loads again" – to make sure the actual problem is fixed, not just its visible symptom.
STEP 4
Report & Prevention
A short, clear summary: what caused it, what was changed, and what you can specifically do so this exact problem doesn't happen again.
03
What Does an Emergency Fix Cost?
There are deliberately no flat "emergency surcharge" prices – just our normal, transparent EUR 30 hourly rate, as described on our pricing overview. That applies outside normal business hours too: no weekend or night surcharge that surprises you on the final invoice. For orientation, typical effort levels based on similar cases we've handled before:
Problem
Typical Effort
Estimated Cost
Configuration error, cache/index issues
0.5 – 1.5 hrs.
from EUR 15
Extension conflict after an update
1 – 3 hrs.
from EUR 30
500 error / white screen, cause unclear
1 – 4 hrs.
from EUR 30
Hacked shop (cleanup & hardening)
3 – 10+ hrs.
from EUR 90
Corrupted database / data recovery
Varies
By effort
Initial diagnosis (narrowing down the cause, estimating effort) is usually possible within the first half hour – you get an estimate before we proceed with the actual repair. Billing is based on actual minutes worked, never rounded-up flat blocks.
04
Emergency Repair vs. Maintenance Contract
Both offerings solve different problems, and many clients end up using both – first the emergency fix, then the prevention:
Emergency Repair (this page)
A one-off emergency fix with no ongoing contract. Ideal when your shop is currently broken and you need fast help – whether or not we've managed it before. You only pay for the actual repair time, nothing beyond that.
Maintenance Contract
A monthly package with security patches, monitoring and guaranteed response times – prevents emergencies proactively instead of fixing them after the fact, and already includes a monthly support allowance. See Maintenance & Support.
Many clients start with an emergency repair and then move to a maintenance package from EUR 89/month – so next time doesn't become an emergency at all. The repair already performed doesn't count against the new contract's allowance; it stays a separately billed, one-off service.
05
Common Causes – and How to Prevent Them
Almost every emergency we see traces back to one of a handful of structural gaps in hindsight – rarely a single operator mistake:
What usually triggers emergencies:
Updates deployed straight to production with no staging environment to test first
No or outdated backups before major changes to the system
Long-unpatched extensions with publicly known security vulnerabilities
No monitoring to reliably flag an outage immediately
Credentials that haven't been rotated in years
What actually prevents them:
A staging environment where every update is tested first
Automated backups regularly tested for recoverability
Uptime monitoring with instant email or SMS alerting
Regular rotation of admin passwords and API credentials
06
Why mironsoft in an Emergency?
10+ years of Magento experience means we've likely seen most emergencies before, often in a very similar form for a different client. We work directly on the system, not through multi-tier ticket queues, and keep you updated transparently – even if a fix takes longer than initially hoped.
Direct access to an experienced Magento developer instead of a first-level support desk
Transparent communication throughout the repair, not just at the end
No upselling or cross-selling during an emergency, just the actual fix
Experience across common hosting environments (Plesk, Docker, shared hosting), not just one single setup
Documentation of every change, so a later developer can understand what was repaired
Shop Broken? Reach Out Now.
Tell us briefly what's not working – we'll get back to you promptly with an initial assessment.
No. We take on emergency repairs for shops we haven't previously managed – we just need temporary access (SSH/admin) to get to work.
How fast do you respond?
Usually within a few hours on business days. Clients with an existing maintenance package get guaranteed, faster response times.
Is there a flat fee for the repair?
No, deliberately not – we bill transparently at our EUR 30 hourly rate, no emergency surcharge. After the initial diagnosis, we give you a realistic estimate before continuing.
What if you can't find the cause right away?
As a first immediate measure, we typically enable maintenance mode or restore the last working state, so the shop stays online while we analyze the actual root cause.
Can I sign up for a maintenance contract afterwards?
Depending on the issue, admin access is enough; for deeper problems we also need SSH or FTP access to the server. We'll tell you exactly what's needed during the first contact.
Do you work on weekends or at night?
By arrangement, yes, at the same EUR 30 hourly rate with no weekend or night surcharge. Reach out as early as possible so we can give you a realistic estimate of when we can respond.
What happens if the repair takes longer than estimated?
We reach out as soon as it becomes clear the original estimate won't hold, and explain why, before further hours accrue. You're only ever billed for actual time worked, never a rounded-up flat fee.