I had a contractor working on a project for several months and we used Miro to collaborate on everything. After finishing the work and paying them, I asked to have the board ownership moved to my account. They said they would handle it but apparently never did.
Now they’ve gone ahead and deleted the entire workspace with all our project materials and conversations from months of work. I tried reaching out to get it restored since Miro has that feature, but they’re ignoring my messages completely.
Miro support won’t help me either since technically it wasn’t my workspace. Has anyone dealt with something like this before? What options do I have legally speaking? We had a proper freelance agreement and confidentiality terms in place. This is in UK jurisdiction if that matters.
Been through the exact same thing with a graphic designer who nuked our entire Figma project over a payment dispute. The frustration is absolutely real when you’re left with just screenshots and whatever you saved locally. Honestly, lawyers are rarely worth it unless your project’s worth several thousand pounds. What actually saved me was my business insurance - professional indemnity sometimes covers third-party data loss. Check your policy. Your confidentiality clause might be your best weapon here. If those deleted boards had sensitive business info, the contractor probably breached their duty of care by not transferring data properly before deleting everything. Document everything NOW while it’s fresh - specific board names, content types, creation dates, the works. Here’s something nobody thinks of: hit up Miro again, but don’t frame it as an ownership dispute. Call it a business continuity issue and try their enterprise support instead of regular customer service. Sometimes different departments give completely different answers.
that’s harsh, dude. I had a similar prob with some design stuff too. ur contract is key here; if it states the work is ur property, you might have a case. maybe try one more formal email about the breach b4 gettin a lawyer involved.
This is exactly why I automate handoffs and keep everything under my control from day one.
You’re dealing with a nightmare that proper workflow automation would’ve prevented. Don’t rely on contractors to manage critical project assets. Set up automated systems that sync all collaborative work to your own storage and documentation.
For future projects, automate continuous backups of shared workspace content, sync discussions to your project management system, and create regular snapshots of collaborative materials. Even if someone deletes the original workspace, you’ll have complete copies under your control.
Automation also handles contractor offboarding by transferring asset ownership and revoking access automatically - no manual handoffs that clearly don’t work.
Yeah, you could pursue the legal route others mentioned, but the time and cost probably isn’t worth it unless we’re talking serious money. Better to prevent this mess entirely with proper automation next time.
I’ve seen this exact scenario multiple times. Teams that automate their contractor workflows never deal with this kind of data hostage situation.
Latenode makes setting up these protective workflows straightforward without needing technical expertise.
This situation involves both intellectual property rights and the issue of data retention. Your contractor may be in violation of the confidentiality terms established by deleting shared work without a proper transfer protocol.
Legally, in the UK, you have several courses of action. If the claim is under £10,000, you can consider pursuing this in small claims court. Prior to that, it would be wise to send a formal demand letter citing breach of contract and insisting that they restore the lost materials.
It is crucial to review your agreement to understand ownership rights concerning collaboration materials. Ensure you document every interaction—payment receipts, attempts to communicate with the contractor, and any relevant correspondence.
Furthermore, check if your business insurance covers losses related to third-party data. Many solicitors offer free consultations for contract disputes, which could provide insight into the viability of your case.