ADA demand letter guide
This page is the order of operations. It's not a sales page, and we won't tell you that buying something today makes the letter go away.
Before anything else
Not us, not your web developer, and not the company that emailed you about this yesterday. Pick someone who has handled web accessibility claims. Their first read tells you whether it's a bulk mailing or something more serious.
If you have business insurance, tell your broker today too. Some policies cover these claims, and some require you to report them quickly.
We're a web accessibility team, not a law firm. Nothing on this page is legal advice.
The first week
The 'not this' side matters more. Most of the damage in this situation is self-inflicted.
01
Note when the letter arrived and any deadline it gives. Keep the original email or envelope. Everything after this runs on that timeline.
NOT THIS
Don't ignore it and hope. An unanswered letter is the one most likely to become a lawsuit.
02
They'll tell you what you're dealing with, what the deadline really means, and how to respond.
NOT THIS
Don't reply yourself, even to be helpful. An email agreeing your site has problems can't be taken back.
03
Take a full backup and dated screenshots of the pages the letter names. You want a record of the site as it was.
NOT THIS
Don't take the site down or delete pages. It doesn't undo anything, it can look like hiding evidence, and it costs you customers.
04
Letters usually describe barriers in general terms. You need the specific problems on your site, how serious they are, and how long they take to fix.
NOT THIS
Don't let the letter set the scope. Some list issues your site doesn't have and miss ones it does.
05
A dated record of what you found, what you changed and when helps your lawyer. It also fixes the site for the people who couldn't use it.
NOT THIS
Don't install an accessibility overlay as a quick fix. It's the most common expensive mistake at this stage.
Read this before you buy anything
Soon after a letter arrives, you'll likely be offered a script you paste into your site that promises to make it accessible, often with a "compliance guarantee".
These widgets don't change your site's code. They try to patch the page as it loads. Screen reader users have campaigned against them for years, and businesses running them still receive demand letters.
In 2025 the US Federal Trade Commission ordered one overlay vendor to pay $1 million over claims that its product could make websites WCAG compliant. That's the same claim you're likely hearing now.
We don't sell overlays and won't install one. Here's the full record.
What usually happens
Your lawyer will tell you which of these applies to you.
Volume
A lot of demand letters come from a small number of firms working from automated scans of many sites. That doesn't make them baseless, since the barriers are usually real. It does mean yours probably isn't a targeted investigation of your business.
Resolution
A common outcome is a negotiated settlement that includes a commitment to fix the site within an agreed period. Your lawyer handles that part.
Remediation
But a fixed site with dated evidence of the work puts you in a much better position than one that hasn't been touched.
Repeat
The same automated scans keep running, so sites that got one letter sometimes get another. The lasting answer is a site that doesn't fail those scans.
The order we'd suggest
If they do, follow their advice.
They tell you what you're dealing with, what the real deadline is, and whether and how to respond.
Not usStart with a free scan to see whether the basics are failing. If there's real legal exposure, a manual audit gives you and your lawyer a complete, documented picture.
We can do thisAnything that stops people buying, booking or contacting you comes first. Your own developer can work from the report, or we can do it.
We can do thisDated before-and-after scans, a list of what changed, and a plan for anything left. Your lawyer will want it.
We can do thisSites pick up new issues every time someone adds a page or updates a plugin. Monitoring tells you within days, not in another letter.
We can do thisHonest limits
If you want our help
$0
See whether the basics are failing on a page in minutes. It won't answer the legal question, but it's the first fact you can show your lawyer.
From $1,500 per site
A tester checks the WCAG criteria scans can't, and you get a documented report for your lawyer. The right start if you've had a letter.
From $799 per site
We fix the root causes in your site's code, on any platform, and re-scan to prove what cleared.
Questions
Almost certainly not, and ask your lawyer before you do anything like that. Taking the site down doesn't undo the time it was live, it costs you business, and removing pages the letter names can look worse. Take a backup and dated screenshots instead.
No. The letter is a legal matter for your lawyer. Fixing the site changes the facts underneath it: a fixed site with a dated record of the work is a much better position than an unfixed one. Anyone who says their product makes a claim disappear isn't being straight with you.
Have your lawyer read exactly what it covers. These guarantees usually promise a contribution toward legal costs under conditions, not compliance, because no software can deliver compliance. In 2025 the FTC ordered an overlay vendor to pay $1 million over claims its product made sites WCAG compliant.
On our side, the scan is free, a manual audit starts at $1,500 and fixes start at $799. You get a fixed quote before any work starts. Legal costs are separate and usually larger, so budget for them.
Yes, and it's often the most useful thing we do. We give them a plain technical account of what we found, what we fixed and when, and what's left. We don't advise on the claim itself.
Yes. We scan, audit and fix sites on any platform, including Shopify, Squarespace, Wix, Webflow and custom code. If we can get a staging copy or the code, we can fix it.
Free scan, no signup. Then talk to your lawyer with facts, not guesses.
