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Published on
4/7/26
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5 min
Linkeo is a communication agency operating throughout France, offering website creation combined with SEO services. The agency's business model is very frequently mentioned in testimonials from merchants and artisans who describe long-term contracts that are difficult to exit. Here's what can be verified, based on court decisions and corroborated testimonials.
No, strictly speaking: websites are indeed delivered, and the agency has existed since 2000. The documented problem lies elsewhere, in the contractual model used to sell these sites.
Linkeo operates with a subscription system backed by external financing companies, a setup identical to professional equipment leasing. The so-called "one-shot" sales method, where a salesperson tries to secure a signature on the first contact without allowing time for a careful review of the contract, features in a list of about thirty agencies cited for this type of practice. A testimonial published in late 2025 clearly illustrates the pattern: a client recounts losing all their organic search ranking within 8 months and being faced with a firm 4-year commitment when trying to cancel.
The advertised upfront price starts at €960 for creation, but the actual cost borne by the majority of clients mentioned in testimonials far exceeds this advertised price, once the leasing installments are factored in over the entire contract duration. For a simple showcase website, the total amount observed among several professionals approaches €21,000 ex-VAT over the full term of the commitment, including financing fees.
To compare this setup to an approach without hidden monthly fees, our 2026 budget breakdown for a website redesign details each expenditure item.
Because the client never owns the website, only leases it, and the contract is structurally designed so that it cannot be terminated before its term without penalty.
A detailed article describes this mechanism precisely: contractual durations of 36 to 60 months, tacit renewal clauses that are barely visible in the general terms and conditions, and penalty clauses requiring immediate payment of all remaining monthly installments in the event of early termination. The website remains hosted on proprietary technology, which complicates any migration to another provider once the contract is broken, a point that contrasts with an approach like WordPress to Webflow migration, specifically designed to remain reversible.
Key takeaway: with a leasing contract, the client remains the renter of their website for the entire commitment period. The day the monthly payments stop, the website disappears, just like with a Yellow Pages subscription. This point, more than the price itself, structurally differentiates this model from a traditional service where the client owns their website upon delivery.
The judicial record is mixed: Linkeo has lost at least one case for breach of its contractual obligations, but has also prevailed in other disputes where judges ruled that the agency had fulfilled its commitments.
In a decision dated April 11, 2016, the Paris Commercial Court ordered the judicial termination of the contract at Linkeo's fault for breach of its obligations towards a client company. The court ruled that the service contract and the lease contract assigned to the financing company constituted a single, indivisible economic operation, which allowed for the rejection of the demand for payment of the remaining lease fees and the reimbursement of sums already paid, plus €3,000 in damages for non-material harm.
Conversely, in a ruling dated November 8, 2019, the Paris Court of Appeal ruled that Linkeo had fulfilled its contractual obligations in a dispute concerning website SEO. This type of outcome serves as a reminder that for natural referencing (SEO), an agency is only bound by an obligation of means, not a guaranteed result, a nuance detailed on our SEO consultantpage.
The first step is to send a registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt detailing the observed breaches, before considering amicable and then legal remedies if necessary.
A traditional agency without a leasing arrangement allows you to remain the owner of the website upon delivery, without mandatory monthly payments over several years.
At Easyweb, every showcase website delivered belongs entirely to the client, with no associated lease agreement. The same principle applies to a website redesign : ownership of the site and domain name remains entirely with the client. For any questions about a contract already signed elsewhere, our team based in Paris can help you evaluate your options, or you can directly get an estimate via our quote generator.
Unfortunately, this type of practice is not isolated in the industry. If you want to compare it with another documented case, our review of SoLocal details similar customer feedback on contracts that are difficult to exit. And if you are currently choosing an agency for a new project or a redesign, our guide on how to choose your agency and budget for a website redesign lists the key points to check before signing, precisely to avoid this kind of situation.
