Accessibility guide
An email says my website fails accessibility
Facts checked Oct 8, 2026
If an email says your website fails accessibility, don't reply or pay yet. Forward it to whoever built your site first.
Check the official rules. Rules and dates change, so check them with the official sources before you rely on them: ADA.gov (the US Department of Justice), the W3C's WCAG pages and Section508.gov. PageKiwi helps you find problems and get closer to meeting the rules. It can't promise a website meets them, it isn't legal advice, and we can't take responsibility for decisions made from it.
What these emails usually say
Many website owners get emails like this. They often say a scan of your site found a number of accessibility errors, that your site isn't ADA compliant (meeting the Americans with Disabilities Act), and that the sender can help. Some come from companies offering audits or repairs, some from people selling a product, and some are scams.
Whoever sent it, the right first step is the same: stay calm and check before you act. Accessibility matters, and a real problem is worth fixing. But one email doesn't tell you how big the problem is, or who should fix it.
What one automated scan can and can't tell you
Most of these emails are based on an automated scan: software that reads a page and lists likely problems.
- It can spot some real problems quickly: pictures with no alt text, links with no words, form boxes without labels, text too faint to read.
- It can't judge things only a person can: whether alt text describes the picture, whether the site works with a keyboard alone, whether captions match what's said.
- It can be wrong both ways. Scanners, ours included, sometimes flag things that are fine and miss things that aren't.
- A count of errors isn't a measure of harm. One missing label in the header shows up on every page, so 200 errors can be one fix.
The US Department of Justice says this in its guidance on web accessibility: a "clean" report doesn't necessarily mean everything is accessible, and a report with a few errors doesn't necessarily mean there are barriers. The W3C, which writes the accessibility guidelines (WCAG), says evaluation tools can't determine accessibility, only help a person do so.
So no tool can certify that a website is "100% compliant", and an email that promises it is promising more than any scan can deliver.
Forward it before you reply
Send the email to whoever built or looks after your website: your web person, or your website company's support team. Many website companies already scan their clients' sites and can tell you quickly whether the findings are real, already fixed, or about the template they look after.
- Don't click links in the email or open attachments until you know who sent it.
- Don't pay or sign anything on the strength of the email alone.
- If it's from a lawyer or mentions a lawsuit, talk to your own lawyer before you reply. For a town, county or school, that's your attorney or legal counsel.
Send this to your web person
Not sure what to say? Copy this into an email, add your website's address, and send it.
Hi, We've had the email below saying our website, [your website address], fails accessibility checks. I haven't replied or clicked anything in it. Could you take a look and tell me: - Are the problems it lists real, and are any already fixed? - Which are in the template you look after, and which are in content I add? - Is there anything we should fix first? I'd rather fix real problems than buy anything we don't need, so your view would help before I decide whether to answer it. Thanks [paste or forward the email here]
Check the claim yourself
- Run Accessibility Check on the page the email names, or your home page. It's free and lists problems in plain words, with where each one is.
- Read Accessibility scanner findings explained to see what each finding in the email means, and whether it's yours to fix or your website company's.
- Fix what's yours, like alt text and "click here" links, and send the rest to whoever looks after the template.
Our check gets things wrong now and then too. Treat it as a second opinion, not a verdict, and tell us if something looks off.
Scam, sales pitch or fair offer?
Plenty of companies offer honest accessibility audits, and some emails are a fair offer of help. A few signs say slow down:
- A rush: "act within 48 hours", "final notice", a countdown.
- Fear: a lawsuit is coming unless you buy today.
- A promise of "100% compliant" or a certificate. No tool can make that promise.
- One fix for everything: a single line of code or a widget said to solve it all. See accessibility overlays and widgets.
- An invoice for work you never asked for, or a request to pay by gift card, wire transfer or cryptocurrency.
The Federal Trade Commission's advice to small businesses fits here: scammers create urgency and fear so you act before you can check, so don't let anyone rush you to pay. Search the company's name with the word "scam" or "complaint" first. If you think it's a scam, report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Spot scam emails about your website has more checks.
If you decide to talk to them
A fair offer will stand up to a few plain questions:
- Which pages did you check, and when?
- Was it an automated scan, or did a person test the site, with a keyboard and a screen reader?
- Which standard did you check against? (WCAG 2.1 or 2.2, level AA, is the usual one.)
- Can you send the full findings, with where each one is on the page, before I agree to anything?
- Which findings could be false alarms?
- What exactly would you fix, how long would it take, and what does it cost?
Compare the answers with what your web person found. Then decide.
Checking a claim calmly is part of making your website accessible. Website accessibility: where to start, with the tools that help and what the law asks.