Buzz
Paul, a New York-based freelancer, found himself in a difficult situation when his consulting client, who owed him money, failed to respond. He considered taking legal action. He recalled, I’ll download the contract, and began searching through his inbox for the link to the contract he had signed months ago using the business automation service HelloSign. However, when he attempted to open the document, an error message appeared, and the contract was gone. There was no way to prove the client still owed him.
This situation highlights a vulnerability in our cloud-based world, where we store documents online indefinitely without always having the necessary backups or hard copies for future reference. It turns out the cloud is convenient, but only until the document you need vanishes without a trace.
Paul, who asked for his last name to remain anonymous, mentioned that it took nearly a week to figure out how to get support from HelloSign. Eventually, a company representative confirmed that the contract had been deleted two months after Paul had signed it. Paul was supposed to receive an email notification when the client deleted the document, but he claims that no such notification ever came.
Not only was the contract deleted, but it also had never been signed by the client. “Canceling the request before all signers have completed their portions immediately cancels the contract and deletes all copies,” the email from HelloSign explained. “Unfortunately, the document is no longer retrievable.”
When a cloud contract disappears, some traces of it remain
HelloSign, which was recently acquired by Dropbox, refused to comment on Paul’s situation, stating that the contracts it handles and the storage of those documents are matters “solely between the parties in a transaction,” according to a company spokesperson.
I contacted several other companies offering electronic signature services to determine if their policies align with HelloSign’s.
Adobe Sign, formerly known as Echosign, stated it offers a “comprehensive audit trail that is beyond the sender’s control,” and in some cases automatically sends email copies of documents at each stage of the signing process.
At DocuSign, the document sender has the option to delete the agreement from the system, but doing so triggers a notification to all signers, who can download a local copy before it is removed. Ryan Cox, Vice President of Platform Product Management at DocuSign, explained via email that after a document is “purged,” a record of its existence still remains. “Think of it like how the post office keeps a history of deliveries and related data for a package, even if the package has been delivered or destroyed,” Cox said.
Why did the freelancer proceed with the job if the contract was never completed? Paul explained that he had worked with the client before and they were always dependable. After he signed his portion of the document, the client confirmed receipt and gave him the green light to begin working. When we spoke, his payment was being processed, but the company only responded to his repeated calls and emails after he threatened to file a Freelance Isn’t Free complaint with the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs. This law does not require proof of a formal contract to file a claim for nonpayment.
Now, Paul is cautious. “I don’t trust that [electronic signature vendors] will store the contract. The next time I use one, I’ll download PDFs of the contract,” he said. He has already downloaded copies of all his previous contracts signed through HelloSign and DocuSign.
How to safeguard your electronically signed contracts
Paul’s experience serves as a reminder not to become complacent about documents stored in the cloud, especially if they’re managed by another party. Whether it’s a freelance work agreement, an apartment lease, or a student loan refinance contract, downloading copies of your electronically signed documents should be a routine task you complete regularly.
When an agreement requires signatures from several parties, don’t assume the process will be completed as soon as you sign your part. Depending on the person you’re dealing with, having a signed and finalized contract might not be their top priority.
As highlighted in a recent Tech 911 column by Mytour's Senior Technology Editor David Murphy, if you’re digitizing family photos, you don’t just store them on one cloud service—you also create a local copy as a precaution, and keep the originals in a secure place.
Contracts may not hold the same sentimental value as family photos, but legal and financial matters should be handled with equal care. Think of the copy stored on the electronic signature site as merely a backup.
