123-reg Scam

[easyhostmedia]

Beware of the 123-reg scam.

I have several domains with them and one of the domains was due for renewal on 14th June 2014 and set to manual renew. this was registered and always manually renewed for for a 2 year period.

but yesterday i get a message the domain has been renewed for 1 year. i immediately contacted them to find out what they were playing at. this morning i get a phone all from one of their advisors apologising and stating he would refund me so i can manually renew correctly. fin i thought then i get this email

Dear Sir/Madam,

We write in relation to 123-reg invoice ********, amount 5.99 pounds.

As the amount in question is no longer in our account, the service(s) in question are currently due to be paid.

This being given, we wish to inform you that your 123-reg account has just been suspended. In order for the suspension to be lifted, an administrative fee of £12.50 will have to be paid.

If the claimed invoice will not be re-paid in term of 14 days, by opting to pay using a different payment method, 123-reg will be entitled to permanently remove the outstanding service(s) from your account as per the terms and conditions you agreed to upon creation of your 123-reg account.

If the invoice is in regards to a domain name, the payment must be re-settled within a maximum of 4 days otherwise they will be deleted permanently, due to the nature of these services and the way our registries are managing them.

Should you still require the outstanding service(s) or you have any questions regarding the above, please don’t hesitate contacting us by replying to this e-mail.

Kind regards,
Marius
123-reg

well i blew my top as it was them that messed up and i told them tough they are not getting anything from me so i demand access to my domains so i can move elsewhere. they refused so i called nominet and within an hour of my phone call to nominet my 123-reg account was unsuspended.

Great now i can start to move my domains . WRONG. now 123-reg are demanding £9.99 + VAT (£11.99) to change the IPS tag per domain. even though .uk domains are free transfers

 

[GreenHostBox]

Well this is quite an irony. They said they will refund you but instead bill you more.

 

[easyhostmedia]

Well this is quite an irony. They said they will refund you but instead bill you more.

exactly and even more than 2 years registration per domain.

well they removed the fact of charging per domain for IPS tags, so i could move my domains away, which i moved all my domains away and then their CS manager called me to say they would give me 3 months cloud hosting if i move my domains back. guess their cloud hosting is $74 a month

 

[GreenHostBox]

exactly and even more than 2 years registration per domain.

well they removed the fact of charging per domain for IPS tags, so i could move my domains away, which i moved all my domains away and then their CS manager called me to say they would give me 3 months cloud hosting if i move my domains back. guess their cloud hosting is $74 a month

At least you got to manage to move your domain away If I was in your shoes, I would decline their offer

 

[easyhostmedia]

At least you got to manage to move your domain away If I was in your shoes, I would decline their offer

no worrys, i wont be taking their offer

 

[GreenHostBox]

no worrys, i wont be taking their offer

So this wasn't actually a scam but just a misunderstanding?

 

[easyhostmedia]

So this wasn't actually a scam but just a misunderstanding?

no their system renewed a domain that was not set as auto renew only for a single year, which actually costs more renewing this way. the domain has always been renewed manually for a 2 year period as it was registered. so yes a scam to get more money from clients, but this was the final straw after several issues over the last couple years

 

[DualRack]

That's pretty bad.. Can't you threaten to file a complaint with ICANN? I don't think they can legally hold your domains hostage like that! You may want to let them know about that and see what they say...I think the form you would need to submit is here:
https://forms.icann.org/en/resources/compliance/complaints/transfer/form

 

[NickM]

I would be sure to make a nice review for 123-reg. I'd also like to thank you for posting this as a warning to everyone that may be wanting to purchase a domain through 123-reg.

I would definitely be sure to inform ICANN if you feel you were forced to do something you shouldn't of been. No company can legally hold your property against you.

 

[easyhostmedia]

as they are .uk domains it is Nominet that covers these and they have been reported.

 

[HH-Josh]

Sorry to bump an oldish thread but this happened to me a couple of years back. At the time I spoke to their customer service department over the phone rather than over email. They came to a reasonable resolution with myself, stated I wasn't happy etc and they added £15 credit to my account for the confusion and the inconvenience of it all. Just I'd let you know.

- Josh

 

[dweiruk]

If this happens again I would contact their parent company

 

[easyhostmedia]

If this happens again I would contact their parent company

i did contact Host Europe, who were very helpful and even paid for any fees to move non UK domains from my 123-reg account.

 

[web-project]

just call them, as they do common mistake.

 

[easyhostmedia]

just call them, as they do common mistake.

but thing like renewals etc. are an automated process, so it means their system is failing and causing issues, call them and they just tell you to send a ticket to their domain department./
so i bypassed these monkeys an went straight to organ grinder.