123-reg.co.uk Scam

Spamfilter

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] I'd had my eye on a .com domain for about a year... I already had the .co.uk version and really needed the .com to launch my product globally. The expiry date of the .com was early Nov and with fingers crossed, I hoped the current owner chose not to renew. Which I was thrilled to say, became the case...

So, worried that I may miss out on the purchase of this domain, ie someone get in there before me, I paid 123-reg.co.uk £15 plus VAT to secure the domain as soon is it became free. I already owned a number of domains through them so trusted 123-reg would look after this task..

Therefore imagine my surprise when not only did then not secure the domain, but allowed it to be bought by a US company who, I guess, seeing I owned the .co.uk are now offering me the.com $150!! I'm being held to ransom. So what I am to do?

I emailed 123reg customer services [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]wanting an explanation as to what went wrong[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] and am being ignored... I have also asked for a refund of the £15. Which again, has not be actioned. To be honest I'm pretty unhappy with them..

So at the moment I have little choice but to pay $150 for this domain, I will then have registrar it with this (dodgy) domain provider at another cost... then to add insult to injury, I have to wait 60 days to transfer is over to my account 123-reg, should I chose not to leave them.

123-reg have dreadful customer service and I would stay well away from them, especially if your business depends on reliable and trustworthy action.

As a note, see below, a cut and paste of the wording regarding the agreement they made with me in exchange for my cash:

"Is the .com, .net or .org domain name that you wanted already taken? With 123-reg.co.uk you can now proactively watch domain names, and have them registered as soon as they expire, are deleted, or become available for any reason.....

[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]For just £15 +VAT each (or buy 10 and get one free) you can set up your Domain Watcher, and we will track your domain for a whole year and secure it for you when it becomes available."[/FONT]


Lying Gits..

rwinslow

There is no way for a registrar to be guaranteed to register a domain name after it becomes available.

The central registrars for domain names do not have a, ok, the domain is available, please, you can register this now.

Systems to get a domain when it is available work by checking with the registry at a set frequency and asking, can I have this domain, no, ok, will try again later.

If different people sign up with different companies, to register a domain, then each will be trying and one will get lucky.

Your domain company may refund the fees, but you have to understand that even if you are not successful they are your agent and performing checks for you working on your behalf. In this case, you did not get lucky.

On the other side, the registrar that had the domain name may not after it was not renewed put it back to being a public available domain, seeing some interest they may renew and pay for the domain name to sell it themselves as auction or similar.

Really, there are no guarantees, all people can do is wait, try, see if you get lucky.

jennikitten

It's not a scam, but they haven't made it very clear. I wouldn't hold your breath waiting to hear back from them, but if you don't hear back from them during working hours then it's worth pestering via twitter.

$150 might sound a lot, but to be honest these companies will stop at nothing, sometimes raising prices to thousands and thousands if they think they have a chance of selling. If this company provides a contact (rather than a direct checkout system), then email them to negotiate. You may as well try negotiating anyway, particularly if it's a specific name that's only going to be useful to you as they know they won't get any money off it elsewhere.

Finally, if you aren't happy with 123-reg then there's no reason to stick with them. There are plenty of hosts out there offering the same thing cheaper or the same price, with better customer service.

Spamfilter

Thanks for your thoughts you two

I guess the issue here is the wording... I felt reassured that they would have no problem securing this domain for me, I mean, why wouldnt I? It makes it quite clear..

I have just checked my support query on the 123-reg.co.uk site and they have closed my ticket without any communication with me! Very bad customer services.... I guess they know they are in the wrong and are too ashamed to resolve the issue. I realise they cant make this domain appear in my account, its clearly lost unless I wish to now go with company b and pay the $150. But a polite apology and refund of their fee is not much to ask..

Is it?