I just lost a domain at webmasters.com because it expired. It expired because I did not receive any notice. webmasters.com tell me that they have send me 4 emails about the expire of the domain, they have probably send them to a wrong email address. All the emails to that domain stays on my server and I have used the same server all the time. There are emails to the address from others from long before the expire date so nothing has disappeared and I dont use a spam filter. And now webmasters.com say that if I pay them $150 they will give me my domain back. Thats very close to black mailing I think, webmasters.com are not showing any kind of good business culture here when black mailing me for $150. But they will of course pay for their stupidity. I have 115 domains for my clients accounts there that will expire in the next 10 months. It will be a pleasure to move that domains to namecheap. for what I know that are domains that will stay on the net as long as I live so webmasters.com will lose about $1000 every year. Thats what happens to greedy people. What goes around comes around! Not to mention that DP is good for ranking, so this thread will rank in Google and so on for webmasters.com This is what I like with the internet. If you screw somebody its easy for somebody to screw you back.
You generally update your own account email address into a registrar's system, so there's always the possibility that you typed it wrong, and that it wasn't their fault.... It's also not blackmail if you agreed to it in their terms before doing business with them to begin with. If nothing else, at least you've hopefully learned something from it... keep a running list of your domains, their expiration dates, registrar, and login details, so you never get surprised like that again.
I have been checking and double checking and triple checking because I know that normally errors is my own fault. But not this time. There is nothing about $150 in their terms. Thanks jhmattern. That third line there is full of wisdom.
It's not ranking in Google yet but I'll keep checking. ha I haven't had anyone blackmail me like that but I've had hosts blame every problem on me.
How long had the domain expired.? Usually there is a 30-day redemption period. After that they are allowed to charge extra. Enom does it, they charge $160, I believe
The grace period is 40 days for the majority of the registrars. Different extensions have different prices.
The domain expired some months ago. They are allowed to charge yes, but they dont have to. thats a big difference, there are no extra fees for them, that $150 is straight into their pocket.
You see that they claim to have send me 4 emails witch they did not send me, this is the problem. They could easily fix the problem by letting me buy it again for a normal amount of money. But they are greedy and use the opportunity to charge $150. The domain itself is worth reg fee. If their policy is to exploit their customers, well... its their loss in the end.
At the same time, you have responsibilities as a business owner / webmaster too... to keep track of your obligations and deadlines. An email from a host is a courtesy; not really a requirement. Does the situation suck? Yes. Live and learn.
That's why I love godaddy, becaus you can set your domain to get auto renew. I'm pretey shure you can buy that domain at some other company or at least you can backorder it. It would be cheaper.
wow!!!! that sucks .....guess you should have paid for your domain name. I have been with webmasters.com for years and never once had an issue. They treat me with the up most respect I deserve. I guess for the simple minded people you should keep better track of your bills. Go Webmasters.com keep up the great work.
Hi mr Bensonoff, so you finally got around to comment. Reminds me that I have to post this at webhostingtalk.com and a couple of other places.
I don't see the point you already got your answer. You're trying to make someone look bad when you forgot to renew a domain and now you need to deal with the fee's associated with renewing a domain that is now in limbo. I see the post on WHT already: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=629336 Seems people feel the same way over there as well.
sorry.... dont know mr bensoff im just a geek who reads forums and pays attention to my bills. I do agree with jhmattern tho, for someone to be in this type of business you have to know where and when otherwise hire someone else to keep track. No hard feelings just viewing my opinion.
My problem is not the expiration, thats my fault, the problem is that webmasters.com now charge me $150. The problem is also that webmasters.com claims to have send me emails when I have received nothing.