ScottV
Upstate NY
(PART 1)
I learned a valuable lesson last week. My web designer sent me an email with my annual billing and mentioned that I must have let my domain registration lapse in May '13 for the web address on my mini storage business. I contacted Network Solutions my domain registration company and they informed me that I had failed to pay for the renewal in time and they had already sold my website address to a 3rd party company (said 3rd party company happens to be a wholy owned subsidiary of N.W.). I've been a customer of theirs for 13 years and had paid for a 6 year registration back in 2007. They claimed to have sent me numerous emails (to an old email account that I had failed to change about 3 years ago) and when I didnt respond they let the account lapse. I asked them if they had mailed me an invoice or renewal notice via US Mail and they said that they didnt do that any longer.
About 2 hours later the 3rd party company contacted me and a representative by the name of Rajhan said that I could buy back the web address and reinstate it with N.W. for $1,499. Mind you, the normal annual fee for domain registration is $14.99 so they wanted 100yrs worth as a penalty. I offered to pay them $150 and Rajhan, using his broken English, said that their offer was non-negotiable. I respectfully told Rajhan to take his offer, the old website address, and anything else on his desk within reach and jam it as far up his a** as he could!
I learned a valuable lesson last week. My web designer sent me an email with my annual billing and mentioned that I must have let my domain registration lapse in May '13 for the web address on my mini storage business. I contacted Network Solutions my domain registration company and they informed me that I had failed to pay for the renewal in time and they had already sold my website address to a 3rd party company (said 3rd party company happens to be a wholy owned subsidiary of N.W.). I've been a customer of theirs for 13 years and had paid for a 6 year registration back in 2007. They claimed to have sent me numerous emails (to an old email account that I had failed to change about 3 years ago) and when I didnt respond they let the account lapse. I asked them if they had mailed me an invoice or renewal notice via US Mail and they said that they didnt do that any longer.
About 2 hours later the 3rd party company contacted me and a representative by the name of Rajhan said that I could buy back the web address and reinstate it with N.W. for $1,499. Mind you, the normal annual fee for domain registration is $14.99 so they wanted 100yrs worth as a penalty. I offered to pay them $150 and Rajhan, using his broken English, said that their offer was non-negotiable. I respectfully told Rajhan to take his offer, the old website address, and anything else on his desk within reach and jam it as far up his a** as he could!