The Domain Registry of America just doesn’t get it. Answers my complaint with a sales pitch!
I’ve had physical junk mail from the UK subsidiary of the Domain Registry of America in the past, and binned it immediately.
Quite apart from the fact that I don’t deal with unsolicited mail from companies that can’t even be bothered to find out my real name, and that I won’t pay extortionate fees to a company that preys on more novice Internet users, I’ve read plenty about the underhand tactics of the DRA.
For those who don’t know, the DRA write to domain name owners, offering them a renewal on their domain name. Their mail does appear to make it a little clearer now that if you sign up with them, you switch control of the domain to them. In the past they’ve made their letters look like invoices that had to be paid…
Anyway, this morning I received more junk mail about two domain names that expire in September this year. I’d never move from my current registrar, particularly as DRA’s renewal prices are extortionate, in my view.
So I decided to complain. Here’s my email to them, making it quite clear that they are potentially breaking UK law, and that I want my details removed. It’s not eloquent, but it is clear enough:
Hello,
Please can you tell me why your UK operation continues to spam me with “offers” about renewing domain names that I own?
I have asked for details to be removed, and therefore your UK subsidiary is breaking UK mailing preference laws.
I would be grateful of a swift response to this request, and an assurance that your operation in London (SW7 4UB) will no longer send unsolicited mail.
All my domain name renewals are handled through a reputable UK-based registry. I will NEVER use your services, so please stop wasting paper and destroying the environment by sending worthless pieces of paper.
Please confirm your intentions by return email. Failure to do so, and continued unsolicited mail from yourselves, will result in legal action being taken against you.
Thank you
Andy Merrett
However, they seemed to use their reply as a further opportunity for a sales pitch:
Hello,
Thank you for your email.
The mail that you received is an offer from our company. It outlines our prices and services and asks if you wish to renew the domain name with us.
The domain registry industry was deregulated which allows customers to renew their domain with any company they wish. Look over our prices and decide for yourself.
Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us using the information below.
Gilbert
Technical Support Department
So, Gilbert, what you’ve done is:
- Tell me what your spam letter has already told me (I KNOW what the letter is about, I just don’t want it)
- Not responded to my request to remove my details from the database, nor explained or answered my questions.
- Failed to read my second to last paragraph, and so countering “I will NEVER use your services” with “Look over our prices and decide for yourself.”
- Proved yourselves to be an incompetent, cowboy operation that doesn’t listen to the complaints of people you’ve sent junk mail to.
If there was even a smidgen of a chance that I’d have used your services, then I certainly won’t now.
Absolutely pathetic, Gilbert.
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May 14th, 2007 at 11:59 am
[…] The Domain Registry of America just doesn’t get it. Answers my complaint with a sales pitch! […]
November 30th, 2007 at 9:38 am
Hi,
I had a similar experience. My sister-in-law renewed through them as she thought there was a ‘danger’ that her domain was going to expire. This transferred the domain away from her existing suppliers, which resulted in the old account being canceled. No website. No email. No login detail to manage domain!
After weeks of writing emails and getting no response, i did finally get a response form the same ‘Gilbert’ who told me that the website wasn’t hosted with them, contact the previous supplier - information i already knew!
I finally managed to get through to them on the phone and explained the situation. Sent a fax with proof of address etc. Waited. and waited. phoned them a few days later - hadn’t received the fax, apparently. Sent again and waited for their promised call back to confirm receipt. No call back. Lost patience and called them back - it had arrived and they had changed my email address as the admin contact and had apparently emailed me the new access code to manage the domain. I asked what email address they had sent it to - the wrong one! Eventually i did get the password and access. I have now been trying to move away from DROA, but they ‘lock’ you in for 90 days, so you cannot transfer away.
I have phoned to explain the situation and this whole thing has cost the company lost of money with no website and no email during the busiest summer period - one guy just laughed and called my sister-in-law stupid for not reading the small print. They even admit it is a con when you speak to them and that they are fully aware that people have been complaining about them since 2002. The Federal Trade Commission even closed these guys down in 2003 stopping them from trading - they are again now though!
Avoid like the plague!
January 7th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
A solution with DRA is to send back their envelope for payment filled with journal paper but without affixing any postage stamp and without your personal address. If they want to know the content of the envelope, they must pay for the tax. And we can hope they will receive thousands of unfranked mails.
February 20th, 2008 at 10:32 pm
[…] I’m not the only one who has a complaint with their deceptive letters. There’s plenty of examples by searching in Google. Why I’d want to move away from my current registrar is beyond me. I pay about £8 a year for the domain they’re trying to get me to move, when they’d charge £18. Then there’s the five year deal they offer, which is double the price of the ten year offer I can get from my current registrar! […]
March 25th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Similar experience here a few weeks ago — very depressing. I got an email (see below) while I was in the process of renewing a domain for my daughter’s school.
Domain registration/site hosting is baffling to most people — I can easily imagine people getting tricked into transferring.
Can’t quite understand why this isn’t illegal.
……………………………..
Hello Sam Dutton,
>
> The transfer and renewal of your domain name, ravenstoneschool.com is
> not yet complete at this time.
>
> Reason:
> ——-
> 1) The Domain name is currently in a “REGISTRAR-LOCK” status with your
> current registrar NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC
> 2) We require that you provide us with an EPP Key/Authorization Code
> from your current registrar
>
> In order to complete the transfer and renewal, the “REGISTRAR-LOCK”
> status needs to be removed and an EPP Key/Authorization code needs
> to be obtained. Please see below for instructions on achieving
> this.
>
> Solution:
> ———
> - Log into your account with your current registrar, and change the
> status of your domain, ravenstoneschool.com, from “locked” to
> “active”.
>
> - Then look for the EPP Key or Authorization Code.
>
> Alternate Solution:
> ———
> - Call your current registrar, NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC (see phone
> number below) and ask them to remove the lock status of your domain
> name, give you your EPP Key, and allow the transfer to Domain
> Registry of America.
>
> - Once done please notify us that you have done so, by clicking on the
> link below, or calling our toll-free number below.
> https://namejuice.com/agree.asp?e=1&o=1563067&p=2749072
>
> We will then re-attempt the transfer and renewal of your domain name.
>
>
> As a convenience, we have supplied your current registrars phone
> number below.
>
> Domain: ravenstoneschool.com
> Current Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC Registrar Phone Number:
> Please visit their site to contact them
>
> Transfer Department
> Domain Registry of America
> Toll free 1-866-434-0212 or for International Callers, dial
> +1(905)479-2533