Pool Domain Marketplace Ripoff

[bigfishion]

The Pool Domain Marketplace is the biggest waste of time and money I have come across in the Domaining industry.

They completely mismanaged the placement of two domains I tried. They didn't list them as promised. They didn't advertise them as promised. When the auctions ended and I requested the return of a domain as they had promised, they didn't do that either. Instead, my domain is now pointing at the Pool parked page and earning them income instead of my own parked page. I cannot change the DNS settings because Pool.com says the domain is being run through NameScout.com (Pool's registrar partner), but when I go to NameScout to make changes, my account says I have no domains registered there!

I can't believe I not only paid for this abuse, but I'm now losing additional income from the click-through revenue I'm not receiving.

How can Pool continue to advertise and accept domains for the Marketplace when they are clearly unable to manage it?

[Onward]

I only use pool if I HAVE to....period. I just do not like the way they do business...The time is ripe for a better marketplace to sell names...than places like pool who seem to care little about the domainer...and more about how they can squeeze every last drop.

[Rebel.com]

I believe the transfer fees are covered by your listing fees, you do not need to pay for a transfer or extend the domain you simply need to acknowledge the transfer. If the domains do not sell there is no obligation to keep the domains at Namescout or pay any of Namescout's fees.

[bigfishion]

When I requested to have a domain returned to my registrar, the domain's DNS was instead changed to Pool's nameservers, and I am now losing click-through revenue.

[Rebel.com]

You will not be billed any transfer fees from Namescout.com. The cost of these transfers are included with your listing fees

I believe this confirms what I posted above and answers your question. I understand this to mean that you will only be charged $20 in total.

Pool.com is sister company to Rebel.com and after my original post above I confirmed 100% that you are not billed anything more than your $20 listing fee. This fee covers the listing of the domain AND the transfer to Namescout.com which also extends the domain by one year. Should the domain not sell you are free to transfer it to any registrar of your choice, you are not required to keep it at Namescout.

If you have any further questions or concerns please feel free to post them here or PM and I would be happy to clarify things for you.

[NostraDomainus]

With all do respect, I ask...

Does Rebel.com/Pool.com care to address the perception of them not caring about people, and just profit, as many have remarked about time and time again over the years?

That is not to say Pool doesn't care about people and just profit - but it's a perception. One espoused on this and other Forums many a time.

While I have had my share of not-so perfect interactions with Pool, instead of assuming malice, I would prefer to simply have Pool communicate their position on the matter, and maybe tell us, it's customers, what they are doing to improve their perception towards integrity.

Thanks in advance for your reply!

[Rebel.com]

Rebel.com has always been a customer focused registrar. With regards to Pool.com what many may not be aware of is that significant staffing changes have happened both in the Customer Service Department and at the management level. I've been involved in Pool.com's sister companies for 8 years and have recently started getting involved at Pool as well and I can tell you that our number one concern is to provide the best customer service possible. We are well aware of the perception that has been built up over the years and our focus now is to change this perception.

Pool is currently undergoing many changes to the actual platform and services which will be introduced in the near future and they have added several experienced and customer focused agents to the Customer Service department.

Pool.com's CEO regularly responds to threads on all forums which you never would have found in the past with previous management.

If anyone has any issues with their Pool.com account please feel free to PM me and I will do everything possible to help out as I did with this thread.

[NostraDomainus]

Thanks for the reply Rebel.com!
I appreciate and respect your spirit of communication.

...our number one concern is to provide the best customer service possible.

I wouldn't expect any less from a good Canadian company!

We are well aware of the perception that has been built up over the years and our focus now is to change this perception.

Like Domainaholism, admitting there is a problem is the first step and 1/2 the battle. As just one Pool member, hopefully on side with all Pool customers when I say - We support your decision to seek impovement thru positive change. (Sidebar: Please excuse my lame attempt at humour, as I won't quit my day-job (maybe switch it, but won't quit it). )

Pool is currently undergoing many changes to the actual platform and services which will be introduced in the near future and they have added several experienced and customer focused agents to the Customer Service department.

Pool.com's CEO regularly responds to threads on all forums which you never would have found in the past with previous management.

I look forward to seeing Pool's evolution and wish you and all your new and old staff the best of luck and success in all your endeavours to attain greater customer service.

Your CEO sounds engaged and approachable - excellent qualities imo for success.

If anyone has any issues with their Pool.com account please feel free to PM me and I will do everything possible to help out as I did with this thread.

Thanks for your openness and availability! You are a shining example to how business and people can get along. (Sidebar: My Pool issue was never resolved (to my satisfaction anyways), but it is from years ago and I have accepted the loss as a part of doing business with the old Pool (it never stopped me from doing business with Pool, I just did less).

I look forward to increasing my business with a more customer-focused Pool.com, as I watch your forthcoming improvements come thru to fruition.

~ May the Drops be with You!

[actnow]

I only use pool if I HAVE to....period. I just do not like the way they do business...The time is ripe for a better marketplace to sell names...than places like pool who seem to care little about the domainer...and more about how they can squeeze every last drop.

I was one of Pool's first customer.

Richard and Jason can say they want Pool/Namescount/Rebel to be the best in customer service.
But, as long as Rob is the owner, nothing will change.

Over the years, I have done this a couple times.
I stop dealing with them because I knew I was being screwed. Then, I go back 6 months to a year later.
And, then I say "why did I do that?"

At this point, I totally avoid doing any business with them.
It's not worth it.

[stewie]

Whatever ever happen to the Dutch Auctions at Pool???

[Pool.com]

Hey actnow, I appreciate you may have histroy with Pool.com that has not met with your expectations, but I am personally committed to making sure our business practises and procedures meet with customer expectations on an ongoing basis. And to be frank, I will make mistakes, I'm only human. BUt I am committed to responding to peoples requests and making sure problems are rectified. And in that process, identifying areas where our products and services can be improved.

Jason has commentd on ongoing changes and while they may apopear as baby steps, I can assure you Pool.com is evolving.

I would welcome any comments you have and encourage you to feed back directly to me as you see appropriate.

Richard (CEO Pool.com) richard@pool.com

[Rebel.com]

Thank you all for the comments good and bad, without these comments we cannot improve.

Stewie, the dutch auctions were provided for a random selection of domains that were acquired during the drop and which could be deleted prior to the end of the add/grace period if they did not sell. The recent changes in deletion penalties eliminate the possibility of drop domain dutch auctions. We still offer the dutch auction "model" to customers who may wish to list a domain for a minimum price but have the sale start at a higher value.

If you have any other comments or concerns please let us know and we would be happy to address them for you.

Cheers,
Jason

[bigfishion]

I logged into my account (starting with "N-DJ"), and it states I do not have any registered domains. I just sent the screen dump to NameScout of that page.

I requested a username/password confirmation for another account I have there (starting with "big") and when I tried to login, the system said the account does not exist! Why can NameScout send me an email with the username/password, but when I try to use them, it doesn't recognize them?

Is this enough evidence to clearly establish that NameScout/Pool is worthless?

[Rebel.com]

I responded to this issue privately when you PM'dme but since you decided to post publicly I'll respond here as well. I had Namescout's system send me the exact same account login email you were sent today and when I attempted to login to your account I was logged in without issue and your domain was there to administer.

Please ensure you enter the information exactly as it appears in the email and you are logging in at http://www.namescout.com/master/login.asp

If you continue to have issues please email Namescout customer service and they would be happy to address the issue which is likely browser related as I have already confirmed the login details and account are both functional.

[Gerry]

I completely quit using them after a name I won, no one could find!

Two weeks later, I call their office and am basically told, "tough luck!". They said it was not their concern where the name was because they only make the sale.

Miraculously, when I told them I would be calling AmEx to dispute charges, the registrar contacts me.

More than 2 weeks after the purchase, I finally know where the domain is.

Never again.

And no need for Richard or anyone at POOL to PM me because it is a done deal.

[bigfishion]

It is strange that the username/password suddely works when I received a second username/password request email with a "N-" master username that I didn't request.

In any case, this doesn't make up for NameScout changing the nameservers from my existing ones at parked.com to Pool's when it took the domain out of the Domain Marketplace.

In addition, how can I transfer my .eu domain out of NameScout? I don't see a way to request an authorization code for that domain like I had for the .com domain.

After all of this, I don't want to have anything to do with either NameScout or Pool.

By the way, it is absurd to read Pool's comment that "I can assure you Pool.com is evolving."

Yes, it is, and at our cost!

[Rebel.com]

EU domains do not use the auth code system in order to transfer thus no auth code button for the domain in your account.

If you need further assistance please contact Namescout.com customer service and they would be happy to help you. service(at)namescout.com