Opinions Please

[tinner666]

From elsewhere. First I'd ever heard of this kinda scamming. Or is it something other than scamming?

" I read a post by a guy bragging about how he runs his Hosting business. I want you to be aware of this because it's just a scam, and it limits your ability to change hosting companies and take your name with you.

You should always buy your domain name (i.e. xyzroofing.com) in your own name or your company's name. Don't ever allow someone else to buy it for you and attach it to a hosting deal. Make certain that you are the "owner" of the name and are afforded all the rights to it.

Essentially what this guy does is this: A customer calls him and says they want a website designed and hosted. He asks what they would like their website name to be and then he orders it. He sets up the site per the customer's order, then charges $10-$25/month for the site to be hosted on his server. Now here comes the catch. $10-$25 is way too much to be paying for web hosting anymore, so when the customer calls him and wants to change to another host, he literally tells them that they will have to go buy another domain name because he owns that one. Then when they don't pay their bill, he takes down their site and they lose their email addresses. The worst part is, in place of the site, he puts up a page that says, "This site has been removed due to non-payment. If you are the owner of this site, please pay your invoice."

Now this does a couple of things. If you are the contractor, and have been placing this website information on your literature and in your ads, you are basically being held hostage. If a potential customer visits your site and sees this page, you lose your credibility.

He goes on to talk about how if the customer wants to buy the domain name, he charges them hundreds, even thousands to get it back."

[Bill Roy]

This is consumer law, and will differ from State to State let alone country to country. Generally I think the person running the Hosting company could well end up feeling the courts rath on this one (and rightly so). If he intends to mislead the client, which by not telling them they 'are not the owner' and plannining in advance to charge them way over the top for 'their' domain registration then I think courts generally will take a dim view of this practise (having said that their is a company not far from me who basically does the same thing).

It is a case of educating the public that this is not the only alternative. I know I have affected the turnover of the company near me by letting people know it does not cost approx. $100 to register a .com for two years! But then again he can retail his 'service' at whatever price he likes.

As to the problem for customers of the compny in the OP I would suggest they contact BBB if in the States or even try the courts, especially if he has put such a notice up and yet they had cancelled, this would be an expensive lesson for the hosting company.

[tinner666]

Are you an attorney? I want to C & P this where I heard it, and if you're an authority, that would be nice. Thanks for your reply.

[Bill Roy]

Frank, sorry, I am not an attorney.

If this is happening in Virginia (taking that your location is given as Richmond) then you could contact the Attorney Generals office (link), they may well be able to point you in the right direction. But also try your local BBB, I doubt if generally they would be in favour of such business practices as it could well occur to their members.

Also wherever you found this information go back and take screen shots of it ASAP as evidence. Also as you feel strongly about this (and again rightly so IMHO) you could try and see if you could find some of the people/businesses he has done this to and act as a hub for them to contact each other for them possibly to form a group to fight this.

Hope this helps.

[tinner666]

Thanks. I C&P'ed and let it loose over there. A friend had posted this and is trying to remember which site it came from. I can think of 2-3 places it originated from.

[Acro]

Therefore, never allow others to register domains for your sake - also, pay your bills on time

[jberryhill]

never allow others to register domains for your sake

Amen. This sort of situation is pretty common.

[tinner666]

Amen. This sort of situation is pretty common.

I'm sure it is. I hope the Hosting issue isn't common though.

[jberryhill]

The entire setup is common. I see about four or five of these a year come across my desk. Some web developers and Hosting companies do this as a matter of course.

[RTM.net]

Indeed - as mentioned above this is such a classic (and still exercised) trap scheme. We actually built our Hosting business in part helping out customers in the late 90s who had fallen victim to this kind of tactic.

Always make sure that YOU (or your client) is the official registrant...

The sad fact is that the end user often drools (and is caught up) over the prospect of 'free hosting' or 'free domain' or... what have you.

Rob