dotster Dotster AWOL? WTF?

[Mr.Domains]

Is there anyone from Dotster here, or does anyone have a contact at Dotster?

They appear to be AWOL...

Monday morning I had a bunch of domains at Dotster expiring. I logged in, selected them all to renew, and used PayPal as my payment method. Everything was normal, I completed the transaction, and was presented with a Dotster screen saying there had been a problem with my payment, and it didn't go through. So I logged back into Paypal and sure enough I had made a Payment to Dotster for $150, my card has been debited, and the money has left my account and been credited to Dotster, I have the receipts and everything.

So I log back into Dotster and submit a support request, sending them all the information and a copy of my receipt, the transaction number, etc, and then nothing...

The following day I login again, submit another trouble ticket, and wait... nothing...

Day 3, all my domains have expired, I login again and submit a 3rd trouble ticket, and still no response...

What do I do now? How do I get my domains back? Do I need to take legal action against Dotster to recover my domains?

Will they still renew the domains I have paid for, now that they have expired, or will they tell me it's too late to do anything, even though it's there fault?

Has anyone else been in this position? What happened?

Thanks...

(Oh, and DON'T USE DOTSTER EVER!!!) :upset:

 

[Mr.Domains]

Oh crap! I just read that there is a possible Class Action Suit pending against Dotster for taking money but not renewing domains, authorizing transfers etc.

Check this out: http://dotsterclassaction.com/

I also read that Dotster are quoted as threatening to delete accounts for people who contact support too much, as they consider this abuse and can delete under T&C's!

Is this the next RegistryFly !?!

(I have all my best domains with Dotster...)

 

[katherine]

Is this the next RegistryFly !?!

Fond memories...

 

[DomainsInc]

i had a lot of problems with them, similar to yours. i had to call in numerous times to get anything done. i am moving all domains out. though in my case it was with mydomain.com, they're all the same company.

 

[crazyd]

What do I do now? How do I get my domains back? Do I need to take legal action against Dotster to recover my domains?

What I would do if I were you is to transfer any domain out that you are at risk of losing. Of course I am assuming that these domains are manageable in your account, as this had been another issue as well. Dotster allows 30 days past expiration to renew the domain or transfer the domain out. However, I would transfer-out any premium domain name before the expiration date, just to be safe, even if you have already paid for the Dotster renewal for it which did not renew it. Then you can work out with Dotster at your leisure (more accurately, at THEIR leisure) how much they owe you for the failed transaction(s). It only takes 1 day to transfer domains out because they have the quick-release confirmation email now which is sent out about 2 pm EST daily.

In short, cover your best domains and deal with the other domains as time goes on. I would advise you to submit tickets to Dotster rather than use their phone support, as the Tier 1 phone support cannot do much anyway (however they might be able to direct your ticket to the right department which could get your issue resolved sooner).

I had 600 domains with Dotster and I almost have everything out of there now, with only a few left. Sometimes in life you just have to run for the hills and GTFO.

 

[crazyd]

 

[Raynelle S.]

[FONT=&quot]Dotster is dedicated to providing our customers with reliabledomain name registration and website management services. Our team is committedto delivering an outstanding customer experience, and we realize the serviceswe’ve delivered do not live up to our customer -- or our own -- expectations.We are working diligently to improve performance and functionality. You cancontact me at [email protected] oryou can call 1-800-401-5250, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Sincerely,[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Gary Engel[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Senior Vice President Customer Service & Sales[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]DBNR[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Raynelle Sibel[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Executive Response Team[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]

 

[crazyd]

Thanks Gary, well, here are some issues that I can think of that could use addressing:



1. It is not possible to remove Privacy from our domains. If you try to,
you get an error message. Domains on the old platform had Dotster PrivacyPost privacy
which became EIG's privacy service on the new platform (Domainprivacygroup.com).
This privacy cannot be removed without creating a ticket to do so. You have
to remove the privacy before a domain can be transferred out due to the fact
that the privacy email is not a direct mailer to the admin contact (human
verification is required).

2. The restrictions on domain whois are too restrictive. If you push a domain to
another Dotster account and that domain does not have the same admin. contact email
on it as the email of the receiving account, that domain becomes unmanageable in the new
account and a ticket needs to be submitted to fix it. No other registrar that I know of does this.

3. We are being sent whois verification emails way too often. My other registrars
don't do this as much. It worries me because the emails are always sent on my
best domains.

4. In general, Dotster technical support is not competent nor are they being educated
about the Dotster platform. For example, on the issue (2) above, I have had agents tell
me that the domain(s) need to be transferred in to Dotster, which is not the case at
all. Technicians are not doing the most basic things needed to tech the issues
at hand. I know this because I used to work for a major ISP as a tech support agent.

5. I am worried about the security of our domains with Dotster. I have heard stories
of people calling customer support and getting access to domains without the proper
verification. For this reason, I have moved all my valuable domain names out.

6. The problems caused by the transition have cost me many hours that I could have spent
doing something productive. In all of this, I have not received one apology from anyone
at Dotster, and I think an apology to the customers is long overdue.


Reseller Account problems
----------------------------

1. Reseller accounts have been very messed up since the transition. Resold
accounts are not able to register domain names at the pricing that the Reseller
specifies. Results vary per domain extension, but for .COM domain names, the
pricing is hardcoded as $22 no matter what price is specified by the Reseller.

2. If the Reseller changes his pricing structure for his customers, he will lose
the pricing he previously had for his master account too and apparently cannot
get his old pricing back.

3. Domains can no longer be pushed from Resold accounts to main Dotster accounts,
which is an inconvenience. On the old platform, this was possible.

 

[Raynelle S.]

Thank you for taking the time to put together this feedback, crazyd. I apologize for the frustration you're experiencing and want to let you know that we take your concerns very seriously. We also appreciate your practical feedback.

Regarding #1, this item is a bug impacting a small percentage of domains that we are working on resolving.

For #2, the domain WHOIS restrictions issue, we're currently investigating this issue to determine in what circumstances it occurs. For #3, thank you for the feedback - our platform change last year may have created one extra notice for a limited set of customers. Future notices are sent once per year for each domain.

For #4, I'm sorry your recent experience with our Support agents didn't live up to expectations. We strive to provide top notch customer support, and we have some of the brightest, most committed customer support agents in the world. I hear your feedback however and will take it back to our team. For #5, we work very hard to maintain strong security measures that we believe meet or exceed the industry's highest standards.

Regarding the three reseller issues you list, fixes to #1 and #2 are in process and will be resolved in short order. For #3, we will be addressing this inconvenience and resolving it.

Please email me anytime regarding your Dotster account as I'd like to follow up on your specific issues. Again, thank you for your feedback.

Best Regards,
Gary

 

[crazyd]

Thanks Gary for touching on these points I made.

Unfortunately, for my case, I've already taken my business elsewhere and my 600 domains are now with Godaddy. Further, I won't use Snapnames anymore because of the risk that Dotster may catch the domain I have backordered.

I will mention that I realize that nothing in this business is constant and always smooth sailing. For instance, I used to be extremely adverse to Godaddy going back to the days where they charged $50 to push a domain, but as the years went on, they continued to improve to the point where I decided to move all my domains there. Dotster is not the only registrar that I will no longer do business with, others include Enom and Moniker. Whereas Enom and Moniker used to somewhat meet my expectations, I simply won't use them anymore for reasons I won't go in to here. So I realize it's a fluid space as it were, the business changes, ownership changes, and there are economic constraints with any business much less the domain registration business which is historically a low-margin business. And then there's that old adage that you can't please everyone. Hopefully, with some focused attention to the issues that matter most to Dotster customers, you can retain most of the customer base through these trying times. Dotster customers are good people, I know many end-users and domainers who are Dotster customers. They deserve the best! Here's to the continued success of Dotster and a hope for better times down the road.

Best wishes, CrazyD.

 

[Mr.Domains]

Our team is committed to delivering an outstanding customer experience...

Then how about responding to support requests and trouble tickets, once in a while? :?:

4 days without so much as a "we have received your support request and will look into it in our own sweet time..." automated response gives the impression we are dealing with a deserted or abandoned office your end...

For everybody's info, I did get the matter resolved, but not because Dotster bothered to respond to my trouble ticket. After 4 days of no response my wife, (who has infinitely more patience than me), called them up because she could see I was getting angry. After an expensive 30 minute international phone call, the 11 domains that I had already paid for got renewed... :upset:

 

[ras0314]

I have the same issue in mydomain.com

I have tried so many times to renew my domain by paypal & creditcard before my domain expire, but it did not work~

I create some tickets in their Support System before and after my domain expire



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

But it just say sorry~

I don't know~

mydomain.com let my domain expired~and now it hold it in their company~

I don't know why it do not get my domain back to my account~

My English is not good but I want my domain
SXXT~

 

[crazyd]

I have the same issue in mydomain.com

I have tried so many times to renew my domain by paypal & creditcard before my domain expire, but it did not work~

I create some tickets in their Support System before and after my domain expire

If you actually let a domain expire out of your account because of this, I'd say you're to blame despite your not really being to blame. LOL if you know what I mean. In other words, when things are obviously going wrong then CYA. You could have transferred this domain out for $1 with a Godaddy coupon and had it out of there in 24 hours.

 

[dcristo]

Then how about responding to support requests and trouble tickets, once in a while? :?:

4 days without so much as a "we have received your support request and will look into it in our own sweet time..." automated response gives the impression we are dealing with a deserted or abandoned office your end...

For everybody's info, I did get the matter resolved, but not because Dotster bothered to respond to my trouble ticket. After 4 days of no response my wife, (who has infinitely more patience than me), called them up because she could see I was getting angry. After an expensive 30 minute international phone call, the 11 domains that I had already paid for got renewed... :upset:

You can always count on the wife to renew your domain names lol. Glad you got it sorted.