I run a few small websites, and as such have about 10 domain names.
I transferred all of my domain names away from Dotster a year ago. The reason I decided to leave Dotster was because charges started appearing on my credit card that I never got a bill or receipt for and Customer Support could not provide any information for.
I was told that by policy they do not send receipts when automatically charging my card. If I wanted a receipt, I would have to log in and follow a four-step process to request a receipt, but the receipt would have no information as to which of my domain names they were billing me for. This was absolutely useless to me, as I still had no way of knowing what the charges were for.
I did not appreciate the lack of transparency, and thus decided to remove my business from Dotster.
When I transferred all my domains to another host, I turned off the auto-renewal on all services through Dotster as a precaution because there was no option to delete the information. It was clearly posted on Dotster's website that the domains had been transferred away. There was no option to cancel or close my account or do anything further than I did.
A few months later, Dotster charged me again. I contacted Dotster Support and complained. I told them that I no longer had any business with them, and was considering these charges to be fraudulent.
Customer Support informed me that although I transferred away all of my domains (AND turned off the renewals), I had not emailed a support representative and asked for the products to be cancelled, so they can continue to bill me (for domains that belong to another host).
This seemed strange to me as I have worked with several hosts in the past, and on no occasion have I ever had to submit a written request for someone to not bill me for domains that I had transferred to another host.
The email finished off with: "I have canceled all the products from your account. Hereafter, your credit card will not be charged for the renewal of these products."
Dotster did not refund the money, but I put through a chargeback with my credit card company.
Not the end of the story.
A couple of months later, Dotster charged me again. Frustrated, I again put through a second request for a chargeback with my credit card company. Without contacting me, Dotster worked with my credit card company and reversed the chargeback in their favor. I rebutted and supplied my credit card company with the email that stated that Dotster was cancelling my services and would no longer charge me. The chargeback was ruled in my favor, and my money was returned to me.
I contacted Dotster's Customer Support again and complained. At this point, 11.5 months had gone by since I transferred away all of my domain names.
Customer Support replied that I am still being charged because I have an active account with them, and I could request that my account be closed.
As ridiculous at the first excuse for billing me was, this was absolutely absurd! I have multiple accounts on multiple web hosts, several of them I no longer have domains with, but I still have an account that I can use to do more business with them. This is not my first trip around the block. I have bought and transferred domain names many times from multiple webhosts depending on what's being offered when I need to renew. I have never been charged from any other host after transferring my domains to a different host.
Basically, Dotster is telling me I have to destroy all ties to them, so I have no option to do business with them without creating a new account.
Lies and fraud aside, do they think this is really in the best interest of their business for me to have to close my account to stop getting charged for business that is not theirs? What if I had only wanted to transfer away one or two domain names? ...would I have to completely close my account so they would stop charging me for it? What's in it for Dotster?
Another boldface lie excuse.
I then requested that my account be cancelled.
I was informed by Dotster that I would have to send them a scanned copy of a government issued photo ID.
REALLY?! I cannot trust you with a credit card! You have shown me nothing but lack of transparency, then fraud and lies, but you're going to ask me for a scanned copy of my photo ID?!
I did not need a photo ID to start the account, why would I need it to close it? How would they ever know what to compare it to?!
Absolutely not! The only viable solution to prevent Dotster's fraud? Change your credit card number.
I will never do business with Dotster again and would not recommend Dotster to anyone!
Dotster Reviews
I run a few small websites, and as such have about 10 domain names.
I transferred all of my domain names away from Dotster a year ago. The reason I decided to leave Dotster was because charges started appearing on my credit card that I never got a bill or receipt for and Customer Support could not provide any information for.
I was told that by policy they do not send receipts when automatically charging my card. If I wanted a receipt, I would have to log in and follow a four-step process to request a receipt, but the receipt would have no information as to which of my domain names they were billing me for. This was absolutely useless to me, as I still had no way of knowing what the charges were for.
I did not appreciate the lack of transparency, and thus decided to remove my business from Dotster.
When I transferred all my domains to another host, I turned off the auto-renewal on all services through Dotster as a precaution because there was no option to delete the information. It was clearly posted on Dotster's website that the domains had been transferred away. There was no option to cancel or close my account or do anything further than I did.
A few months later, Dotster charged me again. I contacted Dotster Support and complained. I told them that I no longer had any business with them, and was considering these charges to be fraudulent.
Customer Support informed me that although I transferred away all of my domains (AND turned off the renewals), I had not emailed a support representative and asked for the products to be cancelled, so they can continue to bill me (for domains that belong to another host).
This seemed strange to me as I have worked with several hosts in the past, and on no occasion have I ever had to submit a written request for someone to not bill me for domains that I had transferred to another host.
The email finished off with: "I have canceled all the products from your account. Hereafter, your credit card will not be charged for the renewal of these products."
Dotster did not refund the money, but I put through a chargeback with my credit card company.
Not the end of the story.
A couple of months later, Dotster charged me again. Frustrated, I again put through a second request for a chargeback with my credit card company. Without contacting me, Dotster worked with my credit card company and reversed the chargeback in their favor. I rebutted and supplied my credit card company with the email that stated that Dotster was cancelling my services and would no longer charge me. The chargeback was ruled in my favor, and my money was returned to me.
I contacted Dotster's Customer Support again and complained. At this point, 11.5 months had gone by since I transferred away all of my domain names.
Customer Support replied that I am still being charged because I have an active account with them, and I could request that my account be closed.
As ridiculous at the first excuse for billing me was, this was absolutely absurd! I have multiple accounts on multiple web hosts, several of them I no longer have domains with, but I still have an account that I can use to do more business with them. This is not my first trip around the block. I have bought and transferred domain names many times from multiple webhosts depending on what's being offered when I need to renew. I have never been charged from any other host after transferring my domains to a different host.
Basically, Dotster is telling me I have to destroy all ties to them, so I have no option to do business with them without creating a new account.
Lies and fraud aside, do they think this is really in the best interest of their business for me to have to close my account to stop getting charged for business that is not theirs? What if I had only wanted to transfer away one or two domain names? ...would I have to completely close my account so they would stop charging me for it? What's in it for Dotster?
Another boldface lie excuse.
I then requested that my account be cancelled.
I was informed by Dotster that I would have to send them a scanned copy of a government issued photo ID.
REALLY?! I cannot trust you with a credit card! You have shown me nothing but lack of transparency, then fraud and lies, but you're going to ask me for a scanned copy of my photo ID?!
I did not need a photo ID to start the account, why would I need it to close it? How would they ever know what to compare it to?!
Absolutely not! The only viable solution to prevent Dotster's fraud? Change your credit card number.
I will never do business with Dotster again and would not recommend Dotster to anyone!