I registered my domain at register.com. Without my permission they transferred my domain to a reseller called PowerYourDomain.com who is an absolute nightmare to do business with.
1. Your yearly registration fee changes to an exhorbitant $37 per year, with no prior notice they are going to raise that charge until its too late and you have to pay or lose your domain.
2. They absolutely never send you notices that your domain is up for renewal. Never! If you don't realize within the 30 days they hold your domain hostage until you pay an additional $120, or $157 total
3. Even paying is a total nightmare! Last year and this year I've had more than 1 credit card denied repeatedly, even though each charge shows pending when I log into my credit card account. Each charge, even if it doesn't go through ties up that money and will cause bounce charges if your other credit card charges brings the account negative while you are waiting for their denied charges to clear, and that takes 5 full days, not counting the day you made the charge!
4. Calling their customer service number listed on their charge doesn't help. All they can tell you is that it was denied because of an incorrect address. I copied the address directly from my banks online records!!!! And I tried it twice this year, 4 times last year (4 x $157)!!!
5. Register.com/PowerYourName has terrible customer service. Totally Worthless. They close at 4pm EST because they are located in some east most providence of Canada. If you don't get through before 4pm you have to wait until the next day.
6. They are closed on weekends.
7. They have no Support section on their website. Their small website Help link just pops up an email addressed to them. And it pops up in an email program I don't use, morans.
8. When you do get through they tell you the guy that handles that kind of domain stuff went home early and won't be back until next Monday. How freaking lame is that?!!!
9. My domain was for a virtual DNS domain. It brought down all the sites on that server for a number of days, and they could care less. If they cared they'd have better service plain and simple.
I use those credit cards all the time, locally, travelling and online. I never, ever have a problem, but I always have a problem with Register.com/PowerYourName.com
I'm still tryng to pay for my domain this year. They'll probably deny it until it goes into redemption. I have no clue how to do it. They can't give me any indication of what is wrong with the address I'm using. Again, I've tried 2 different cards with sufficient balance to cover the charge. Register.com/PowerYourName.com is totally worthless.
Last year they assured me this wouldn't happen again. Well it does, and I see on this site that I'm not the only one. I'm posting this not to dispute any charges, but to make their ripoff tricks of not notifying you of renewal dates, and of their incompetent customer service and employees (both the shortcomings of their website and their pathetic employees).
Run from Register.com/PowerYourName.com! Run Forest Run!!!
I first registered a domain with this company back in 2012. Cancelled less than a year later, as I no longer needed the site.
When the anniversary rolled around, I was charged again. I once again contacted register.com and cancelled; but never got a refund. Emails asking for a credit were ignored. Later that 2nd year, my credit card expired.
Second anniversary...charged AGAIN (even though they didn't have my new credit card info; how is that possible?) Disputed charge this time with my bank, whom I also hold accountable this time, for allowing a charge on an old card.
I created and registered a pregnancy loss domain name in 1999 with register.com. At that time, there was not a lot of medical information out there for women and their families about ectopic pregnancies and ZERO support systems. For many years, I worked tirelessly to provide same and was very successful in doing so. "Successful" in the sense of helping others, as no financial gain was ever received or intended.
Over the years, we had multiple offers to purchase the domain name--mostly in the $6000+ range. However, because we felt passionately about "the mission", we refused each and every offer. We had never done a valuation on the domain name, as we had no intention of selling it at any time. The wills of both my husband and me have provisions for the domain registration fees to ensure that the domain would not be used for purposes other than what it was created for for many, many, many years.
When I was diagnosed with aggresive breast cancer at the age of 34, I made the difficult decision to take down the site's content during my treatments and recovery, with the intent of redesigning and relaunching the site when I was able to offer the support and maintenance that my visitors deserved. I have slowly been working on the site's new design for a year or so.
Each year, I faithfully paid my registration fees to register.com. Eventually, I set the account up for auto-renew through Paypal. Each year, I received AT least two emails from register.com before the expiration date as well as multiple emails almost weekly from them offering products and services. Note: during the months of May 2014 and June 2014 and up until around the end of July 2014, I received no emails from register.com (including in my SPAM folder). On August 25 of this year, I was comparing our 2nd quarter personal expenses to those from 2013. I happened to notice that there was no charge from register.com. I immediately called register.com and was told that the department I needed to speak to was closed.
On August 26, I spoke with register.com, who told me that the domain had expired and was now held by another registrar. I was also told that an authorization for payment had been sent to Paypal and was declined. The term used was "refund before charge". I immediately contacted Paypal, who said that no such authorization or decline had been made. Paypal emailed me a confirmation of this assertion within minutes. I then contacted register.com again, who claimed that Papyal was wrong and then provided me with an "authorization number". Upon calling Paypal again, I was told that the "authorization number" was "useless" to Paypal with regard to confirming or denying register.com's payment claim.
I again called register.com, who then told me that I could contact the new registrar to inquire about selling it back to me. Before I attempted contact with the new registrant, I took a look at the valuation of the domain name. I almost gagged when it came up as "$24,000" and some change. I already knew in my heart that the purchase was made with the intent of massive financial gain and the likelihood of it being sold back to me was small. I spoke with the buyer briefly, and he asked me to send him an email with all of the info, which I immediately did and included most of the info here and up to this point. To date, I have not heard back from him and I don't expect to.
I have since discovered that the domain name was auctioned off through namejet and purchased by someone who has thousands of domains registered. Since register.com is refusing to admit their errors in both the email notifications and the Paypal payment error/lie/whatever, at this point my only options have been to make an ICAAN complaint, file an FTC complaint, file a Georgia Consumer Protection complaint and to set up a consultation with an internet law attorney. I have NO interest in a small claims situation, as this is NOT about money. It is about a valuable source of information and support.
I also have since discovered multiple instances of the exact same thing happening to others with high-value domain names and register.com. Same scanario, same claims, no notice, an auction and no attempt on the part of register.com to "make it right". For most of these, the domain was a financial necessity for them, and that makes me just as angry and as determined to follow this through.
If I were to sell a vehicle that someone else was paying for without proper notice and a possible lie about a payment not going through, I'm 100% certain I would have to reverse the sale or be subjected to harsh penalties!!!
Register.com have really bad "business practices". And I tell you why:
If you are like me and just wants a ".com" domain name you search Google, of course. The first result most probably will be from Register.com. But don't be fooled, they're on first just because of the words, certainly not for quality of service.
I hosted my domain name with them and asked to not renew automatically, as I wanted to see if the ".com" domain attracted clicks to my site, and woul eventually cancel it or just let it die.
A year and many spam e-mails from Register.com, passed and I renewed my hosting (thankfully not them!) and I saw my ".com" domain didn't attract anyone and wanted to set it as a free domain name on my host.But NOPE! No can do. Why? Let's see. A quick check on my Register.com account and I saw that indeed my domain wasn't set to automatically renew, buuuuuut their "really awesome" SafeRenew stuff was set to automatically renew, meaning that I was billed by a service that HOLDS MY DOMAIN that I EXPRESSLY set to NOT renew (especially so that I CHOOSE to pay or not for their trashy service).
TL,DR: Register.com charges you to hold a domain you expressly says you don't want to renew.
0/10 - Hope they die in a fire. Never using their services anymore.
Register.com Reviews
I registered my domain at register.com. Without my permission they transferred my domain to a reseller called PowerYourDomain.com who is an absolute nightmare to do business with.
1. Your yearly registration fee changes to an exhorbitant $37 per year, with no prior notice they are going to raise that charge until its too late and you have to pay or lose your domain.
2. They absolutely never send you notices that your domain is up for renewal. Never! If you don't realize within the 30 days they hold your domain hostage until you pay an additional $120, or $157 total
3. Even paying is a total nightmare! Last year and this year I've had more than 1 credit card denied repeatedly, even though each charge shows pending when I log into my credit card account. Each charge, even if it doesn't go through ties up that money and will cause bounce charges if your other credit card charges brings the account negative while you are waiting for their denied charges to clear, and that takes 5 full days, not counting the day you made the charge!
4. Calling their customer service number listed on their charge doesn't help. All they can tell you is that it was denied because of an incorrect address. I copied the address directly from my banks online records!!!! And I tried it twice this year, 4 times last year (4 x $157)!!!
5. Register.com/PowerYourName has terrible customer service. Totally Worthless. They close at 4pm EST because they are located in some east most providence of Canada. If you don't get through before 4pm you have to wait until the next day.
6. They are closed on weekends.
7. They have no Support section on their website. Their small website Help link just pops up an email addressed to them. And it pops up in an email program I don't use, morans.
8. When you do get through they tell you the guy that handles that kind of domain stuff went home early and won't be back until next Monday. How freaking lame is that?!!!
9. My domain was for a virtual DNS domain. It brought down all the sites on that server for a number of days, and they could care less. If they cared they'd have better service plain and simple.
I use those credit cards all the time, locally, travelling and online. I never, ever have a problem, but I always have a problem with Register.com/PowerYourName.com
I'm still tryng to pay for my domain this year. They'll probably deny it until it goes into redemption. I have no clue how to do it. They can't give me any indication of what is wrong with the address I'm using. Again, I've tried 2 different cards with sufficient balance to cover the charge. Register.com/PowerYourName.com is totally worthless.
Last year they assured me this wouldn't happen again. Well it does, and I see on this site that I'm not the only one. I'm posting this not to dispute any charges, but to make their ripoff tricks of not notifying you of renewal dates, and of their incompetent customer service and employees (both the shortcomings of their website and their pathetic employees).
Run from Register.com/PowerYourName.com! Run Forest Run!!!
Register dot com, is where good domain names go to be stoled and sold.
I first registered a domain with this company back in 2012. Cancelled less than a year later, as I no longer needed the site.
When the anniversary rolled around, I was charged again. I once again contacted register.com and cancelled; but never got a refund. Emails asking for a credit were ignored. Later that 2nd year, my credit card expired.
Second anniversary...charged AGAIN (even though they didn't have my new credit card info; how is that possible?) Disputed charge this time with my bank, whom I also hold accountable this time, for allowing a charge on an old card.
I created and registered a pregnancy loss domain name in 1999 with register.com. At that time, there was not a lot of medical information out there for women and their families about ectopic pregnancies and ZERO support systems. For many years, I worked tirelessly to provide same and was very successful in doing so. "Successful" in the sense of helping others, as no financial gain was ever received or intended.
Over the years, we had multiple offers to purchase the domain name--mostly in the $6000+ range. However, because we felt passionately about "the mission", we refused each and every offer. We had never done a valuation on the domain name, as we had no intention of selling it at any time. The wills of both my husband and me have provisions for the domain registration fees to ensure that the domain would not be used for purposes other than what it was created for for many, many, many years.
When I was diagnosed with aggresive breast cancer at the age of 34, I made the difficult decision to take down the site's content during my treatments and recovery, with the intent of redesigning and relaunching the site when I was able to offer the support and maintenance that my visitors deserved. I have slowly been working on the site's new design for a year or so.
Each year, I faithfully paid my registration fees to register.com. Eventually, I set the account up for auto-renew through Paypal. Each year, I received AT least two emails from register.com before the expiration date as well as multiple emails almost weekly from them offering products and services. Note: during the months of May 2014 and June 2014 and up until around the end of July 2014, I received no emails from register.com (including in my SPAM folder). On August 25 of this year, I was comparing our 2nd quarter personal expenses to those from 2013. I happened to notice that there was no charge from register.com. I immediately called register.com and was told that the department I needed to speak to was closed.
On August 26, I spoke with register.com, who told me that the domain had expired and was now held by another registrar. I was also told that an authorization for payment had been sent to Paypal and was declined. The term used was "refund before charge". I immediately contacted Paypal, who said that no such authorization or decline had been made. Paypal emailed me a confirmation of this assertion within minutes. I then contacted register.com again, who claimed that Papyal was wrong and then provided me with an "authorization number". Upon calling Paypal again, I was told that the "authorization number" was "useless" to Paypal with regard to confirming or denying register.com's payment claim.
I again called register.com, who then told me that I could contact the new registrar to inquire about selling it back to me. Before I attempted contact with the new registrant, I took a look at the valuation of the domain name. I almost gagged when it came up as "$24,000" and some change. I already knew in my heart that the purchase was made with the intent of massive financial gain and the likelihood of it being sold back to me was small. I spoke with the buyer briefly, and he asked me to send him an email with all of the info, which I immediately did and included most of the info here and up to this point. To date, I have not heard back from him and I don't expect to.
I have since discovered that the domain name was auctioned off through namejet and purchased by someone who has thousands of domains registered. Since register.com is refusing to admit their errors in both the email notifications and the Paypal payment error/lie/whatever, at this point my only options have been to make an ICAAN complaint, file an FTC complaint, file a Georgia Consumer Protection complaint and to set up a consultation with an internet law attorney. I have NO interest in a small claims situation, as this is NOT about money. It is about a valuable source of information and support.
I also have since discovered multiple instances of the exact same thing happening to others with high-value domain names and register.com. Same scanario, same claims, no notice, an auction and no attempt on the part of register.com to "make it right". For most of these, the domain was a financial necessity for them, and that makes me just as angry and as determined to follow this through.
If I were to sell a vehicle that someone else was paying for without proper notice and a possible lie about a payment not going through, I'm 100% certain I would have to reverse the sale or be subjected to harsh penalties!!!
Register.com have really bad "business practices". And I tell you why:
If you are like me and just wants a ".com" domain name you search Google, of course. The first result most probably will be from Register.com. But don't be fooled, they're on first just because of the words, certainly not for quality of service.
I hosted my domain name with them and asked to not renew automatically, as I wanted to see if the ".com" domain attracted clicks to my site, and woul eventually cancel it or just let it die.
A year and many spam e-mails from Register.com, passed and I renewed my hosting (thankfully not them!) and I saw my ".com" domain didn't attract anyone and wanted to set it as a free domain name on my host.But NOPE! No can do. Why? Let's see. A quick check on my Register.com account and I saw that indeed my domain wasn't set to automatically renew, buuuuuut their "really awesome" SafeRenew stuff was set to automatically renew, meaning that I was billed by a service that HOLDS MY DOMAIN that I EXPRESSLY set to NOT renew (especially so that I CHOOSE to pay or not for their trashy service).
TL,DR: Register.com charges you to hold a domain you expressly says you don't want to renew.
0/10 - Hope they die in a fire. Never using their services anymore.