riled: reg-123 automatically taken payment when I never agreed to such a thing

[ooh]

Hi,

I've just been charged automatically today for the renewal of a domain name I registered with reg-123.co.uk two years ago. I never conciously agreed to any recurring payment. I've just spoken to PayPal, they tell me that according to Reg-123 I did authrorise this automatic payment. In my Reg-123 account, some time ago, I'd changed my email address to a false one, mainly to stop me getting such an incredable amount of spam crap from them, but also: this was my PayPal email address. And yet they still managed to charge, which I didn't even know was a possibility.

Reg-123's phone support isn't operational until Monday so can't speak to them right now. This has really riled me. It's only £11.74 but it's infuriating. What are my chances of getting this back? Obviously I need to speak to Reg-123. What's the best way to get this back and not be charged any more?

Thanks.

 

[ooh]

Someone else's eperience of much the same thing: http://danzambonini.com/between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place-123-reg-must-really-need-my-11/

 

[Faevilangel]

All domains are auto renewal, you need to login to your control panel to deauthorise this.

 

[mit74]

This is standard practice. You're lucky they only took out the domain renewal. One of my new domains I took out the full works including search engine submission and directory inclusion at £65 + domain and hosting costs. Guess what? They took the same payment out a year later. Who the hell would want search engine submission and directory inclusion twice? Dirty cheating b*******!!
You need to watch out for some website host companies they'll scam you every opportunity they get. Usually the american companies are the worst.

 

[Dawg]

Have you tried asking 123 to reverse the charge? Before letting off here, sort of politely and reasonably?
I have had 123 and 1&1 reverse charges and cancel up to a week afterwards, when I was at fault.
Just asking...

 

[ooh]

All domains are auto renewal,

The web hosting company who also register domain names I usually use, they do not renew nor charge automatically (it may be an option but they don't by default) so the above statement is not correct.

you need to login to your control panel to deauthorise this.

It seems you're defending and justifying this way of doing business; payment without customer's authorisation. In order for a payment to occur, in any situation for any type of company, authorisation for that payment is required. I never agreed to automatic payment. Not conciously anyway.

Seems there's a real opportunity for any con artist here: Sell something, get them to pay by PayPal, but just tell PayPal it's an anual payment. PayPal will just honor that (i.e. take money on the conner's behalf); that's the impression I got from speaking to PayPal. They just do that if told to by the merchant.

 

[ooh]

Have you tried asking 123 to reverse the charge? Before letting off here, sort of politely and reasonably?
I have had 123 and 1&1 reverse charges and cancel up to a week afterwards, when I was at fault.
Just asking...

No, not yet. As I said above: they're closed at the moment, not open until Monday, and that I intend to do exactly that. The question I asked was, what are my chances of getting my money back?, and from what you say there, quite possible it appears, so that's good, thanks.

 

[Dwebs-Ltd]

No, not yet. As I said above: they're closed at the moment, not open until Monday, and that I intend to do exactly that. The question I asked was, what are my chances of getting my money back?, and from what you say there, quite possible it appears, so that's good, thanks.

Domain registrations for the major tld's are final i.e. no refunds that will apply to all registrars as it stops people ordering domains and trying them out then cancelling them.

For .uk's nominet allows the registrar to cancel a registration as long as they haven't been billed for it. So as long as 123-reg put the cancelation through before the end of the billing period they will not be charged. BTW there is no guarantee they will do this as its not a requirement.

 

[ADW]

The web hosting company who also register domain names I usually use, they do not renew nor charge automatically (it may be an option but they don't by default) so the above statement is not correct.



It seems you're defending and justifying this way of doing business; payment without customer's authorisation. In order for a payment to occur, in any situation for any type of company, authorisation for that payment is required. I never agreed to automatic payment. Not conciously anyway.

Seems there's a real opportunity for any con artist here: Sell something, get them to pay by PayPal, but just tell PayPal it's an anual payment. PayPal will just honor that (i.e. take money on the conner's behalf); that's the impression I got from speaking to PayPal. They just do that if told to by the merchant.

So you don't take any responsibility in this situation? It's all 123? I use them and have some domains on auto renew and others manual. It's all in your account and handy to control the important ones you need to make sure you keep. It's not as if this option is hidden away. If you were using the domain and it didn't renew as there was no email and on manual I bet you wouldn't be happy that way either. When you register a domain you can see if it is on auto or manual. Also, they send out emails relating to renewal but as you chose not to give them a working email address I guess that didn't happen for you. How much was the renewal for? Less than a tenner?

 

[KM-Tiger]

.... Also, they send out emails relating to renewal but as you chose not to give them a working email address I guess that didn't happen for you.

IIRC you get a number of emails counting down to the renewal date starting 60 days before.

Shocking really that they don't send a carrier pigeon when they detect the emails are undelivered ...

 

[Faevilangel]

IIRC you get a number of emails counting down to the renewal date starting 60 days before.

Shocking really that they don't send a carrier pigeon when they detect the emails are undelivered ...

hehe, when one of my domains was expiring I had 10 emails reminding me it was expiring and then a further 6 to remind me it had expired and I had 60 days to renew it.

It's up to the purchaser to read the terms and conditions, so you cannot blame 123-reg as they do send out emails and give you the option in your control panel.

 

[wight services]

IIRC the auto renewal thing was brough in earlier this year and 123-reg did email customers to advise of a change in thier T+C's to reflect that, It is also on thier site, to the OP as you changed to a duff email address, you cant really blame 123-reg for not telling you. You may get your money back, but since they were taken over the customer service has gone down the hill, so I wouldnt hold out much hope beyond an automated reply saying no.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

persdonally I lov3e the autorenewal thing, as it gives me the opportunity to dump any domains I don't need, or in fact, the nudge to actually do something with them.

 

[harryboon]

123 reg are very good at emailing you all the time telling you that a domain is going to be renewed so how did this happen without you knowing?

I get 2 month notice, 1 month notice, 2 weeks notice etc etc via email from them so I guess it's down to you old bean - sorry

 

[NuBlue]

All domain registrars register domains on autorenew. If you are with one that doesn't you should be worried!

YOU WILL have requested this with 123 reg or they wouldn't have renewed it (it is an automated system, tick = yes, no tick = no).

if they had not renewed it and you had a site on it taking £1000 a day would you not be more upset? Pay the £10, and make sure your account is up to date so in future you recieve the automated emails they send out to let you know your domain is going to be renewed.

 

[deniser]

Much better they renewed than didn't (as they are unable to email you) if you had wanted to keep the domain.

 

[Chunkford]

In my Reg-123 account, some time ago, I'd changed my email address to a false one, mainly to stop me getting such an incredable amount of spam crap from them

123 reg are very good at emailing you all the time telling you that a domain is going to be renewed so how did this happen without you knowing?

There's ya answer. They must have stored the original email used to pay the first time separate.

Ooh; If you didn't want all the 'spam crap' why didn't you just unsubscribe :|