Network Solution’s Deception!
I have a domain that was due to expire on the 16th of this month. When I logged into NetSol (Network Solutions) today to renew the domain, I was greeted with a message that I had products that had expired or were due to expire.
Now this concerned me, because I’m pretty good at keeping up with my domains and making sure they don’t expire. It costs extra if you let them run out and who wants to pay more than they have to?
Thus I put these types of things in my schedule. I know several weeks before they come due. And if that wasn’t enough, I also signed up to receive notifications from the vendor keeping me up to date. I have 11 domains. Yes 11 between myself and my customers. It’s not hard to keep up with them all.
After some investigation I realized that what’s being reported as expired is a “private registration” service on the domain I logged in to renew. What?!
I have NEVER registered any of my domains with a private registry! EVER! So why would NetSol say I have an expired service that I never had in the first place? Is this a sleazy way to confuse unsuspecting customers who will “renew” something they never ordered in the first place?
Really? Has NetSol sunk to this type of fraud to trick people out of their hard-earned money?
Once I renewed my domain and went back to the list of products, miraculously that private registration disappeared. And not because I renewed it, because I certainly didn’t! But it sure seems rather suspect that the product I never ordered in the first place disappeared after I renewed the product I did order.
This caused me to look over my list of domains even closer. There are three additional products listed that are coming due. But interestingly enough, I don’t know anything about them. The first two are linked together, so to speak. A domain I HAVE NEVER registered: paganspath.xyz and a private registration for that domain.
I did a little research on this registration that was associated with my account. A quick WhoIs look up on DomainTools.com has this domain listed to my company, but the address and phone contact information is with Network Solutions in Jacksonville Fl. Including the Billing Contact Info. Now the only time I’ve seen that, is when the domain is available for purchase. But to be clear, I am nowhere near Florida, so this isn’t a simple typeo or some form of confusion! NetSol owns this domain, not me. So why would I be notified to renew it in the first place?
| Domain Name: PAGANSPATH.XYZ Domain ID: D3193556-CNIC WHOIS Server: whois.networksolutions.com Referral URL: http://www.networksolutions.com/ Updated Date: 2014-08-04T20:50:45.0Z Creation Date: 2014-06-09T22:11:37.0Z Registry Expiry Date: 2015-06-09T23:59:59.0Z Sponsoring Registrar: Network Solutions LLC Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID: 2 Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited Domain Status: serverTransferProhibited Registrant ID: 881586n19m6kg8fn Registrant Name: PERFECT PRIVACY, LLC Registrant Organization: Springwolf Designs Registrant Street: 12808 Gran Bay Parkway West Registrant Street: care of Network Solutions Registrant City: Jacksonville Registrant State/Province: FL Registrant Postal Code: 32258 Registrant Country: US Registrant Phone: +1.5707088780 Registrant Phone Ext: Registrant Fax: +1. Registrant Fax Ext: Registrant Email: se8p27vc33a@networksolutionsprivateregistration.com Admin ID: 881586n19m6kg8fn Admin Name: PERFECT PRIVACY, LLC Admin Organization: Springwolf Designs Admin Street: 12808 Gran Bay Parkway West Admin Street: care of Network Solutions Admin City: Jacksonville Admin State/Province: FL Admin Postal Code: 32258 Admin Country: US Admin Phone: +1.5707088780 Admin Phone Ext: Admin Fax: +1. Admin Fax Ext: Admin Email: se8p27vc33a@networksolutionsprivateregistration.com Tech ID: 881586n19m6kg8fn Tech Name: PERFECT PRIVACY, LLC Tech Organization: Springwolf Designs Tech Street: 12808 Gran Bay Parkway West Tech Street: care of Network Solutions Tech City: Jacksonville Tech State/Province: FL Tech Postal Code: 32258 Tech Country: US Tech Phone: +1.5707088780 Tech Phone Ext: Tech Fax: +1. Tech Fax Ext: Tech Email: se8p27vc33a@networksolutionsprivateregistration.com Name Server: DNS1.REGISTER.COM Name Server: DNS2.REGISTER.COM Name Server: NS1.WORLDNIC.COM Name Server: NS2.WORLDNIC.COM DNSSEC: unsigned Billing ID: svgh9cni9qu54obr Billing Name: Network Solutions Billing Organization: NSI Billing Street: 13861 Sunrise Billing Street: Valley Drive Billing City: Herndon Billing State/Province: VA Billing Postal Code: 20121 Billing Country: US Billing Phone: +1.7036684600 Billing Phone Ext: Billing Fax: +1.7036684601 Billing Fax Ext: Billing Email: nsdomains@networksolutions.com |
The third product/service was for nsMail. Network Solutions private email service.
Not only have I never ordered that product, I have no need for it. My domain hosting servers offer eMail services with my domains for free. Why would I need their service and pay extra for it to boot?
I am totally incensed that a corporation I’ve conducted business with for decades would stoop to such deceptive practices! Of course I sent them a nasty message and let them know their fraudulent sales trick didn’t work. But I’m also sending a note to the BBB if the issue is not resolved ASAP.
Even after writing all this out, I’m still angry. And even a little more so because I logged back into the account to grab a picture of product/domain list and the nsMail item that was there, is no longer showing in the list. Neither is the private registration for the fake paganspath.xyz. But the domain *.xyz is still listed and clearly identified as a “private” registration.
How tacky of you NetSol! Seriously! How totally fraudulent and deceptive! Karma impacts corporations too. I hope you take into consideration how you treat your customers and the ethics you use while conducting business. You may not like the consequences of such deceptive practices.
© 1997-2015 Springwolf, D.D., Ph.D., Springwolf’s Creations. All Rights Reserved.
Don’t use netsol!
We have some very old domains registered with them from the
early 1990-ties. We encounterd several bad experiences with them over the years.
Now they try to cheat us also with the .xyz trick.
Another registrar, who does not keep you hostage, is for example here in Europe
joker.com (I’m not affiliated with them…)
IDK if Netsol is to blame for this thing – this same contact info is being used for a website that used my debit card fraudulently to pay for the web hosting. They also have another fraudulent website on my card that is not registrared with Netsol. If you google this address you’ll see this account associated with a lot of confusion – they seem to be in the business of credit card fraud.
How can you get your site under your own name again?
I don’t completely understand your question. Instead of me making an assumption, can you explain what you’re asking?