: Domain name hijacked by my hosting provider with dubious invoicing practice Over 12 months ago I purchased a domain name and hosting package from a hosting company. Before the 12 months was

@Steve110

Posted in: #DomainRegistration #Hijacked

Over 12 months ago I purchased a domain name and hosting package from a hosting company.

Before the 12 months was up i was sent a single invoice for the same amount as I had paid for the preceding 12 months, which I paid, 1 week before it was due to expire. I received a confirmation email receipt from the hosting company for this.

I then received another email from the same hosting company, a few days before the due date, informing me the domain was due to expire, if i did not renew the domain name. I immediately replied to this email asking if they had somehow messed up my payment or renewal. i copied back the email they had sent me, clearly telling me they had processed my card etc. I did not get a reply to this.

a few days later, my domain started showing obnoxious advertisements, and implying i had not paid to renew my domain name.

at this point i go onto their online help and opened up a chat session, where i was told that the invoice i had paid was for hosting and not for the domain name itself. i was asked if i would like to be invoiced for the domain name also? frustrated and angry (what use is a hosting package that nobody can reach?), i paid the extra and was told the domain would be renewed with 24 hours.

this was over a month ago.

my domain still redirects to a website that shows obnoxious ads.

i have been constantly told by the hosting company that a) they HAVE received my payments, and b) the domain will be on again "soon". in contradiction to this, i have also received auto generated emails from the same company (the same address in fact) informing me that i have not paid, and my domain will be deleted unless i pay them.

here is an example of the sort of email I have received:


Dear xxxxx xxxx,

We have checked, Invoice 38767 and Invoice 38329 has been paid.

We request you to ignore the e-mails you have received, as they are
auto generated.

Please feel free to contact us back in case of any further
information.

Thank you, xxxx xxxx, Support Department xxxx Inc.


the last response i had from them was this:


Dear xxxx xxxx,

We do apologize for the delay caused to you.

Actually, we are having an issue at our domain registrar, hence the
domains do not get renewed automatically and need to be done manually,
so it is taking time for Domain renewal.

There is no ETA but it can be estimated to be renewed in next
sometime.

Till then you may access the domain using Temporary Webpage URL :
0.0.0.0/$sitepreview/mydomain.com/
Please feel free to contact us back in case of any further
information.

Thank you, xxxx xxxx, Support Department xxxx Inc.


In the mean time I can not use my website.

What can I do to recover from this? I get the impression that they are stalling for time so the domain can be deleted, and another customer can swoop in and buy it.

What is puzzling to me is they plainly acknowledge I have paid and imply the problem is out of their control, and yet when i look at the source to the page, it appears to me that they are hosting the page on their servers. it does embed a frame that contains google ads, but the actual parent html frame has a link to renew the domain, which is clearly hosted by them. how can i deal with this?

for one, i was tricked into not paying the domain renewal - the initial invoice did not say it was for either for hosting or domain name registration, but that it was for "www.insertdomainhere.com". it was for the same dollar value that i paid for 12 months domain and hosting previously, which is the same dollar value the currently promote for new signups. how was i supposed to know that by paying the invoice, i would not have the domain renewed?

is this sort of thing common?

i have not mentioned the hosting company at this point, i may do so if enough people respond telling me this sort of thing has happened to them. basically, need to find out if this is me being singled out, in which case going public will not help me resolve it with them. if it is a common occurrence, i will name the company take it from there. is this the sort of thing a class action against a company that is clearly ripping off it's customers could bring them to their knees?

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