BEWARE of fasthost scam

easyhostmedia · Post #1 (**permalink**) 01-23-2012, 10:05 AM

Hi all

i thought i would mention this here to warn others if they have domains with Fasthost.

regardless if you have the auto renew feature turned off, fasthost will still autorenew the domain and then just refuse to refund or sort this out.

the first thing i do when i register a domain is turn off auto renew. the only domain i have on autorenew is my main website domain.

i had been receiving the renewal reminders for this domain, but as i had autorenew turned off i just ignored these as i knew i no longer needed the domain so the domain would cancel.

today i get an invoice paid confirmation from fasthost for renewing this domain, i immediately checked the domain and yes auto renew turned off, so i contact fasthost how basically said tough its been renewed and they cant refund. even though i proved autorenew was disabled they still refuse to do anything.

easyhostmedia · Post #2 (**permalink**) 01-24-2012, 06:53 AM

i git this from fasthost yesterday

Quote:

Response Via Email (Nicholas Blakeman - Technical Support) 23/01/2012 06.29 PM
Dear Terry

Once again I am sorry you feel that way but it is not at all the case. All of our services run on an automatic renewal basis whereby they are renewed in less cancelled so set to expire, and unfortunately this domain was not set to expire. We had absolutely no way of knowing you did not want the domain and therefore it was renewed, this is no scam and is certainly not theft. I apologise but I am clearly unable to help any further with this matter. I once again apologise for any inconvenience caused by the unwanted renewal but can only re-iterate that it was not set to expire from within the control panel prior to the renewal date.

Can I advise if you do not want the domain any more, then maybe somebody might like it. Try putting it up for sale on somewhere like www.sedo.co.uk you'd probably get your money back by placing adverts on the site alone. If someone actually buy's it you could even turn a profit.

Best Regards,

Nicholas Blakeman - Technical Support
Fasthosts Customer Support

which basically they are saying even if you have set to manually renew their system will auto renew domains.

i reported this to nominet through their DRS

today fasthost refunded but sent me this

Quote:

Response Via Email (Nicholas Blakeman - Technical Support) 24/01/2012 01.37 PM
Dear Terry

Thank you for getting back to me, I completely understand your view point on this but unfortunately as I've explained the domain was not set to expire. You may have clicked on the auto-renewal off button and not completed the confirmation page from there on and this could have caused the confusion. Under these circumstances we have raised this with Nominet who have agreed to stop the renewal of the domain which is not something they are ever willing to do especially considering the evidence provided shows that the domain was set to renew.

I apologise for any inconvenience but we did renew the domain as per our terms of service and as such would not normally provide any refund. In this case I have been advised I can provide the refund to you and have already processed this.

With regards to the closure of the account if you could get back to me with 5th and 10th character of your password I will pass this on to our customer care team to ensure the account is fully closed off.

I look forward to your reply.

Best Regards,

Nicholas Blakeman - Technical Support
Fasthosts Customer Support

i think that because the auto renewed a domain that was not set to autorenew they have been forced to refund by Nominet as this breached Nominets code of practice, but they still are trying to blame me rather than admit their system messed up.

shockym · Post #3 (**permalink**) 01-24-2012, 08:40 AM

Very good catch and honestly it might not be a mistake on their end, it could be intentional. I would suggest anyone for this company or another to take screen shots of exactly what you ordered along with your settings.

We have some clients that want auto renew and as soon as they are asked, its set to do so, but some clients end up forgetting too. Who knows what the case is here but it should be investigated esp. if they are known for it.

easyhostmedia · Post #4 (**permalink**) 01-24-2012, 08:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shockym

Very good catch and honestly it might not be a mistake on their end, it could be intentional. I would suggest anyone for this company or another to take screen shots of exactly what you ordered along with your settings.

We have some clients that want auto renew and as soon as they are asked, its set to do so, but some clients end up forgetting too. Who knows what the case is here but it should be investigated esp. if they are known for it.

it was not intentional

11years in the hosting business when i order any domain the first thing i do is turn off auto renew.
the only domain i have on auto renew is my main website domain

Artashes · Post #5 (**permalink**) 01-24-2012, 04:35 PM

Unfortunate, but I am glad they resolved it in an amicable way. That is actually nice to see.

easyhostmedia · Post #6 (**permalink**) 01-24-2012, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Artashes

Unfortunate, but I am glad they resolved it in an amicable way. That is actually nice to see.

they did eventually after hours of messages back and forth, without them budging until after i contacted Nominet, which make me think that their hand was forced.

either way i have told them where to stick their account