123-REG WARNING useless muppets

sdsinc · Aug 7, 2012

Losing a domain is actually the worst thing that can happen at a registrar, after a hacker breach of course. The latter wouldn't surprise me either as their systems must be quite old and not too robust.

I mean, a registrar where your domains are not safe is as useful as a parachute with holes in it.

And that sorry state of affairs has been for many years. Don't registrars get audited by Nominet, especially when they have high rates of complaints ?

aquanuke · Aug 7, 2012

In the past Nominet have phoned me for quite trivial things obviously there is some bum pandering here due to the pound notes involved. To be honest 123-reg operations are bordering on illegal and certainly unethical.

Richard (webfusion) it amazes me why you work here, I'd rather stack shelves then be involved with a company like this.

retired_member33 · Aug 8, 2012

Heart Internet for all .co.uk/.org.uk/.me.uk domains
Name.com for all .com/.net./.org domains
Transip for all .nl/.be/.de domains

Never had any problems and customer support has always been top notch.

fresh79 · Aug 8, 2012

@ Richard or @Nerys
I used to be with 123 but suffered many failings so moved to daily

However i get spammed 15 day, 3 day & 1 day renewal notices for every domain i used to have with you. This accounts to about 10 emails a day at the moment!!
Here is my grief:
1. I cant seem to close my account down???
2. failing that i cant seem to delete my email address???
3. Your system does not have any visible opt out link ANYWHERE??

My username is the same as on here, please help !!!

HostEurope_Matt · Aug 8, 2012

Hi All

I wanted to take the time to reply to this thread. Some of you may know me from Domainmonster.com, who were acquired by the Host Europe Group a few months back. As part of that acquisition I wanted to stay with the business and have taken on a group wide role looking after our domain business; which includes 123-reg.

Chris: I've called both numbers we have for you and the one on caught.co.uk, but with no answer. I have looked into your specific issue; its clearly unacceptable and your more than justified in your complaint. I'll try the mobile number I have for you again shortly. I would however comment that Richard does an amazing job at 123-Reg and I'm grateful to him and Nerys - I hope they don't rush off to stack shelves to soon; they do want to help resolve this.

@SdsInc: Your comments don't seem related to the thread, more concerns over security/hacking. Sounds to me like you wish to voice a specific concern? Please feel free to contact me at [email protected] if you do.

@Fresh79: Nerys has either already contacted you or is about to any second!

Needless to say, its embarrassing that a customer can pay for a renewal and we seemingly don't renew the domain; let alone charge you for the privilege. I want to know why that's happened and how we can stop it ever happening again. I can assure you its not systematic; we manage a little under 5.5m domains, largely error free, so each and any case like this needs thorough investigation and C-level attention.

I'd like to discuss it with you in person Chris to ensure I have all the information. I'll try again shortly.

Thanks all, Matt

---------------------------
Matt Mansell
http://www.hosteuropegroup.com

cm1975 · Aug 8, 2012

HostEurope_Matt said:
Hi All

I wanted to take the time to reply to this thread. Some of you may know me from Domainmonster.com, who were acquired by the Host Europe Group a few months back. As part of that acquisition I wanted to stay with the business and have taken on a group wide role looking after our domain business; which includes 123-reg.

Chris: I've called both numbers we have for you and the one on caught.co.uk, but with no answer. I have looked into your specific issue; its clearly unacceptable and your more than justified in your complaint. I'll try the mobile number I have for you again shortly. I would however comment that Richard does an amazing job at 123-Reg and I'm grateful to him and Nerys - I hope they don't rush off to stack shelves to soon; they do want to help resolve this.

@SdsInc: Your comments don't seem related to the thread, more concerns over security/hacking. Sounds to me like you wish to voice a specific concern? Please feel free to contact me at [email protected] if you do.

@Fresh79: Nerys has either already contacted you or is about to any second!

Needless to say, its embarrassing that a customer can pay for a renewal and we seemingly don't renew the domain; let alone charge you for the privilege. I want to know why that's happened and how we can stop it ever happening again. I can assure you its not systematic; we manage a little under 5.5m domains, largely error free, so each and any case like this needs thorough investigation and C-level attention.

I'd like to discuss it with you in person Chris to ensure I have all the information. I'll try again shortly.

Thanks all, Matt

---------------------------
Matt Mansell
http://www.hosteuropegroup.com

Matt,

I know this is a slight tangent, but hopefully still relevant.

With two other companies now under the Host Europe umbrella, with good/decent reputations (Heart and DomMonster) why does 123 reg still appear to lag behind? Are there any plans to merge any of the operations, whilst maintaining the 3 disparate brands?

There is always a worry when such acquisitions occur that the seemingly good company is dragged down to the level of the perceived poorer company. So far Heart seems to have kept it's excellent customer service!

(cue some horror stories no doubt!)

By the way, my problem with 123 has been resolved.

C

HostEurope_Matt · Aug 8, 2012

cm1975 said:
Matt,

With two other companies now under the Host Europe umbrella, with good/decent reputations (Heart and DomMonster) why does 123 reg still appear to lag behind? Are there any plans to merge any of the operations, whilst maintaining the 3 disparate brands?
C

Hopefully we've demonstrated how well those acquisitions have gone and how well both Heart and Domainmonster have maintained their core values and technology.

Every member of the board and Senior Management Team across ALL our brands are committed to constant improvement with 123-Reg.

aquanuke · Aug 9, 2012

I'd like to believe your sincere but lets face it, it's just waffle to save public face as I've posted this on a public forum.

The response I get from your support team is really a joke and merely making out that I'm to blame. Obviously it's a template response that no doubt one of your managerial chaps hands out.

I'd rather continue this in public then speak on the phone, as I get a mild satisfaction from this.

Dear Christopher,

Thank you for contacting 123-reg on the 8th August 2012.

Domain renewals do fail from time to time, as there are lots of factors involved in the overall process. Regarding this, our Terms and Conditions clearly stipulate the fact that although we will attempt renewing your domains, we cannot guarantee this will go through all the time, therefore it is part of your responsibility as well of making sure the renewal has been applied - http://www.123-reg.co.uk/terms/expired-domains-terms.shtml (bottom section)

This being given, under normal circumstances we will not offer compensation, however we will make an exception this time and place a backorder on the domain in question.

In other words, as soon as this domain name will be dropped from the registry and available for public purchase, we will attempt registering it on your behalf for 1 year, free of charge and get it back up and running.

Please let me know if this is okay with you, I will happily assist you if you have any further questions on this topic.

Kind regards,

Victor
123-reg

Obviously it's all my fault for paying for a service and then not ever receiving it and I should accept Victor is 100% correct.. even though the head chief at DM just told me the opposite.. nether the less did not stop Victor sending me the above after I was told by his boss the opposite.

aquanuke · Aug 9, 2012

Would like to add at no point in my communication with 123-reg support did I ever receive an apology.

In fact rather then an apology I was just told a number of times it was my fault for not telling them they did not attempt to do their job.

grantw · Aug 9, 2012

Domain renewals do fail from time to time, as there are lots of factors involved in the overall process. Regarding this, our Terms and Conditions clearly stipulate the fact that although we will attempt renewing your domains, we cannot guarantee this will go through all the time, therefore it is part of your responsibility as well of making sure the renewal has been applied - http://www.123-reg.co.uk/terms/expir...ns-terms.shtml (bottom section)

Shocking!! Lots of factors lol!

When a company charges you and sends you an email/invoice titled "123-reg renewal confirmation" stating that "We're pleased to confirm renewal of your 123-reg services. " anyone would think they were confirming that the domain had been renewed!!!! Clearly not.

My last renewal failed and according to support there was no issue, Nominet whois takes 24-48 hours to update apparently - yeah right!!

Grant

bensd · Aug 9, 2012

grantw said:
Shocking!! Lots of factors lol!

When a company charges you and sends you an email/invoice titled "123-reg renewal confirmation" stating that "We're pleased to confirm renewal of your 123-reg services. " anyone would think they were confirming that the domain had been renewed!!!! Clearly not.

My last renewal failed and according to support there was no issue, Nominet whois takes 24-48 hours to update apparently - yeah right!!

Grant

At least they knew what nominet is!!!

I spoke to one girl at 123-reg who didn't; apparently it didn't matter that my details were in the whois however, faxing my ID to them must mean I own the domain...

aquanuke · Aug 9, 2012

There's only one factor. 123-reg did nothing

retired_member32 · Aug 12, 2012

i am also disgusted with these fools...I purchased two domains (FTR) from themselves which involved both the co.uk and .com extension, the co.uk entered my account no problems and the .com version was registered to myself but never entered my account ? so look through the whois and noticed they have the correct email address (same as the co.uk) but i cannot use it ? i cannot use a password reset because i only one account reg'd with them and i have control of the account ?...123 said try using email to another email address ?? i'm sure these fools have no idea ?