unfair terms in RoR dropcatcher's T&C

[AssetDomains]

Forget a chargeback. People have a false sense of security using their credit card. I couldn't even charge back a *fraudulent* transaction letalone if I'd agreed to terms and conditions. The days of simple disputes are gone it seems. If you paid paypal you'd have more chance.

If you can prove a transaction was fraudulent and it was on a UK based card then they have to give you your money back under the consumer credit act so you should be taking your card company to the ombudsmen and court if need be.
Agreed it is a little different if they can prove you agreed to the terms and conditions but if they are inherently unfair there may be a case to answer

 

[DaveP]

With that much to spend you could've got your own TAG, used Aaron Clifford's free script, got hosting and caught them for yourself.

Mind blowing.

Always do your research folks, and always read the T&C's.

 

[RobM]

- title stated dropcatcher's T&C...
- price quoted £29
- no refunds

https://www.dropcatcher.co.uk/terms
"We charge £29 per slot booked and operate a no-cash-refund policy."

All the other drop catching services I know of charge other amounts;
caught.co.uk - £27.50
ukbackorder.com - £35
dropped.uk - £35
dbcatch.co.uk - £45

It's a simple process of elimination.

My service doesn't charge anything *unless* the domain is caught.

 

[dropped.uk]

My service doesn't charge anything *unless* the domain is caught.

Nor does mine!

 

[RobM]

Was going to say that but I didn't want to be out of line if you'd changed your model or something same goes for the other 2.

 

[dropped.uk]

I don't know if caught has changed but they were pre-pay last time I checked. I'm not sure about dbcatch.

Edit: Just read their website, they are pay-on-catch, so just caught that's still pre-pay, and obviously dropcatcher.

 

[Siusaidh]

The reason I like dropcatcher's model is that there's no danger of a caught name going to auction. I respect ukbackorder and dropped.uk because I have confidence they're honest services. Dropped.uk worked for me, this time round, so thank you for that. But the last thing I wanted was to have to enter a bidding war, after the name was caught, with someone who might outbid me. The attraction of dropcatcher for me was twofold: (1) if I got it, I got it, and no-one else could then outbid me; (2) any domain that was not caught meant I effectively got a refund, because I could keep using the catching slot in the future until I'd caught something else with it... I love the fact that 1 purchase can give me multiple shots to acquire domains I want. To me, that is a good deal.

Actually, there's a (3): I trust Simon, from experience over time, and well before this present .uk release. He's responsive, he's caught me names I wanted again and again, and he's earned my trust.

Now, I can see if you buy 250 catching slots (or however many were bought by Tim) then the model might not work so well, because at the heart of my use of dropcatcher is the intention to use the catching slots again if they don't catch the first domain I wanted. With the small quantities I deal in, that works well. 250 catching slots may not be what Tim wanted. But he made that choice.

Different models work for different people. I suspect Tim, sadly, chose the wrong model for him.

 

[Aaron Clifford]

Nor does mine unless I have people prepay for a discount. I'd rather not be dragged into this! If you can remove my domain would be appreciated.

 

[DropCatcher-co-uk]

Tim,

I feel you are being a little bit duplicitous here. I'm not sure how it could be any clearer regarding the service that we offer and the commercial model. Here is the front page of our website.

This is not buried away but is the entirety of the non-navigational text on the home page. Within the Terms and Conditions it further states.

At the checkout stage where we take credit card details it states

This has always been the model that DropCatcher has used. It works well for some people and if it didn't then we wouldn't exist. It would not be fair to give you an advantage over all the other customers who used the service on those days. We have many satisfied customers some of whom are happy to say so and others who prefer to keep quiet for obvious reasons.

To address a few other points there are significant costs to writing scripts and raising the funds (£90k) to participate at Tier 1. We email all customers when they win a domain to move it to their own TAG or other registrar as it is not our core business so the list posted above is not reflective of the domains we caught which is why Susannah's domains aren't showing I suspect.

I'm happy to discuss further but airing your frustrations on a public forum just damages your case further in my opinion. I'm sorry the release did not go the way you expected it to but it's the nature of the business we both work in.

Simon

 

[super-whois]

Within the Terms and Conditions it further states.

I'd be interested to know how these terms and conditions, particularly in the case of the RoR release, comply with the Distance Selling Regulations and Unfair Contract Terms Act.

 

[lazarus]

Wow. 250 and not one catch.. You gotta feel for the guy.

 

[Johnp]

Hello

Give Simon a break, he runs a business with a clear charging structure and clear information on how the credits bought can be used. I myself I bought a number many years ago when Chris Holland ran the business, which I have never asked a refund on nor would I, I knew what I signed up to.

I think in this case we have a clear case of buyer's remorse. Nobody knew how the ROR drops were going to pan out, how truly competitive it was going to be or how many TAGS had acquired Tier 1 / Tier 2 status. Many others from what I could see, were making last minute changes day by day and we possibly all ended up with less than we hoped for. From recollection Simon's posts on here about the service he was offering were accurate and anybody who came via this forum would have reasonably known others on here were not rushing to buy new dropcatcher credits for the ROR release because of the no refund policy.

Anyway my heads up - I still use my dropcatcher slots - every year I have less, so I got what I paid for.

JohnP

 

[lazarus]

Is it possible to transfer the credits to another user ? Are they transferable

 

[Johnp]

In the Chris Holland days he turned a blind eye to users making private deals and simply taking over someone else's dropcatcher account. Update of email address / contact information etc. Even back then the slots traded at a discount to 'list price' If you search around this forum from ages ago you will probably find 'sale of dropcatcher credits' type posts.


JohnP

 

[Johnp]

I offered up slots on my own Tier 1 tag for bulk catchings at £ 50.00 a catch hoping that people would wish to book some of the second order names. The only lists I got was those which started with z.uk, insure.uk, glasgow.uk www.uk, other llls and lots of the other 3/4 figure names and nothing else. I basically had to close the discussions down. Suspect that Simon had loads of bookings for all those premium names knowing it was a tall order - but Dropcacther, Dropped, Caught etc. accept bookings every day on that basis for regular catches.

Just my thoughts.

JohnP

 

[mibut]

The first step would be to make an official complaint to dropcatcher.
Depending on the outcome would be whether you need to seek proper legal advice, remembering that this would be classed as a business rather than consumer case and therefore looking at Unfair Business Contracts law.
One thing that immediately jumps out at me is
"Domain monitoring credits expire after two years unless agreed otherwise with DropCatcher.co.uk."
which I would term grossly unfair.

 

[dee]

"Domain monitoring credits expire after two years unless agreed otherwise with DropCatcher.co.uk."
which I would term grossly unfair.

Although not enforced I dont think. I seem to remember a thread recently where someone had asked if old account credits from years ago would still be valid. Got back into the account and still available. SImon helped I believe.

I'll also add that i book some on here, but knowing the no refund policy only bought about 10 credits knowing i can use them anyway after the ROR

 

[keys]

So Dropcatcher accepted a booking for 250 domains. Assuming these were all top names, therefore attracting the most competition, then the chances of any success were remote and predictable.

Terms state that payment is non-refundable and only accepted for attempting to catch domains.Total failure is a possible (almost inevitable) outcome, at the customer's expense. Furthermore, any subsequent use of credits will expire within two years.

To make this booking, even without hindsight, was a poor decision, perhaps swayed past performance of DC. There were several other options, seemingly none with potential for a worse outcome.

Perhaps further action will determine that acceptance of the booking was not the windfall that it appeared to be.

 

[mibut]

Although not enforced I dont think. I seem to remember a thread recently where someone had asked if old account credits from years ago would still be valid. Got back into the account and still available. SImon helped I believe.

I'll also add that i book some on here, but knowing the no refund policy only bought about 10 credits knowing i can use them anyway after the ROR

Whether the term is enforced or not it is an unfair term in a contract.

 

[Murray]

@DropCatcher-co-uk

Would you be willing to post your logs for .uk release days? to show your customers how you ordered the lists and what you caught

Good chance for positive publicity, to show how good your system is and why you felt so confident in taking £7500 worth of bookings from one person