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Warning: New Domainsatcost.ca opt-out privacy chargeI'm very annoyed with domainsatcost.ca. They have recently started charging for the privacy service that has been free for many years. Included in my reminder email for a renewal they slipped in there I would be now charged $9.95 for the privacy service. What annoys me however is that this charge is automatic. As far as I'm concerned I should have to opt into the new charge. I wouldn't be surprised if people will pay extra for this without noticing. I almost missed it myself. (I sometimes have multiple domains renew at the same time so unless I'm careful about checking the itemized list this would be easy to miss.) I've already sent a note to express my displeasure. I'm going to have to dig up the old thread about domain registrations as I'm seriously thinking about switching companies over this. The email with minor editing for privacy reasons: quote: As a valued Domainsatcost.ca customer we wanted to remind you that according to our records, you have selected to have your AutoRenewal(s) processed one month prior to expiry. As such, we will be processing autorenewals for 1 of your domain(s) as shown in the chart below. Autorenewals are for a term of 1 year.
The expected total charge is $23.61*.
The current default card on your account is: xxxx-xxxx-xxxx- ().
Below is your list of domains to be renewed:
Billing date: 01-May-2014 Domainname.ca*
Important Changes to Domain Privacy Our Privacy Protection service has improved and can now be applied to most domains including .com, .ca, .net, .org, .info, and .co. Your personal or corporate information will continue be hidden in the public WHOIS directory, keeping fraudsters, domain hijackers and spammers at bay. A new annual fee of $9.95 will be applied for the Privacy protection service when this domain auto-renews. If you'd like to make your personal information public and not be charged for Privacy Protection, you can disable it at any time before your domains renewal date by visiting your Domain Manager.
Thank you for continuing to take advantage of our autorenewal functionality to renew your domains with Domainsatcost.ca.
Customer Support Our Customer Support staff is ready to help if you have any questions. They can be reached by visiting our Support Center or by calling 1-866-620-7111 during 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Sincerely,
Domainsatcost.ca Customer Support www.domainsatcost.ca
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elwoodbluesElwood Blues Premium Member join:2006-08-30 Somewhere in |
Domain registrations are a race to the bottom who can do it the cheapest, so they need to make it up somewhere.
Arin/Cira rules are the domain registrations information must be public, so they create thse xx12339393@registar.com to hide your identity.
Look at myprivacy.ca, it's hosted by easydns, you can create a registration that has an email that points to that address, the "server" has been setup to accept email from registrars only so no chance of spam.
OR you can be like me and just make a batch of bullshit up and point to a GMAIl account. |
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I will definitely look into those privacy options. I'm just so annoyed about the forced subscription especially since I noticed only a day before I would have been charged. Such a near miss. |
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dillyhammerSTART me up Premium Member join:2010-01-09 Scarborough, ON |
to elwoodblues
said by elwoodblues:Arin/Cira rules are the domain registrations information must be public My understanding is that CIRA makes the information public when the owner is a legal entity other than an individual - and in the case of individuals the information is private. Mike |
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sbrook Mod join:2001-12-14 Ottawa |
to graniterock
I was looking up a domain the other day for a piece of corporate spam, and the registrar was markmonitor ... and they certainly kept the domain owner's info private. |
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elwoodbluesElwood Blues Premium Member join:2006-08-30 Somewhere in |
yes, but if if you send an email to 339393@markmonitor it will go to the admin/tech contact for the domain. |
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elwoodblues |
to dillyhammer
That makes sense, my name is still on the contact for a former employer , and my sister who has a .ca domain is not listed. |
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dillyhammerSTART me up Premium Member join:2010-01-09 Scarborough, ON 1 edit |
to graniterock
FWIW, Namespro Solutions Inc. charges considerably less. One time fee, unlimited anonymity for life for all applicable domains. » www.namespro.ca/PrivateW ··· BCF64750What Domainsatcost.ca is doing is deplorable. Vote with your feet, your wallet will love you. Mike |
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My letter: quote: I currently have 12 domains with your service. I am very unhappy that you decided to sneak an extra charge onto my bill for the privacy service that was previously free. Such new charges should be opt in and not opt out. It breaks the trust I place in your company and I am considering moving my domains to a new provider. Please reconsider your approach to the new privacy charge.
The reply: quote: Thank you for contacting domainsatcost.ca.
We are very sorry for your confusion. What we can do is that we can give you a credit back into your account. We will process this transaction as soon as possible and you will be able to see the credit on your client file. We really appreciate your business and again, very sorry for your confusion.
I never received a credit because I actually modified my account in time to not be charged the extra. They failed to address my concerns about the opt-in vs out so I'm going to be shopping around. I took a look at a thread from a few months ago. » EasyDNS replacementNamespro is appealing but their .com pricing post special pricing is a little high. I'm finding Sibername to have better .com pricing but marginally higher .ca. So I'll have to decide whether to pick one company or split up my domains. |
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TOPDAWG Premium Member join:2005-04-27 Calgary, AB |
to graniterock
ok I"m with them too where the hell do you even opt out? |
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You have to log in and turn off the privacy settings in the domain manager. You won't be charged until your domains renew so you can probably wait a few days before then. In my case I turned it off early morning the day before the renewal and wasn't charged. Pain in the butt. quote: A new annual fee of $9.95 will be applied for the Privacy protection service when this domain auto-renews. If you'd like to make your personal information public and not be charged for Privacy Protection, you can disable it at any time before your domain's renewal date by visiting your Domain Manager.
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TOPDAWG Premium Member join:2005-04-27 Calgary, AB |
TOPDAWG
Premium Member
2014-May-1 10:34 pm
just turned it off it's funny it says its just 7.99 as you turn it off but once it's off it shows as free. |
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The .ca affected by this for me says 7.95 for me now. I can't recall if it was still listed as free during the 24 hours leading up to the renewal.
In other words is it free until you get the renewal email? |
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TOPDAWG Premium Member join:2005-04-27 Calgary, AB |
TOPDAWG
Premium Member
2014-May-1 10:56 pm
its saying the price for me now I refreshed the page. |
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dillyhammerSTART me up Premium Member join:2010-01-09 Scarborough, ON |
to graniterock
Love the way they apologize for "your confusion" when they should be apologizing for "their dishonesty". I wonder how many people are going to have their pocketbooks unwittingly zapped by that. Quite a few I'm betting. Nice tidy little bit of cash flow. I'd move away from them out of principle. Mike |
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to graniterock
I noticed the increased expense when I got my renewal notice email a couple weeks ago... just ended up switching my domains to 10dollar.ca, pretty painless. |
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to graniterock
I just noticed this too. This is quite slimy. I also noticed that they got rid of the option to turn off auto-renew. Here is their help article about it: What happened to Auto-Renewal?
You dont have to worry about your domain renewals anymore. Your domains will renew until you cancel them. Well continue to bill you annually (unless youve paid upfront or requested a longer billing term). [edit] To be clear, all registrars offer auto-renew. DAC is removing the ability to turn it off, and forcing all domains into auto-renew mode. |
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zong Premium Member join:2005-07-21 Scarborough, ON |
to graniterock
Dunno guys, just checked mine (and I hate the new interface) and all my .ca and .com are set to off for privacy. Perhaps I've never had that on, ever, can't recall. Anyhow my most recent billing at the beginning of the month also does not include it. And, I'm cool with auto-renew. I forget things. |
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Netfox Premium Member join:2008-07-17 |
to graniterock
Except that I had about a dozen domains I had set to NOT auto-renew which just renewed automatically. Not impressed, time to make a change. |
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to zong
said by zong:And, I'm cool with auto-renew. I forget things. No, all registrars provide auto-renew, but the other registrars allow you to turn it off and then let your domain expire or change your mind. DomainsAtCost's new 'feature' is to remove that option, and make every domain auto-renew, or you cancel the domain and lose it immediately with no money back. DomainsAtCost has gone into full slime mode. It is a form of "cashing out" where you do anything you can to extract money from existing customers if you think the business has little long term potential. |
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said by TomsReports:said by zong:And, I'm cool with auto-renew. I forget things. No, all registrars provide auto-renew, but the other registrars allow you to turn it off and then let your domain expire or change your mind. DomainsAtCost's new 'feature' is to remove that option Ugh, thanks for this - I'll be looking for a new domain host. |
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Asus RT-AC68 Linksys WRT1900AC Asus RT-AC66
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to TomsReports
said by TomsReports:DomainsAtCost's new 'feature' is to remove that option, and make every domain auto-renew, or you cancel the domain and lose it immediately with no money back.
DomainsAtCost has gone into full slime mode. It is a form of "cashing out" where you do anything you can to extract money from existing customers if you think the business has little long term potential. Ugh, that sucks, I was quite happy with them when I made my last renewal 4 years ago, I guess it's time to start shopping around. I haven't shopped around for this sort of stuff since 2008, does anyone here know of a reliable and inexpensive registrar in Canada? I only have 11 domains to register, I host everything myself. |
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DavesnothereChange is NOT Necessarily Progress Premium Member join:2009-06-15 Canada |
said by jaysona:does anyone here know of a reliable and inexpensive registrar in Canada? Start a new thread for that ? |
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Domainer
Anon
2014-Jul-24 11:00 am
I gave them an ultimatum - return the Auto-Renew feature or I will move 70+ domains away from them.
Having no auto-renew feature doesn't work with my business as it creates more work for me and is all around a slimy practise. Maybe ok if you have one or two domains but I rely on auto-renew when my clients cancel or short-term projects are over I can ensure the domain expires as needed. Now I cancel domains and they then own the domain and put up spam crap for the remainder of the period the domain is active - what a shady concept. |
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zong Premium Member join:2005-07-21 Scarborough, ON |
zong
Premium Member
2014-Jul-24 12:07 pm
I just logged back in, yeah, there's a "What happened to renewal manager"
OK, I see your pain especially with a bunch of domains, thankfully, I am not in your shoes and only have two handfuls of domains that I never intend to lose.
So for me, don't care.
I suspect they looked at the subscriber base and some PHB bean counter figured this was a good idea for the majority.
Regardless, I wouldn't call it "slimy" thats a little bit of an overreaction. Annoying yes, slimy, not really. Just transfer them out to somewhere new near the end of the billing cycle that has cheaper rates (1&1.ca is pretty good). |
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to Davesnothere
As OP I'm cool with suggestions posted here (I'm still looking) or a new thread is cool. There is also this thread from January with some suggestions. » EasyDNS replacement |
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DavesnothereChange is NOT Necessarily Progress Premium Member join:2009-06-15 Canada |
OK |
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to zong
said by zong:Regardless, I wouldn't call it "slimy" thats a little bit of an overreaction. Annoying yes, slimy, not really. Just transfer them out to somewhere new near the end of the billing cycle that has cheaper rates (1&1.ca is pretty good). "Pay us a fee or we'll violate your right to privacy" is not slimy? The more I read up on it the more I'm convinced these fees are in fact illegal. Aside from the fraudulent nature of the service (privacy is a right not a service to be sold) In particular: » www.priv.gc.ca/cf-dc/200 ··· 12_e.aspquote: 1) If businesses collect their customers personal information with the intent of disclosing it to third parties for use in marketing and other secondary purposes, their customers must be explicitly informed and be provided a clear opt-in or opt-out opportunity to consent to the disclosure and use before payment is made. The customers' choice to opt in or opt out of information sharing must neither advantage nor disadvantage them with respect to other customers obtaining or seeking to obtain the same service.
In addition, the CIRA's background documents include comments such as: quote: Industry Canada expects that the policies CIRA adopts and its operations will be consistent with the principles established by the Canadian government.
ICANN agreement quote: 9.1.3 A recognition by the delegee that the management and administration of the ccTLD are subject to the ultimate authority of the relevant government or public authority, and must conform with relevant domestic laws and regulations, and international law and international conventions.
And the 1998 CDNCC framework for CIRA that included a Registrar's requirement: "Maintain the confidentiality of registration information". Interestingly, the framework did not specify any need for a public directory at all. That framework provided for Registrars to set their own registration fees but at no time were they or the CIRA granted authority to charge for being kept out of a directory. That authority is the kicker. The only time charging a fee (other than "minimal/no cost access fee" to your own info) has been upheld under PIPEDA is for Bhell and white pages - they were granted the authority to charge $2 to have someone removed (Telecom Order 98-109). CIRA/Registrars operate as not-for-profit/for-profit organizations and have no exemptions. Anyway, I'm going to follow up on this later with CIRA. As to companies to transfer to, I'd be careful of their terms of service - while CIRA trumps most terms the fact that the companies believe they have these rights over you could create problems. (terms such as ownership of derivative rights, delisting due to obscenity - at their discretion not the law, etc) 1and1.ca is one such company - their "T&C" section is supremely massive. 10dollar.ca/Register.ca as well have questionable terms, they are also not Canadian, they're owned by » en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeustarThe best one I could find was » www.canspace.ca/ Note: I didn't do extensive research - only about 20 companies. |
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JMJimmy |
to graniterock
I followed up with CIRA. The fee is illegal, not because of PIPEDA, but because it's outright fraud. CIRA *ALWAYS* keeps the information private for domains labeled for individuals - the fee can only be charged for business dot-ca domains. They are initiating an investigation into domainsatcost.ca |
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BrettD Premium Member join:2009-12-26 Ottawa, ON |
BrettD
Premium Member
2014-Jul-28 1:47 am
Thank you. Good work.
Did anyone else notice that d@c will now always bill a renewal *45 days* before expiry? You used to be able to select 7 days if you wanted auto-renewal, or no auto-renew. d@c is sitting on a lot of customers' cash now, making interest.
I actually think that is illegal too. Wasn't the law changed in response to Robbers atrocious past negative billing?
Probably many here do not use FB. But if you do, please consider posting a negative comment on d@c's FB page. When I posted a negative comment after their change there were nothing but negative comments posted. They deserve all of these. |
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