Screw You, Domain Renewal Group

November 3, 2008

Anybody who is in this business owns one or more domain names. In many cases our WHOIS records for our domains contain our contact info, including address. This allows companies like the Domain Renewal Group to fetch my information (or your’s) and send you a “renewal notice” for your domain.

renewal

The above is a scanned image I recently got for one of my domains. I have gotten MANY such notices from this company. Here is my problem with this:

  1. They purposely make it look like a bill. This is no doubt designed to get people to accidentally change their domain name to these guys from its current registrar. A lot of people (rather naively) pay bills quickly without truly looking it over. And I bet these guys have gotten a lot of new “customers” because the person thought it was a bill.
  2. Even seeing through the above, their pricing is ridiculously high. I can renew my domain far cheaper at GoDaddy. When you visit the company’s website, you see that $30/year will get you basic hosting, too. This is not clear on this promotion.

I find this kind of promotion deceiving. It is designed to hopefully fool people into changing their domain to these guys. As a guy who is trying to help others get into this business, people who may not be totally up to speed on how these things work, I hate to see companies like this seemingly trying to take advantage of them.

BTW, according to this blog post, this company also goes by the name of Domain Registry of America and Liberty Names of America. That’s probably correct because I’ve gotten mail pieces from these names as well.

Use a reputable domain registrar guys. I personally recommend GoDaddy.

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  • Thanks for referencing my blog post, David. The more we do to expose these companies, the fewer people will be taken in by their tactics.
  • You could ask your registrar if they provide "private WHOIS". I own two domains registered by Name.com and Bluehost.com and both provide this service absolutely free!
  • Thanks for bringing this up. I get these all the time also and it's easy to see how those new to this business can be deceived by these mailings. They are also targeting larger companies where these "invoices" may fall through the cracks and be paid unwittingly.

    There are also similarly deceptive telephone directory mailings sent out to businesses.

    These people are no different than spammers and don't care how disruptive they can be as long as they get their percentage of dupes to buy into their scams.
  • I can't stand it when companies disguise solicitations and advertisements as bills. It's infuriating! The company that did the fumigation of my new home sent "bills" for services that weren't even rendered yet, and even had the nerve to put late charges on it! Although they were contracted to provide the initial fumigation (which the builder paid for), I was never under any obligation or contract with them. I was livid! I promptly made several angry calls and even had an attorney friend of mine contact them just to ruffle their feathers. Unfortunately, their tactic works because I often see their signs in homes that were built well before mine.
  • -Jc.
    Thanks for the heads up. I've just received one just like it here in London. I have returned it to them in their own envelope, without a stamp and with a moderateley rude comment scrawled across it. They'll have to cough up for the postage fee. Snigger.
  • Juan Carlos
    I got one from Domain Renewal Group, thank you por your post!
  • martin
    I paid a domain renewal group bill thinking it was the co i'm with, on going to the address i was sent to an other mbe buiness service centres 439 little bourke st melbourne they said they just look ater the mail and would not let me know were the cheques are sent on to
  • Yes I get these letters often. They frost me as I know they are a major scam to defraud those who are not wary. I call them and complain, but they hang up on me. They want my address and phone numbers which I refuse to give to them. Dude its on the domain! I'm not hiding! And yes they are way expensive.
  • Michael
    Hi Everyone,
    I got the same letter this morning. I was quick to ring the company to complain but ended up even angrier was talking with a crude and faceless "customer" rep. Anyway, I've reported this case to trading standards UK (https://secure.consumerdirect.gov.uk/reportasca...)
  • I'm going to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Their website says they're based in Buffalo, NY.
  • Tom Mynar
    Isn't this type of advertising prohibited by the INACC (or whatever the intials are) ? That is, my WHOIS record is NOT to be used for solicitation of services ?

    Tom
  • Check out domaintools on droa.com and domainrenewalgroup.com. As far as I can tell by that information, it's the same company. Liberty Names of America however might be another company which does the same thing as DROA.
  • Karen Schofield
    Thanks for this page. I was not sure what was up with Domain Renewall Group, but it looked real until I read closely. Seems like fraudulent business practice to me.

    Karen
  • Wow, I wish I found & read all this before I paid. Thank god i payed by card cause & the bank is covered & can refund. I can not understand how these guys have been running this scam for over 10 years & noone has found them to stop. They must be millionaires by now.
  • I receive these stupid "Expiration Notices" now for years.
    Glad they send an empty envelope with it, so I fill it with some old leaflets (from lidl etc.) and send it back with no stamp on it.
    Who's the stupid one now?
  • Karen
    Oh, that is too funny. Thank you for that idea dafini.
  • Chris
    Good post, but GoDaddy is a terrible recommendation.
  • Thank you very much for posting this. We just received their "fake" bill in the mail today. The funny thing is that I have my domain registered with a totally different company than others have mentioned. When is someone going to stop these crooks?
  • J.J.
    Thanks for taking the time and explaining this issue. But I don't think that "Liberty Names of America" does the same thing. I personally known the owners and they actually get a lot of complains regarding "The Domain Renewal Group". So, please remove their name, that is not a good image for their company. If you have proof send it over! I'll pass it on to the owners right away.
  • @J.J.: I got a letter from Liberty Names of America very similar to those that DRoA/DRG sends. It looks a lot like an invoice, just like the DRoA letters and the domains prices are very high, just like DRoA. Sorry, I shredded the letter, so I can't provide proof on here, but I'm sure many others can confirm that this is true.
  • Jennifer
    After receving this letter I called their toll free number and told them to remove me from their mailing list.

    And Liberty Names Of America is owned by them too. They have many names.. sorry J.J.
  • Melanie
    I just sent them a check!! I thought it was from my original company and now feel very stupid for not checking first. What should I do now? I wished I paid by credit card so I could dispute it. Has anyone received a refund from them?
  • @Melanie: If they haven't cashed it yet, I think you can go to the bank and cancel the check.
  • Hi Melanie... yes, Aleksy is right. You can issue a stop payment on the check. You should be able to do that over the phone or online, depending on which bank you are with. Some banks (mine, in particular) do charge a fee for this. But you will need to call them as soon as possible. Don't let Domain Name Group get your money!

    Sincerely,
    Nancy Morrison
    Multimedia Producer
    MG FORCE, Multimedia
  • Annie Nunn
    After several emails to this company they have agreed to refund my money! Without any problem at all, so I'll let you know when money is back into my account.
    Thanks for all your feedback.

    Annie
  • C Mulinix
    I got the letter from Domain Renewal Group today and had my checkbook ready before deciding to Google the name. Thank goodness, it led me to you and saved me $30. Thanks for the information.
  • I received one of these letters a few days ago and thought "huh, I didn't register through them... and I'm not paying 30 dollars to renew." This is definitely deceiving and practices like this should be made illegal.
  • Bill
    I recieved the exact "notice" from the Domain Renewal Group as you have posted here. The way it is presented led me to percieve it as a notice of "maintenance" for my present domain provider. The key word is "switch today", prompting to this research them and find this sight. It reminds me of the companies sending out false virus notices to entice people to buy thier software to "fix" the notice they sent out! What a world, what a world.
  • Absolute top man, I just sat down in front of my laptop ready to pay this bill for £65 for 5 years, when I Googled this company just in case it was a scam. Your site came up about 3 down and just saved me big time. Thank you very much for sharing this with the world, and I owe you a drink.
  • Kirk
    I just called the 800# on the letter and asked them to remove my mailing address. The guy was polite, and it only took a minute.
  • Bluehost Blues
    Bluehost keeps my physical address private, listing my site under their business address instead. BUT for the first time I received this scam letter from Domain Renewal Group. This means either:

    1: Bluehost sold my physical address info.
    2: Domain Renewal Group challenged to obtain my legal physical address from Bluehost, and they were tricked/caved.
    3: ???
  • Bluehost Blues
    by the way, my mailing address is not listed anywhere on my website (it is a porn site, so I have good reasons) and I have been successful up till now to not have it leaked. Where do I rage: Bluehost or Domain Renewal Group?
  • Bluehost Blues,
    Most likely they got your address from the WHOIS database, associated with your domain. Your host has nothing to do with it.
  • I am screwed up by this company. I got such a mail. I suspected at first. But then I thought I still need to trust people and paid $50 for two years. Later on, I noticed that I registered with less than $10/year before. And I got an email from them saying:

    The transfer and renewal of your domain name, ... is
    not yet complete at this time.

    Reason:
    -------
    1) The Domain name is currently in a "REGISTRAR-LOCK"
    status with ...
    2) We require that you provide us with an EPP
    Key/Authorization Code from ...

    Now I need to find out if I can get the $50 refunded and how.
  • Annie Nunn
    Hi James,
    I know how you feel, I too paid my $65 for 2 years and got the same reply as you did, so I notified my bank to do a "hold" then emailed Domain Group with my complaint about dishonesty etc etc, and demanded a refund. Within 2 weeks I had been refunded my $65 no problem.
    Good luck, I guess that for every one that does something about it there must be hundreds who just "put it down to experience" which is what "Domain Group" are making $$$ from.
    Annie
  • Thanks, Annie. They already cashed my check so bank can not hold any more. But I will try my best to get it back. It is not money issue, but feel bad being cheated.
  • Annie Nunn
    I'm sure you will get refunded James, I paid by credit card which was an immediate payment and yet they still refunded money back into my account.
    Think positive and good luck!

    Annie
  • There are far too many scams going for domain renewals. My box gets bombarded with fake renewal letters. Someone not paying attention might actually think it's a bill. It's not! It's junk mail!
  • Even in the UK, I get those mail outs from Domain Registry of America. You're right, they are incredibly deceitful and designed to scare unwitting domain owners into renewing their domain with them. I now register every domain privately.
  • JD
    Yeah I got one of those sent to me in Australia and I have helped 5 friends this year, to cancel debits they subscribed to online and can't figure out how to get out of. I use Godaddy as well (always using a coupon code at checkout), the up-sell minefield is annoying but otherwise I am happy.

    Domain Renewal Group - Scam
  • Dizzle
    Just received a letter here in the UK from the Domain Name Renewal group. I own a lot of domains and have heard nightmare stories about such companies in the past but have never received one of their letters before now. I can see why a lot of people may get sucked into this crap but at least your blog post is right up there in the Google UK results when searching for "domain renewal group".

    Fill the return envelope full of dirt and send it back to them.
  • iigruntii
    You are a real life saver. I started to fillout the online form, but when I did not enter into a secure area when entering in my credit card information I grew suspicious.
  • conte
    One week ago i received a similar letter in Austria, Europe - pricing was 28,-€ for one year. I indeed first thought it was a bill they sent me and was about to call my registrar, because i just payed that bill.
    thanks for the post.
  • Too Many Anyones
    Useful warning. Thanks. I'm in the UK and also got one of these letters. As suggested by JC (below) returning their envelope (filled with junk mail) and no stamp will cost them twice the postage to receive. As long as they accept enough of these fake returns at least it will cost them in postage and time. Why not just spam them once a week with mail addressed to "Domain Renewal Group, 56 Gloucester Rd, Suite 526 London UK SW7 4UB (without a stamp!)", Hit back at these leeches.
  • Rols
    My mother almost sent off this renewal (for 5 years) after receiving it at home after I'd moved out. I asked her to scan me a copy and was astounded. If you read it carefully you can tell that it's soliciting business, but it fooled my mum.
  • They're doing it in England now. They have an office in London.
    I thought it looked like a cheap scam.
    Thanks for heads-up
  • mds_skidmore
    domain renewal group has cause us to lose our website that we just purchase with our business they not only mislead us by the bill but our website got shut down and they directed us to Melbourne which we couldnt get thru for days and no reply until weeks later from email and they said they never had our original acct. and now we lost our website and someone else has it that was the reason we bought this motorcycle business because of this large existing advertise site so they cost us thousands and now we are at such a lost on what recourse to do. any ideas?
  • I received a letter/bill from the domain name renewal group , promptly paid the $95 & now my website is down ! What do i do now?
  • Frank C. Tannehill
    Hello David and thank you for giving us a heads up. I noticed that many other blog owners have wrote about this scam and think it's quite an admirable initiative: letting the people know they can get fooled. As you said the email looks quite real and if someone isn't really paying attention they can get fooled. Before answering to such letters do a domain name search and see what's what, check the Whois and see the expiration date and the service the domain is registered under.
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