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Beware of fraudulent activity by Pheenix.com

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AbdulBasit.com

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AbdulBasit.com
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Hello and Assalamo Alaikum,

It’s been a great year overall and was hoping to end with something more good. However, I was hit with a bad news and that came from Pheenix.com which was a good platform some years back but for quite some time they are losing their reputation exponentially.

A week back I received an email from Pheenix that an auction has started for domain MEP.co and since I showed interest some time back (most probably the time of backordering when it was dropped in 2016) so I can participate in that auction which lasted for 3 days.

After winning the domain couple of days back I tried to transfer out and received authorization code. While transferring, the FOA (form of authorization) email was sent to some other email ID which looked suspicious. I went ahead and checked WHOIS and found the contact details are completely different than what I have set default at Pheenix.

So I decided to contact and explained the complete situation to Pheenix, they responded with This domain is no longer managed by us.” That was strange response since I participated in auction, won and my card was charged. And they told the domain is no longer managed by us!

I replied with:

“But there was auction for this domain and I received email from you of winning the domain. Also your system deducted money from my credit card.

What’s wrong with you guys? If a domain is not owned by you then how can you auction and deduct money from my card and fails to deliver the domain???”

As expected it was another nonsensical response from their side:

Nothing is wrong with us.

The domain was mislisted. We have now reversed the charge so you should be good to go.
Please keep in mind that non com/net domain extensions may sometimes be mislisted in the Expired Domains marketplace and to double check whois to confirm that it is still with us.”

That’s utter nonsense from Pheenix by showing such irresponsible and unprofessional behavior. It’s run by a bunch of fraudsters. Now that’s not any domain buyer’s duty to check WHOIS before buying domain from auction platform like Pheenix because I’m not buying a domain from any individual where I need to check if the domain is stolen or not owned by the person I’m dealing with.

If that’s the case, we all need to keep checking WHOIS for all domains we regularly buy at GoDaddy Auctions, NameJet, DropCatch, etc.

Pheenix is no longer a trustworthy platform and I don’t plan to use them in future like I stopped using Flippa which is another dreadful platform… at least for me…

Well, there is nothing wrong or to blame the current owner of the domain. It’s the Pheenix who is responsible for causing this trouble and the least they could do was to admit their mistake but they have no regret of doing fraudulent activity.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Domain Name: mep.co
Registry Domain ID: D156111300-CO
Registrar WHOIS Server:
Registrar URL: whois.godaddy.com
Updated Date: 2017-05-22T16:51:36Z
Creation Date: 2016-11-20T17:50:34Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2018-11-19T23:59:59Z

It's not even listed at Pheenix, @Arca has already reported shady activity a few months back, Pheenix is still sending bad auth codes, and keeping some domains trapped, I just have 2 left there, transferred over 80 out in the past few months.

By auctioning off domains they do not own, shows a serious breakdown in their platform, they only have a few auctions, mainly .biz, can't catch anything anymore, just become a domain warehouse club for internal domains, they have simply given up, time for everyone to pull their domains out.
 
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Yeah, the domain is at GoDaddy and I'm aware of the already reported shady by Arca. It's better to take away all your names out of Pheenix. They're not at all trustworthy.

But as mentioned in my post, it's not our responsibility to check WHOIS before participating in an auction. If the domain is not with Pheenix or under any control of them, they have no right to auction the domain. If it was a mistake, they should admit and fix the problem forever. They certainly don't seems to bother.
 
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Please keep in mind that non com/net domain extensions may sometimes be mislisted in the Expired Domains marketplace and to double check whois to confirm that it is still with us.

wut
 
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Yeah, the domain is at GoDaddy and I'm aware of the already reported shady by Arca. It's better to take away all your names out of Pheenix. They're not at all trustworthy.

But as mentioned in my post, it's not our responsibility to check WHOIS before participating in an auction. If the domain is not with Pheenix or under any control of them, they have no right to auction the domain. If it was a mistake, they should admit and fix the problem forever. They certainly don't seems to bother.
Now, the Chinese money has left the building, and dropcatch has put them out of business pretty much, they are not to customer service friendly. If they run thru an auction cycle, and deduct the money from someone's card, and don't even have authority to auction it, something is seriously wrong over there, better for them to become a coin exchange at this point.

I often wondered why my pheenix obscure backorders that were caught, always had a second bidder in the mix, very curious.
 
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I often wondered why my pheenix obscure backorders that were caught, always had a second bidder in the mix
Kajser or kayzer or similar nickname? It seems he was there frequently when a "low demand" pheenix-backordered domain was caught by pheenix. And he prefers to use pheenix exclusively by some reason, as in most cases similar "low demand" domains were delivered with no bidding (one and only backorder) if caught elsewhere.
 
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Pheenix once removed all my domains out of my account and held them ransom till I paid for a domain that I had won at an auction.
 
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"PheenixSucks.com" is available.:xf.grin:
 
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Isn't the owner a member here? I can't remember the username, but I wonder if they will chime in here as this is just poor customer service.
 
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He won’t, other threads he has been called out, and ignored it.

Clearly he knows what is up, and probably is not happy about the demise of his business.
 
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Pheenix once removed all my domains out of my account and held them ransom till I paid for a domain that I had won at an auction.

That's ridiculous! How can they do that!

They usually give some time to make payment but never heard of removing domains from anyone's account until the payment is made for the newly acquired domain. Any specific reason you're aware for them to do that?
 
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Now, the Chinese money has left the building, and dropcatch has put them out of business pretty much, they are not to customer service friendly.

This I have not been able to understand, although it probably is true.
If someone is in profit with 2000 "registrars", then somebody else with 500 registrars should also be in profit . Less expense and less income. Provided they are more or less equally competent in dropcatching.
 
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They usually give some time to make payment but never heard of removing domains from anyone's account until the payment is made for the newly acquired domain. Any specific reason you're aware for them to do that?

At the time (almost a couple of years back I if I remember correctly), I was in over my head. I purchased a few domains, thinking I had funds to cover it that week. I didn't. Some sales fell through and I was stuck. My bad. That's an error on my behalf. It was about $100 or so.

Notified Pheenix that I was in some troubles, they gave me some time. I took advantage, ended up being a few months... Contacted Pheenix regarding the two domain names and outstanding invoice which I was about to pay then and there, the guy happened to lose his mind...

For starters, he pushed all my domains out of my account, then advised me my account was in queue to be banned. He then went on said if I didn't pay the outstanding invoice I wouldn't get my domains back. Also advised me, I would not be getting the domains which I paid for.

In the end, I paid the invoice, that's why I contacted him to begin with, and got my domains back.

Really, I just paid a ransom to get my domains back.

Over time, transferred all my domains out. That was the last of Pheenix for me.
 
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This I have not been able to understand, although it probably is true.
If someone is in profit with 2000 "registrars", then somebody else with 500 registrars should also be in profit . Less expense and less income. Provided they are more or less equally competent in dropcatching.

With less registrars, they're unable to compete the giants SnapNames/NameJet and DropCatch who were already grabbing most of the names and after the reduction of registrars of Pheenix, the chances are much slim to snap any quality name on consistent basis.
 
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At the time (almost a couple of years back I if I remember correctly), I was in over my head. I purchased a few domains, thinking I had funds to cover it that week. I didn't. Some sales fell through and I was stuck. My bad. That's an error on my behalf. It was about $100 or so.

Notified Pheenix that I was in some troubles, they gave me some time. I took advantage, ended up being a few months... Contacted Pheenix regarding the two domain names and outstanding invoice which I was about to pay then and there, the guy happened to lose his mind...

For starters, he pushed all my domains out of my account, then advised me my account was in queue to be banned. He then went on said if I didn't pay the outstanding invoice I wouldn't get my domains back. Also advised me, I would not be getting the domains which I paid for.

In the end, I paid the invoice, that's why I contacted him to begin with, and got my domains back.

Really, I just paid a ransom to get my domains back.

Over time, transferred all my domains out. That was the last of Pheenix for me.

That's scary!

You admitted mistake on your part but how can a company held your other domains (already paid in past) for ransom in order for you to make payment for the newly acquired domains! They can give you additional time, which they did. That's good. But taking away your domains which has no connection to your unpaid domains just doesn't make sense.

They're really dangerous to deal with. It's good you took out all your domains out of Pheenix.

Glad you shared your experience for everyone to beware of them in other way as well.
 
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Nothing is wrong with us.
Answering a customer with this line is enough to tell what type of people you are dealing with ! Instead of starting their response with something like :" We apologize ....etc"!
 
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Answering a customer with this line is enough to tell what type of people you are dealing with ! Instead of starting their response with something like :" We apologize ....etc"!

Absolutely!

And their final response after I started this thread was:

"Not trying to be rude.

Do as you see fit."


Shows how much they care about their customers. Good bye Pheenix!
 
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The writing was on the wall, now I can't transfer anything out.
 
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are you getting bad auth codes?
not getting them at all, and that's on different emails, that's the only part of communication that is not working apart from them not ever answering support tickets
 
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not getting them at all, and that's on different emails, that's the only part of communication that is not working apart from them not ever answering support tickets
I suggest you write a compliant ticket with ICANN, that should do it, I got my last domain out last week with a support ticket for bad auth codes.

All I have left is like 5000 pheenix points, which are now worthless.
 
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I suggest you write a compliant ticket with ICANN, that should do it, I got my last domain out last week with a support ticket for bad auth codes.

All I have left is like 5000 pheenix points, which are now worthless.

Wow, I was hoping not to have to do that. Thanks, that's my next step, still have a few domains in there, going to focus on the creme de la creme first.
 
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Before you go to ICANN, have you tried reaching out to their support?
 
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Before you go to ICANN, have you tried reaching out to their support?
yes many times no response, also tried reaching support via other emails but no response, also their online help desk tickets go unanswered, what should I beware? Can reaching ICANN go terribly wrong?
 
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