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I just fell victim to the latest Escrow.com scam. I sold an $X,XXX domain, website, and PPC ad campaign, however as soon as the domain and associated files were delivered, the buyer rejected the goods via the Escrow.com control panel. From the moment the goods were rejected, the following Escrow.com terms of service agreement kicked in, and I quote...
"In Transactions where the Escrowed Property is a domain name, if a Buyer rejects a domain name within the Inspection Period, return of the domain name from Buyer to Seller must be initiated within ten (10) days of Buyer's rejection. Failure of Buyer to reject or initiate return of the domain name within the specified time periods will cause the Escrow Holder to automatically pay the Seller the purchase price. Seller agrees to cooperate in the return process of the domain."
"It is up to the Buyer and Seller to work with the registrar and each other in order to transfer ownership of the domain."
So 12 days past with absolutely not one word from the buyer, nor any pending account changes for the domain involved, so naturally I contact Escrow.com and demand the funds be released to me immediately. They jerk me around for 2 more days, and then finally send me an email saying they will not issue me the funds, as the buyer did attempt to transfer the domain to me once during the return period. So baffled and bewildered I go check my GoDaddy control panel again, and nope, zero pending account change requests, the field is empty. So knowing full well the buyer is pulling a fast one on me, I contact GoDaddy to find out what the heck is going on. A couple more days of digging for information ensue, until finally it's revealed by Escrow.com's own staff that the buyer didn't attempt to transfer the domain to me correctly, and I quote...
"As stated before, the buyer did not use any account number during the transfer request." - Andee Hill Escrow.com Customer Service Manager
Still not fully grasping what the heck is going on, I start getting upset that not only will the buyer walk away with my coded website and ad campaign strategy for free, but here we are a week outside of the return period, and the buyer is still jerking me around. So I decide forget it, I'm going to demand since the return period is over, and the buyer didn't contact me once during the whole return period, that Escrow.com release the funds to me, per the terms of service agreement. I head over to GoDaddy, and get the following written statement from them for good measure, showing Escrow.com in writing that a true attempt to push the domain to was never made by the buyer, and Escrow.com backed that up with their own statement above.
"
Rules for domain transfers
In order to initiate a change of account the following items have to match inside the account where the domain is being moved.
1. Email address for the receiving account
2. Customer number for the account
If either of these items do mot match for the receiving account, the change of account for the domain name will be rejected, our database system cannot make a match.
I hope this helps in your future transfers.
Thanks,
GoDaddy.com
Technical Support"
Now this is where the fun starts. First Andee Hill the Customer Service Manager starts attempting to strong arm me back to the table, so that I will take back the domain, and drop my funds release request. It starts out with simple demands, then turns to pleading, and finally reaches a boiling point where she begins to get hostile with me, sending me numerous emails per day rudely demanding I take back the domain now. So I tell her please let me contact a lawyer, and stop the demands until I can find out what my legal rights are at this point, with my sole goal being to hit this scamming buyer, so he doesn't walk away with his funds and website. 2 days pass, which is hardly enough time for me to hire a lawyer, and finally Escrow.com contacts me informing me they are closing the transaction, and issuing a full refund to the buyer, despite him being in full possession of the domain. I say fine so be it, since obviously these shoddy people at Escrow.com won't allow me to contact a lawyer to see if I am entitled to the release of funds as we are over a week+ outside of the return deadline, I provide my transfer details to Escrow.com and say go ahead and send the domain back to me, but please use the correct transfer information this time, and indication I don't want to be waiting another 15 days for it like last time. Mickie Dances, the Escrow.com Manager, then writes me back, basically indicating since I already rejected 2 transfers attempts [the story changed from 1 to 2 now], that basically I was on my own, and they would close the transaction anyways. Obviously this was a total lie, as the buyer never attempted to transfer the domain to my account, I still don't know who he actually tried to transfer it to, he obviously won't reveal what he's really up to. I tell Mickie Dances have the domain transferred to me, and don't end the transaction until the domain is in my account. Here is his lying all caps response, which contradicts statement already give by Escrow.com, and I quote...
"YOU REFUSED TO TAKE THE NAME BACK TWO TIMES" - really professional response by a supposed manager
So today, right now, I know this about Escrow.com. They do not adhere to their own terms of service agreement, this agreement is worthless for a domain seller. Their return period is completely worthless, I think we are like 10 days past the return deadline, and they are still making me take back the domain. They will use outright hostility towards you if you don't agree to their demands. They will lie in the face of facts. They refuse to acknowledge facts, even if they are backed up by their own staff's statement, or statements from domain registrars. They will not give you more than 2 days to contact a lawyer to get legal advice on a dispute. They will not hesitate to treat you like a piece of garbage, as opposed to a customer. And when push comes to shove, then will just flat out cancel a transaction, and let the buyer get off Scott free with his money, and your domain + website files. They simply don't care at all about a seller's rights, and are apparently only legally bound to protect the payee. I even contacted their CEO Brandon W. Abbey, he blew me off and sent me back to the rude and hostile staff members, even after I complained to him about their conduct.
My challenge is to the Escrow.com staff, who haven't yet closed the transaction, but are threatening me with doing so. Since you won't allow me time to consult an attorney regarding the broken terms of service agreement and the buyers refusal to cooperate in returning the domain to me in a timely fashion, I call on you to do the right thing and give me back my domain at least, you have my GoDaddy account number.
Total to date I have dealt in mid XXX,XXX transactions through Escrow.com. However I will boycott Escrow.com for life from this point forward regardless of the outcome of this dispute, and if even one other person online follows suit due to my thread, I will be satisfied. Since PayPal isn't safe anymore either, due to chargeback fraud, I will start using in house registrar escrow services, like Moniker.com, which are way safer than third party services like Escrow.com.
Obviously with many successful transactions under my belt, I lured myself into a false sense of security with this one, not covering all my bases, as I should have transferred the web files after the Escrow.com transaction concluded, so the buyer couldn't scam me. Obviously I have learned a hard lesson.
If any Escrow.com staff respond to this, do NOT expose any of my person details into the public arena, and make sure you respect my privacy when responding.
"In Transactions where the Escrowed Property is a domain name, if a Buyer rejects a domain name within the Inspection Period, return of the domain name from Buyer to Seller must be initiated within ten (10) days of Buyer's rejection. Failure of Buyer to reject or initiate return of the domain name within the specified time periods will cause the Escrow Holder to automatically pay the Seller the purchase price. Seller agrees to cooperate in the return process of the domain."
"It is up to the Buyer and Seller to work with the registrar and each other in order to transfer ownership of the domain."
So 12 days past with absolutely not one word from the buyer, nor any pending account changes for the domain involved, so naturally I contact Escrow.com and demand the funds be released to me immediately. They jerk me around for 2 more days, and then finally send me an email saying they will not issue me the funds, as the buyer did attempt to transfer the domain to me once during the return period. So baffled and bewildered I go check my GoDaddy control panel again, and nope, zero pending account change requests, the field is empty. So knowing full well the buyer is pulling a fast one on me, I contact GoDaddy to find out what the heck is going on. A couple more days of digging for information ensue, until finally it's revealed by Escrow.com's own staff that the buyer didn't attempt to transfer the domain to me correctly, and I quote...
"As stated before, the buyer did not use any account number during the transfer request." - Andee Hill Escrow.com Customer Service Manager
Still not fully grasping what the heck is going on, I start getting upset that not only will the buyer walk away with my coded website and ad campaign strategy for free, but here we are a week outside of the return period, and the buyer is still jerking me around. So I decide forget it, I'm going to demand since the return period is over, and the buyer didn't contact me once during the whole return period, that Escrow.com release the funds to me, per the terms of service agreement. I head over to GoDaddy, and get the following written statement from them for good measure, showing Escrow.com in writing that a true attempt to push the domain to was never made by the buyer, and Escrow.com backed that up with their own statement above.
"
Rules for domain transfers
In order to initiate a change of account the following items have to match inside the account where the domain is being moved.
1. Email address for the receiving account
2. Customer number for the account
If either of these items do mot match for the receiving account, the change of account for the domain name will be rejected, our database system cannot make a match.
I hope this helps in your future transfers.
Thanks,
GoDaddy.com
Technical Support"
Now this is where the fun starts. First Andee Hill the Customer Service Manager starts attempting to strong arm me back to the table, so that I will take back the domain, and drop my funds release request. It starts out with simple demands, then turns to pleading, and finally reaches a boiling point where she begins to get hostile with me, sending me numerous emails per day rudely demanding I take back the domain now. So I tell her please let me contact a lawyer, and stop the demands until I can find out what my legal rights are at this point, with my sole goal being to hit this scamming buyer, so he doesn't walk away with his funds and website. 2 days pass, which is hardly enough time for me to hire a lawyer, and finally Escrow.com contacts me informing me they are closing the transaction, and issuing a full refund to the buyer, despite him being in full possession of the domain. I say fine so be it, since obviously these shoddy people at Escrow.com won't allow me to contact a lawyer to see if I am entitled to the release of funds as we are over a week+ outside of the return deadline, I provide my transfer details to Escrow.com and say go ahead and send the domain back to me, but please use the correct transfer information this time, and indication I don't want to be waiting another 15 days for it like last time. Mickie Dances, the Escrow.com Manager, then writes me back, basically indicating since I already rejected 2 transfers attempts [the story changed from 1 to 2 now], that basically I was on my own, and they would close the transaction anyways. Obviously this was a total lie, as the buyer never attempted to transfer the domain to my account, I still don't know who he actually tried to transfer it to, he obviously won't reveal what he's really up to. I tell Mickie Dances have the domain transferred to me, and don't end the transaction until the domain is in my account. Here is his lying all caps response, which contradicts statement already give by Escrow.com, and I quote...
"YOU REFUSED TO TAKE THE NAME BACK TWO TIMES" - really professional response by a supposed manager
So today, right now, I know this about Escrow.com. They do not adhere to their own terms of service agreement, this agreement is worthless for a domain seller. Their return period is completely worthless, I think we are like 10 days past the return deadline, and they are still making me take back the domain. They will use outright hostility towards you if you don't agree to their demands. They will lie in the face of facts. They refuse to acknowledge facts, even if they are backed up by their own staff's statement, or statements from domain registrars. They will not give you more than 2 days to contact a lawyer to get legal advice on a dispute. They will not hesitate to treat you like a piece of garbage, as opposed to a customer. And when push comes to shove, then will just flat out cancel a transaction, and let the buyer get off Scott free with his money, and your domain + website files. They simply don't care at all about a seller's rights, and are apparently only legally bound to protect the payee. I even contacted their CEO Brandon W. Abbey, he blew me off and sent me back to the rude and hostile staff members, even after I complained to him about their conduct.
My challenge is to the Escrow.com staff, who haven't yet closed the transaction, but are threatening me with doing so. Since you won't allow me time to consult an attorney regarding the broken terms of service agreement and the buyers refusal to cooperate in returning the domain to me in a timely fashion, I call on you to do the right thing and give me back my domain at least, you have my GoDaddy account number.
Total to date I have dealt in mid XXX,XXX transactions through Escrow.com. However I will boycott Escrow.com for life from this point forward regardless of the outcome of this dispute, and if even one other person online follows suit due to my thread, I will be satisfied. Since PayPal isn't safe anymore either, due to chargeback fraud, I will start using in house registrar escrow services, like Moniker.com, which are way safer than third party services like Escrow.com.
Obviously with many successful transactions under my belt, I lured myself into a false sense of security with this one, not covering all my bases, as I should have transferred the web files after the Escrow.com transaction concluded, so the buyer couldn't scam me. Obviously I have learned a hard lesson.
If any Escrow.com staff respond to this, do NOT expose any of my person details into the public arena, and make sure you respect my privacy when responding.
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