.eu registrar dispute - euinternet.com

[fixxation]

I'm having an ongoing problem with a particular registrar I went with for the Landursh .eu's in April, just wondering what everyone thinks about my situation -- and if I'm in the right or wrong here.

I decided to go with euinternet.com for pre-registering 358 .eu's for the Landrush phase on April 7. I was told by euinternet, weeks before the Landrush that they would be issuing the username/passwords weeks before the Landrush day on April 7 so that I could make a second choice for any names not successfully registered on April 7.

As the days drew closer to April 7th, no sign of a username and password and it had me worried that they didn't have their systems ready.

April 7th came and left with no username and password so I didn't have access to their "control panel" to make my second choices on the day. I was very annoyed with this because I was told I would have access on that day, which was the most critical day for making second choices.

Finally on April 10th around 5.30pm, I got my username and password emailed to me, along with 357 "rebate emails" telling me a rebate code for each of the 357 names that they were not able to register for me, instructing me to make a second choice.

3 days and 7 hours is a "little" too late to be making second choices - the Landrush was over and all the great names that I wanted to try and obtain were long gone.

Since then, I have emailed support, sales, the account departments, and most importantly, the CEO himself directly to get a refund because they didn't provide me with the service they said they would.

To date, I have emailed the CEO over 5 times, left at least 3 phone messages for him and still have not recieved a response. The accounts department wrote me back once over the course of the emails saying they can't do refunds because they don't have enough staff to process refunds, because more staff would mean they would have to raise their prices. What a load of bulls$%t.

This is quite a substantial amount of money that they are have tied-up on my credit card... close to €5400 EURO. I'm becoming more and more frusturated that support, sales, and the CEO simplly prefer to ignore my emails and phone calls and pretend I don't exist. They know they screwed-up on April 7th, and constantly dodge the fact that their system wasn't ready.

The one person I was able to speak to (and she WAS supportive and helpful BEFORE the Landrush), was completely unhelpful in the days after the Landrush and now she has left the company altogether.

I'm preparing a package of emails, the transactions, and everything else relevant to send to my solicitor tonight.

What does everyone think of this? Would you be asking for your money back in the same situation?

Thanks for the help!
A.

 

[Sir Regalot]

I would speak to your credit card company. If you do not receive the goods and services you expected they have the power to reverse transactions.

 

[Damion]

CHARGEBACK :yell: Wiki definition If they want to hide under a rock it's time for the heavy guns.
Go for a chargeback, call your creditcard company or bank as soon as possible.

Time frame to inniate a chargeback is 60 days if i'm correct.

 

[Azam.biz]

Sorry to hear they messed you around like that. The advice above is spot on. Let us know what the outcome is.

 

[fixxation]

Cheers guys, thanks for the advice.

Funny- I had actually tried to initiate a chargeback before, but the bank told me they "didn't recieve the fax". I will have to try again...

I've got an email contact of someone in the bank now, so will initiate the process all over again and hopefully get somewhere this time.

Thanks again, will keep my fingers crossed and keep you posted.
A.

 

[binaryman]

Otherwise go see your bank manager personally and explain the situation to him. Disgusting the way some of these registrars conduct business. And looking at their website they would have you believe they are the best and most professional in their field. Hope you get justice done.

 

[Sir Regalot]

I wish I could do what euinternet.com have done: put up a sign saying "NO REFUNDS". I would not get away with it and no retailer would get away with it. To say "no refunds" is to throw away all the laws on consumer rights. Giving refunds is a necessary part of modern business life. What they are saying is our service is 100% perfect and no customer can ever be dissatisfied with our service. Euinternet.com are living in their own dream world.

 

[fixxation]

Euinternet.com are living in their own dream world.

You're telling me! In all honestly, I have never dealt with such an unprofessional company, I've never dealt with a company that chooses to simply not respond instead of look after their customer's best interests. It's mad.

After the all the several emails I've sent requesting a refund, explaining in great detail about why they failed and didn't provide the service they said they would, check out the only response I did receive from them:

Dear Anthony,

We wish to acknowledge receipt of your emails requesting a refund of
your .eu domain application fee.

We regret to inform you that due to the nature of the landrush
registration process, we can not offer you a refund. If we did allow
credit card refunds we would have to devote staff and resources to
processing them, which would require us to significantly raise our prices.

As an accredited registrar, EU Internet has fulfilled its obligation to
reserve a place in its landrush queue for your domain name application.
Unlike other registrars EU Internet did not accept multiple applications
for the same domain name. Each unique domain name application secured a
place in our landrush queue, with earlier applications receiving
priority at the top of the queue.

By reserving a sizeable number of slots in the landrush queue this would
have effectively stalled the processing of other domain name
applications further down the queue and thus diminished the chances of
other applicants securing a domain name.

It is important to note that there were multiple registrars each with
queues submitting applications to the Registry on April 7th. In the
event that your domain name was registered to another applicant it is
because their application was made prior to yours via another registrar
and was thus ahead of yours in the queue.

Like other registrars EU Internet has been queuing landrush applications
since December 2005. If you wish to dispute the allocation of the domain
names you applied for please contact EURId (the European Domain
Registry) at http://www.eurid.eu

In line with our registration policy, which is clearly stated on EU
Internet's wesbite, no special landrush fees were applied to your
application. Furthermore, you were issued with a rebate voucher in lieu
of any unsuccessful registration to enable you to apply for an
alternative available domain name.

If you have any questions or if you feel that we have not adequately
addressed your particular concerns please do not hesitate to contact the
billing department at [email protected]

We value your business and trust that you will find our prices and
services competitive enough to continue your custom with us.



Regards,

Billing Team.

EU Internet Domains Limited.

Not one mention about the unacceptable late release of the control panel details- which was the only topic I was writing to them about, instead they talk about not having enough staff for refunds, the size of my order in their Landrush queue and dispute resolution with EURid of all topics!

Just makes me wonder sometimes, do customer support representatives read the first few words of an incoming support email and then say, "hmmm, I think I'll send back Generic Response B for this one"! :hehe:

Sent a long email with loads of email proof to my bank, let's hope they get something sorted for me by the end of the week. Fingers crossed...!

A.