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When having a credit care on file at a registrar, there is a risk that the registrant may accidentally renew a domain that they had not intended to renew. Or, they had intended to renew the domain, but with the understanding of the terms of use that had existed at the time they had set up the renewal.
There are now incidents showing up where unexpected, extraordinary charges are showing up on credit cards for renewals. Unexpected Bills For one, the prices of renewals may have increased significantly since the auto-renew may have been set up. Or, there may have been unusual, unexpected peculiarities to the way a registrar handles auto-renew.
For myself, I was shocked years ago when I got a huge bill using auto-renew, having assumed was that auto-renewal was for annual renewal terms. Apparently, the registrar in question allows for the automatic renewal for the same number of years of the previous time the domain was renewed. I had gotten what appeared to be a great deal a decade prior for some domains. That turned out to be a painful ordeal, when this automated renewal happened with much higher prices an no discount like the previous term. The registrar indicated that the charges were non-refundable.
Why not have the ability to reverse renewals, at least for the first 7 and perhaps even 30 days. Or, have some individuals on this forum managed to have the credit card charges reversed in such instances? Just because a registrar places a charge through a registry, and the renewal goes through, it does not mean that the registrant paying had actually consented to the terms now being imposed. After all, some terms of use now indicate that the terms can be changed by simply posting new terms their registrar website, without directly emailing or otherwise alerting the customer in advance.
Perhaps now it is time to consider eliminating the "non-refundable" nature of domain registrations and renewals. A 30-day money-back guarantee would likely make the most sense, since that may allow the credit-card owner to be alerted to the unexpected charges. At a minimum, at least a 7-day guarantee would allow some opportunity for any unexpected charges to be promptly addressed.
There are now incidents showing up where unexpected, extraordinary charges are showing up on credit cards for renewals. Unexpected Bills For one, the prices of renewals may have increased significantly since the auto-renew may have been set up. Or, there may have been unusual, unexpected peculiarities to the way a registrar handles auto-renew.
For myself, I was shocked years ago when I got a huge bill using auto-renew, having assumed was that auto-renewal was for annual renewal terms. Apparently, the registrar in question allows for the automatic renewal for the same number of years of the previous time the domain was renewed. I had gotten what appeared to be a great deal a decade prior for some domains. That turned out to be a painful ordeal, when this automated renewal happened with much higher prices an no discount like the previous term. The registrar indicated that the charges were non-refundable.
Why not have the ability to reverse renewals, at least for the first 7 and perhaps even 30 days. Or, have some individuals on this forum managed to have the credit card charges reversed in such instances? Just because a registrar places a charge through a registry, and the renewal goes through, it does not mean that the registrant paying had actually consented to the terms now being imposed. After all, some terms of use now indicate that the terms can be changed by simply posting new terms their registrar website, without directly emailing or otherwise alerting the customer in advance.
Perhaps now it is time to consider eliminating the "non-refundable" nature of domain registrations and renewals. A 30-day money-back guarantee would likely make the most sense, since that may allow the credit-card owner to be alerted to the unexpected charges. At a minimum, at least a 7-day guarantee would allow some opportunity for any unexpected charges to be promptly addressed.
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