YAHOO Warning - Bad Practices

[zero_haze_au]

Please correct me if I am wrong, however is it normal for domain companies to auto renew domains 15 days before their renewal date ???

I have been watching my domains carefully as I have over 200 currently up for renewal this month.

So far i have been transferring all of my domains 10 days before renewal to my cheapest registrars.

I was planning to do this for my Yahoo domains as Yahoo raised the price to $34.95 per domain name.

Unfortunatley though Yahoo decided to charge and renew my domains 15 days early. The domains in question i registered on the 27th of October 2007, yet they charged me on the 12th of October (15 days early???)

Is this normal?

Either way, their control panel is terrible, and as far as i know there is no where to turn off auto renewals.

To make everything worse I had a lot of terrible domains that were renewed at the $34 price plus the Australia Dollar decided to plunge this week so my total price per domain name was $52.02 !!!

I certainly will never use Yahoo again.

 

[-REECE-]

As per Yahoo's TOS, they're in the clear (see: http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/tos/tos.php ).

For what it's worth, most domainers here will agree with you that Yahoo has some very bad practices as a registrar and not many of us are particularly enthusiastic to purchase or register domains there.

 

[Pommy - The DN Doc]

Use a good registrar, like Fabulous.com and not someone like 1and1 (IMHO).

 

[zero_haze_au]

As per Yahoo's TOS, they're in the clear (see: http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/tos/tos.php ).

For what it's worth, most domainers here will agree with you that Yahoo has some very bad practices as a registrar and not many of us are particularly enthusiastic to purchase or register domains there.

I see, thanks for the link.

Well I guess i'll take the blow, i do quite like the challenge of rebuilding my finances. lol.

In respect to Yahoo, I just realised they had emailed me for every domain that was being renewed, i probably should have checked, but still their fees are outrageous IMO.

 

[dotrig.com]

They are too worse to charge $35.00
And once you transfer a name you need to delete that from yahoo or they will charge you $35.00 anyway.

Make sure to transfer and get out of yahoo and then delete the name from their control pannel.

DO make sure that the transfer is complete.

 

[stard]

Most seem to have the option to do it automatically now, its a measure to stop you loosing you domains, I like the feature personally.

 

[dotrig.com]

if you agree with the price and don't have to look for promo codes that is a good option.

 

[sgtppr]

if i were you i'd be more concerned about the $283 renewal fee's

 

[namenut]

Sorry to hear this. You missed all the warnings and the email Yahoo sent out.

It was clear to me, when Yahoo anounced the price hike, they did not wish to be in the "Domain Name" game any longer. They want to be in the "Domain Services" game.

I don't think I ever spoke to an english speaking rep.

I transfered all my holdings away from Yahoo and had a great time with the comments option asking my reason for leaving.


I would say the $1.99 domain sales coupled with the early renewal feature was a smart tactic in the long run. Assuming there are many, many, many others having made this same mistake.

Good luck ..... sorry to hear you took a financial hit. Especially in these times.

namenut

 

[Spade]

No doubt thats rough. You could of course (if you didnt want the domain names anymore) request cancellation and refund. You should be within your allotted time. Or, see if they can apply a discount on the previous domain names. Worth a shot.

 

[-Adam-]

When I first started off buying domain names I bought two through yahoo/melbourne. It was horrible experience through and through. I would not recommend them to anyone and avoid then at any costs at possible.

Hopefully you are able to successfully resolve your situation. Best of luck to you.

 

[Ms Domainer]

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Yahoo is awful, guilty of predatory billing practices.

Other registrars allow you to turn off auto renewal, but not Yahoo.

I can't even delete my credit card from my account.

Last year, I transferred 250 domains out of Yahoo, and still got billed for a "shadow" domain that was still in my account and would not delete. I had to go through hell to convince the rep that the domain was now registered with another registrar.

Even after the rep looked up my Whois, he STILL didn't want to believe me. I had to get downright rude to solve the problem and get the charge off my card. They still have my credit card card on file; I just noticed that they have charged me $19.95 for an email address that I had signed up for years ago when space was an issue. No one PAYS for an email address these days. Now I'm going to have to deal with that.

Those people are whacked out nutjobs and should be avoided at all costs. I used to have hosting with them, and then they changed their platform, which pretty much screwed everything up to the point where I couldn't load my pages and messed up the ones already on the net. I finally gave up and cancelled. I now host on free blogs, and my forum is on host matters.

Yahoo will squeeze every penny out of you and laugh about it. If you are ever tempted to fall for that $1.99 "special," do so at your own peril. You'll spend hours on the phone, trying to deal with complete morons and extricating your credit card from its greedy hands.

I'd love to see Yahoo go belly up or get swallowed up by Google or Microsoft.

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[weblord]

use domainer friendly registrar such as godaddy.
also try this one
http://www.namepros.com/domainreg.php

 

[HuntingMoon]

the registration time gets added on if you push out early. leave yourself 30 days. fabulous, moniker, godaddy, and enom are good options.

 

[zero_haze_au]

Will Yahoo! automatically renew my domain?

If you registered your domain name through Yahoo!, we will automatically renew your domain each year (or, in the case of multiyear Yahoo! Domains registrations, at the end of your term). If your billing information is up-to-date, there's no need to do a thing.

You can double-check this information by visiting https://billing.yahoo.com. To update your payment method, click the "Update Payment Method" link next to the plan you'd like to edit.

Important: If you're using a domain that you registered with another company, that company is responsible for renewing your domain, and you must pay any associated fees to that provider. Yahoo! cannot renew domains registered through another provider.

Actually i don't think they are in the clear.

There answer here states that they will renew at the end of your term.

My Expiry dates are not for another 15 days.

As far as i know according to icann rules the owner has up to the expiry date of the domain to renew or cancel it.

How can Yahoo charge customers 15 days before the renewal date.

This period is also not stated anywhere in their TOS.

hmmm... interesting. lol

Anyway if all else fails, i have great standing with my company bank account who will thankfully charge back the amounts, if Yahoo fails to explain themselves.

 

[Ms Domainer]

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Here's a good one: I just discovered that if you don't update your credit card in Yahoo's billing, Yahoo somehow finds your updated credit information and still charges your card. AND YOUR CREDIT CARD COMPANY WILL ACCEPT THE CHARGE.

Beware! Predatory billing! Those seductive teaser rates will kill you!

I just initiated a transfer of my last Yahoo domain to another registrar; the auth # and domain lock/unlock was invisible, so I had to call Yahoo.

I was on hold for at least an hour, and it took the customer no-service rep another hour to figure out how to unlock the domain and find the auth#. I THINK the transfer will go through--it's been "validated," but who knows?

But now I have to cancel some email addresses that I have been paying for, and cancel them--another hour and hassle with a rep 12 time zones away.

As soon as my domain is safely tucked in my new account, I plan to call my cc company and place a flag on my account to deny ALL future Yahoo charges and do a chargeback on the current ones.

This is complete and utter BS.

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[Dave_Z]

Anyway if all else fails, i have great standing with my company bank account who will thankfully charge back the amounts, if Yahoo fails to explain themselves.

If you're going to do that, I suggest you do so after the domain name/s has
been transferred. Generally speaking, domain providers treat such as "fraud"
and will lock out customers from their accounts.

Just telling you how that goes, having been in the biz before.

 

[Ms Domainer]

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If you're going to do that, I suggest you do so after the domain name/s has
been transferred. Generally speaking, domain providers treat such as "fraud"
and will lock out customers from their accounts.

Just telling you how that goes, having been in the biz before.

Yes, I'll be waiting until my domain is safe and sound in my new account.

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