Beware: 101domain.com

July 8, 2014

To whom it may concern,

I am the registered owner of a very valuable and desirable, short, three letter domain name.

On May 22, 2014, I received an email from support@ksregistry.com with a domain transfer code for my domain and a link to a list of accredited .vg registrars. On this list of "accredited" registrars was 101domain.com. The email also stated that I had 7 days to act on the transfer. I immediately visited the website for 101domain.com and proceeded to place an order to register my domain. I entered my credit card information and received a confirmation email stating that my order was created and was being processed. This email, dated May 22, 2014 informed me that the time to register my domain was approximately 24 to 48 hours.

After 24 hours, I logged into the site and saw my domain listed as "transfer in ready". I submitted a support ticket asking if I needed to do something to get the domain transferred. The response, late that night asked for more information. I responded on the next business day, May 27, 2014, stating that I was trying to transfer my domain per the email I had received and that the status was "transfer in ready".

In response, I received and email that an invoice had been created and a response to the help ticket stating that I needed to pay the invoice. The invoice stated that "if paid past the due date (which was "n/a") that I may be subject to a restoration fee of $150. Again, I responded promptly and paid the invoice the same day.

On June 4, 2014, I submitted yet another ticket inquiring about when I could expect my domain to be usable as it had been two weeks since my original order and it still wasn't working. The response the following day was that the domain was not active and the transfer was not possible. I voiced my displeasure with the service and after several messages and phone calls I was instructed to submit some documentation of my identity and prior ownership of the domain, which I did, again, very promptly.

On June 17, 2014 I received several emails stating that invoices had been created for $99 and $150 respectfully for "redemption fees". I checked the WHOIS database for the registry and saw that my domain had been transferred under the control of 101domain.com. As I had not been informed about any additional fees being assessed I called support and voiced my objection to being charged a redemption fee as a result of 101domain.com failing to process my order in a timely manner.

Since then I've been getting a runaround from 101domain and their support staff who have made all manner of excuses to blame me for the domain not being registered prior to expiration. I've been told that domain transfers take 2-4 weeks and "2 days" was not enough, despite the fact that (1) I placed the order 7 days before the transfer expired, (2) it was impossible to place the order 2-4 weeks ahead of expiration as the registry only allowed 7 days, and (3) as an "accredited registrar", they should have known exactly what the time restrictions were and should have been able to process the order in a timely fashion. Furthermore, 101domain never informed me of a redemption fee, nor got my consent to transfer control of the domain to themselves contingent on me paying a redemption fee.

I could write this whole experience off as complete incompetence on the part of 101domain if not for the fact that after allowing my domain to expire, they went out of their way to transfer control of the domain to themselves prior to beginning the efforts to extort money from me to correct the very problem that they created. With the domain now under the control of 101domain, they will be able to seize control of the domain and auction it off for a profit if I refuse to pay the ransom they're demanding.

It's apparent that 101domain is scamming me in an attempt to rip me off through extortion after hijacking my domain. I've now exhausted my efforts to get 101domain to accept responsibility and waive the fees. I will now be sending this letter to ICANN, the California and Nevada Better Business Bureaus, KS Registry, Authorize.net, US-EU SafeHarbor, INTA, Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce, Domaining.com, RipOffReport.com, Consumerist.com, and other websites as I see fit. I've contacted my credit card company to dispute the charges from 101domain and I'll be sending a registered letter to 101domain.com's corporate offices demanding that they CEASE AND DESIST any efforts to auction or release my domain for registration by other entities pending the outcome of the lawsuit that I will be filing this week.

I urge all parties to reconsider their relationship with 101domain and I urge KSRegistry to remove 101domain as an "accredited" registrar as they're clearly either incompetent or scammers.

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BirdOPrey5 said:

Keep up the good fight!

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wct097 said:

Looks like I'll be finding out if this is complete BS or not:

Suing Big Companies In Small Claims Court Is Fun And Easy Consumerist

Not 100% sure if I can sue them locally or not, and while I don't think they can disclaim liability through their TOS, I don't think it's legit for them to cause a problem then charge me to fix it.

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BirdOPrey5 said:

Besides jurisdiction you are going to have a tough time convincing a judge why the domain name was so valuable... Have you decided how much you think it is worth?

The small claims court maximum varies but I think $5,000 is the most common.

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wct097 said:

The theory is that it's more expensive for them to show up for court, win or lose, than to make it right, settling out of court. I'd rather pay $50 to the courts to convince them it's in their best interest to do the right thing than pay their $99-150 extortion fee.

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If you would like to submit a complaint in writing, please mail us at:

101domain, Inc.
Attn: Legal & Compliance Dept.
5858 Edison Place
Carlsbad, CA 92008

If you are unhappy with the initial resolution of your complaint, you may call us at one of the numbers above and ask to speak to a manager or email us at .

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BirdOPrey5 said:

I would ne surprised if anyone shows up at all.

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Ralph said:

This. Considering they're out of Cali, it's going to be difficult for a court in Virginia to 1) force them to show, and 2) to help you enforce any judgment against them.

Most likely response, I suspect, is that the judge or court commissioner hearing the case will just throw it out at your initial appearance for lack of jurisdiction. That's if they even accept your suit in the first place.

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Thank you for contacting 101domain. We’d like to apologize for any inconvenience you are experiencing.

In reviewing your account, this is what occurred:

On Thursday May 22, 2014 you’ve submitted an order to transfer in WCT.VG.
After less than 3 hours, we updated your ticket, as you were asking about pre-registration, while .VG is not in pre-registration phase:
I asked why it showed up under the folder "pre-registration", but I also stated that I was trying to transfer the domain and wanted to know if there was something else I needed to do. They did not bother to answer the second part of the ticket regarding the transfer.

Unfortunately, you waited for 4 days to reply back to confirm it’s not pre-registration, but trying to transfer-in .VG domain name.

We replied back after 7 hours, by generating an invoice for the transfer operation.

You’ve paid for the invoice around 9PM on May 27th, 2014, and this has left a day and few hours before the expiration date deadline or May 29th, 2014. Unfortunately, it was not possible to complete transfer operation during one day, thus, domain name expired.

I shouldn't have had to enter a ticket or respond for them to process the order. The original order contained everything needed to process the request. The transfer code, the credit card info, everything. To blame me for waiting until the next business day is a poor attempt to skirt responsibility for the issue.

Although the domain name expired at your current registrar, before transferring to our management, we went out of our way, and contacted the registry in order to help you out, and in order not to lose your domain name. We asked the registry if it’s possible to process domain restoration for your domain name although we were not the registrar of record.
The registry asked for few verification documents and to pay for redemption charges. You provided those documents to us, however you refused to pay the redemption fees.

101domain never informed me of a redemption fee and never had my consent to do this at an additional fee. It was only after the transfer had occurred that the fee was communicated to me.

We tried our best here to help you out not to lose your domain name. We contacted the registry searching for alternatives to help you out. Furthermore, we provided a discount on the redemption fees, as we understood that you were unable to transfer your domain name during the short 7 day period given to by your old registrar, although it was not our problem to address.

101domain is an "accredited" registrar and as an "accredited" registrar, they should have been prepared to deal with this as this would have been the case for any .vg domain transfer.

Being our client means a lot to us, and this is why we’d do every possible way to help you out.

With this being said, we’d like to offer the following solutions:

1. We’ll be happy to provide you with another discount on the already-discounted redemption fees, and bring it from 99 USD down to 75 USD.
Unacceptable.

2. We’ll be happy to waive the redemption fees if you decided to renew your domain name for further 3 years.
I'll likely accept this resolution. Seems fair, unless tehy jack up the costs on the extra 2 years to cover the redemption fees.

3. We can cancel your order and issue a full refund for you.
Unacceptable.

Please let us know how you’d like to proceed regarding this issue.

Kind regards,
Legal & Compliance

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101domain,
Thank you for your response. I'm still frustrated by your refusal to accept full responsibility for this problem. You're basically blaming me for your inaction because I put in a support ticket asking "What's the deal with this showing as a "pre-registration"? Do I have to do something to get the domain transferred?", as I was confused about why my domain appeared under the heading "Pre-reservations" when I logged into your site. Note that my first contact after placing the order clearly asked if I needed to "do something to get the domain transferred". Your claim that you the delay was my fault is completely without merit. I used your site to request the transfer & registration on the 22nd and I entered my credit card information during the "checkout" process. There is no reason you couldn't have proceeded with the order as originally requested. I shouldn't have had to put in a support ticket in order for you to send me an invoice to pay since the checkout process should have been sufficient. I've never encountered another registrar that requires a checkout process for the order, then a followup invoice that needs to be "paid" to accomplish the same thing that the checkout should have accomplished.

As a business owner myself, I know that it is good business to accept responsibility for things that go wrong as a result of the actions of my company, even if that means taking a loss on a transaction to "make it right". This is especially true when the loss is a minor amount, under a few hundred dollars. The principle of accepting responsibility and making it right is very important to me and I expect the same from other that I deal with. This is why I strongly object to the poor and unprofessional service and refusal by 101domain to accept responsibility for this problem.

In regards to the solutions you're offering, I find the first and third options to be completely unacceptable. That said, can you clarify specifically what you're offering in the second option?

Are you offering to waive the redemption fees if I register the domain for a total of 3 years or for 3 years in addition to the 1 year I've already paid? Do you intend to charge me the same per-year rate for registration as I paid for the first year or are you intending on increasing the registration fees to effectively include the cost of the redemption fee?

Depending on your answers to the above questions, I may elect to resolve this dispute by accepting the offer, though I still do not find the resolution to be acceptable and will not rescind my complaint and criticism for the way you've handled this problem and refused to accept responsibility for your negligence and/or incompetence.

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