Is a Registrar Liable for What They Tell You on the Phone?

[Dr. Domaining]

Even if it may differ from their TOS?

For instance, a certain registrar told me on the phone that, yes, you will receive a refund if your .eu domains are not successfully registered but apparently their TOS states otherwise and now they say that they won't be issuing a refund.

Any thoughts and/or suggestions?

 

[Dave Zan]

Lemme guess...Go Daddy? :-D

On the side, their fine prints also say this:

http://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/legal_agreements/show_doc.asp?se=+&pageid=REG_SA

You agree that Go Daddy 's entire liability to you under this agreement, and your only remedy, in connection with any service provided by Go Daddy , to you under this agreement, and for any breach of this agreement by Go Daddy , shall be limited to the fees you paid to Go Daddy for the particular service in contention. Go Daddy and its agents and contractors shall not be liable for any direct, indirect incidental, special, or consequential damages resulting from the use of or inability to use any of Go Daddy 's services or for the cost of obtaining substitute services. Because certain states do not permit the limitation of elimination of liability for certain types of damage, Go Daddy 's liability shall be limited to the smallest amount permitted by law. Go Daddy disclaims any loss or liability resulting from:

access delays or interruptions to our web site or domain name registration system
data non-delivery or mis-delivery between You and Go Daddy
events beyond our control (i.e. acts of God)
the loss of registration or processing of a domain name or the use of a domain name
the failure for whatever reason to renew a domain name registration
the unauthorized use of Your account with Go Daddy or any of services provided to You by Go Daddy
errors, omissions or misstatements
deletion of, failure to store, or failure to process or act upon email messages
processing of updated information to Your registration record
development or interruption of Your web site
errors taking place with regard to the processing of Your application
application of Go Daddy 's Dispute Resolution Policy
any act or omission caused by You or Your agent (whether authorized by You or not)

9. indemnity
You agree to release, defend, indemnify and hold harmless Go Daddy and its contractors, agents, employees, offices, directors, shareholders and affiliates from and against any losses, damages or costs, including reasonable attorney's fees, resulting from any claim, action, proceeding suit or demand arising out of or related to Your (including Your agents, affiliates or anyone using Your account with Go Daddy whether or not on Your behalf, and whether or not with Your permission) use of the services provided by Go Daddy. Should Go Daddy be notified of a pending law suit, or receive notice of the filing of a law suit, Go Daddy may seek a written confirmation from You concerning Your obligation to indemnify Go Daddy. Your failure to provide such a confirmation may be considered a breach of this agreement.

https://www.networksolutions.com/legal/static-service-agreement.jsp

9. INDEMNITY. You agree to release, indemnify, defend and hold harmless Network Solutions and any of our (or their) contractors, agents, employees, officers, directors, shareholders, affiliates and assigns from all liabilities, claims, damages, costs and expenses, including reasonable attorneys' fees and expenses, relating to or arising out of (a) this Agreement or the breach of your warranties, representations and obligations under this Agreement, (b) the Network Solutions services or your use of such services, including without limitation infringement or dilution by you, or someone else using our service(s) from your computer, (c) any intellectual property or other proprietary right of any person or entity, (d) a violation of any of our operating rules or policies relating to the service(s) provided, (e) any information or data you supplied to Network Solutions, including, without limitation, any misrepresentation in your application, if applicable, (f) the inclusion of meta-tags or other elements in any website created for you or by you via the Network Solutions services, or (g) any information, material, or services available on your licensed Network Solutions Web Site . When we are threatened with suit or sued by a third party, we may seek written assurances from you concerning your promise to indemnify us; your failure to provide those assurances may be considered by us to be a material breach of this Agreement. We shall have the right to participate in any defense by you of a third-party claim related to your use of any of the Network Solutions services, with counsel of our choice at our own expense. We shall reasonably cooperate in the defense at your request and expense. You shall have sole responsibility to defend us against any claim, but you must receive our prior written consent regarding any related settlement. The terms of this paragraph will survive any termination or cancellation of this Agreement.

http://www.enom.com/terms/agreement.asp

INDEMNITY: With respect to ICANN, the registry operators, us, and your Primary Service Provider, as well as the contractors, agents, employees, officers, directors, shareholders, and affiliates of such parties, you agree to release, indemnify, and hold such parties harmless from all liabilities, claims and expenses, including attorney's fees and court costs, for third party claims relating to or arising under this Agreement, the Service(s) provided hereunder, or your use of the Service(s), including, without limitation, infringement by you, or by anyone else using the Service(s) we provide to you, of any intellectual property or other proprietary right of any person or entity, or from the violation of any of our operating rules or policies relating to the Service(s) provided. When we may be involved in a suit involving a third party and which is related to our Service(s) to you under this Agreement, we may seek written assurances from you in which you promise to indemnify and hold us harmless from the costs and liabilities described in this paragraph. Such written assurances may include, in our sole discretion, the posting of a performance bond(s) or other guarantees reasonably calculated to guarantee payment. Your failure to provide such assurances may be considered by us to be a breach of this Agreement by you and may, in our sole discretion, result in loss of your right to control the disposition of domain name services for which you are the registrant and in relation to which we are the registrar of record. This indemnification is in addition to any indemnification required under the UDRP.

But just because these fangled registrars are smart enough to legally cover
their arses doesn't mean you can't be persistent. :wink:

 

[Dr. Domaining]

It wasn`t GoDaddy. I made sure to double check with each registrar to make sure that the money would be refunded if not successful. The original gentlemen I spoke to was obviously familiar with the .eu policy and assured me that I would receive a refund if not successful.

 

[kiviniar]

well i guess not,, they can deny what they say always...
The state want proof...the best would be if you also ask them to send u a mail accross confirming the same...say just for record purpose

 

[Dr. Domaining]

I should also mention that they did not get a single domain for me, not a one. I e-mailed them five days after landrush to receive the refund and I never received a response to the e-mail. So I recently called-in and was told they don't give refunds on .eu pre-registrations and I would not be getting my money back, as I responded the person said "we are breaking up" and hung-up, even though the connection never broke up. I called back again and once again was hung-up on before getting anything resolved, the person on the phone would not even let me speak, they kept cutting me off. So I called back again and was hung-up on before I could even say a word. At that point I decided it was no longer worth my time and called my bank to investigate the situation and attempt to get my money back. I have a strong suspicion that they deliberately did this to hoard peoples money. They shouldn't be able to lie to you when you call-in and use the TOS as an excuse to rip you off.

 

[kiviniar]

hey by the way which registrant??????????

 

[Dr. Domaining]

hey by the way which registrant??????????

I am not going to say just yet. I want to make sure that I have verification that what they did was wrong before I mention the actual registrar. If they are in the right I will just move on and take this experience as a lesson learned. I was warned about potential .eu pre-registration scams but I did not think that I would fall victim to one, as I was extra cautious and made sure to specifically ask each registrar repeatedly if they would be refunding the money if the domains were not registered.

 

[Ian]

that sounds strange..they really should refund back the money for the domains you never got. otherwise if it is a lot of money you should contact a lawyer to handle the matter for you.

 

[Dr. Domaining]

that sounds strange..they really should refund back the money for the domains you never got. otherwise if it is a lot of money you should contact a lawyer to handle the matter for you.

Thank you for your input, it is greatly appreciated!

I would still like to hear what everybody else thinks as well.

 

[Chelsea]

I honestly dislike such behaviour, BUT, as it was stated long time before, there should have NOT been ANY fees for pre-registrations.
You could have read about that on the official Eurid site as well as on all forums.
This is why I do not understand why people paid for pre-registrations in the first place.

 

[jdk]

If they do not prepay then someone could go in and pre-register 1 million different domains. Then the registrar will get stuck with them all if the person is unable to pay for them.

 

[Chelsea]

If they do not prepay then someone could go in and pre-register 1 million different domains. Then the registrar will get stuck with them all if the person is unable to pay for them.

Sorry, but I can´t agree.
The registrar I used, who caught a lot of names, gave the possibility to pre-register (for free) as many domains as you wanted. They had an internal ranking list, never took more than 10 pre-registrations per domain.
A couple of weeks before landrush customers had to confirm the names they want.
I did not get charged anything before those domains were in my account.

Obviously worked.

 

[Dr. Domaining]

I honestly dislike such behaviour, BUT, as it was stated long time before, there should have NOT been ANY fees for pre-registrations.
You could have read about that on the official Eurid site as well as on all forums.
This is why I do not understand why people paid for pre-registrations in the first place.

Were registrars not supposed to be charging people for the pre-registrations? Was this against the EURid rules? What can be done about it?

 

[Dave Zan]

Were registrars not supposed to be charging people for the pre-registrations? Was this against the EURid rules? What can be done about?

Says who?

What rule/s?

Not much.

If you're going to do a chargeback, make sure you don't have any domain names
with that registrar or they'll "take 'em away from you".

 

[Dr. Domaining]

Says who?

What rule/s?

Not much.

I don't know, I was asking.

If you're going to do a chargeback, make sure you don't have any domain names with that registrar or they'll "take 'em away from you".

I have no domains with the registrar. They didn't get me a single one. Every other registrar I pre-registered with got me quite a few. It just seems rather deliberate to hoard peoples money with no mercy.

 

[Dave Zan]

No prob, DD. In any case, I suggest you give them one more call and threaten
them with a chargeback, assuming you have absolutely no domain names with
that registrar at all.

 

[Dr. Domaining]

No prob, DD. In any case, I suggest you give them one more call and threaten
them with a chargeback, assuming you have absolutely no domain names with
that registrar at all.

Correct, not a single one and I had a considerable number pre-registered with them. It just seems all to convenient to me.