3 ms·

Sounds like fraud to me. Charge for something similar to what you're already billing and hope people don't notice. Around where I live, courts decide different

by lolc 7y ago

Sounds like fraud to me. Charge for something similar to what you're already billing and hope people don't notice. Around where I live, courts decide differently based on the nature of the enterprise. If a company gets an invoice and pays up, they basically agreed to the charge. That's because companies are expected to understand and check invoices. For private individuals, if they pay an invoice and only later realize that they didn't in fact wanted to pay, the contract that came into being based on their payment can be annulled. And in some cases it leads to charges of fraud. That's not to say that companies can't be illegally defrauded, just that the bars are higher. In the .uk case, this means companies would have to make sure they didn't pay. But consumers could in fact claim they were tricked and demand restitution even after paying. I don't know how such cases are handled in the UK however. In any case: Transfer your .co.uk to a reputable registrar. Don't do business with outfits who pull shit like this.

NeedMoreTea 7y ago
Don't forget to complain about their transfer out fee first. After years of 123-reg marketing "never any transfer out fees" they silently introduced one about 5 years ago. Then seemed surprised when the internet was unimpressed.
scraplab 7y ago
Who do people recommend for alternative UK/global registrars? Security is high up my list of priorities, and Cloudflare looks great, but doesn't offer .co.uk domains currently.
- leonsmith 7y ago
  https://www.gandi.net/ https://www.gandi.net/ I belive at some point in the past when you ordered a weird TLD on AWS it was fulfilled by gandi on behalf of AWS.
  - CHsurfer 7y ago
    Happy Gandi customer here. Price is fair, good docs for a smaller provider and friendly service.
  - jamesponddotco 7y ago
    Plus one for Gandi, these guys are amazing and follow a clear no bullshit policy [0]. [0] https://www.gandi.net/en/no-bullshit https://www.gandi.net/en/no-bullshit
- JeanMarcS 7y ago
  Why not just .uk domains ? I was checking on OVH website if they do .co.uk (they do) and found out they also do .uk https://www.ovh.co.uk/domains/dotuk.xml https://www.ovh.co.uk/domains/dotuk.xml
  - Symbiote 7y ago
    People in Britain have 20 years of seeing ".co.uk" and hearing "dot co dot you-kay". It will take a while longer before major companies want to use the .uk domain in preference to the .co.uk.
pjc50 7y ago
Sounds like a clear breach of the Distance Selling regulations: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5tzLGdyC8FpBvKSr1GS4WLy/distance-selling-regulations https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5tzLGdyC8FpBvKSr1G...
tomp 7y ago
Ha! I'm pissed at Sky (UK broadband provider) because they started charging us for a service I never used and cannot use and never agreed to (Free Weekend Talk - I don't even have a non-mobile phone!) - it used to be free then all of a sudden it wasn't and there was an "opt out" and it was charged automatically by direct debit and my bank cannot help because (presumably) they "notified" me. It's a small amount (and thus harder to notice on the monthly bank account balance) but I wonder what would happen if they offered medical insurance (which, again, I don't need), first for free and then they changed it to £500/month and "notified" me (but usually I disregard these kinds of letters because they're not important, just spam). Well, I'm really angry at my bank. I'm probably switching to one of the new, digital ones, either Monzo or Starling. Old incompetent banks are the best advertisement the newcomers could ever get.
- TheGrumpyBrit 7y ago
  Your bank most certainly can help - the Direct Debit Guarantee is very clear that "If an error is made in the payment of your Direct Debit, by the organisation or your bank or building society, you are entitled to a full and immediate refund of the amount paid from your bank or building society" - it doesn't matter if the bank believe Sky notified you, they are the ones bound by the guarantee to refund. That doesn't stop Sky from sending you a separate bill for the service, but your bank MUST refund immediately if you ask them. Be persistant, and if they still refuse, use the secret magic words: "So is that the banks final stance on this request, or is there another level you need to escalate my complaint to before I can contact the ombudsman?"
johnnycab 7y ago
They will likely get away with it, despite straddling a number of dark patterns ranging from 'sneaking it into the basket' to 'forced continuity'. They will probably get a slap on the wrist by claiming that they did inform the user at sign-up to opt-out etc. and display some faux remorse. The tactics are tried and perfected and not so dissimilar from the range of dirty tricks deployed by GoDaddy; which is hardly surprising considering that both registrars accused of shady practices, share the same parent. I agree that there is no need to use immoral registrars these days ─ Gandi has a section, which advises on upfront costs of creation, renewal etc. and is also one of the most reputable registrars in the business. https://www.gandi.net/en/domain/tld https://www.gandi.net/en/domain/tld
- lolc 7y ago
  I've only had good experiences with Gandi so far.

by lolc 7y ago

NeedMoreTea 7y ago

Don't forget to complain about their transfer out fee first. After years of 123-reg marketing "never any transfer out fees" they silently introduced one about 5 years ago. Then seemed surprised when the internet was unimpressed.

scraplab 7y ago

Who do people recommend for alternative UK/global registrars? Security is high up my list of priorities, and Cloudflare looks great, but doesn't offer .co.uk domains currently.

leonsmith 7y ago
https://www.gandi.net/ https://www.gandi.net/ I belive at some point in the past when you ordered a weird TLD on AWS it was fulfilled by gandi on behalf of AWS.
- CHsurfer 7y ago
  Happy Gandi customer here. Price is fair, good docs for a smaller provider and friendly service.
- jamesponddotco 7y ago
  Plus one for Gandi, these guys are amazing and follow a clear no bullshit policy [0]. [0] https://www.gandi.net/en/no-bullshit https://www.gandi.net/en/no-bullshit
JeanMarcS 7y ago
Why not just .uk domains ? I was checking on OVH website if they do .co.uk (they do) and found out they also do .uk https://www.ovh.co.uk/domains/dotuk.xml https://www.ovh.co.uk/domains/dotuk.xml
- Symbiote 7y ago
  People in Britain have 20 years of seeing ".co.uk" and hearing "dot co dot you-kay". It will take a while longer before major companies want to use the .uk domain in preference to the .co.uk.

pjc50 7y ago

Sounds like a clear breach of the Distance Selling regulations: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5tzLGdyC8FpBvKSr1GS4WLy/distance-selling-regulations https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5tzLGdyC8FpBvKSr1G...

tomp 7y ago

Ha! I'm pissed at Sky (UK broadband provider) because they started charging us for a service I never used and cannot use and never agreed to (Free Weekend Talk - I don't even have a non-mobile phone!) - it used to be free then all of a sudden it wasn't and there was an "opt out" and it was charged automatically by direct debit and my bank cannot help because (presumably) they "notified" me. It's a small amount (and thus harder to notice on the monthly bank account balance) but I wonder what would happen if they offered medical insurance (which, again, I don't need), first for free and then they changed it to £500/month and "notified" me (but usually I disregard these kinds of letters because they're not important, just spam). Well, I'm really angry at my bank. I'm probably switching to one of the new, digital ones, either Monzo or Starling. Old incompetent banks are the best advertisement the newcomers could ever get.

TheGrumpyBrit 7y ago
Your bank most certainly can help - the Direct Debit Guarantee is very clear that "If an error is made in the payment of your Direct Debit, by the organisation or your bank or building society, you are entitled to a full and immediate refund of the amount paid from your bank or building society" - it doesn't matter if the bank believe Sky notified you, they are the ones bound by the guarantee to refund. That doesn't stop Sky from sending you a separate bill for the service, but your bank MUST refund immediately if you ask them. Be persistant, and if they still refuse, use the secret magic words: "So is that the banks final stance on this request, or is there another level you need to escalate my complaint to before I can contact the ombudsman?"

johnnycab 7y ago

They will likely get away with it, despite straddling a number of dark patterns ranging from 'sneaking it into the basket' to 'forced continuity'. They will probably get a slap on the wrist by claiming that they did inform the user at sign-up to opt-out etc. and display some faux remorse. The tactics are tried and perfected and not so dissimilar from the range of dirty tricks deployed by GoDaddy; which is hardly surprising considering that both registrars accused of shady practices, share the same parent. I agree that there is no need to use immoral registrars these days ─ Gandi has a section, which advises on upfront costs of creation, renewal etc. and is also one of the most reputable registrars in the business. https://www.gandi.net/en/domain/tld https://www.gandi.net/en/domain/tld

lolc 7y ago
I've only had good experiences with Gandi so far.