ComplaintsforInternet Domain Name Services (IDNS)

Web Hosting

Additional Complaint Information

Customer Complaint:

BBB is aware of issues concerning domain name registration renewal letters received by consumers from the company. The Expiration Notice suggests that consumers switch to Internet Domain Names Services and it advertises its allegedly competitive prices for 1, 2 and 5 year renewals. It warns that ‘failure to renew your domain by the expiration date may result in a loss of your online identity making it difficult for your customers and friends to locate you on the web.” The letter requests a payment by credit card and a valid email address.

The pre-printed New Jersey address in Jersey City to return the letter with payment is a UPS store. The website www.idns.ac is registered in the British Ascension Island and it redirects to www.idns.to, a country code for Kingdom of Tonga in Southeast Pacific.

The company has not responded to the complaints on file with the BBB Serving NJ.

Internet Domain Names Services is not registered with the State of New Jersey, Department of Treasury, Division of Revenue & Enterprise Services.

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Initial Complaint
05/29/2024
Complaint Type:
Order Issues
Status:
Answered
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
Received a letter in the mail for the business I am an Accountant at. Had I not of read it completely, I would have paid ******. Deceptive verbiage states "bobcatofic.com will expire on August 27, 2024. Act today!" Even if this IS a tactic to get you to switch services, the scammy way in which this is done is a huge red flag. No legitimate company would try and deceive their customers from the jump. These letters are formatted to look like an invoice or bill. They are worded carefully to imply your domain name is registered through their company and its time to renew your domain name. The bill has legitimate information on it like your domain name and the actual expire date of your domain. (Just like your contact information is public, your domain expire date is also public information. ) If you pay this, you are not just renewing your domain name, but are transferring it to this domain registrar and at a heft price. Renewing for 5 years will cost $265, that comes down to $53 a year! To compare, legitimate domain registrar companies like Namecheap offer domain registration services for under $15 year.
Business response
05/30/2024
Our letter clearly states it is an offer to transfer to us, as it reads:
"When you switch today to Internet Domain Name Services you can take advantage of our best savings"

"You must renew your domain name to obtain exclusive rights to it on the web, and now is the time to transfer and renew your name from your current registrar to Internet Domain Name Services."

"Domain holders are not obligated to renew their domain with their current registrar or with Internet Domain Name Services. Review our prices and decide for yourself. You are under no obligation to pay the amounts stated unless you accept this offer. This notice is not a bill, it is rather an easy means of payment should you decide to switch your domain name registration to Internet Domain Name Services."

If they are not interested in transferring to us they can certainly disregard our offer.
Domain Name Services

Customer response
05/30/2024

Complaint: 21776504

I am rejecting this response because:
This is a well known solicitation tactic to scare older people and prey on those who don't pay attention. I've gotten many solicitation letters in the mail from legitimate companies who don't need to make their letters look like invoices. Instead, they use fact-based logic and statistics to back up their reasoning for clients switching to them. Nothing in your letter proves why you are the better provider to switch to, you list no benefits or reasoning as to why your prices are so much higher than your competition. There are also numerous complaints online about this provider and terrible customer ******************** reviews stating over-charges, refusal to answer questions and rudeness.

Regards,

*******************************
Business response
05/30/2024
All issues addressed in first response.

Domain Name Services
Initial Complaint
02/23/2024
Complaint Type:
Customer Service Issues
Status:
Answered
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
In May of 2023 I received a notice from Domain Name services that my Domain name was due to expire. On the 23rd of May 2023 I sent them a check (check number 506) in the amount of $265.00. In January of this year and February, I have contacted Domain Name Services a few times and my web designer contacted them as well and have not gotten any assistance. One male that I spoke with claims that his name was ***********. They say that I have no name from them, only the Go-Daddy that had already expired last year. The last time that I called, I tried to explain the problem and he immediately interrupted and said "before I can help you, you need to give us your bank routing and account numbers, which I felt sounded wrong, so I did not provide this info. Since they were paid and they are not providing the service paid for, I am requesting a full refund and alert others so that they don't get scammed like I did by this company.I thank you for your kind assistance in this matter.
Business response
02/23/2024
We have no order from a **************************** nor is there any employee here by the name of ***********. Perhaps this person is confused about who they paid.

Domain Name Services inc.
Customer response
03/05/2024

Complaint: 21336432

I am rejecting this response because:

This issue has not been resolved. I have heard nothing from them or from you. The initial response from you asked if it was resolved. How can it be resolved when you had not acted as of yet, but only received the complaint? Anyway. I am disappointed that you were unwilling to assist and help prevent others from being hurt as well.
****

Regards,

*********************
Business response
03/05/2024
Once again, We have no order from a **************************** nor is there any employee here by the name of ***********. Perhaps this person is confused about who they paid.

Domain Name Services ****
Initial Complaint
01/04/2024
Complaint Type:
Service or Repair Issues
Status:
Answered
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
This company is sending out letters with very specific wording to confuse businesses/customers in a deceptive practice. It says the domain in question is "due to expire in the next few months", "Act today", "You must renew your domain name to retain exclusive rights", "Failure to renew your domain name by the expiration date *** result in a loss of your online identity"...all this makes it seem like the domain is expiring through this company and must be renewed. AND the outrageous cost they want is $265 for 5 years....the typical cost of a domain per year is $20-$25, so $100-$120 for 5 years. And I fully expect to receive a response saying this isn't deceptive practices, but it is, and everyone else has that opinion. It's no different from receiving a scam email with a link to "update your account". Older people will definitely fall for this thinking they need to renew something due to being confused or not reading the letter fully. This company is just fully mass sending out these letters in hopes of people switching thinking it's legit or thinking they need to renew their domain through them instead of their current more trusted provider. And after all this their own website is flagged by antivirus as being fraudulent. Definitely do not trust!
Business response
01/04/2024
Our company sends our offers asking if potential customers would like to transfer to us for their domain renewals. The letters clearly state:
"When you switch today to Internet Domain Name Services you can take advantage of our best savings"
As our solicitations contain only 100% true and accurate information we will of course continue to do so despite entirely meritless compaints such as these, thank you.

Domain Name Services
Customer response
01/05/2024

Complaint: 21099191

I am rejecting this response because:

What a BS response. Of course legally you have that on the letter to save your a** You know that you hid that in the fine print where you know people are most likely not reading. As proven by many of the complaints against your scam company. I read it because there are many scam companies like yours out there. But others glance at it quick and you make it seem like an invoice and a renewal is due if you glance at it. You people are so arrogant with your responses to people, name calling, putting them down, and taking no fault. What real legit company would do that? Oh right, youre not legit. Regardless of you trying to make people think youre not a scam, you are and you very well know it. You know youre taking peoples money by morally wrong practices. You know you pray on the people who dont fully read or understand the letters. Its disgusting.

up yours!
Initial Complaint
11/02/2023
Complaint Type:
Order Issues
Status:
Answered
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
This is a domain name scam. From wiki "Domain slamming (also known as unauthorized transfers or domain name registration scams) is a scam in which the offending domain name registrar attempts to trick domain owners into switching from their existing registrar to theirs, under the pretense that the customer is simply renewing their subscription to their current registrar"I was sent a "Domain Name Expiration Notice", "as a courtesy" that explicitly states my domain is "about to expire" and that "Failure to renew your domain name by the expiration date *** result in loss of your online identity". This letter states I need to send them $265 by the due date of December 25, 2023.I understand this isn't a real bill, but it's an "attempt to trick domain owners into switching from their existing registrar to theirs".
Business response
11/02/2023
We are in no way shape or form a domain scam or engaged in any kind of domain slamming. Our letter clearly states it's purpose as an offer from our company asking if they would like to transfer to us for their domain renewal, it says:

The accusations made in this complaint are entirely without merit. We would be happy of course to remove this person from our mailing list, simply reply with your domain name and mailing address for removal.

Thank you
Domain Name Services

Customer response
11/04/2023

Complaint: 20814560

I am rejecting this response because it's a scam.

Regards,

*************************
Initial Complaint
06/28/2023
Complaint Type:
Customer Service Issues
Status:
Answered
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
Company is a scam to scare people into extremely overpaying for a service they don't need to. Been getting these letters from them for years. Shameful they are allowed to operate.
Business response
06/28/2023
We are not a scam at all, our letters clearly state their purpose as an offer to transfer to ** for their domain renewals, they literally state:

We shall of course continue to operate as we are.

Domain Registry
Initial Complaint
04/23/2023
Complaint Type:
Order Issues
Status:
Answered
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
I donate my time to a NPO HSA organization, with my expertise being in the web-sphere. We received a physical letter from Domain Name Services (website: util.com) titled "Domain Name Expiration Notice" using deceptive language to trick unwary recipients into purchasing their DNS Services. Using language like "You must renew your domain name to retain exclusive rights to it" and "Failure to renew your domain name by the expiration date *** result in a loss of your online identity" is a scare tactic to force a recipient to act now, and only those seeking to exploit others use such. They then use the legal loophole at the end stating, "This notice is not a ************** this company. Their marketing tactics are unethical (at best) and their cost profile is 5x what other services offer.
Business response
04/23/2023
Our letter clearly states exactly what it's purpose is, an offer to switch to your company for their domain renewal, it reads:

"When you switch today to Internet Domain Name Services you can take advantage of our best savings"

There is literally nothing deceptive about it and we will continue to operates as we usual, thank you.

Domain Registry
Initial Complaint
04/17/2023
Complaint Type:
Sales and Advertising Issues
Status:
Answered
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
Domain Registry billed HoustonEnergyCofc.com for 2023 costs. $60.00. I paid via CC for . Then Domain Registry started charging my **** of America CC per month. I had the **** stop this payment. Then Domain Registry delisted my domain: HoustonEnergyCofC.com.
Business response
04/17/2023
We don't do and have never done any automatic billing, especially monthly billing, while they did place 1 order with us back in December for $60 we have never charged them anything after. They are clearly confusing two different vendors on their statement as being the same.

Domain Registry
Initial Complaint
03/23/2023
Complaint Type:
Product Issues
Status:
Answered
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
This scammer company repeatedly sends "Domain Name Expiration Notices" that are deceptive, making people think their web domain is going to expire.
Business response
03/23/2023
We are not a "scammer company" nor have we ever sent anything deceptive, our offers clearly state they are asking potential clients if they would like to transfer to ** for their domain renewals. The solicitation reads:

Thank you for your time,

Domain Registry
Customer response
03/23/2023

Complaint: 19639584

I am rejecting this response because:

Your letters are incessant and deceptive.

Regards,

***********************
Business response
03/24/2023
We are rejecting their response because we have never sent anything deceptive.

Domain Registry
Initial Complaint
03/14/2023
Complaint Type:
Product Issues
Status:
Answered
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
Domain Registry sent me a bill for my domain website that I had set up with Wix. I paid them $105 for a two year license on 2/15/23, not realizing they were not associated with Wix, but a scam.
Business response
03/14/2023
We are not a scam in any way shape or form, what they received from us is an offer asking quite clearly if they wanted to transfer to us. If they do not know how to properly read or digest information, unfortunately that is not a problem we can help them rectify.

Concerning their order however, they have already contacted us for a refund on march 9th and it was processed on that day. So lodging a complaint 5 days after receiving a refund for the error THEY made, well, we suppose it's just a pattern of moronic behavior that cannot be comprehended.

Domain Registry
Initial Complaint
02/14/2023
Complaint Type:
Billing Issues
Status:
Answered
The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
I received a mail solicitation from IDNSinc offering to renew the domain registration for our homeowners' website. I paid them $190 to do so. They requested additional information, which I provided. They still did not renew the registration on the domain.My assessment is that this company is a scam. They sent the solicitation a year before the actual required date, and charged 2.5 times the amount that is charged by a reputable company, then don't provide the service. They are counting on people not doing the research (like me) who just pay it without understanding.
Business response
02/14/2023
We did nothing that this person has accused of us, we did not send a renewal form 1 year early, we sent an offer to transfer to us a few months before their domain expired. They have had 2 years to complete the transfer and yet they have not sent us the valid transfer authorization code to complete the process. If they would like a refund they can certainly contact us to request one, which they have never done so far. Totally meritless complaint based on lies.

Domain registry

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