Hello fellows RSP, I just wanted to share with you one way that has quicky proven effective in dealing with other Registrars sending RENEWAL or EXPIRATION Mail notices to your customer base.
So far we can account for almost 100% of our customers with domain expiration dates as far as August have received at least one - if not all three expiration / renewal notice mailers. Heck, we received one from Versign, Register.Com and DRA for eyeondomain.com and it's variations. (I have links to scans of each Verisign - newest post Court Injunction Renewal Notice, DRA Renewal Notice and Register.Com renewal notice linked in the sample message herewith and invite you all to download them to your site and use them as your materials if your do not have your own sample, feel free to clock out eyeondomain.com so no conflick of interest) This is an email we have sent out today to every one of our customer whose domain expiration date is in 2002 : (note - we have taken the time to prepare a mailing that had a subject containing customers domain so the customer would realize the mailing is about a matter they have ownership in, also we have deduplicated the list, so the client who has 50 domains would not get 50 notices - but just one. We are using Cybermailer Pro - free 30 day trial and only $39 for registered version http://www.keyscreen.com/KeyScreen(s)6/cybmailpro.htm which does a great job importing tab delimited databases and customizing emails when it really counts) SUBJECT: oooooooooooo.net -- SCAM -- ALERT -- > > Dear Aaaaa Bbbbbbb: > > Important SCAM alert about your oooooooo.net from > eyeondomain.com. > > Verisign and Other Registration Providers are sending > misleading predatory DOMAIN RENEWAL SCAM Notices > which may mislead you to thinking you are renewing your > domain with us but instead you would be transferring your > domain to another Registrar at much higher price! > > RENEWAL SCAM NOTICE FROM VERISIGN > http://www.nsihorrorstories.com/ds/verisign.gif > > COURT has already issued TEMP restraining order > against VERISIGN for this practice - > http://biz.yahoo.com/ri/020514/tech_domains_1.html > however VRSN simply modified the SCAM RENEWAL > notice and continues sending those > > RENEWAL SCAM NOTICE FROM DRA > http://www.nsihorrorstories.com/ds/dra.gif > > RENEWAL SCAM NOTICE FROM REGISTER.COM > http://www.nsihorrorstories.com/ds/register.gif > > These companies PRAY on unsuspecting customers > hoping those who do not read the notice's fine print would > think they are renewing with their original registration > provider. DO NOT FALL PREY TO THIS SCAM. > > You will end up paying much higher domain renewal fees - > > OUR DOMAIN RENEWALS are as little as $12.50 PER > YEAR - no games, no gimmicks, no price increase next > year. > > VERISIGN CHARGES $29 PER YEAR- plus their existing > customers pay $35.00 per year for renewals. > DRA CHARGES $25.00 PER YEAR > REGISTER.COM will lure you in with $14.95 bait and > switch - check their site, once you are the existing > customer, you will pay $35.00 PER YEAR > > If you were tricked by this deception and > want to file a complaint with FTC (overseeing > internet Fraud) here is a > link to FTC complaint form > http://www.ftc.gov/ > And file a complaint with Postmaster : as the > official USPS regulations for mail that > reasonably could be considered a bill, > invoice, or statement of account due, but > is in fact a solicitation for an order: > http://pe.usps.gov/text/dmm/c031.htm > The requirement is that the following phrase > must appear in at least thirty point capital > letters on the face of the notice: "THIS IS > NOT A BILL. THIS IS A > SOLICITATION. YOU ARE UNDER NO > OBLIGATION TO PAY THE AMOUNT > STATED ABOVE UNLESS YOU > ACCEPT THIS OFFER." > > Clearly, both the Verisign letters fail this test > by a wide margin, and are therefore illegal. If > you get one and you are a US resident, we > strongly suggest reporting it; you can even do > so online: MailFraudComplaint.htm > http://www.usps.com/postalinspectors/fraud/ > The more people that complain, the faster the > postal service will put a stop to this. > > Many customers were able to STOP the undesired > transfer of their domain and GET THEIR MONEY BACK > by claiming a chargeback with their Credit Card Company. > > If you have any questions or need assistance feel free to > call our 818 365 0664 customer support line or hit reply to > this message. > > We look forward to serving you! > > Best regards > Genie Livingstone > Customer Services > http://www.eyeondomain.com > Magi Inc > 511 G 5th Street > San Fernando, CA 91340 > Tel (818) 365 0664 The mailing went out this afternoon and to our surprise we are receiving extremely positive feedback: here are some snippets from responses just received from our clients: === Thank you... I did get one of their notices, but I figured it out before I sent them a check! The following is what I sent Verisign instead.....Thought you might like to see.....(I did not get a response). Verisign: The Value of Trust? This is your motto? You have got to be kidding me! I just spent an hour of my valuable time trying to figure out why my domain was expiring and why I should pay you to renew. This is absolutely SLEAZY and you know it. I finally found the small print on the back of the "renewal/expiration notice form" which stated that I was transferring my domain to your company and probably signing over my rights to it (I am not about to waste more time following the e-trail you left in order for me to find out just how bad a scam this is). Send me NOTHING, EVER AGAIN....not in ANY form. I will be relentless in my efforts to legally and publicly expose this SCAM and your pitifully ironic motto if you waste any more of my time and energy! BIG HINT HERE....Somebody better take a breath and find out how to remove me from ALL your so called marketing. So sorry if the person who reads this is just a functionary, but you truly do work for a bunch of scumbags...g === Thanks all, I got the Verisign letter in the mail yesterday. Even though I'd been alerted to their scam I appreciate your note and the info on how to report Verisign to the appropriate authorities. You betcha I'll be doing just that. === I received one from them. I "almost" fell for it but I got to noticing the different name. I am a long time internet user or I probably would have been unaware of the switch. === Thanks for the warning === Thank You! === you guys are the best. I appreciate all your efforts concerning Verisign and Register.com I have recommended you to everyone I know. I have transferred many many domains to your service and plan on keeping it that way. I already have regrets over using Register.com. thanks again, === It came with perfect timing since I just received my form from verisign in the mail this morning. I didn't pay close attention and would have just signed and paid. What an underhand practice. Wishing you continued success, I will definitely be sticking with you! === Thanks, I almost did it, then read more carefully and did not do it. So I'm glad to know that I shouldn't have. === Thanks for you info. I will keep my domain registration through you. === So fellow RSP's, I wholeheartedly recommend this approach, your customers might appreciate it too. I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE A REQUEST TO OPENSRS PROGRAMING TEAM : if you can write a few lines of code that would add an extra column to Search domains results in RWI to also output customers ADMIN EMAIL ADDRESS, any reseller would be able to easily retrieve all domains expiring in a specific range with an email address. Currently there is on way nowhere in RWI where you can output domain and email address in a list by an expiration date. We owe our list to a generous help of our OpenSRS Sales Goddess who helped us getting the list a month ago when we were kicking off the .US campaign. Happy Holidays to all in US and good weekend to all in other parts of the world Genie
