Domain Name Transfer, painful experience

123-Reg Warning

This is a heads up warning to all of you that are considering committing yourself to any sort of dealings with 123-reg.

My saga started in March 2006, is still ongoing as of 22 October 2006 and is completely unresolved.

Unwittingly, in March 2006, I called on the services of 123-reg to pre-register many .eu domains on my behalf. In April 2006 I was informed that the majority of my chosen domains were unsuccessful and I would be getting a refund. I was disappointed with the failures but at least I knew I would be getting my money returned.

On 28 April 2006 I received many automated emails from 123-reg informing me that I could set up a credit account for the refunds and that this credit could be used to purchase any of the 123-reg services. I decided to take up this offer as I intended to purchase more domains, InstantSite Pro and web hosting packages.

Many weeks elapsed without any sign of the refund. Scores of emails later, 123-reg eventually apologised and informed me that they were doing their level best to satisfy the overwhelming demand in response to refunds on .eu domains. Stay calm, at least they have apologised for the outrageous delay.

During June 2006 credit finally started appearing on my account. However, by the end of June 2006 over £400 had still not been credited back to my account and so I demanded an explanation. After not getting any response to my many additional emails I decided to call on the assistance of the so called 'Consumer Champion' from the WebUser magazine. Unfortunately, WebUser did not take up my cause and never even acknowledged my complaint. I found this rather strange because 123-reg had been awarded best host 2006 by WebUser readers so one would have thought that WebUser themselves would have wanted to get to the bottom of my grievance.

On 3 August 2006 although I was still missing a lot of credit, I decided to purchase a domain with the credit facility I had with 123-reg. Unbelievable as it may seem I discovered that I could not purchase the domain with my credit facility. 123-reg agreed that it was a problem and it would be sorted within the week.

On 4 August 2006 123-reg and I disagreed as to what amount of money was showing on my credit account. According to my figures I was short by over £100.

On 8 August 2006 I was still unable to purchase domains with my credit facility that had been set up on 28 April 2006. The following day 123-reg told me that a bug sheet had now been raised and the problem would be resolved by the end of the week or early next week.

On 19 August 2006 in desperation I again contacted the 'Consumer Champion' of the WebUser magazine. Again they never acknowledged my communication.

On 23 August 2006 I was told by 123-reg that my problem was now being escalated to the Product Development Department.

On 5 September 2006 I was finally informed by 123-reg that I could now use my credit facility to purchase domains. It had now taken 123-reg five months for me to be able to use my credit facility that was agreed on 28 April 2006.

On 7 September 2006 a ticket was raised by 123-reg in order to sort out the £100 shortfall on my credit account.

On 24 September 2006 I eventually took the plunge and decided that I was now ready to purchase InstantSite Pro and web hosting packages with the funds that 123-reg held in my credit account. After all, 123-reg had somehow been voted 'best host for 2006' desite my traumas. Guess what? To my amazement, I discovered that I could not purchase InstantSite or web hosting packages with my credit facility that stood at over £300.

On 29 September 2006 after many emails on my behalf and weeks of investigation by 123-reg it was discovered that despite my instruction via email and by telephone, 123-reg had taken it upon themselves to issue some of the refunds back to my credit card. Okay so this explains the missing money but what did they not understand about "Put the refunds into my credit account"? Why oh why, put the majority of funds onto my credit account and then transfer some funds back to my card. Perhaps a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing?

On 19 October 2006 again after another batch of frustrating emails, 123-reg eventually informed me that they never intended credit accounts being used for anything other than domain purchases. I again complained to 123-reg by saying that their policy is the same as a bank telling me that I can only use my funds to purchase red hot chilly peppers and nothing else. They responded by saying that banks do actually place similar restrictions on funds by only allowing a withdrawal of £300 per day. What utter, utter tosh. Anyone can withdraw all of their funds immediately, granted not via a hole in the wall. Anyway, I didn't want £300 a day, all I wanted was to be able to purchase InstantSite Pro and a web hosting package. Surely no big deal really!!!

Conclusion (well not yet anyway): 123-reg has had my money on credit since 28 April 2006 and to date, on 22 October 2006 I am still unable to get at my funds to purchase anything other than red hot chilly peppers. So I guess I now need to purchase about 150 of the .co.uk type red hot chilly peppers to bring my credit balance to nil.

Oh by the way, to add insult to injury, I am now getting emails from 123-reg offering me a substantial discount if I purchase InstantSite Pro within 3 weeks of receiving their email. If only!!!

Be warned, be very warned about having any dealings whatsoever with 123-reg.

It really is a tale of woe for some of you guys isn't it?

I don't do anything other than buy my domain names through 123 reg... which are cheap as chips compared to a lot of others. My hosting is done at Pipeten (http://www.pipeten.co.uk) and their service is brilliant. The control panel is fully features and, wonder of wonders, you can have full access to your MySQL databases with a client like CocoaMySQL (on a Mac). This makes the entire thing worth the money, IMO.

With Windows server packages that allow database sites to run starting at about £6 a month, this is a good option for me. Currently I have a Windows account and a Linux multi-host account (at about £70 per year) which I am finding excellent. The tech support is instant, too, with online chat tools embedded in their web pages.

So, the message seems to be steer clear of 123-reg for hosting, but buying names from them (as long as you don't want to move them around later) seems OK. You get to point the domains at any DNS servers you want... so why move the names around?

I have good experience with Hostorange.

A

If you have a domain name at 123-reg, but point to a different server, how do email addresses work? Are they provided by 123-reg or by the host? I have a domain at 123-reg but I can't get an email address set up. I've abandoned InstantSite (within 7 days cooling off, so it should be OK)and am thinking of using MRSITE to build a web site, but the email address worries me as I do need one using the 123-reg domain name.

I am a long time customer of 123-reg. Their service and prices are good for domain registration. I would never use their web hosting services, and they are pricey and do not have a good reputation.

My recommendation would be to use 123-reg for your domain registration only, and use a real webhosting company for your website/email. All you need to do is change the Nameservers in 123-reg to the ones provided by your webhosting company.

I've used Nethosted (nethosted.co.uk) for my webhosting and am happy with them, but there are plenty of other similar webhosts. The beauty of splitting the regestration and webhosting, is that in the event of problems with your webhosts, all you need do is sign up with a different webhosting outfit, and change the Nameservers in 123-reg's control panel.

My own site with some guidance on registration/webhosting is at www.cynara.co.uk
Kev

Any comments on 123reg's POP3 service?
I forward all my mails to several ntlworld accounts, but if on holiday for a week one of these can fill up. I am with orange broadband (another *** choice) and I don't trust their POP3 boxes

I did mail 123reg a while back about the size limit on their POP3 boxes, and seem to remember a figure being quoted, with also some reference to how the size can be increased. Having read this page, I am not a bit unsure whether I should or not use their POP3 service (I do have my domain/email address with them and forward to my other accounts)

3 weekends running now and 123reg emails are not being forwarded on within a reasonable amount of time

Come on 123, pull your finger out please

creating sub-domains is way better.

Godaddy UK domain name promo codes for a discount, these codes do not expire.
BRIL1: 10% off any order
BRIL3: 30% off .com domain names
Codes work on renewals, UK codes and US codes here:
http://brillantdeals.co.uk/godaddy-promo-coupon-codes/

The upshot is that the team have kindly pointed the sub-domain to the right server, and we are back online once again. Welcome back, campers!

Avoid the terrible hosting company '123-reg.co.uk' . If you bought hosting from them years ago, they will keep your debit card details (without permission) and take money out of your account willy nilly. The only way to cancel these automatic 'payments' (theft!) is to call them on a premium rate number.

I called them last week to cancel an old hosting package and was on hold for half an hour on their premium rate number before I hung up. Never got to speak to anyone.

Then I used their support site (a misnomer if ever there was one) to tell them I couldn't get through by phone to cancel and that I expressly forbid them to take money out of my account the following week. They replied, asking if I was sure, then closed the line of communication. So I got in touch again, telling them 'cancel the hosting, do not take money from my account and I do not give permission for you to hold my card details and never have'.

So guess what they did? They took £70 from my bank account today! I drove to the RBS and told them the story and they said they couldn't and wouldn't do anything. I argued with them for half an hour and they were completely unhelpful. I told them I did not believe that if you buy something from a company years ago, they can then take money out of your account illegally and the bank, the police, Trading Standards - nobody would help.

So I then spent then rest of the afternoon back on hold to 123-reg.co.uk on their premium rate number, got through and went mental. After they tried to say that it was my fault, I finally got them to remove my debit card details from their computer. They told me they'd send a refund request to their accounting department and I'll belive it when I see it.

The moral is: never deal with 123-reg.co.uk . Oh, and they DOUBLED their prices for all of their business customers in January for exactly the same service.

123-ripoff, more like!

I feel very strongly about 123 Reg as they took 4 payments from my account and denied it. The only way I got the money refunded was to go through my bank and as a result, 123 Reg has suspended my account and i've lost my prize domain name, as they won't let me into the control panel to transfer it over. - the result- I have lost a well marketed website that I spent a year building up.