Domain Registry Of America: Don’t Be Scammed!

Writing by Nick Stamoulis on Tuesday, March 18, 2008 Comments (9)

I just received an interesting notice in the mail from Domain Registry of America. It was real easy for me to identify these schmucks as scam artists, but the average consumer may not find it so easy.

In the top right corner of the mailing are the words “Domain Name Expiration Notice.” Then, below that, there is an 800 number and a web address (www.droa.com). It’s an official looking letter and arrives in an official looking envelope and a return envelope, addressed but not postage paid. The letter begins, “As a courtesy to domain name holders, we are sending you this notification of the domain name registrations that are due to expire in the next few months.”

Some people may not know when their domains expire, but I do. I also know who my domain registrars are and I have no interest in switching. The letter continues:

When you switch today to the Domain Registry of America, you can take advantage of our best savings.

Then the letter tells me when my domain names expire – several months away. But they want me to “Act today!”

First, if I did switch my domain registration to Domain Registry of America, I wouldn’t be saving any money. I’d be losing money; and that’s probably the case with anyone.

I currently pay $10 per year for domain name registration, the going rate. Some web hosts include this fee in their packages. Others offer registration for less than $10. In any case, I’d never pay more than $10. Domain Registry of America wants to charge me $30.00 for one year or $50.00 for two years. And in bright red letters next to the $50.00 price tag are the words “save $10.” Hmmm … by my calculations I’d be losing $15. Nice scam they have going there.

There are probably people who would fall for this. But I’d caution my readers to stay away from these people. After doing a little more research (like a Google search), I discovered that I was not the only person to have been solicited by these people.

Blog.Forret appears in Google as the No. 3 result for the company’s name. The No. 2 listing is the FTC (Federal Trade Commission). On the FTC website, I read:

The Federal Trade Commission has requested that a federal district court enjoin Domain Registry of America, Inc., an Internet domain name re-seller, from making misrepresentations in the marketing of its domain name registration services and require it to pay redress to consumers.

That was 2003. Evidently, these guys have been around a long time. There are 58,400 results on the Google SERP for this company’s name inside quotes. Most of them are negative reactions to DROAs aggressive marketing tactics and its penchant for misrepresentation. The company’s response? They threatened to sue a blogger whose blog posts ranked highly for their company name.

After browsing through five pages of Google’s SERP for the company’s name, I didn’t find one single result that had a positive thing to say about Domain Registry of America. Most of the results are angry bloggers accusing the company of running a scam. Others are other domain registrars upset about DROAs tactics as well. A result from December 2002 shows that Register.com filed a lawsuit against DROA and the judged ruled in its favor.

To add insult to injury, in its letter to me, DROA threatened:

You must renew your domain name to retain exclusive rights to it on the Web, and now is the time to transfer and renew your names from your current Registrar to the Domain Registry of America. Failure to renew your domain name 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.

This is blatantly misleading and incorrect. There are other considerations that affect domain name registrations. These considerations can include trademarks, registrar transfer issues, and other types of dispute resolutions where gray areas in the law are concerned or when there have been clear violations of an existing law, that can not help with your Search Engine Optimization efforts. For more information about domain name dispute resolution, you can visit the ICANN website.

I strongly encourage anyone who gets a letter from the Domain Registry of America to report the company to your country’s consumer advocacy agency. Most Western and industrialized countries have an arm of the government dedicated to consumer advocacy. Report them and don’t do business with Domain Registry of America.

Comments (9) Category: SEO

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9 Comments

Comment by Zak

Made Friday, 11 of April , 2008 at 6:03 pm

I fell for this. I spent $50 dollars because I thought it was last chance to keep my domain. I had forgot who I’d registered the domain with in the first place but soon realized it wasn’t with them.

Any clues on what I should do to get my money back?

Comment by BillinDetroit

Made Tuesday, 5 of August , 2008 at 10:24 pm

I got some similar mails a few years ago. That’s what shredders are for.

Their wording WILL catch the unwary (think “pre-emptive counterstrike”) but that’s what the unwary are for.

Bait.

I don’t want to seem unduly harsh, but I doubt if you will ever get your money back. Consider it a $50 lesson in paying attention and basic literacy. The same things they teach in public school for free.

With some effort, though, you should be able to get the name back so you aren’t stuck with them in perpetuity. Your ISP should be able to arrange this fairly quickly.

Then keep going. We’ve all got better things to do than spend endless hours trying to retrieve $50. Just be glad that they didn’t nick you for the new debarkation fee. That would have added $35 and a two week quarantine.

Comment by Terry

Made Friday, 5 of September , 2008 at 11:44 am

This company has been involved in numerous lawsuits. If you call them back, you should receive a refund. Or call your credit card company and have it reversed.

Comment by Sinkha

Made Friday, 9 of January , 2009 at 5:21 pm

My sister fell for this back in 2003 before they were required to stop misrepresenting themselves. She ‘renewed’ for two years and I didn’t even realize that this company had her site until 2006. We tried to transfer it away from them at that time and then again in 2007. In 2008 we thought we finally had it taken care of, but our other hosting company and made a mistake, so we were back to square one.
I’ve spent hours trying to get one of their managers, Eric, to allow me to transfer. Turns out the hosting company and Brandon Gray International (aka Namejuice dot com) all lead back to the same people. I pointed out to Eric that he was violating ICANN policy, but he said his company policy required me to wait 120 days for my credit card to clear — what total BS!!!!. He didn’t care that he was violating ICANN policy.
He then offered to let me transfer it for $200 dollars. Since, he refused to allow me to transfer because of his ‘company policy,’ I asked him to show me where it stated he could charge me for the transfer. He had the audacity to put me on hold and go in and change his policy before getting back on the phone and telling me where to find it. Since I was already familiar with the company’s business practices, I had already opened all the policy pages in tabs in my browser, so of course my copy didn’t have the one liner saying he could charge me!!! I can not believe this guy could be so blatant and stupid. I’ve already submitted a complaint to ICANN. And after repeatedly seeing this company’s complete and utter lack of ethics, I will do whatever I can to help see them pay for their crimes.
If anyone has a copy of the letter they send out, please get it posted on the web where I can find it, or send it in here so it can be forwarded to me. I’m particularly looking for one of their earlier ones that only state in small print that this is a transfer.
My hope is to get my sister’s domain out of these crook’s hands and try to stop them from causing anyone else this pain.

Comment by Tom

Made Tuesday, 27 of January , 2009 at 6:04 am

The DROA scammer had been booted out by eNom and other registrars as their reseller. It appears that they are now taking refuge under namejuice.com. I suggest everyone submitted your complaint to namejuice.com and insist they terminate such deceptive reseller. While DROA may be able to get away with this, namejuice.com can’t. Because they are accredited registrar and they are bound by ICANN’s policies, unless they are stupid enough to give ICANN the reason to terminate their accreditation.

Although you may not be able to reverse the transfer if it’s completed already, you can insist that DROA or namejuice.com release your domain for transfer away from them after 60 days. They are NOT allowed to refuse such request, not for ANY reason despite of what B.S. DROA may give you.

If they refuse to release your domain, then they are in clear violation of ICANN’s domain transfer policy. That will a valid ground for ICANN to terminate their accreditation. ICANN has stepped up the enforcement of their policies lately so all complaints will be looked into by them. You can submit the complaint here: http://reports.internic.net/cgi/registrars/problem-report.cgi

Comment by Warren Smith

Made Thursday, 29 of January , 2009 at 1:13 pm

I also fell for this scam from Domain Registry of America. Numerous emails and phone calls and they have yet to refund my money. I now have a regulation E dispute being filed at my bank.

Comment by John

Made Friday, 13 of February , 2009 at 7:35 pm

I have had so many clients ask me why they are getting this letter when I take care of all their registration. I explained to them what they do and the reaction is always the same. “How can they be allowed to do this?” My reply is basically, ‘it’s not technically fraud’ and remind them that they are in good hands with me and that if they receive any more, to disregard them.

I myself have written at least one article on this and it’s nice to see others trying to help unsuspecting and potential victims of their less than honorable ways.

Comment by Linda Servis

Made Friday, 9 of October , 2009 at 3:36 pm

I too got scammed by DROA. I am out $30 cuz I finally figured it out and wouldn’t let them transfer my domain name (which BTW only costs $15 per year).

The letter is even more deceptive now because it doesn’t say when the domain name expires, it says “reply requested by (date)”

I emailed them and they got very nasty. I am glad to have your info so I can report them.

Comment by Nick Stamoulis

Made Friday, 9 of October , 2009 at 4:32 pm

Hi Linda,
Sorry, that this happened to you…I am glad I could help provide this information for you!