JordanH
Established Member
- Impact
- 282
So, undeveloped seems like a great place to get some decent domains. It is my first time dealing with them. Unfortunately, it has not been the most desirable experience.
My first issue is having to place a legally binding bid before being able to be in contact with the seller. However, at the same time, I have to say that I still respect why it is there. With that said, I first placed an offer on a domain on the 29th of September. Got an email back saying the seller had accepted the offer and instructed me to pay the generated invoice.
This is all great and all, but what happened to my "make an offer to get in contact with the seller" option? You see, the seller enabled the "Buy in installments" option, so I was going to use this route for my first purchase using undeveloped. I was never given any access or information on how to contact the seller once my bid was placed like the site states.
Figured I would send out an email to Simon. My escrow agent. Never heard anything back from him. So I used their contact page. Never heard anything back from that. I tried going to their '"help center". However, it's pretty much just an FAQ. Nothing there to actually help with any issues. several days go by with a few emails going out with nothing. So went to the live chat they have on the website. Left the tab open for about 8 hours, no response. Closed the tab, went to sleep.
I have sent several emails trying to reach out to them. Started getting the "Payment reminder" emails instructing me to make payments within so many days. It is now October 14th, (15 days after my first attempt at contacting Undeveloped) and I finally just ended up replying with
To my surprise, I got a reply! Shocking how that works. I now seem to be speaking with Laszlo who must have been from the live chat. He says "seems that these messages did not come through or might have ended up in your junk mail" which, unfortunately, can not be the case. I use Google's Business version of GSuit and send and receive a lot of emails a day. Never had issues with it, nor any other problems from any other contacts. Must be something on their end as I got all of their payment reminder emails, and a response after me saying I'll move on. (And no, it was not in my spam/junk folder)
Either way, I finally got a response. After some back and forth emails with Laszlo, who I will admit had been helpful, I finally made my payment on the 18th of October.
Got a reply with
Awesome. Now I can move on
Or so I thought :/
I got an email from Simon which included an attachment for the additional agreement between me and the seller. (Due to me choosing to make the payments in instalments) Which is fine. I figured as a first-time buyer of undeveloped.com, I'll take the safer route. There are no extra fees for using instalments, and you can even use the domain while you make your payments which is great. Once the final instalment is paid, the domain is transferred to you.
With that all said in done, I sent an email to Simon specifying what nameservers I'd like the domain to point to. No response. Sent a couple, the last one being 14 hours ago. I have also been getting these emails:
What??!!?? Great :/ So I send an email to Simon once again. Asking if this email was in error. I made my payment. Once again no response. I fear this will be a recurring issue for the rest of my payments. I also sent out an email to Laszlo inquiring on another issue which also states
This was 3 days ago. This time no response from Laszlo either
24 days since my first inquiry, and 4 days since my first payment. Little worried about my decision going forward with using undeveloped.com
It's very unfortunate. Because despite my payment, and despite my several channels of communication I tried to reach them by, I have been having a difficult time actually communicating with them.
If the seller who I purchased my domain uses NamePros and sees this thread, I'll gladly deal with you directly, or even through another escrow service from here on out. Otherwise, I apologise to you personally for having to wait so long before receiving payment. As I'm honestly just thinking of saying lesson learned, and no longer continue my payments and just forfeit my first payment and count it as a loss. Just know, it wasn't a bad buyer, but a bad middleman.
Get Better Support
Despite them saying they "respond to your chat or email within 51 minutes!" neither of these claims seems to be true. Their chat software (Which I believe is intercom) even states they typically respond within 2 hours. As mentioned above, this was not the case for me. The 5 minutes is a sales pitch and a false one at that. I'd love for them to actually show statistics proving this. I don't mind waiting a day for a response. I do mind not getting a response at all.
Buyer Dashboard
There should be a buyer dashboard. Somewhere once bids are placed you can be in touch with the seller. Perhaps an area where you can see any domains you've purchased or ones you are currently leasing/paying in instalments. Another idea is to have an area to allow buyers who have purchased the instalment option to have certain limited DNS access to make changes such as the nameservers.
Edit:
2 minutes after posting this thread I got an email from Laszlo.
However, I do question Undeveloped's decision on only doing support on weekends. What? Only provide support for 2 days of the week?
My first issue is having to place a legally binding bid before being able to be in contact with the seller. However, at the same time, I have to say that I still respect why it is there. With that said, I first placed an offer on a domain on the 29th of September. Got an email back saying the seller had accepted the offer and instructed me to pay the generated invoice.
This is all great and all, but what happened to my "make an offer to get in contact with the seller" option? You see, the seller enabled the "Buy in installments" option, so I was going to use this route for my first purchase using undeveloped. I was never given any access or information on how to contact the seller once my bid was placed like the site states.
Figured I would send out an email to Simon. My escrow agent. Never heard anything back from him. So I used their contact page. Never heard anything back from that. I tried going to their '"help center". However, it's pretty much just an FAQ. Nothing there to actually help with any issues. several days go by with a few emails going out with nothing. So went to the live chat they have on the website. Left the tab open for about 8 hours, no response. Closed the tab, went to sleep.
I have sent several emails trying to reach out to them. Started getting the "Payment reminder" emails instructing me to make payments within so many days. It is now October 14th, (15 days after my first attempt at contacting Undeveloped) and I finally just ended up replying with
I have sent several emails and contacted the live chat, with no response what so ever.
Think I'm going to have to pass with dealing with undeveloped.com
To my surprise, I got a reply! Shocking how that works. I now seem to be speaking with Laszlo who must have been from the live chat. He says "seems that these messages did not come through or might have ended up in your junk mail" which, unfortunately, can not be the case. I use Google's Business version of GSuit and send and receive a lot of emails a day. Never had issues with it, nor any other problems from any other contacts. Must be something on their end as I got all of their payment reminder emails, and a response after me saying I'll move on. (And no, it was not in my spam/junk folder)
Either way, I finally got a response. After some back and forth emails with Laszlo, who I will admit had been helpful, I finally made my payment on the 18th of October.
Got a reply with
Great to hear that Jordan!
The next step will be sending the transfer instructions. Within 24 hours from now will you receive your first instructions from your designated escrow agent Simon. He will guide you through the transfer process and ensure you will receive the domain as soon as possible.
Congratulations on your purchase and have a great day!
Awesome. Now I can move on
Or so I thought :/
I got an email from Simon which included an attachment for the additional agreement between me and the seller. (Due to me choosing to make the payments in instalments) Which is fine. I figured as a first-time buyer of undeveloped.com, I'll take the safer route. There are no extra fees for using instalments, and you can even use the domain while you make your payments which is great. Once the final instalment is paid, the domain is transferred to you.
With that all said in done, I sent an email to Simon specifying what nameservers I'd like the domain to point to. No response. Sent a couple, the last one being 14 hours ago. I have also been getting these emails:
What??!!?? Great :/ So I send an email to Simon once again. Asking if this email was in error. I made my payment. Once again no response. I fear this will be a recurring issue for the rest of my payments. I also sent out an email to Laszlo inquiring on another issue which also states
I'm not sure what's up with undeveloped, seems the others aren't checking their email, or your the only one actually getting my emails. Anyhow, I can't seem to get ahold of Simon who is my escrow agent
This was 3 days ago. This time no response from Laszlo either
24 days since my first inquiry, and 4 days since my first payment. Little worried about my decision going forward with using undeveloped.com
It's very unfortunate. Because despite my payment, and despite my several channels of communication I tried to reach them by, I have been having a difficult time actually communicating with them.
If the seller who I purchased my domain uses NamePros and sees this thread, I'll gladly deal with you directly, or even through another escrow service from here on out. Otherwise, I apologise to you personally for having to wait so long before receiving payment. As I'm honestly just thinking of saying lesson learned, and no longer continue my payments and just forfeit my first payment and count it as a loss. Just know, it wasn't a bad buyer, but a bad middleman.
Get Better Support
Despite them saying they "respond to your chat or email within 51 minutes!" neither of these claims seems to be true. Their chat software (Which I believe is intercom) even states they typically respond within 2 hours. As mentioned above, this was not the case for me. The 5 minutes is a sales pitch and a false one at that. I'd love for them to actually show statistics proving this. I don't mind waiting a day for a response. I do mind not getting a response at all.
Buyer Dashboard
There should be a buyer dashboard. Somewhere once bids are placed you can be in touch with the seller. Perhaps an area where you can see any domains you've purchased or ones you are currently leasing/paying in instalments. Another idea is to have an area to allow buyers who have purchased the instalment option to have certain limited DNS access to make changes such as the nameservers.
Edit:
2 minutes after posting this thread I got an email from Laszlo.
I will take up his offer as it appears Simon is useless to me.Good morning Jordan,
Trust you are doing well.
I do believe your message's are coming through. However, we only provide support during weekends. Escrow is only performed during working days due to it being a delicate process. However, It might be that our emails to you are blocked considering my previous emails did not end up in your inbox as well.
In order to change your dns you will have to go through your escrow agent. However, considering how everything went last week I would like to propose that you will use me in order to communicate all desired DNS changes. Please let me know how you want your DNS set up and I will arrange for it.
However, I do question Undeveloped's decision on only doing support on weekends. What? Only provide support for 2 days of the week?
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