Snapnames Douchbaggery

[discobull]

I have to say, I've really grown to hate Snapnames over the last while. Between the third rate registrars they use, and their lousy support, I experience more frustration with them than they're worth. Today, however, they reached a new low in my book.

On Mar 4th, I intended to place a backorder for the deleting domain eInstitute.com, but mistakenly typed it in as eInsititute.com ( extra i ). The domain as typed was available for registration and therefore did not need backordering. Today, one month later, I received an email notifying me that they had acquired the domain for me and that they were billing me $69 for this piece of garbage domain. I called support and got the sort of robotron response you might expect from your typical bureaucratic organization ( ie we're not allowed to use our brains, there's nothing we can do, etc. ). So now I've been charged $69 for a worthless domain that was available for basic registration at the time of the order, but which took these wizards one whole month to "capture"!!! All I can say at this point is Snapnames f**k you! I will never do business with these people again.

 

[Ronald Regging]

I have to say, I've really grown to hate Snapnames over the last while. Between the third rate registrars they use, and their lousy support, I experience more frustration with them than they're worth. Today, however, they reached a new low in my book.

On Mar 4th, I intended to place a backorder for the deleting domain eInstitute.com, but mistakenly typed it in as eInsititute.com ( extra i ). The domain as typed was available for registration and therefore did not need backordering. Today, one month later, I received an email notifying me that they had acquired the domain for me and that they were billing me $69 for this piece of garbage domain. I called support and got the sort of robotron response you might expect from your typical bureaucratic organization ( ie we're not allowed to use our brains, there's nothing we can do, etc. ). So now I've been charged $69 for a worthless domain that was available for basic registration at the time of the order, but which took these wizards one whole month to "capture"!!! All I can say at this point is Snapnames f**k you! I will never do business with these people again.

If you paid for a backorder and they didn't provide you with a backorder than just dispute the charge with your bank.

 

[discobull]

Yes, I plan on disputing the charge. It just pisses me off to have to go through this ordeal. I'm not looking forward to having to explain the difference between a backorder and a straight registration to my cc company.

 

[HeyNow]

http://www.domainersmagazine.com/Do...-Class-Action-Lawsuit-Against-Overseenet.html

http://domainerpro.com/snapnames-admits-employee-fraud/


What do you expect?

 

[DU]

Gift Card Credit Cards are your friend

 

[Dave_Z]

but mistakenly typed it in as eInsititute.com ( extra i ).

Should SnapNames pay for your mistake, though?

While some companies in various industries eat the costs of their customers' (unintended) mistakes, unfortunately not everyone can necessarily afford to do so. If anything, it's a choice.

Moving forward, it helps to review what one is doing to (hopefully) avoid mistakes like this.

 

[discobull]

Snapnames Douchebaggery

Should SnapNames pay for your mistake, though?

While some companies in various industries eat the costs of their customers' (unintended) mistakes, unfortunately not everyone can necessarily afford to do so. If anything, it's a choice.

Moving forward, it helps to review what one is doing to (hopefully) avoid mistakes like this.

You don't get it. Snapnames charged me a backorder fee when no backorder service was actually provided. A backorder is by definition the acquisition of a domain that has been previously registered. When a domain has never been registered, no backorder can take place and a backorder fee is therefore not appropriate.

Moreover, this is not like ordering custom made furniture where a cost is being incurred by this company so I'm not sure how you figure they're "paying for my mistake". As you know, they could very easily release this domain and be reimbursed the icann fee. Alternatively, they could offer to charge a standard registration fee.

 

[Dave_Z]

Moreover, this is not like ordering custom made furniture where a cost is being incurred by this company so I'm not sure how you figure they're "paying for my mistake". As you know, they could very easily release this domain and be reimbursed the icann fee. Alternatively, they could offer to charge a standard registration fee.

Well, I figured the so-called mistake was your typing in the misspelled domain name rather than your intended one. Feel free to correct me because it's been years since I last used SnapNames, but I gather that it doesn't really "discriminate" a domain name that's expired, dropping, or available.

Whichever registrar SnapNames used to register that domain name could indeed be reimbursed. AFAIK, it's possible only if: a) it's done within the first add/grace period or 120 hours of registration, b) it doesn't pass go beyond the registrar's 10% threshold (I forgot the timeline), and c) the registrar tells ICANN and VeriSign on time.

Because - as you said - you got the email a month after the domain name was registered, which is way past its allowable add/grace delete period, unfortunately the registrar (not SnapNames) won't be reimbursed. At least, that's what I think happened.

I'm not dissing you or anything here. I'm just stating what I know and think happened to try making sense of the situation, albeit it doesn't make one necessarily feel any better.

 

[DU]

Because - as you said - you got the email a month after the domain name was registered, which is way past its allowable add/grace delete period,

It was registered a month after the backorder request. I imagine that the Snapnames just sends out a list of backordered names to each of the registrars and says go at it (I don't know).

I did think that they were "drop time" aware to improve odds so it seems strange that this would get caught 30 days after the fact but it appears they don't differentiate.


=====
The service OP paid for was "acquire" this domain for me.. and they did. OP had to type it in, add it, confirm it. He basically signed an electronic contract.

A reputable company would probably understand but you're dealing with slime and it's really a lesson to be learned.

The billing is not an error - you AGREED to pay $69
The service quality was not a problem - they delivered the name you put in.

Why should someone else have to make up for your mistake? Even though I hate snapnames and what they did seems wrong they didn't do anything you didn't ask them to do.

Snapnames is not a registrar. It uses registrars to provide its service which you paid for and it performed (albeit very slowly)

 

[NetOctave]

Should SnapNames pay for your mistake, though?

While some companies in various industries eat the costs of their customers' (unintended) mistakes, unfortunately not everyone can necessarily afford to do so. If anything, it's a choice.

Moving forward, it helps to review what one is doing to (hopefully) avoid mistakes like this.

There is a difference. He tried to backorder a name. If Snapnames tried to drop catch his "mistaken" name, then it makes sense for them to charge him. It costs them money to drop catch something.

But here, they just registered the name that he himself could have registered. If they are a honest company, they could have easily implemented a simple check to see if the domain is available to register or charge him domain registration fee.

Say a tourist asking a cab driver for a ride. The driver knows that the destination is just a block away, hardly 100 metres. A honest driver would tell him that its just across the street and does he really require a cab. A crooked one would take advantage and would take the tourist for a ride and charge him.
You can still argue that the tourist is at mistake and so and so...

 

[DU]

Say a tourist asking a cab driver for a ride. The driver knows that the destination is just a block away, hardly 100 metres. A honest driver would tell him that its just across the street and does he really require a cab. A crooked one would take advantage and would take the tourist for a ride and charge him.
You can still argue that the tourist is at mistake and so and so...

But what would you do if he called a service that charged $69 to put him in contact with a local taxi driver? Snapnames isn't a registrar it's a domain acquisition company.

What do you think happens if you put in a backorder and it fails this year? If you don't remove it from your account should it try again next year or assume you will have changed your mind? What if the domain was 2012Obama.org? Should it know that you clearly wouldn't want that now?

 

[verbster]

It's the implied intent expressed by a backorder. For a fee of $69, was SnapNames saying that they would put forth the effort to register the domain the OP wanted as soon as it became available (through 3rd party or otherwise), or does the backorder language on the Snapnames site say something different.

From their site (front page): "Just search the SnapNames database for the domain you want, and we’ll tell you if it is available now or if it's expected to be available within the next 30 days. If not, you can backorder the domain and SnapNames will grab and register it for you whenever it becomes available"

To me, "whenever it becomes available" means immediately. If that's the case, they failed to execute this implied contract,

 

[DU]

It's the implied intent expressed by a backorder. For a fee of $69, was SnapNames saying that they would put forth the effort to register the domain the OP wanted as soon as it became available (through 3rd party or otherwise), or does the backorder language on the Snapnames site say something different.

Implied means diddly squat in a contract that you've explicitly agreed to. But you're right, there may be verbiage in that agreement that has been contradicted though I doubt it.

Everything I've read uses backorder and "order domain" synonymously. Essentially you backordered an available name which while a mistake was something agreed to. It's a multi step process for a reason - find, add, confirm check this box.

Again - use a gift card cc.

 

[discobull]

Snapnames Douchebaggery.

Well,
Whichever registrar SnapNames used to register that domain name could indeed be reimbursed. AFAIK, it's possible only if: a) it's done within the first add/grace period or 120 hours of registration, b) it doesn't pass go beyond the registrar's 10% threshold (I forgot the timeline), and c) the registrar tells ICANN and VeriSign on time.

Because - as you said - you got the email a month after the domain name was registered, which is way past its allowable add/grace delete period, unfortunately the registrar (not SnapNames) won't be reimbursed. At least, that's what I think happened.
.

No, what I said is they registered the domain one month after I placed the order. They only registered it yesterday, and I contacted them within 30 seconds of them notifying me that they were "acquiring" the domain. At the point at which I was speaking to them, they hadn't even processed my credit card yet.

The fact that it took a month to register is suspicious to me. The domain was available to register the instant I placed the order, so why didn't it get registered until yesterday? It looks to me like their system knew not to take the order but that someone overrode the default behavior. I'm speculating of course, but I have a tough time attributing a one month delay to computer lag when their entire business is based upon being able to catch a domain within a fraction of a second of its becoming available.

---------- Post added at 10:36 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:30 AM ----------

From their site (front page): "Just search the SnapNames database for the domain you want, and we’ll tell you if it is available now or if it's expected to be available within the next 30 days. If not, you can backorder the domain and SnapNames will grab and register it for you whenever it becomes available"

To me, "whenever it becomes available" means immediately. If that's the case, they failed to execute this implied contract,

They also failed to honor the part about notifying me if it is available.

---------- Post added at 12:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:36 AM ----------

So I spoke to a different rep today, asked for the supervisor, and was called back by the same rep and told they would give me a full refund. I don't understand why the result is different from one day to the next, but I'll take it.

 

[DU]

Itz a win! Text you provided clearly states that you would be notified if the name is available now.

To me that changes things in your favor.

Whatever. You got what you wanted and they still suck

 

[GiftedDomains]

It looks to me like their system knew not to take the order but that someone overrode the default behavior

.

Halvarez Junior ?

 

[johname]

In some types of businesses they give you one mulligan if you complain hard enough. You may used your one.

 

[lincolndsp]

op, totally true thread title. truth is they did not get the domain that was unavalable at the time of the backordering it seems.
have had a lot of experience contacting SN support and NJ's, hope NJ will not stoop to the level of Sn.
never use a loaded card with SN for your best protection.

 

[alien51]

How many employees actually run SnapNames anyway? The bulk of these domaining services, are run by scripts and bunch of software that has plenty of bugs. If there are just 5 guys juggling tasks like doing server repair, encoding, marketing, answering phones, emailing, and mopping the floor... you are pretty much screwed.

I think Moniker is being run by just 3 guys nowadays. You get an email response after 8 weeks.

 

[Ronald Regging]

From their site (front page): "Just search the SnapNames database for the domain you want, and we’ll tell you if it is available now or if it's expected to be available within the next 30 days. If not, you can backorder the domain and SnapNames will grab and register it for you whenever it becomes available"

The main idea here is the "we'll tell you if it is available now or if it's expected to be available within the next 30 days." and "IF NOT" then they'll provide a service... Well, apparently, they didn't tell him that it was available at the time the backorder was placed. And if it was available to register, why would they even offer a backorder service at that time? They weren't acting in good faith by charging him for a service that they didn't really provide as it was intended or was even needed.

Plus, if you read the Legal Disclaimer info, they make it rather apparent that the service they are providing is a backorder service that attempts to acquire already registered domains as they are deleted, not to register domains that are already available for registration.

IDK, it could go either way legally. But, I'd still recommend disputing the charges, because that is your right to do. Sure, it was your mistake with the typo, live and learn, but I also believe that Snapnames was in the wrong for charging you for a service that was unnecessary. Also, you apparently informed them of the situation within a timely manner and they could have easily dropped the name and incurred no cost, but refused to do so. After being informed of the error and not acting to correct it, then yes, at that point, I do believe it is their loss to eat.

 

[verbster]

Implied means diddly squat in a contract that you've explicitly agreed to.

I meant to use "intent' but "implied" still works. Interpretation of what a seller appears to offer vs. what is truly offered is the very heart of law, lawyers, courts and rulings. Just because a person agrees to terms and conditions on a website doesn't mean they are automatically bound by the TOS. If I slipped in a line like, "Members of this forum who have not amassed 1000 posts by April 30, 2013 must give me every domain they own," not only would people still click acceptance of the TOS, but I guarantee they wouldn't have to pay the penalty. Works the opposite way, too.

.