Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I am writing this in the hope that this will help others not get in the same jam that I did.. I took Yahoo up almost a year ago on getting a domain for $ 2.99. I thought I would grab my name and start building my business. That saying that you get what you pay for sure applies. I was never able to get to the `control panel` but figured that at least I had it and that when the time was right I would start building my web site.
  About a month ago since my domain expires Oct 11th I looked for a way to make sure that they wouldn`t renew it. I sent them countless emails with no answer. When I followed their tutorials they said in order to close out your small business account to go to control panel and follow their instruction. This was not an option since I have never been able to access that.
  After further investigation I found out that when you get a domain it is sent to Australia. Google`s groups is full of lot`s of people that have had the same experience as me.
  Today I found out that they were trying to debit my checking for $ 9.95 for another year. No warning or emails at all.
  Since a lot of us are just starting here that amount may not sound like much but they have no right to take our money. Any other bills we have we at least get a warning that our account will be debited. If I hadn`t caught this I could have had an overdraft as I was not expecting this.
  I feel if they are to offer this service than you should stand behind it. There newest feature is that you can talk to someone live to answer your question for the price of only $ 24.95. If they can`t solve your problem they said then it is free.
  Thankfully I have found someone reliable and have a domain and will be building a web site soon. Stick with the pros.
  I hope this helps someone else before they get caught.
  Kathy

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Thanks for posting this Kathy, I am paying Yahoo too for my website which isnt built yet. This is going on about 4 months now. I want to build my own website but I just havent had the time with all the other things that need to be done first.  I am going to cancel tomorrow! ..

 I am glad that this helped you. Since a lot of us are just starting up I am glad that we have SuN to help one another. Good luck with a website and the best of luck
Kathy


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..Navy Signal Flag Gifts....
Made to Order Navy Signal Flag Banners...
"Anything you can Spell we can Make!"......
Visit IB Designs Blog....

Thanks Kathy, I am glad too for Sun - you really get to rely on it. Every time you have a new question you dont have to go crazy about who to call, where to go. This is truly a One Stop Shop for entreprenaurs whether they are beginners or veterans!!

Thank you Rich and Jeff and the entire Startup team!

Kathy,
I am sorry to hear that you got in a jam with Yahoo. But come on its a reputable company... why would they take the customers money and not deliver what they promise? Again... Looks aren`t always what they seem and YES! you get what you pay for.

Here is the reason why I would not use the two following company`s to register a domain name. YAHOO DOMAIN`s and MICROSOFT LIVE (the get a free web site junk they are promoting) use a company called Melbounre IT, based in Australia to register your domain name. All yahoo does is provide you with crappy technical support and the people that give you technical support are people that needed a job badly and cant get something better.(off the street I heard no education, no background in tech support).

Secondly, there is a way around it, what you need to do is, transfer it over to another server. I can help you get out of that jam if you wish. I`ve helped over 30 people now from the Yahoo trap. What you need to do is: Find out Who the registrant on the WhoIs database reads. If the domain name is registered to you and your email address is listed, I can help you move it fairly easy and within 4 days you can relax and own your domain name without having to pay that crazy price of 24.95..
If anyone is interested, just email me or respond to this and I will help you.



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Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

Nuevolution,
  Thanks for replying. I did research and that`s how I found out where my domain was. About a month ago I found another server and registered with them with a slight variation. Basically it comes down to just not wanting to renew and not being able to even get through to anyone at Yahoo.
  I`m not saying that they aren`t a reputable company . I just think that they have gotten so huge they have lost something along the way. I don`t think it would have been too hard for them to at least send me an email asking me if I wanted to renew.  I sent several emails in the last month and never got a response.
  I have a reliable server now but appreciate you offering to help. Thanks again,
  Kathy


-------------------------

..Navy Signal Flag Gifts....
Made to Order Navy Signal Flag Banners...
"Anything you can Spell we can Make!"......
Visit IB Designs Blog....

I just cancelled my Yahoo account.  I too had trouble getting support.  I was on a networking group in yahoo and they cancelled that account when I cancelled my website account.  I dont think that was right since I belonged to that networking group way before I even signed up for my website account.  They did warn me though so I transferred all my emails to another email account.

 Now I have to rejoin again since I still want to be there. 

I lost my domain name and I would like it back.  I know when I left Microsoft (I signed up for their beta website I was told told that I couldnt have my domain name back for 90 days and that is when I went to Yahoo and tweaked the domain name a bit. 

I have another website  provider which is StartLogic.com.  I would like to change my domain name there to the one that I had at Yahoo. 

Secondly, there is a way around it, what you need to do is, transfer it over to another server. I can help you get out of that jam if you wish. I`ve helped over 30 people now from the Yahoo trap. What you need to do is: Find out Who the registrant on the WhoIs database reads. If the domain name is registered to you and your email address is listed, I can help you move it fairly easy and within 4 days you can relax and own your domain name without having to pay that crazy price of 24.95..
If anyone is interested, just email me or respond to this and I will help you.


yes, I am interested in changing my domain from  yahoo to startlogic.com (my other website) would appreciate some help too....thanks


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I have to say this is in contrast with my experience with Yahoo. I too reserved the domain through them, then used it to build the website (not visible yet), I’m using Yahoo Merchant Solutions and I have to say their help has always been excellent. On the technical side there could be a little improvement from what I gather from my web designer, but the restrictions there are mostly due to security issues since their servers house a tremendous amount of different configurations.

When you open the account it explicitly states that it will be renewed unless you inform them you want to cancel the account. Kathy I agree with you, cancelling the account should be an easy task, what you went through was entirely too convoluted. I wonder why you didn’t have access to the control panel... we’ve never had that issue, from the control panel all one needs to do is click ‘Cancel’. 

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Cleanliness the Mark of Elegance                       www.DelColl.com

It`s true that if you actually follow through and pay for the Yahoo! hosting, then you become a paying customer, so to speak, and probably won`t have as many problems. But this was a loss-leader type of giveaway.

And although it`s all well and good that you can notify them not to automatically bill you, that wasn`t available as a checkbox at the time of registration. Nor can you get into the control panel under various normal conditions. There isn`t any actual help, nobody to email, and no phone number to call. The best solution is to stop payment on the automatic debit, and let them deal with the problem. (They can call YOUR customer service number 1-900-SEXTALK or something.)

Just because a company is large and reputable, doesn`t mean they actually care what happens to "potential" customers who don`t "appear" to be turning into long-term paying customers. I think the problem here was that Yahoo! came up with a marketing idea to attract new business, but didn`t really invest all that much into the logistics.

I`ve seen it repeatedly, especially in larger enterprises. Someone in Marketing comes up with an idea, it runs through channels, and eventually gets a very limited approval as a sort of "pilot" program. It`s a "wait and see what happens" attitude from the next larger division--the supervising group.

Yahoo! is so big, they`re like American Express was for a long time. If AmEx got complaints they went into the circular file. The logic was they had so many customers, such dominance, it didn`t matter. That worked for about five years, until Visa and MC, with aggressive CRM almost wiped out AmEx. They`re only now starting to regain lost ground, but they`re definitely a distant third in the cards game.

There ain`t no such thing as a free lunch (TANSTAAFL), as Robert Heinlein once wrote. It`s just depressing when a big company kind of rubs your face in it, though.


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Craig Landes
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Defining the undefinable. "There are 10 kinds of people in the world---those who understand binary numbers and those who don`t." - Unknown

International Society of Curmudgeons