Network Solutions Bilking ex-customers

Sat Jan 6 14:51:41 UTC 2001

Daniel:
  While I don't know specifically, I don't believe this is anything
intentional on NSI's part but is rather an artifact of their billing
systems. I've known for a long time that their billing systems frequently
lag current registration data by months, sometimes many. My guess is that
the invoices are entered into the billing system at some time prior to the
due date of a domain and are not updated regardless of what happens to the
domain registration. At least that was the apparent situation the last
time I tried to trace such a problem. They've made a lot of changes in
receint history, so who knows if this behavior is changing. I wonder if
anyone on this list has real knowledge of the billing processes at NSI?
  Related to this, you should be warning your customers of the bogus
"FINAL NOTICE" scam that is unrelated to Network Solutions. You can see an
older copy at the following URL. Note also that there have been a few
variations of this. If you do have customers who are still receiving
these, let me know. I've been asked to pass on contact information for
further investigation of these.

    http://www.gaslightmedia.com/final-notice.gif

Chuck Scott
Gaslight Media
cscott at gaslightmedia.com

On Fri, 5 Jan 2001, Daniel Senie wrote:

> 
> For those who haven't already seen this, Network Solutions is sending
> "FINAL NOTICE" bills to domain holders who've transferred their names to
> other registrars. Many people get nervious when they receive something
> which looks official and says "your domain name will be repossessed" or
> something like that.
> 
> I have been advising clients to file complaints with the Federal Trade
> Commission. This is a flagrant attempt to bilk end users. It is unclear
> if those who DO pay wind up getting their domains transferred back to
> Network Solutions, or if they just pocket the money.
> 
> Anyone from the press who wants some choice quotes from me on this
> matter, feel free to contact me.
> 
> -- 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> Daniel Senie                                        dts at senie.com
> Amaranth Networks Inc.                    http://www.amaranth.com
> 