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After waiting for over 10 years to secure a domain in my name for business I had been in touch with Intrust Domains about that domain which was soon to be released.
They stated:
Dear Jeffrey,
Thank you for confirming your interest in the domain jeffreyfisher.com. We plan to offer this domain for sale in the next few days. As soon as the domain is
available for purchase, you will be notified to get first chance to acquire the domain.
Please click the link to confirm your interest in this domain:
[Confirmation Link here]
Kind regards,
John Timmers
InTrust Domains
4845 A Pearl East Circle
Boulder, CO 80301
The wording of the email "As soon as the domain is
available for purchase, you will be notified to get first chance to acquire the domain" implies certainty that I would have the opportunity to acquire the domain. Subsequent contact with the company via phone confirmed that there would be no problem for me to bid for the name.
The end result was a) the site was sold to another buyer and b) they did not contact me.
Their response to their very deceptive communication was:
Actually, this domain was listed by our affiliate to be sold by us - we were only to be the broker. The problem was that the domain was subsequently not released to us for sale. I'm very sorry about this very unfortunate event.
As a result of my trust in this company I did not acquire the domain.
The entire complaint was submitted to BBB of Souther Colorado. No resolution whatsoever. No negotiation for any type of settlement.
Finally the Better Business Bureau indicated that they would not be making any recommendation to the company and there would be no public indication that the complaint had ever been made.
If you are looking to acquire a website that is about to become available, do NOT trust this company to help you!
It's quite humorous that Intrust Domains generated a Press Release that states the following, within one month of my complaint. Coincidence? I think not. It's definitely a good tactic.
The title was:
"In Trust Domain becomes Favorite among Consumers for Backordering Domain Services"
They state - within the text
“These big name brands rely heavily on ad-laden familiarity and believe the consumer will identify with knowing the name rather than the new savvy-consumer who bases their decisions on un-filtered news, reliability and trust. Their entire sales pitch is based on things that are not being delivered.”
The funny thing is that I actually trusted them and they did not deliver. Perhaps they are NOT any different the others. They are very good at PR though!
Jeffrey Fisher
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I'm sorry to hear that.
The same thing just happened to me only they did contact me and I got the name.
I was very impressed with there customer service.
I am usually a pretty skeptical person and tend to dislike businesses like IntrustDomains. I am also someone who generally does not post reviews of companies. However, my experience has been quite different than Mr. Fisher's. I purchased my domain name from Intrust Domains a year ago after trying to buy it through Network Solutions. Yes, the bid was slightly higher - but I figured in the rough and tumble world of domain name ownership, they managed to buy the name and are in the business of reselling them.
Suffice to say, I bought it, and had no problems getting it all working in no time.
Yesterday, however, for no explicable reason, my doman was suddenly not working. Furiously looking around I stumbled on Mr. Fisher's bad "scam" review and felt maybe the company was taking me for a ride and no longer in business.
In the morning, I finally found a phone number for them, called, and voila, talked to a real live person who explained courteously that they had a power surge, the servers were down and she would fix my problem. In one hour it was fixed. Further, without asking she gave me a years free ownership.
The fact that I spoke to a real person and she clearly wanted me to be happy and have the problem fixed, did so and was easily accessible -- well these things matter a whole lot, and further, I am willing to pay extra for this kind of service,
Anyway, I have come to the conclusion that Intrust Domains is in the business of re-selling domains, which may or may not be something that people like, but in return I got excellent customer service. More than I can say if some shcmuck individual was out on the prowl buying and reselling domain names. I am happy with Intrust and would recommend them.
Yes, InTrust is not to be trusted. I had successfully acquired a domain from them 2 years ago, but only because no one outbid me in the 11th hour. This time, with a domain I have been after for years, they told me I was first in line. When they called me on a Tuesday, they said on Thursday you will receive your confirmation email and the WhoIs info will reflect your ownership. I asked them three times to verify specifically that I would get the domain at the agreed upon price on Thursday, to which said, "absolutely. Yes."
When Thursday came, no email came and WhoIs showed a different owner. An owner I know had a similar interest in the domain name. I knew it because of my independent research on that domain name. I emailed InTrust. I called InTrust. No communication. No acknowledgement of any kind.
I believe that they sold the domain to the other party for a higher price. After guaranteeing the purchase to me for an agreed price, they sold it to someone else and refused communication.
To say they are unprofessional is the most flattering thing I can say about them. They are cowards. Their name, InTrust is ironic in the extreme. Their name should be FlyByNight Domains, or DomainProstitutes. You would think that with today's technology and the availability of press being more easily accessed by broader groups of people, they would be more prudent in their dealings. But, there are many people who don't do their homework. Do yours, find another broker.
In light of what everyone has posted, and that I am in the process of negotiating with InTrust, I wonder if the following might not be the REAL scenario:
1) InTrust does not own a domain name when they contact someone.
2) Once someone shows an interest, they buy the name.
3) They have a minimum that they will accept to make reselling the domain worth their while.
4) When you think you are bidding against someone else, you may actually have not bid enough to meet their minimum. They told me that was $97.
5) If there are only one or two interested parties, once payment is made, THEN they buy the domain. If another broker gets ahead of them, they are unable to purchase it. It is not that you were outbid.
Since being a broker is a speculative profession, I am not surprised that they do not want to put themselves out too far on a limb. I had two other brokers offer me the same URL. I am waiting to hear from them as well. They will probably all act like they own the URL; but once I pay one of them, THEN they will purchase it. I'm just guessing, but that makes sense to me.
I think Danny has hit the nail on the head.
1) True, they don't own the domain name. I found that out by doing a Whois when they contacted me about a domain name.
2) Since I owned the .net to the domain name that they were emailing about, they contacted me (as did several others who claimed to own the domain). I showed interest and, when the name was available, they bought it. They contacted me and told me that they owned the name and it was available for purchase. I confirmed this by doing another Whois.
3) I don't know that for sure, but it makes sense.
4) I tried the bidding before the name came available, just to see what would happen. I bid my absolute highest price and was told I was outbid and needed to bid $xx. Since I wasn't going to play the shill bid game, I clicked on the finish button and left the site. When they acquired the name, they emailed me that I could now purchase it for the same amount of my bid. Since my bid was the highest I would have gone with anyone, it was acceptable and I bought the domain.
I immediately received a user name and password and the domain name was deleted from their "for sale" database. Five minutes later, I checked the Whois database and the name was registered to me. After 60 days, I can transfer the name to any other registrar, which I plan on doing since my other ones are with a different one.
Let me explain their scam.
Companies like InTrust Domains use an automated service to determine domain names that are in the "deletion period"" meaning they have expired and if the current owner doesn't renew them within the specified timeframe set by their registrar, the domain is deleted and becomes available.
So then they shop for people with similar domains or other reasons that might want to acquire it. If they get some bites on their fishing trip then the game begins.
If they believe the nibble is strong enough they will use an automated service such as "snapback" whereby they can attempt to acquire the domain name the second it becomes available.
If this works then they now own the domain name you want and they can negotiate with you in earnest for top dollar.
If it doesn't work and someone else manages to snap it up in that fleeting window of opportunity then all they have to say is you were outbid.
So the key here is, when you get one of those emails, from a company like InTrust Domains, simply do a whois on the domain name. If it is in the deletion period go to a company like godaddy and purchase a backorder on it and godaddy will try and get it the very second it becomes available and you can beat the scammers at their game of preying on the unsuspecting people who have no clue about how this all works.
Since I am in the web hosting and internet services business I know all these things. I get these emails occasionally and have gotten a few from them. I have one right now on my desk from InTrust Domains and I should be able to snap up the domain name any minute now.
In each case, I managed to snap the domain into my hands before they've had a chance and I silently thank them for pointing out to me that it was "available". Of course, I say silently because you never want to reply to any of these [censor] as that tips off your interest.
It seems like Ken Palm of “Intrust Domain Names” or “Intrust Domains” is rebranding as “Domain Match Makers”.
Both entities are owned by the same parent company “Domain Names International”. All 3 companies are connected to Ken Palm (also Kenn Palm or Kennon Palm).
Is this related to the number of negative posts, reviews and complaints regarding Intrust Domains or Intrust Domain Names? Domain Match Makers seems to be a new separate company although the BBB review on their homepage links to the BBB profile of Intrust Domains.
Coincidentally (Kennon, Kenn or Ken Palm) the owner of “intrustdomains.com” recently listed the domain name for sale at BuyDomains.com.
If you search Google for ”domain match makers” you’ll see a number of self issued, paid press releases recently issued by Ken Palm, Intrust Domains and/or Domain Match Makers. The press releases reference the “Denver Children's Hospital Courage Classic”, talking about how Ken Palm and Domain Match Makers are big supporters. Some people, as a proactive reputation management technique, will issue press releases on themselves with positive associations, so when people Google you company, good positive stories float to the top. These paid, self issued press releases are found on mmdnewswire.com/ Titles and phrases found on these press releases and blog posts include “Help Children by Choosing Domain” and “Domain Match makers announces support for Orphans Hope” and “Changing the lives or orphans”. Why would a company do that? Well, when you’re solicited to buy a domain name from a unknown entity, you’re going to Google their company name to check them out. When the search results include a bunch of soft and fuzzy search results about helping orphans, children and charities, you’re going to assume they are trustworthy. Leveraging the positive association of charity or cause is a common tactic for proactive reputation management.
Another example is http://domainmatchmakers-givingback.com/ This free WordPress site, set up by Ken Palm (or Kenn Palm ?) that is filled with phrases like “Domain Match Makers heart touches its community” and “Domain Match Makers demonstrates leadership”.
Google the phrases “intrust domains” or “intrust domain names “intrust domain scam” and see how the results differ greatly from “Domain Match Makers”.
Domain Names International is the parent company of both “Intrust Domain Names” and “Domain Match Makers. They share the same addresses. Ken Palm (or Kenn Palm ?) is associated with all three.
(office location)
Domain Names International, Intrust Domain Names & Domain Match Makers
11590 Black Forest Rd, Unit 30
Colorado Springs, CO 80908
(legal and mailing address)
Domain Names International, Intrust Domain Names & Domain Match Makers
11605 Meridian Market View #124-134
Falcon, CO 80831
Here are reviews of Intrust Domains:
http://intrustdomainssucks.com/
Intrust Domains — False Promise
http://www.domainstate.com/industry-news-6/beware-of-intrustdomains-108051.html
http://www.namepros.com/warnings-and-alerts/662265-intrustdomains-com.html
http://www.nntpviaweb.com/domain-registration/intrust-domains-scam/
http://blog.mcclinticdesign.com/web_development/domain-name-scam/
http://www.internetspampolice.com/domain-scam/domain-scam-high-price/
I rec'd the emails from several companies stating that the .com version of my website was about to be available. I went to my registrar and purchased the backorder to try to secure it. I recently received a notice stating that the account had been purchased by another buyer. I am new to the domain purchase process but thought the backorder was a good plan.
1. I did a look up of the new buyer and found the following.
Registrar: DROPWEEK.COM
Whois Server: whois.intrustdomains.com
Creation Date: 01-MAY-2011
Updated Date: 01-MAY-2011
Expiration Date: 01-MAY-2012
Nameserver: CALL.[protected].COM
Nameserver: FOR-SALE-AT.INTRUSTDOMAINS.COM
2. Now the site is listed for sale for more than I am willing to purchase for.
3. Does this mean that intrust had actually backordered the site prior to my backorder. I had never replied or had any communications with any of the companies that had started sending me the solicitation emails. I'm just wondering why my backorder didn't pick up the site for me.
4. Does anyone know, if I leave the site alone for the yr, will they then let it drop again and will my backorder kick in then or does this company normally repurchase the registration for add'l years.
~ I figure I've gone this long without the .com name so I don't have to have it but it does suck that these parasites jump on these domain names and inflate the costs of them. For a normal person, we just are not familiar enough with the process to avoid this i guess.
Intrustdomains ran a different scam on me. They supposedly started an auction on a domain that they did not own and asked me to bid on it. My only $x bid was automatically rejected because apparently they already had a higher bidder. They suggested I should bid at least $XXX to get in the game. Knowing my first bid was denied and it was as high as I would ever go, I moved on.
Later, they purchased the domain and started contacting me incessantly inplying we were in a transaction together and that I need to pay for the domain. Lucky for them, I'm pretty sure the high bidder is in their office, so they shouldn't have far to go to collect.
How high would they have shill bid it if I had chose to play their game?
After a month long email spamming from InTrust domains I communicated with the company again the high bid of 97$ arose. At that time the domain I was interested in was not available. When I communicated then the whois showed this company. Luckily I spotted this complaint post so I will not do business with them. by the way BBB list s the company as A- which is just sad with such attitude towards the market and ad scams