I saw a charge pending on my credit card.. I wonderd what it was for $371 dollars? it was name cheap auto-renewing a month out - a 2 year renewal.
How nice of them! I immediately jumpd on the website, had a very difficult time trying to even find how to cancel.. I was unable to move the auto-renew to NO.. that was 12/15..so I put it in their chat session to cancel me but they of course came back saying "sowwy" can't not pay. Now there is no way they paid ICANN that fast.. my underlying registration doesnt renew until 1/14/25 - or wasn't supposed to. They took an old credit card and rather than reaching out to me whether I WANTED the domain, they got the updated info and charged it right away so I'd be locked in. that's massivlely messed up.
I want to report them to BBB and credit bureaus.. frankly I want to sue them just so they stop stealing peoples money like this.
I have written disputes to my credit card company but to no avail. I guarantee I didn't "Opt In" to any "please renew me automatically 2 years" that's another gotcha they have.. gosh knows how many people are victim to this delberate practice.
Claimed loss: $371 for 2 domains for 2 years Plus the $15 charge back fee for the dispute I filed because they were charged a charge back..
Desired outcome: just refund my money.. and stop ripping people off deliberately.
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update -- I believe this is a deliberately underhanded practice to maximize unwanted but forced renewals-- rather than wait until the month before the renewal.. they reach out to the financial institution to get updated credit card info one week BEFORE a month before, so that even 'expired card' customers get locked in. This way, when they go to charge you on the date a month before renwal is due.. it's too late, you're locked in and there is nothing you can do.
What's the rush?! it's electronic... if they Tried to charge you, it failed, you'd see it on your credit card - say what's this?! then go an cancel it successfully. Instead.. they do it in this serpentine way. it doesn't Help the customer.. an electronic transaction could take place in seconds.. if they waited a week later - the day of the month before -- that's plenty of time for customer who WANT to renew to react, update their card, and register with 3 weeks to spare... no, this is a deliberate theft of ghosted domains.. with Real victims. Hi! that's me