Doteasy reviews

1) I have been with DOTEASY for over 10 years but only two of my domains were ever developed. All of the domains were registered and renewed under the $0 basic hosting plans. One domain, which I had never developed, was converted as a "mandate" by DOTEASY. In 2011 thought I was paying my usual annual registration renewal fee because the sum for a year's worth of hosting fees was virtually identical to that of a domain renewal fee, but all I really paid was the hosting conversion that I did not initiate and therefore did not cue into. Ironically, DOTEASY managed to notify me that I needed to pay this hosting fee but for the first time in all my years doing business with DOTEASY the notice pertaining to the actual domain renewal failed to flag my attention. The domain expired. Upon contact, a support rep in March 2012 quoted the WHOIS record to prove I had lost the domain vs. had it hijacked, which is what I had thought took place. He stated that I was no longer the registered owner, but most of the response consisted of pointing out that the hosting cyle and the registration renewals are not one and the same. Fees linked to a single domain do not run on corresponding billing cycles, and this is what contributes to the confusion! I responded to state it didn't make much sense to disassociate the hosting billing cycle from the domain registration cycle because if one expires without the other, the website will go down. I never got a straight answer as to why DOTEASY can implement a mandatory conversion from no-cost hosting to fee-based hosting but set up the "monthly" billing to overshoot the term of one's domain registration. If one should intentionally release a domain and such a hosting service is running on an entirely different billing track they claim you can't receive a refund even on an UNUSABLE difference. I have inquired about credits, since DOTEASY doesn't offer refunds, and even this has been denied after paying THREE YEARS worth of hosting fees on a domain I was told by DOTEASY support I no longer owned years ago! This is shady territory, folks!

2) DOTEASY support in 2012 did not advise me how to go about canceling the hosting plan on the defunct domain, their only emphasis was on the fact that they do not issue refunds. I accepted the fact that somehow I got roped into a "bait & switch" — going from $0 hosting to a fee-based hosting plan even though the website had never been developed and therefore never occupied server resources. But because someone else had now legally obtained my former domain and I could not develop it, let alone host it, I assumed I would not be on the hook for charges above and beyond the term I was in at the time I contacted DOTEASY support. I was wrong. After quoting me the WHOIS record to prove I had no rights to the domain, DOTEASY support nonetheless did not deactivate the hosting service going forward even though I had asked for a refund once I realized it was no longer mine to host! Fast forward now to February 2015: I AM STILL BEING CHARGED HOSTING FEES FOR A DOMAIN I HAVE NOT OWNED FOR THREE YEARS.

I feel like I have been the victim of unethical, if not fraudulent, business practices.

3) DOTEASY will use any payment method you have used to authorized a domain renewal to satisfy other service obligations associated with other accounts even if you have not configured a "master" payment method. I know this because after my previously-mentioned domain expired sometime in 2011 I was, at that time, not on an auto-payment method for any services. My payment method even managed to expire and yet DOTEASY continued to bill annual "monthly" hosting fees for the domain I no longer control.

4) DOTEASY in more recent times has added a check box stating that once you even attempt to update a payment method previously used, you agree to let them go on using it indefinitely. They do not make use of pop-ups or TOS alerts the way PayPal does or the way another website may do if you fail to login for a long while and need to click an "agree' button for new fees or service terms. DOTEASY does not plainly indicate how you can REMOVE services, not even services associated with a lapsed domain. DOTEASY does not indicate when they respond to support emails that if you wish to cancel the service you must do so in a particular manner otherwise the fees are perpetual, charged to your account whether you have logged in to view your account in the past year or not! DOTEASY does not offer a "remove" option for payments already associated with past domain renewals. If you wish to edit or update the payment at all to get there you have to check a box stating they obtain rights to continue billing it. There is NO opt out. It should not take agreeing to automatic payments simply to modify or remove a payment.

5) DOTEASY has grandfathered some of the original $0 basic hosting services while arbitrarily discontinuing others regardless of whether or not the domain in question has been associated with you for many years and even if that domain has never been developed. DOTEASY does not roll-out TOS changes uniformly, and there are no clear dates or deadlines via email or on a pop-up when you login to "agree" to unsolicited changes. Their emails concerning mandatory hosting changes read like "offers". If you should ignore them, that gives them the right to conclude you have consented.

6) DOTEASY, if you fail to specify a current email, will send all renewal and service notices to a defunct email account. If you make the mistake of asking them to send notifications to an email they host, and that email should be deactivated by technical difficulty (storage limit exceeded due to massive daily spam inflow) or by the fact that you have lost the rights to that domain name, DOTEASY will not use any of the information you entered at signup or for billing purposes to notify you when their notification emails begin to bounce. You MUST maintain an active non-DOTEASY hosted email account on hand and configure each and every email account you have hosted with DOTEASY for an alternate. They won't propagate any alternate information you have provided previously across the entire range of services you may have signed up for. if you don't know about changes to your service because their email doesn't arrive, that's your fault. No refunds. Period.

7) DOTEASY makes renewals for domains and renewal notices for hosting services look superficially similar when they arrive to your specified email account. They will bury notices of term changes in emails that seem, per the subject lines, to be nothing more than annual reminder notices. If you don't read them and respond, that is consent to bill or accept any proposed changes! There is no option to have DOTEASY email TOS and service plan summaries to you on a quarterly or monthly basis. If you make the mistake of logging in to the DOTEASY home page only to do annual registration renewals you will eventually begin to miss important TOS changes and/or fees. DOTEASY will not prompt you, if it has been some time since your last login, to review TOS changes. They do not make use of "opt out" options, only OPT IN. If you need to cancel a service you must do so in writing. There is no a la cart "deactivate" option in your dashboard.

My advice? Do not leave any payment methods on auto-renew and make sure that you read their email notices carefully because they may contain information much different than their subject lines alone imply. Finally, if you have already entered the payment method and wish to avoid any billing surprises later, I urge customers to remove it. And if you can't find an easy way to remove a payment so that it is not on file until it expires for DOTEASY's unlimited access, complain to DOTEASY that removing payment methods, as well as unwanted services, must become a straightforward option that the user can administer without the added requirement of being forced to write in before recurring charges will be stopped.

DOTCON. NEVER use Doteasy. I live in Ireland, and they are based in western Canada. I used to do website design and at one stage had about 30 domains hosted with Doteasy. At the early stages they were good. After a few years however, I noticed that whenever I lapsed a website they started to charge my credit card for totally bogus services for LAPSED websites (the usual charges that everybody complains about, such as spam filters, domain locking etc) These websites were not even on the web!. Negotiations are impossible as they only offer in house "credits" and will not properly explain how they charge and will avoid giving direct answers. They told me that they will not make the name of their managing director public, so I cannot write to their manager?! They get away with this because they are based in Western Canada and know that they are almost untouchable (by myself and many others). I am starting a campaign online shortly to expose their cheap scam which must have net themselves millions.

Doteasy engages in illegal billing and business practices. They will charge your cancelled account without consent. They do not follow Icann policies be warned. I worked there, and I was Disgusted at how I had to lie to customers and basically make excuses on why we cannot transfer their domain name.

If a customer changes their contact information on the domain, they cannot transfer the domain away from Doteasy until after 60 days. So basically, you are Forced to renew with Doteasy. If you want to transfer your domain name before expiry, they will keep the ball rolling until it expires, and then tell you it has expired, so you can't transfer it and you are required to renew, which is a 60 day lock.

If you attempt to dispute charges via your bank. They Will charge you a hosting chargeback fee.

DO NOT HAVE ANY BUSINESS TO DO WITH DOTEASY. Oh and once your domain name is expired, if you are on their FREE plan after 40 days they will start to bill you $1.95 / month for webhosting without your permission.

They will judge you based on your level of English, the country you are from, and many more factors and your gender. They will put notes all over your account not to do business with you if you ask too many questions or ask for help at all. They will note you as a troublemaker and basically hang up the phone on your or ignore your emails for help.

There servers are not secure, like any "shared hosting" company, you cannot rely on them. You will get hacked into if one site gets compromised. Their managers and supervisors will laugh in your face and ignore your request to speak to them.

They also do not care about BBB ratings or ICANN, they are not scared of them. They will find any way to screw you over for your money and take away your business.

Dont even try to register a domain name that's even close to popular, you register your name, and happen to be a celebrity or a major corporation they will take your domain for you and take ownership on it and make you pay quite a large sum of money to get it back, basically kidnapping your domain and your business until you pay the ransom.

They also hide under different aliases of companies. Just do your research.

Also, if you purchase a domain name on a promotion, you are not entitled to transfer domain services. You have to pay a substantial cost to get your domain name away from them.

Trust it from an employee. Do NOT do business with them. Go to GoDaddy or HostGator who will treat you like royalty.

Read their terms and conditions word by word before you sign any contracts with them.

I'm having issues with Doteasy refusing to release my domain name for transfer to another registrar and host. I logged in and got the authorization code & initiated a transfer of my domain before it expired. I got a notice from the new registrar that the transfer was successful, followed a few minutes later by a message saying the transfer failed due to a lock status. I messaged Doteasy about the domain lock, but they did not reply until after my domain expired. I clearly checked the lock status of my domain when I was getting the authorization code and it showed to be unlocked. After the transfer failed I checked again and it showed to be locked. Doteasy refuses to unlock it now unless I pay their "domain release fee" which is the same dollar amount as renewing and hosting for another year. I've already paid for another registrar & host and do not want to do business with Doteasy any longer. Repeated messages to support & a phone call have failed to resolve this issue.