Did you get mail from a company called “iDNS” saying “You must renew your domain name…“? Don’t fall for it, it’s a SCAM! The letter and envelope I got look like this:
Is iDNS Legit?
No, iDNS is not legit! iDNS runs a type of scam called Domain Slamming. Don’t give them your credit card number, don’t send them any money, and keep your domain locked. Look at all the comments about iDNS people have left here on my blog . Many people have been tricked by iDNS. iDNS has no Facebook page or Social Media presence. They have a growing number of complaints with BBB. And their headquarters address is a UPS Store.
This Type of Scam is called Domain Slamming
If not iDNS, who should you pay?
Don’t Remember Where You Bought Your Domain?
If you can’t remember where you bought your domain here’s a little tool to look it up. This tool uses the public WHOIS record to get your domain details. This public record is how iDNS knows when your domain is expiring.
When you look at the public WHOIS record for kimballrexford.com using the tool above you will see my Registrar is TUCOWS, INC, and my Name Servers are NS1.M39.SITEGROUND.BIZ. Generally the Registrar is who you pay, but if that name does not ring a bell, look at your Name Servers. In my case I pay SiteGround. iDNS is not listed anywhere on my WHOIS record. Under Important Dates notice my domain expires August 2017. What’s where iDNS gets the date to use in the shady “Expiration Notice.”
More about iDNS
I’ve done quite a bit of poking around on iDNS. There is a growing discussion about this fake invoice from iDNS on reddit. I also found iDNS has multiple domain names:
| iDNS Domains | Registered To |
| Registrant Name: Internet Domain Name Services Inc. Registrant Organization: Internet Domain Name Services Inc. Registrant Street: 924 Bergen Ave, Suite 289 Registrant City: Jersey City Registrant State/Province: New Jersey Registrant Postal Code: 07306 Registrant Country: US Registrant Phone: 844-855-4367 Registrant Phone: 551-233-2011 Registrant Phone Ext: Registrant Fax: Registrant Fax Ext: Registrant Email: idns.domains@gmail.com |
| DON’T FALL FOR THESE GUYS: | iDNS Internet Domain Name Services 924 BERGEN AVE, SUITE #289 JERSEY CITY, NJ 07306-3018 |
| Second address found December 2015 | iDNS Internet Domain Name Services 2900 Warden Ave, Box 92090, Scarborough, ON M1W 3Y8 844-855-4367 |
If you have had any experience with iDNS, good or bad, please leave a comment below so others can benefit from what you know.
Thanks,
Kimball.
Update – December 2015:
I found iDNS has another mailing address, this one at a Mall in Ontario Canada:
2900 Warden Ave,
Box 92090,
Scarborough, ON M1W 3Y8
Update – October 2017:
iDNS is still trying to scam people. Here are answers to the questions people call and ask me about iDNS since my original post.
At best this company presents its services in a disingenuous manner. They are not clear on the services they provide and prey on people who don’t run websites, who don’t understand the renewal process and presume from the letter sent by the company that this their renewal invoice, which the letter is obviously is written to do. Having seen the abusive emails they have sent out when people request a refund, I doubt anyone has ever received one, or even a courteous response.
It may interest people to know that they do use stripe as their payment processor and they [Stripe] do take these matters very seriously and should you wish to complain then you might do so by emailing complaints@stripe.com, with enough complaints they may very well remove the payment processing service so no-one else is effected.
Now they keep hanging up on me when I call to try and get my money back.
Hang in there Michael. Keep calling. When you finally get though be prepared for a real mean person on the other end. Stay calm, and ask for your money back. He will probably rant and call you a names, but just wait. Then ask for your money back again. He will (with any luck) mail you a refund. Good luck.
I did send in money, then caught onto the scam. I called and they said they would return the money. That was three weeks ago. Now when I call it goes to a message box that is full.
March 2020 and still at it.
Received a letter today from them.
PO Box located in a shopping mall is a big red warning flag.
Throw it out.
Don’t get taken!
Also received a letter in the mail from them. They only emailed back “refunded” and when I called they were unbelievably rude saying they would not even email an invoice or response. Everything above is correct in regards to how they will treat you, but my hope is they did return our funds.
Hello, Kimball.
My name is Gene. I just want to find how you related to IDNS?
This company is a FRAUD. I payed by mistake $45 for the domane name i will staet the FBI investigation, if they wont reimburse my payment.
I have to contact you because i can not reach them…
Hi Gene. I am a freelance website developer. I wrote this review about iDNS to warn people like you about them. I am not related to or connected with them in anyway.
Since you have paid them $45 already, your best bet is to call or email them and ask for your money back. They will be very very rude to you. Be patient, keep calm, and ask for your money back. The last contact info I had on them (pulls from their WHOIS records) was:
Registrant Phone: 844-855-4367
Registrant Phone: 551-233-2011
Registrant Email: idns.domains@gmail.com
Good Luck!
– Kimball
2019 update…yep, IDNS Canada is still at it…scamming little twits. Nicely formatted letter I must say! Looks totally legit until you get to the “Act today!” HUGE bells and red lights going off on that terminology lol Idiots!!
No need to re-iterate everyones comments, I am sure mine are the same.
I receive these letters often, but they don’t fool me, I am a tech, I already know how domains work and exactly where mine are hosted.
I have filed all the usual complaints with BBB, FTC, and so on… Unfortunately it would take thousands of of to complain all at the same time to get anyone to notice.
In Short, everyone reading this, just keep on complaining, but be sure to file proper complaints in the right places.
I just received a letter from iDNS. Right off the bat I felt something wasn’t right because they are asking for $45.00 for one year of registration, which is way too high. Another giveaway is the .ac country code. Admittedly, I have had thought of send the envelope back with a “special” surprise inside.
The note that they send is to transfer your domain registration to them. In my case not only did they charge me, but they also didn’t request that the domain registration be moved from web.com to them. So they charged me for nothing. Then when I called them the customer service person who answered the phone literally called me a “f….n idiot”!
Clearly this is a very bad co and a scam. Be sure to check out the Better Business Bureau site as well – iDNS is rated with an F.
Hey guys! IDNS is still at it and had our Billing Dept very confused until I set them straight. There’s not even a note that says “this is not a bill” or any such. Just a flat-out scam.
“this is not a bill” was in the body of the letter, last time I received one. That was December 2017 I think.
They are still at it! Same letter- and thankfully I knew it was a scam. I opted for automatic payments to my ISP [name removed] for hosting and registration. They send me an email notifying me of the impending debit- a reasonable $14.95 per year- a couple of months prior with a link if I wish to make any changes. I am really glad I did this because the letter would otherwise look official.
Hello,
I received this letter too, but the issue is I have never owned or registered a domain. I tried looking up the domain name stated on the letter via ICANN and it doesn’t seem to exist. Should I be concerned they have my address or personal information? Thank you!
I got a rude male answering the phone.. told me to call my lawyer which I will also calling credit card company to dispute the charge…. WHAT A SCAMMER…EARN A PROPER LIVING LIKE ANYONE ELSE… Why do we have to deal with these thieves and jokers who cannot do the right thing in life…. I hope karma gets them where it hurt….DO NOT DEAL WITH THIS COMPANY…THEY ARE A FRAUD!!!!
This dude is sending LETTER out from iDNS, yes he was rude & yes this is a scam.
I forward all my info to GO DADDY & my domain name is listed as PRIVATE so I don’t know how they got my information.
My receipt went into the SPAM email & this is the receipt info IDNSINC.NET MARKHAM OUTERCA CA on my online bank.
I also received a letter from iDNS. Thank you for all of the responses. Now the rest of us can’t get scammed as easily. Interestingly, they were also using instead of.com A Saudi Arabia address. What is funny is the domain name they were trying to charge me for is Gotthshield.com which is my link to LegalShield! This is a legal service you can subscribe to 4K small monthly fee. It covers 50 states and Canada and will protect you from crooked companies like this!
Omg. This place! How are they still operating! They not only scam people through letters but these “people” somehow got our bank account information and have debited our bank account 4 times in the last year, randomly. I knew I did not do business with them and even called my web host and domain hosting company and verified with them that they do not outsource and that my website and domain name were both on auto payment so I knew this other place was a scam. But we never got any letters! How did they get our bank account information?? They should be in jail! This is serious. If anyone knows where I can report this please help! Thanks so much.
Oh and I forgot to mention when I called the number the bank gave me that was associated with the debits from my account (1-844-855-4367) the guy was EXTREMELY RUDE and even belligerent! He was yelling and screaming at me saying they don’t even have charges for that amount (BS!) and wouldn’t even let me speak. He was nuts. Then I finally told him to F off and he called my phone 4 times screaming at me. What a f-IMG psycho. Probably because I said I was going to report him for this scam. How’d you like to live a nasty life like that? Always scamming people and stealing. What a POS.
Yep, got just about the same letter. I was worried because I was going to leave Network Solutions as their prices went up, and thought for a moment this was them. The prices look about the same. I just now read the letter! It says if you SWITCH now, dead giveaway I initially missed…
Letter now in “circular file”, (trash can).
I just got scammed by this company for a 5 year renewal of $180. And I realized I paid them last year and I am pretty sure the year before also. This is so wrong!!! This is the first year that I caught it and realized that I have been paying the bill from them that comes in the mail for nothing! I called the company and the guy on the phone literally started screaming at me and was incredibly rude and aggressive. Honestly, I don’t know how they can stay in business scamming people. Karma’s a bitch!
That must be the same guy I talked to! He was a freaking psycho! He was yelling and screaming at me, wouldn’t even let me talk. He’s a nutball! Then I told him to F off and he called my phone 4 times yelling and screaming like a raging psycho! Someone needs to take him out (of business!)
I, too, was duped into sending them $80.00. We have made several attempts to get the domain registration moved back to our original host, but all of our efforts go un answered even when I tell them they can keep the money.
In most cases you have to 1) unlock the domain, and 2) provide an Authorization Code to transfer a domain. If you did not do these things, I would assume the domain name is still registered at your original registrar. Give me a call and I’ll try to help 603-497-2500.
I just had a client email me about this exact thing. It’s a good thing they did too. I knew right away it was a scam as I had just renewed the domain for another year. How are these people still getting away with this? It’s crazy!
Reported to the local BBB
I spoke to the representative aka Satan. I’ve never encountered such a horrible terrible person during a customer service call in my life. He is a scammer and he will try to make you angry to give him an excuse to not help you with refunds etc. no matter what rude comments he makes or how he speaks just stay calm and polite. I wish the BBB would find a reason to take down this domain service.
I was looking at our books, and saw the entry to IDNS. I questioned the bookkeeper and she said I just paid it (wrote a check). I logged onto our Citi Business account and looked at the image of the cashed check both front and back. The back was blurry and Citi Bank said this is the best image they do. On the bottom of the check it had Toronto, Ontario 0100050520, and in the center it looks like 402???3???? and below that number Co????Bank. Their office is 924 Bergen Avenue, Suite #289, Jersey City, NJ, 07306-3018, but cashed our check in Canada.
Does anyone know the bank where their check was cashed/deposited?
Post reply here…
Thank you Kimball for this public service. I too received a letter from IDNS and before doing anything, thought I should figure out who these guys are. Your website and post was invaluable.
Thanks for the heads up. I thought it looked fishy, but you just confirmed my suspicions. Definitely appreciate the research.
Wow, thank you so much for posting! I almost just fell for this!
I got the infamous letter today and I saw your very informative post about this so-called company trying to prey on naive people. Thank you for taking the time to let us know of this information. What a life saver! All of the potential chaos a person can avert. Again, thank you!
Thanks for this post. Our book keeper left this bill on my desk. Since my boss has always used “GoDaddy” I questioned it. A quick google search returned this article and the horrible rating on the BBB. Thanks for this input! I’ll be sure to warn my office, since I had never heard of “Domain Slamming”.
I was sent a letter and fell for the scam. I called iDNS and that extremely rude, disrespectful, horribly unhappy man answered and ended up hanging up on me. I knew right away when he started yelling and wouldn’t let me talk that it had to be a scam. I called my bank right away to dispute the payment.
I just went through the same thing with that horrible angry man who was screaming at me. How did you end up getting your money back? I am out $180 from this scamming company IDNS
I used to develop/design websites and had several clients who received this letter. It clearly preys on people who’re unfamiliar with the process of domain name registration and transfer. They think it’s a bill and pay without reading the sneaky text. I suggest that people post the name and other info of these scammers on their Facebook timelines and ask their friends to share — the more people know about this, the less money they will make.
We also just received the infamous letter from iDNS. Thank you so much for posting this information. You saved us a lot of money too. We are a small business dealing with the economy as it is . . .
iDNS – shame on you – what a bunch of jerks
Andrea
Bookkeeper
Our company received a fraudulent request from this company to transfer our service to them – if you read the fine print the bill asks that you transfer your service to them. we currently obtain our website and domain name from our business phone carrier for free – this is another scam and if you fall for this you will never see your money returned – as soon as you pay this you agree to transfer your web domain service to them – not refundable.
when in doubt – always do your homework
Thanks for the comment Karin. this cheap trick iDNS is running targets people who do not understand the lingo, or do not read the letter fully. But several people have mentioned getting their money back from iDNS.
What I have never heard from people is that they went thru with the transfer. Domain transfer is not simple, there are several steps involved, and you have to do steps in both your old and new domain control panels.
Kendall Sanford
thank you so much for helping us . Unfortunately I paid and today I received a email from Wix reminding me the expiring day of renew , i got so confused and called iDNS , the guy was so rude , told me to SHUT UP,, and at the end of the conversation , he asked me DO NOT CONTACT THE COMPANY ANYMORE,, i was chocked the way he treated me. Anyway, i don’t think i will ever going to have a refund,,, lesson learned 🙁
I just got the letter. I knew it was a scam so I just googled them and found this review. I think I will report them for fraud to Bureau of Consumer Protection. I want to know how they got my info from a private registration which I have owned for about 10 years.
I have been providing domain consulting since 1998. These domain “companies” who try and bait the less knowledgeable into “renewing” by transferring is nothing new and unfortunately, perfectly legal, simply because they state, in smoky jargon (and sometimes smaller text) that “this is not an invoice” but an agreement that by paying you agree to transfer the domain to them as the registrar. Which is of course your WORST possible decision. Fortunately MOST of the more trustworthy (and recognized by ICANNS) registrars will lock your domains by default and make it impossible to transfer your domain willy-nilly like the old days. Most of these same reliable registrars require you to access your account and make a concerted effort (translates as KNOWINGLY) to unlock the domain and then provide the cryptic key (string of characters) provided to the future registrar, in order to complete the transfer. What is interesting is that the fake invoice (but actually an agreement to do business with them) does NOT reveal any need to do anything other than pay them. There is no mention that you will need to unlock or provide any cryptic keys. I dare say, MOST recipients of these letters are not knowledgeable about web domain ownership and management and often have no idea who is “in charge” of their domain. This of course creates an easily exploitable situation that results in lots of cash heading into the wrong hands. The legal aspect, of course, could be challenged if they do not provide the services they are marketing. In this case the services being offered are nearly nothing, since the responsibilities of a domain registrar involve so little effort. very likely iDNS is simply riding the back of some other physical equipment entity (reselling someone else’s physical services, like Network Solutions) So they have no vested interest in either managing or maintaining your domain or website. They simply make money off transferring domains and doing so at prices that are extremely inflated against today’s norms. Most domain renewal fees average about $10. All I can say is, read the fine print clear to the last line, if it does NOT make clear and obvious sense, then read it again or get some professional advice. It’s YOUR money and peace of mind.
I was also dupped by this company. I sent the money in thinking I was paying a bill to renew for my current provider. HORRIBLE COMPANY!! BEWARE of thier sneaky tactic to get your money.
Did you get your money back?? I also paid and I called them to have some explanation, but this guy was totally rude to me.
Thanks for doing my due diligence for me. You just saved me time, money, and aggravation!
I’ve gotten several of these letters over the years. I’ve had to warn less internet-savvy clients about them, since at first glance, it certainly does look like a bill to pay if you don’t want to lose your domain. It’s a straight-up scam and totally sickening. The fact these disgusting people are so rude at defending themselves (see their responses on the BBB site) just hammers home the point.
So what can we do about them? How do we take them down? I’ve filed a mail complaint [1], and I see lots of other people have filed various other complaints, but they keep trucking along. Anyone put their address in one of those poop-mailing services yet? They should be out of business.
[1] https://www.uspis.gov/report
Idns tried to scam me too. Dirty company should be put out of business. Idns is A thieving company! Idns = crooks. Google would do everyone a service to post the sites warning of their scam, above the actual idns websites results!
We have received the same letter, and I called the company to find out the details. The “customer service representative” on the phone was very aggressive, unpleasant and simply rude. Is there anything that can be done about the company since it looks like they are in Jersey City, NJ. ? Office of NJ attorney general? Also they must be making a lot of money since they can afford US Postal mass mailing all around the country. How can we close them down? This is mild version of cyber security scam in my opinion since they access (public data) and manipulate it to take advantage of it.
Thanks for this blog!
Add me to the list of people thanking you for the information, if you were local I’d be buying you a beer or two tonight. Thanks again for putting this out there for naive people like me to find.
Yeah, I just got their moronic letter today. I was confused for about 5 seconds, then I realized it could be a scam. I googled the name and I got your website which confirmed my suspicion. Thanks for exposing those dishonest scums. They trick you with their official looking letter and scary headlines but they insert a clause to protect themselves legally. They must have consulted a lawyer to research and write it carefully.
I received this “renewal letter” from this company. My Internet Service Provider “Go Daddy” confirmed that it is a scam. I wrote to the Jersey City Police Dept. and they don’t think this company is committing fraud, and they don’t have the resources to take action against them.
I have written to the U.S. Postal Services Fraud Unit, asking them to take action, as it is clearly mail fraud.
I just got the exact same letter that everyone here is getting. The expiration date on the letter didn’t look right, so I checked the website where I got my domain from, and sure enough, I have nearly a year until my domain expires, not a few months like iDNS says in the letter! Then I proceeded to google the company, found this site, and confirmed that iDNS is a scam.
Thank you for sharing the info!
Any idea on how to get your domain back if you sent them a check?
Hi Sandra,
Sending iDNS a check is only one of many steps you would need to take in order to transfer your domain to iDNS. It’s likely you didn’t to the other steps, because they can be complicated and technical. Did you “unlock” the domain? Did you request/get a transfer code from your old registrar? Did you give the transfer code to iDNS? If not the domain is still with your old company.
If you DID transfer the domain to iDNS, you can transfer it again to someone else after you wait out the grace period (30 days?).
A good next step would be to call your old registrar and see if the domain is still there. Your web hosting company might be able to help you sort this out, and/or get the domain back as well.
wow….thank you so much for reporting this.. i almost was about to pay. this letter seems legit. thank you for posting this!!!!
I got this letter, too, and in reading it, I realized the supposedly expiring domain is NOT listed in their bill! Probably that’s because it’s locked. I also love how they ARGUE with comments people have made on the BBB website. Complete scam artists. If you have to protest you’ve done nothing illegal, well, methinks the scammers doth protest too much.
i got the letter also. thanks for posting other peoples findings about this company. I checked, and had registered with another company and have 4 years left on that registry. and this is not even my registry name.
I received an email first, then a week later, I received an invoice in the mail. I went to the site where I actually purchased my website and I purchased it for 2 years and I don’t need to renew at this time. IDNS is a SCAM, Please Please don’t fall for this.
Criminals. Do not pay them a cent.
Throw letter in trash!
http://www.bbb.org/new-jersey/business-reviews/internet-web-hosting/internet-domain-name-services-idns-in-jersey-city-nj-90170042/complaints
F rating at BBB.
Disgusting! I received a letter from them as well, and thanks to you guys I didn’t get ripped off.
Thanks for posting. I received the letter this week also and right away I expected something was up when I saw the price of $45 to renew. I know that Go Daddy was only charging ~$20 to renew each year. After reviewing my Go Daddy account and checking the web, I confirmed my suspicions. What a bunch of ripoff artists.
Thanks, Kimball. Just got a letter from IDNS. I don’t know what these guys think that whoever gets these letters will pay amounts ranging from 80 to 300 dollars. They are not that smart..Are they? I am surprised leeches like them want to make money the easy way. Hope they pay dearly somewhere down the road if they keep this business in the long run. Most people who are in the internet business will know some basics about where they register their names and so forth. Genius, who is sending these letters will meet his or her karma soon enough:). Kimball thank you. there should be more people like you posting reviews and exposing scammers like these idiots. Great job Kimball. Funny thing is you have your post right below their domain in Google search. Hope the idiots get to read your post. Hey morons GET A REAL ^&%$!in job.
Thanks, Kimball! I just got the letter, and wasn’t sure, so I googled, and saw your post. I will wait for my actual service, which is tucows (and shows in that little app you provided), to contact me. You saved me bunches!
Alicia,
I’m glad I saved you some money and a bunch of aggravation.
I’ll send you an email about Tucows. They are legit, but your real domain name bill might come from elsewhere. Some of my websites come up a Tucows, but I purchased them from and renew them at SiteGround. SiteGround is not a ‘registrar’, so they use Tucows as a broker to register the name. Confusing I know. Send me your domain name and I will figure it out for you.
-Kimball
Thank you, Kimball, you are offering a real public service. I’m not at all tech savvy and would have fallen for this scam, had I not read your post and the replies. WOW! “We have done absolutely nothing illegal”??? I received the IDNS letter displayed above. Luckily, I paused in the rush of “taking care of business”. I feel a bit foolish for not being more wary. I’m reporting these scam artists to all of the agencies listed above. BUYER BEWARE…lesson learned. Thanks, again.
Just got my letter today. Instantly knew it was a scam. That still doesn’t stop the anger I have for these scamming piece of worthless sh*ts!
I wish I lived near one of their addresses…
Unfortunately I sent a check so I guess my money is gone but thank you for letting others know. $180 for 5 years for my domain name another scam, uga muga.
Marianne
iDNS is a scam… we use 1&1.com for all domains and web hosting (they don’t charge to privatize your registration info like godaddy does, 1&1 charges me $14.95 for .com domains (used to be $9.95)
FYI, I finally got refunded after another couples of rude and arrogant emails 🙂
But we definitely need to spread the word about that scam. You can report the company to the BBB, FCC, FTC, and the following sites:
I got the same letter. Unfortunately I was too busy and didn’t pay attention to the fine prints, and thought it was the renewal notice from my legitimate domain provider. So I paid 🙁 I realized my mistake when my legitimate domain provider sent me a renewal email reminder!! I instantly called IDNS for a refund… which I was promised…but no credit showed on my CC account… I emailed their customer support to complain, and here is the answer I got:
Hello,
The letter we sent you CLEARLY stated it was an offer from our company to transfer to us for your domain renewal. Did you not read it at all, the whole letter is asking if you want to transfer and switch to us:
“When you switch today to Internet Domain Name Services you can take advantage of our best savings”
“You must renew your domain name to obtain exclusive rights to it on the web, and now is the time to transfer and renew your name from your current registrar to Internet Domain Name Services.”
“Domain holders are not obligated to renew their domain with their current registrar or with Internet Domain Name Services. Review our prices and decide for yourself. You are under no obligation to pay the amounts stated unless you accept this offer. This notice is not a bill, it is rather an easy means of payment should you decide to switch your domain name registration to Internet Domain Name Services.”
So you made a mistake and wanted a refund, not a problem, you called on Feb 22nd and we happily issued you a refund to your card in the amount of $180. To re-iterate, you have been refunded $180 to your card on Feb 22nd.
We have done absolutely nothing illegal, all that happened here is that you were careless with your money and paid for something you didn’t want, and in turn we immediately offered you a refund at your request. Perhaps in the future you should be more careful and not try to blame others for your mistakes. You may encounter a company who isn’t as honest as ours and your money would be lost. Luckily for you we are an upstanding organization.
No, of course not, domain slamming is not illegal and the upstanding organization is rated F by the BBB!! If I do not see the credit on my account I will fill a dispute at my bank…
I like how they have to make it clear to you that they “have done nothing illegal” LOL! Good lord! These people need to go down!
There is now a BBB entry for this company with a rating of F. http://www.bbb.org/new-jersey/business-reviews/internet-web-hosting/internet-domain-name-services-idns-in-jersey-city-nj-90170042
This is fraud. Called them and they were super rude and guess upset as to why I was asking for their purpose of sending me this letter when my domain was already registered somewhere else. THe guy who picked up kept asking me if I read the letter.
similar story. thank you for this blog. was unsure how to post, but thank you.
Yes, I had the same experience. Super rude guy. Said he would refund my money if I told him I was sorry. I never did get a refund. I spoke with him on 1/19/2016. There has to be a way to file a formal complaint about this “company”.
Is this not mail fraud? Should we not be reporting this to the FTC? And since it involves the internet, how about the FCC? Let’s get those bureaucrats up off their dead asses and earn their keep.
I received a Letter today immediately I called GODADDY who i purchased my .org from they told me if you do not buy the extra “privacy” this can happen. However there is no way they can take my domain from me at all.
I see they’ve been reported to the BBB and I also made a report I am sick of scammers it’s getting really insane!
Thanks for this article oh and BTW the 844 number doesn’t work call the 551 number
Some registrars offer this privacy as a free courtesy to their customers. I think Dream Host is one of them, but do verify that yourself.
I just got a letter about this as well. Thank you for posting about them because I was unsure myself. Hooray for the internet, you all just saved me a world of financial grief for my company!
I to fell for this notice in the mail. I called today and asked for refund. I was asked by gentlemen to unlock my Internet account. Told him I wanted a refund. Gave him the check # and asked how they got my website information and he abruptly hung up on me.
I am supposed to get refund in 4-6 weeks. Doubt that!
Cooperclan
Patricia,
I’d love to hear if you get your money back or not. Please keep us posted.
Actually I have a better story. I bought an extension on my domain name, then was referred here. My bank said they couldn’t cancel the credit card until they ‘cashed’ it, when I could lodge a complaint.
So I emailed IDNS asking them to reverse or cancel the charge. And they replied in 5 minutes saying they had done so.
So I have to say, no complaint from me.
Glad you got your money back Charlie.
Hi,
Please don’t fall for this, I lost $550 last year. I canceled my Domain and still getting this letter in the mail, that means they are crooks.
Kim,
I recently had a customer of mine pay IDNS by check. What should I do? The domain name is still registered with Go Daddy and IDNS didn’t give my customer a user name and log-in for switching to their service. Should I call IDNS and switch to them since he already paid $120 for it? Or should I just go ahead and renew with Go Daddy and he is out the $120? Your thoughts?
Hi Toni,
Are they even a real company? Is their infrastructure any good? I have not seen any success stories from satisfied customers. I would not switch, no way.
Would be interesting to call/email them and see what you can find out. Do they answer the phone or email? Do they have online tools for managing the domain? Can you get a refund? Let us know what you find out.
If you keep your domain locked and don’t give them a transfer Authorization Code, they can’t get your domain.
Again, I wouldn’t switch to them, even after giving them my money.
-Kim
Hi Toni, Kim.
My boss sent them a check for $80.00. I called them, and an EXTREMELY RUDE, OBNOXIOUS male answered the phone. He cut me off, saying that I was taking too long, asked for the domain name, etc, looked my company up. When I reminded him that I was a customer, he proceeded to insult me by stating, “No, you’re not a customer. You’re someone who has no clue what you’re doing, can’t follow the directions you were given for transferring your domain name, so now you want a refund. Verify the check number, give me your name, and who the check will be made out to. That is ALL you need to say. Now, Go.” Then, he got annoyed, and hung up on me.
I called right back, and his reply, was, “Name, check number, who to make the check out to.” When I tried to say anything else, he basically said to shut up, that he’d hung up on me because I was angry and cursed at him (nope, gave that up for Lent…although he now made me break THAT), and back to name, etc.
I gave him the name, and the company name, and very condescendingly he said, “Ok, you’ve got 2 out of 3, now let’s try for 3 out of 3, try again.”
So, we should be receiving a check sometime soon. We’ll see.
And, btw, they have yet another domain: idnsinc.at
Vivian
Hi Vivian,
Wow! Many people have posted their interactions with iDNS here, and said how rude the man was, but the experience you had takes the cake. You are right, that’s EXTREMELY RUDE and OBNOXIOUS!
If you do receive a refund check from iDNS can you let me know please? That would be very helpful for my readers to know.
I am going through this currently – I have received a check but it is out of a Canadian bank. My bank will not cash it – Walmart won’t cash it either. Noticed it was out of TD Bank in Canada – have been working with TD Bank local (in VA) to assess its authenticity. Should know something within the next couple of days. BTW, my experience with “customer service” was very similar to the comments noted earlier – the guy is a real SOB.
Did you ever receive your refund check?
They claimed back on Oct 15 they would be sending me a check as well (see bottom of this message) and that I should receive it in 3-5 weeks.
On Nov 19 I emailed them letting them know I had not received refund, to which they replied “The refund will be mailed tomorrow”.
On Dec 2, after still not receiving refund I called again, to which a very rude rep stated “the check was mailed on Nov 20 and I assure you it will arrive… you have yourself a good day” and condescending f*** hung up.
Dec 17 – sent another email that I still hadn’t received refund.
Dec 18 – after no response, called again and asked where my refund was to which the rep said “check was mailed Nov 20 and is coming from Toronto where they have been experiencing delays, asked me to be patient and to give it until after the holidays”.
Next action – report to BBB.
Somebody needs to shut these crooks down.
—————————————————–
Your refund request has been noted, a refund of $190 will be sent to:
DAN …..
address
You should receive it in 3 to 5 weeks.
————-
Customer Support
iDNS Inc.
1-844-855-4367
support@idnsinc.net
http://www.idnsinc.net
Thanks for posting this , you saved us some money .They used some other domain name then the one we have to try to sale us a new one some one already owns.
We received a notice from IDNS stating that our domain name was about to expire and we could renew with this company. The domain name that they listed does not even belong to us! Watch out for these sneaky snakes.
Thank you for sharing information about IDNS. I also received a letter from them suggesting that I should renew one of my domain name registration with them. But, not only that their prices are four times higher but the days when I will provide anybody with my credit card information through mail are gone.
Thanks for your reply Ana. I totally agree. Do not send your credit card number through the mail. And I’d add do not give your credit card number to any company that is not PCI Compliant.
How can we stop these scum-balls and why haven’t the authorities already done so!
Steve