Did you get one of these iDNS “Domain Name Expiration Notice” letters in the mail? DON’T PAY THEM, and here’s why …
This post is an update to my July 2015 review of iDNS: Review: Internet Domain Name Services (iDNS)
Who is iDNS? iDNS runs a scam designed to trick you and take your money. They are not your domain registrar. They found out through public records your domain name is expiring and sent you a letter trying to trick you into a domain transfer (not a renewal).
iDNS Is A ScamWhy is iDNS still around and is it legal? Well, domain transfers are legal. BUT!, most of us read the letter and think we are paying for a domain renewal, which you are not. Read the letter again, it’s for a domain transfer and you don’t want that.
Should I Pay iDNS? NO! To renew your domain name registration, you need to pay the company where you bought your domain name from, not iDNS. If you can’t remember try looking up your domain’s public WHOIS record or call me (603-497-2500) and I’ll try to help. Full disclosure: I am not associated with iDNS in any way. I’m an independent website developer just trying to get the word out about this scam.
Maybe transferring my domain name to iDNS could be a good thing? OMG No! Read any of the 70+ comments on my 2015 review of iDNS. Here are a few of the “highlights”: “EXTREMELY RUDE, OBNOXIOUS“, “arrogant“, “HORRIBLE COMPANY!!“, “the guy … told me to SHUT UP“, and perhaps the most telling of them all “I spoke to the [iDNS] representative aka Satan. I’ve never encountered such a horrible terrible person.”
Can I get my money back from iDNS? Yes. People who have fallen for this domain transfer trick have told me they got a refund from iDNS. What you need to do is call 1-844-855-4367 or email support@idnsinc.com and ask for a refund. Brace yourself for the “horrible terrible person” to call you names and tell you off, but be persistent and ask for a refund. It should work.
How can you help? If you have any experience with iDNS (good or bad) please leave a comment here on my blog. Your experience will help the rest of us know what’s going on and what to expect.
Thanks!
Kimball
Freelance Website Developer
KimballRexford.com
Glad I found your Blog.. so I have a rather interesting story involving these idiots. My wife has a candle site, it’s registered to us and the domain name is up for renewal (auto) in a couple of months.
She has a few retail clients and we stopped by one today, believe it or not, THEY (the retails store) got a letter from these morons with OUR domain name on it. The letter was addressed to our domain, with her business address. They were looking for 225 bucks…. from her. Needless to say, she was a little confused and concerned. I can’t believe these guys aren’t in jail yet.
Hello! I know this blog was written a few years ago, but I am glad I found it. I just realized I fell for this scam. I paid them about a month and a half ago and didn’t realize until now, when Squarespace asked me to pay for my renewal, that it was a scam. I tried calling their phone number and it just told me that the voicemail box was full. So I just emailed the support email. Hopefully I’ll hear back. Luckily I just did the one year renewal for $60, so glad I didn’t do the more expensive options!
That stinks Mackenzie.
When you finally get in touch with iDNS, ask for your money back, you should get it back. iDNS use to be super rude to people. Hopefully that aren’t that way anymore. Please keep us posted on how they treat you and if you get your money back.
Hello! I am in the same boat you were last year, were you able to get your money back? I just requested it back via email because the box was full when I called too. Please please let me know! Thank you!
Hey so I’m pretty sure I fell for this scam. I can deal with getting a refund later but my priority right now is to try to get the site I paid for running again. I assume I will have to pay the actual host of the site to get it back up again but I have no clue who they are as this site belongs to my father (who’s not exactly tech savvy either and can’t help me figure out who it is), I just happened to use my credit card to pay for it.
Any help please? 🙁
Ditto….., I just paid 5 years by credit card. Yep, the guy was rude, hung up on me after saying if I would have simply admitted I made a mistake, then requested a refund by email, it would have gone a lot better.
So that I did, what do you think my chances are to get refund?
Hi Elizabeth,
If you asked him for a refund over the phone, I expect you will receive it. Others have. I have not heard from anyone asking for a refund via email. Please keep me posted how that goes for you.
– Kim
I received from Domain Registry our “Domain Name Expiration Notice” to renew and paid $50.00 for a 1-year renewal. The charge went thru a company name IDNS.
I realized this was a scam and I had to cancel my credit card with my bank.
If you call the number listed on the bank charge 844-855-4367 it will ring and you will hear the following:
“the person you are trying to reach is not available please leave a message”
when you are ready to leave a message it will then say…
“the voicemail is full”…and obviously no message can be left.
TOTAL SCAM!!!
I was scammed and signed up for 2 years for 90.00. The letter looks very official that they send.
I filed a complaint with my bank/credit card company and the Missouri Attorney General’s office.
I did finally get a hold of someone at the company who was sarcastic and told me my refund would be issued. We will see.
Please contact your state and file a complaint, as they should be charged with mail fraud.
OMG. I am completely confused with the entire process. I paid for my domain name through IDNS for 3 years. I was not aware that I was not going to be able to use that name to create a website on my own. I did try to get a refund but as you said, they were very rude and told me no refunds.
I filed a BBB complaint in NJ. I didn’t fall for it – had seen it before – but it irritated me that they were still trying to take advantage of people, in the midst of Covid-19 no less. They responded to the BBB saying that their letter was very clear that it wasn’t a bill. (It wasn’t) Why are they still allowed to do business??
Thanks for the info! I fell for it recently, noticed your blog post, called the number, and the guy was actually friendly. The refund won’t come for five weeks, he said, so here’s hoping he wasn’t just a friendly spewer of lies!
So did the refund ever come? I called them after finding this blog because my friend (an older lady) has me helping her do a website for the special needs prom that she hosts every year. He called me arrogant and ignorant yell at me and calling me rude and it was a mess. I was just trying to figure out how to get our site working again.
I don’t know if you ever got an answer, but just paying them shouldn’t have your site go down or make you lose your site. If you actually transferred your domain name to them, or didn’t renew through your host because you thought you had already paid then maybe that is the issue?
Marnie, the issue is they do not send you instructions on how to execute the transfer. People do not realize they paid for a transfer. So the transfer never happens, and the old domain expires. Worst case is when your old domain gets bought up, and you have to pay through the nose to get it back.
If my information is private (Registrar: Godaddy & Privacy: DomainsByProxy) then how did IDNS get my mailing info?
Thanks
No idea. Send me your domain name using my contact form, and all see if I can find the leak.
Look at how unprofessional these [iDNS] people are:
https://www.bbb.org/us/nj/jersey-city/profile/web-hosting/internet-domain-name-services-idns-0221-90170042/customer-reviews
I have a domain name via Bluehost and had it for over a year. During the end of last year, I received a letter in the mail asking to renew my domain name. I had misunderstood the letter, believing that they were affiliated with Bluehost. They charged $45 to renew the domain name for one year. I made a payment online basically renewing my domain name. Fast forward a few weeks, I noticed today that my domain name on BlueHost is set to expire this year, in other words, it was not paid for!!! I contacted Bluehost and they notified me that this company is a scam and advised me to dispute it with my bank. Before calling my bank, I called IDNS and the idiot on the phone was extremely rude. We went back and fourth and he was really enjoying himself being rude on the phone. I hung up on him. Called back a few minutes later and the same guy answered the phone saying: “Why are you calling us back for you idiot” and we went back and fourth again. I couldn’t believe it. I’m currently looking at all my banking information to see how I made a payment and filing a dispute. DON’T FALL FOR THEM!
Oh man Paul, that sounds brutal. What an ass this iDNS guy is. Just curious, did you ask iDNS for your money back? People have told me that worked for them in the past.
This is VERY useful information! AND Kimball really will respond to your request when you call. Thank you for helping!!!!!
You will definitely have to search and find who hosted the site. Do not transfer. It won’t count anyway when the real registrars approach you for renewal. Kimball shared with me a site where you can search for the original DNS registrar: https://www.whoishostingthis.com
Hopefully, this will help you.
I received a call from a client re. this “invoice” from iDNS. I told her not to pay it, that all renewals, etc., would come from me alone (her domain is locked).
I have always just tossed those letters when I receive them, and as a Web Host, I get them all the time (from iDNS) for all of my Websites. This time, I decided to call the outfit. My experience was exactly as other have reported; a rude, abusive (obnoxious) person (I forget his name) yelling at me non-stop. I couldn’t get a word in edgewise. It was then that I decided to investigate, and found all these reports on this scammer. Everything everyone has said here is true.