Domains4less - a total lack of response

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Gurezaemon

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#225461 20-Nov-2017 13:13

With a couple of domain names up for renewal, I have been trying to contact domains4less.co.nz through their website regarding a payment issue.
Over the last three weeks, I have submitted several support tickets, with the only response other than "We've received your ticket and will be in touch shortly" being one suggesting I emailed their billing section, which I did, but with no response forthcoming.
The online chat function on the website is a waste of time - Endless repeats of "Your request is important to us. Please wait and one of our operators will be with you shortly", eventually leading to a "Unfortunately, our team is currently unavailable." page and a request that I submit yet another support ticket.

My question - is domains4less actually a company with real people at it? There doesn't appear to be any option to call them, so I am flummoxed as to how to get in touch.

Any thoughts?

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#1904609 20-Nov-2017 13:43

Have a quick search for Umbrellar here.

They have absorbed most domain resllers in NZ under the brand Webhost. Whilst they appear as different entities, the support level and pricing differs for each (0900 for D4L). But are ultimately tied.

https://www.umbrellar.nz/careers/

https://support.webhost.co.nz/index.php?/domains4less/Knowledgebase/Article/View/1055/223/which-umbrellar-website-builder-plan-is-right-for-me

There is also an Umbrellar user you can possibly try here.

Gurezaemon

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#1904618 20-Nov-2017 14:03

Oblivian:

They have absorbed most domain resllers in NZ under the brand Webhost. Whilst they appear as different entities, the support level and pricing differs for each (0900 for D4L). But are ultimately tied.

https://www.umbrellar.nz/careers/

https://support.webhost.co.nz/index.php?/domains4less/Knowledgebase/Article/View/1055/223/which-umbrellar-website-builder-plan-is-right-for-me

Great! I managed to get the problem sorted. Thanks for your help. :)

mgeek

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#1911620 1-Dec-2017 11:52

Gurezaemon:

Great! I managed to get the problem sorted. Thanks for your help. :)

How did you manage to get your issue resolved? Having a similar problem.

Gurezaemon

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#1911686 1-Dec-2017 13:35

mgeek:

Gurezaemon:

Great! I managed to get the problem sorted. Thanks for your help. :)

How did you manage to get your issue resolved? Having a similar problem.

IIRC, I called the number in one of the URLs. I'm not impressed with how the whole company is dealing with things though - I'm guessing teething issues of some sort.

Oblivian

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#1911702 1-Dec-2017 14:21

It's always been like most early startup ISPs and the likes. Cheap up front, but premium support costs (the 0900 for instance)

Just the way it is as a trade off for getting price point churn customers. Largely an automated system integrated into a larger pool, And the premium ones are further up the importance chain unless you pay to jump queue.

mgeek

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#1911705 1-Dec-2017 14:36

Oblivian:

It's always been like most early startup ISPs and the likes. Cheap up front, but premium support costs (the 0900 for instance)

Just the way it is as a trade off for getting price point churn customers. Largely an automated system integrated into a larger pool, And the premium ones are further up the importance chain unless you pay to jump queue.

Hmm, I don't see any 0900 number listed anywhere. They provide a ticket support system (no problem with that) but say they 'aim to respond in 24 hours' - apparently their aim is really bad :-). They also provide a 'live chat' support system, but as Gurezaemon said it shows someone is available but they never respond to it, even with nobody ahead in the queue. I even watched it change to 'unavailable' after being ignored. Then moments later 'available' again - but still got ignored.

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Oblivian

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#1911708 1-Dec-2017 14:43

My guess is it's now offloaded since being taken over by the incumbent.

once upon a time it was (0900) 36624 - still find online caches of it

Started a couple of years back.. https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=86&topicid=177582

KiwiSurfer

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#1911715 1-Dec-2017 14:57

If you can I suggest switching to Metaname. Best DNS provider I've used. Only time I needed support they were prompt and actually knew what they were doing.

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#1911716 1-Dec-2017 15:00

IIRC D4L is email only support - hence the "for Less". During my time at Umbrellar, we did have the odd D4L call come through, and when queried where they got the number, it was some obscure number noone recognized :)

Ping @UmbrellarKR

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#1911730 1-Dec-2017 15:49

mgeek:

How did you manage to get your issue resolved? Having a similar problem.

Hi mgeek, what's happening on your account there - did you get this sorted?

If it's not something you can do yourself by logging into your account, then we have ticket and chat support - they're usually pretty onto it.

PM your ticket or chat # and I'll chase this up for you if you'd like.

Kieran

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#1911741 1-Dec-2017 16:28

UmbrellarKR:

mgeek:

How did you manage to get your issue resolved? Having a similar problem.

Hi mgeek, what's happening on your account there - did you get this sorted?

If it's not something you can do yourself by logging into your account, then we have ticket and chat support - they're usually pretty onto it.

PM your ticket or chat # and I'll chase this up for you if you'd like.

Kieran

The problem was the chat and ticket support. No matter how long I (and mgeek) waited, the agents ticked over to being "unavailable" on any number of occasions. Any tickets I submitted garnered no response, even after a week of waiting. This is why I ended up asking for help on geekzone.

The intentional(?) lack of a contact phone number on the site through which I could contact a real person was also intensely frustrating.

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Dratsab

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#1911822 1-Dec-2017 20:34

KiwiSurfer: If you can I suggest switching to Metaname. Best DNS provider I've used. Only time I needed support they were prompt and actually knew what they were doing.

I've just switched 4 domains away from Crazy Domains to Metaname. Painless and quick and best of all I can point them at another domain for which I've set up a temporary website without having to pay extra fees - fees I didn't pay at Crazy Domains so was basically squatting. I haven't needed any help at this point but I am quite pleased I made the move.

sleemanj

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#1913569 5-Dec-2017 21:38

I've been using Domains4Less for years, but like you am having problems now.

Paid for a renewal on Sunday, credit card charged just fine, their system failed, renew hasn't happened, no response to tickets, chat just says "be patient" "sorry for the inconvenience", no help at all.

Domain expires tomorrow. Do I try again and then issue a chargeback against them for the incorrect transaction maybe.

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I sell lots of stuff for electronic enthusiasts...

sleemanj

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#1913702 6-Dec-2017 09:14

Thankfully D4L resolved my issue this morning and the domain is now renewed.

All is forgiven

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#1913769 6-Dec-2017 10:37

I had an almost identical experience to @sleemanj last year. I had been overseas and left renewal rather late (3 days to go). Renewal failed but charged my card. Tickets unanswered for 2 days. I tried migrating the domain but never received the auth token from the d4l system. Calls to umbrellar went unanswered (was weekend by then). With just hours to go on the .com domain (so no 90 day safety net like .nz) I managed to find chat support actually online, despite it being Sunday night. The chat person was very helpful and ultimately a retry succeeded and they refunded the payment for the failed renewal a couple of days later. Was apparently an upstream provider issue, but very nearly resulted in me losing a domain.

I'm still with them for most of my domains due to pricing, which scaled over around a dozen domains adds up. But I always renew a month before expiry.

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