I do hope I've posted this in the correct place as I'm new to the forum.

Sorry for the long post but can anyone advise me if I have any comeback on the following:

I have a domain name which was set up for auto renewal on 03/03/18 (2 years for £38.38). On 24/02/18 I received an email saying the payment had failed. On 25/02/18 I received a further reminder saying the renewal was overdue and I risked a disruption or loss of services. I checked my account and noticed that the credit card details they held were out of date so I updated my credit card details.

On 27/02/18 I received another email stating my domain was overdue for renewal and I could always renewal manually, so I contacted 123 reg through their support centre advising them of the situation and stating that I didn’t understand why they hadn’t taken the payment from the new credit card details that I had entered as the domain is set up for automatic renewal. They replied as follows:

“I would like to make you aware that the domains are renewed 7 days prior to expiry. The payment was attempted on 2018-02-24, however, it was declined by the bank. The system might try one more time, however, if the domain is not renewed until the 3rd, it would be best for you to manually renew it to avoid any unwanted interruptions.”

I replied, advising them that I had taken their advice and manually renewed the payment, to which they replied: “Thank you for the prompt reply. I am happy to inform you that the domain has been renewed and the new expiry date is now 03/03/2020.

It was only when I was recently completing my self-assessment form that I checked through my credit card statements and noticed the payment of £38.38 had been taken twice so I contacted 123 reg and asked for a refund of the duplicate payment. Several messages have been passed between us but to cut a long story short they are saying it’s not a duplicate payment but it just means that the domain has been renewed for 4 years because it was under auto renewal and I also renewed manually!! They say that they can’t refund any money because I chose to manually renew the domain name without waiting until 3 March. Also they say that because the invoice is 6 months old they can’t refund any money (my fault I know for not checking my CC statement sooner) . The only way they can issue a refund it for them to release the domain to the open market as Verisign do not allow partial refunds and keeping the domain so I would lose the domain and any money I’ve paid. They state it’s been more than 6 months since the payment was done and the Money Back Guarantee for the .com domains is 5 days including the renewal date and they can’t pass over the registry rules on this.

It may just seem like a small amount of money but I’m really angry about this as no way did I intend paying for this domain twice and I was only following their advice by manually renewing so why did they then take the money again. I’ve asked this question but didn’t really get a satisfactory reply to that other than it’s “ the system”.

Thanks

Maureen

Hi and Welcome to CAG

Have you tried their online chat support ?

Used the online chat for support

" Used the online chat for support. I requested a refund for product bought in error and my query was handled very quickly and efficiently by Robert."

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.123-reg.co.uk

Andy

Hi Andy. Thanks for replying. No, I haven't tried their online chat. I've just used their Support Tickets.

Give it a go..seems to work according to the above link.

you are probably still in time to do a recharge. You may have to explain to your bank/card provider waht has gone on so they dotn try and reverse both payments.

Once yoiu owna domain name you can also renew it via other ICANN approved registrars