Knowledge Base / Articles

I received a letter or Email stating that I need to renew my domain name. It looks like a invoice BUT it is not from Empowering Media. What should I do about this notice?

NOTE: Empowering Media is in no way affiliated with any of the companies listed below, and this page is provided as a service to our customers who may be confused by these notices. These notices are NOT coming from Empowering Media and are an attempt to transfer your domain names away from us.

This practice otherwise known as "domain slamming" is becoming more pronounced recently. We consider "domain slamming" a series of deceptive and (in some cases) borderline fraudulent practices.

Here are a few important points to remember regarding your domain names:

1. Empowering Media NEVER sends domain name renewal notices via postal mail. We do everything digitally via Email. If it came in your postal mail and pertains to your domain, it is likely a solicitation from a competitor (even if it looks like an invoice).
2. The "invoices" may look "official", yet they are merely advertisements or solicitations, and rather misleading ones at that. Here are some examples of the their "invoices"
   • Domain Registry of Canada
   • Domain Registry of America
   • Network Solutions/Verisign
3. Renewing your domain via one of these solicitations will remove you from our service. In many cases your DNS will stop working, your website will be unavailable and your Email will cease forwarding.
4. If you do remain on our name servers while your registrar moves elsewhere, you will be paying fees to two different places, to them for your domain renewal, and to us for your DNS, URL forwarding and email forwarding. Many people move their registrar to us for precisely the opposite reason: to consolidate their domain related billing into one low fee.

What Can You Do

Beginning January 1st, 2003, Empowering Media enables Registrar Lock on all .com/.net/.org/.biz/.info domain names registered through us. This lock has been retroactively set for all domains names registered with Empowering Media and will be set for all new domain name registrations. Any attempt to transfer the domain away will fail until that lock is cleared, and it can only be cleared by you through your domain name management console. There is no additional cost for this; it is now a standard feature of all domain packages here.

If your domain name is unlocked (which we do not recommend), and you have already remitted a fee to one of these companies, you must explicitly deny the ensuing transfer request or the transfer will be completed.

Once you have denied the transfer request, or the transfer request has failed because of the registrar lock demand your money back, feel free to file a complaint with your local Better Business Bureau. If they refuse your refund, contact your credit card company.