There is something seriously wrong with 123-Reg – previously the best domain purchasing company in the UK.
Today, I have moved my JaysonBlair.com domain and hosting deal from them for the simple reason that… the website had completely disappeared! The hosting deal must have come to an end and yet somewhere, somehow it fell through the cracks and 123-Reg failed to tell me. I was so gobsmacked I have shifted everything over to GoDaddy.
This isn’t the only time I’ve had trouble with 123-Reg recently either – and I can see from looking on the Net that I’m not alone.
123-Reg’s support – ever since Pipex took them over, and then again recently while Pipex is going through some strange changes – has gone from bad to absolutely pointless.
I had to kill my blog with them and shift hosting because they were so completely useless and unhelpful. I hit a bandwidth limit, but rather than be informed, they just killed it. I was happy to pay for more bandwidth – which I did – but it didn’t work and they basically said they didn’t care. So I moved my hosting.
I also shifted the hosting for my Sexdotcom.info site, because they were so unhelpful and so restrictive with their hosting deals. And I don’t think I’ll bother renewing my hosting deals for my other sites when they come for renewal either (assuming of course that 123-Reg bothers to tell me).
It’s not just me and it’s not just hosting either. There is an extraordinary post on the influential UK mailing list at Deleting.co.uk entitled “R.I.P 123, is this the end for 123-reg?” The complaint was very worrying: “I registered a domain several hours ago with 123-reg.co.uk, the money was taken, yet the domain is still not registered. Anyone can go and register it.”
And again on the My Two Cents blog, Shari says, no, shouts “BOYCOTT 123-REG.CO.UK!” She has also shifted over to GoDaddy because: “My password needed to be reset since early June so I could renew a domain for my husband! And what happens?? 3 MONTHS LATER and the LOSS of my husbands domain to finally get it reset!!! Talk about BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE! I emailed them several times a day since June and FINALLY 2 weeks ago they reset my password… but 2 MONTHS TOO LATE!”
Something has gone very, very wrong at 123-Reg and it is directly impinging on its core technical functions. What a way to squander a reputation. I’m simply not going to stay with a company that I can’t trust to look after my domains or hosting deals.
Stumbled here from BBC news site(?) I use UKReg.com for registration and they are affiliated to Fasthosts for hosting. Been trouble free so far.. Except when they suspended my account fo having a cracked copy of something FTP’d on their server! Silly me..
Hi Kieran,
Thank you! Glad to see I’m not the only one having issues with these folks! Really makes me wonder how they’ve stayed in business so long too! Thanks again.. I’ve added you to my blogroll! Love your candor in your posts! (i’m still cruisin your blog!)
~shari
123-Reg Warning
This is a heads up warning to all of you that are considering committing yourself to any sort of dealings with 123-reg.
My saga started in March 2006, is still ongoing as of 22 October 2006 and is completely unresolved.
Unwittingly, in March 2006, I called on the services of 123-reg to pre-register many .eu domains on my behalf. In April 2006 I was informed that the majority of my chosen domains were unsuccessful and I would be getting a refund. I was disappointed with the failures but at least I knew I would be getting my money returned.
On 28 April 2006 I received many automated emails from 123-reg informing me that I could set up a credit account for the refunds and that this credit could be used to purchase any of the 123-reg services. I decided to take up this offer as I intended to purchase more domains, InstantSite Pro and web hosting packages.
Many weeks elapsed without any sign of the refund. Scores of emails later, 123-reg eventually apologised and informed me that they were doing their level best to satisfy the overwhelming demand in response to refunds on .eu domains. Stay calm, at least they have apologised for the outrageous delay.
During June 2006 credit finally started appearing on my account. However, by the end of June 2006 over £400 had still not been credited back to my account and so I demanded an explanation. After not getting any response to my many additional emails I decided to call on the assistance of the so called ‘Consumer Champion’ from the WebUser magazine. Unfortunately, WebUser did not take up my cause and never even acknowledged my complaint. I found this rather strange because 123-reg had been awarded best host 2006 by WebUser readers so one would have thought that WebUser themselves would have wanted to get to the bottom of my grievance.
On 3 August 2006 although I was still missing a lot of credit, I decided to purchase a domain with the credit facility I had with 123-reg. Unbelievable as it may seem I discovered that I could not purchase the domain with my credit facility. 123-reg agreed that it was a problem and it would be sorted within the week.
On 4 August 2006 123-reg and I disagreed as to what amount of money was showing on my credit account. According to my figures I was short by over £100.
On 8 August 2006 I was still unable to purchase domains with my credit facility that had been set up on 28 April 2006. The following day 123-reg told me that a bug sheet had now been raised and the problem would be resolved by the end of the week or early next week.
On 19 August 2006 in desperation I again contacted the ‘Consumer Champion’ of the WebUser magazine. Again they never acknowledged my communication.
On 23 August 2006 I was told by 123-reg that my problem was now being escalated to the Product Development Department.
On 5 September 2006 I was finally informed by 123-reg that I could now use my credit facility to purchase domains. It had now taken 123-reg five months for me to be able to use my credit facility that was agreed on 28 April 2006.
On 7 September 2006 a ticket was raised by 123-reg in order to sort out the £100 shortfall on my credit account.
On 24 September 2006 I eventually took the plunge and decided that I was now ready to purchase InstantSite Pro and web hosting packages with the funds that 123-reg held in my credit account. After all, 123-reg had somehow been voted ‘best host for 2006’ desite my traumas. Guess what? To my amazement, I discovered that I could not purchase InstantSite or web hosting packages with my credit facility that stood at over £300.
On 29 September 2006 after many emails on my behalf and weeks of investigation by 123-reg it was discovered that despite my instruction via email and by telephone, 123-reg had taken it upon themselves to issue some of the refunds back to my credit card. Okay so this explains the missing money but what did they not understand about “Put the refunds into my credit account”? Why oh why, put the majority of funds onto my credit account and then transfer some funds back to my card. Perhaps a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing?
On 19 October 2006 again after another batch of frustrating emails, 123-reg eventually informed me that they never intended credit accounts being used for anything other than domain purchases. I again complained to 123-reg by saying that their policy is the same as a bank telling me that I can only use my funds to purchase red hot chilly peppers and nothing else. They responded by saying that banks do actually place similar restrictions on funds by only allowing a withdrawal of £300 per day. What utter, utter tosh. Anyone can withdraw all of their funds immediately, granted not via a hole in the wall. Anyway, I didn’t want £300 a day, all I wanted was to be able to purchase InstantSite Pro and a web hosting package. Surely no big deal really!!!
Conclusion (well not yet anyway): 123-reg has had my money on credit since 28 April 2006 and to date, on 22 October 2006 I am still unable to get at my funds to purchase anything other than red hot chilly peppers. So I guess I now need to purchase about 150 of the .co.uk type red hot chilly peppers to bring my credit balance to nil.
Oh by the way, to add insult to injury, I am now getting emails from 123-reg offering me a substantial discount if I purchase InstantSite Pro within 3 weeks of receiving their email. If only!!!
Be warned, be very warned about having any dealings whatsoever with 123-reg.
Is there anyone in the world wide web interested in taking up my cause? If so please email me annoyed@123-reg-warning.co.uk
Likewise, perviously I’ve never had any problems, but I registered an address last month and it’s have Request Being Processed on the whois for several weeks now! I’ve had no response from the help desk except for one email asking if it was in my control panel, well YES of course it’s in my control panel but the darn thing hasn’t been registered!! It makes me so annoyed and I REFUSE to call that flippin 50p per minute help line! Talk about a money spinner. Bah…
I am currently in the middle of a minor saga with the
b*****dspeoplemachines at 123-reg.So far 4 emails telling them that their automated password recovery tool is not working.
I now have growing collection of differently-worded replies that direct me back to this very tool!
I assume that the place must have been taken over by machines as no-one seems to have the intelligence to read what I have written before sending a, slightly edited, boilerplate response #43
All of my domains will be moved forthwith and I suggest you all do the same.
I have used 123.reg for over 7 years, never had a problem with them!!! Untill this year, basically they ignore the forms you send to them, they send you innacurate information when they do respond and then do not respond to your reply, suggesting where “They have gone wrong”… Totally useless.
They have gone from the very best in my opinion, to absolute pants, what the hell is going on? Anyone
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Here is the problem. I know someone who works at 123-reg which is based in Nottingham. Last month they were all told they were being made redundant in March unless they wanted to move to the new offices in London.
This is part of Pipex consolidating all the companies they have bought.
This is the whole Nottingham operation, all the accounts, support and technical stuff for WebFusion and 123-reg, over 100 people. Not many staff have decided to move so you can image the chaos, no one is motivated, but they are all hanging on for their redundancy payment which they won’t get unless they stay around until the end of Feb.
I already moved my domains to heart internet, I don’t want to wait until February.
That would explain it., thanks Jay.
Why on earth don’t they organise and set up a new company that brings back 123-Reg’s easy quality? If they do, they can have my domains. In the meantime, I might shift them to GoDaddy.
Kieren
123-Reg have p|ssed me off so much in the last two weeks, I am in the process of moving my hosting. I have never had any problems with them until scumbag Pipex with that nobber “the hoff” took them over
Pingback: Shifting my domains to Heart Internet at kierenmccarthy.co.uk
I am now trying to get a refund from 123-REG as they have done me up like a kipper. Their £89.99 Instant Traffic package is actually £105.74 as they do not make it clear that VAT is to be added. Not only this but they process your credit card payment BEFORE making you aware that VAT was not included in the advertised price of £89.99. Be warned!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I too had an awful experience with 123 reg over the past few months – they took about 5 days to reply between emails and each reply would be very niave and stupid!
Finally the problem was something very basic they had to do on their end – it took 5 minutes for them to fix – which just added to my frustration!
For about 20 days all email redirections for the domain i manage were failing.
Its nice to know I am not the only one- i think its time to move the domain!
I am having a nightmare with 123 at the moment and I’ve just come off the phone to Pipex who seem to be totally unaware of the problems…or so they say!
Email Fwding hasn’t been working for a while…….I transferred a domain to them back in October and it’s still not showing on my account so I have no idea if it’s been registered.
They are not responding to any emails….I’ve tried phoning and the phone just rings and rings and then disconnects you….there is definately something fishy going on…
That just leaves me to fax them or send a letter in the post…….absolutely ridiculous and is wasting my valuable time…not to metion the important emails that I am not receiving…..aaaaaaaargh so frustrating!
and why didn’t Pipex mention the fact about the redundancies..when I just spoke to them…mmmmm
Looks like I may have to move everything too…..
I,ve just bought 3 domains today (16th Jan 07) from 123-reg, then came across this blog, feeling slightly concerned now, I,m not due to start online trading until may/june but the last thing I want is a messy/stressful launch and I find the redundancies in Feb realy worrying as the staff must be feeling quite demoralised, what can I do, any advice greatly appreciated as this is a completely new realm for me, I really am a computer novice, Help. Ali.
I have nothing to do with 123-reg but since Freedom2Surf recently moved all their customer webspace over to Webfusion I have been having all sorts of problems accessing my webspaces with ftp. Could the two be connected ?
please can someone help me i want a refund from 123-reg it is a completely useless site and i am having no response from them via e-mail and there phone lines are never answered.does anyone have another number oter than the 0900 one for the uk pls
Used to be the best. Now they’re obviously heading to be the worst. Shit. I have a bunch of domains with them. Maybe time to get outta there.
Charging your credit card before telling you that you have to pay vat and how much that vat is, is ILLEGAL! The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 clearly states that:
* they must give consumers clear information including details of the goods or services offered, delivery arrangements and payment, the supplier’s details and the consumer’s cancellation right before they buy (known as prior information).
* they must also provide this information in writing
* the consumer has a cooling-off period of seven working days.
as per the Office of Fair Trading (www.oft.gov.uk).
Distance Selling Regulations give protection to consumers who shop by phone, mail order, via the Internet or digital TV: The protection includes:
• The right to receive clear information about goods and services before deciding to buy;
• Confirmation of this information in writing;
• A cooling off period of seven working days in which the consumer can withdraw from the contract;
• Protection from credit card fraud.
as per the DTI (www.dti.gov.uk)
You are also protected by the Ecommerce regulations as part of the minimum information requirements set out by them is that prices on the website must be clear and unambiguous. Also, state whether prices are inclusive of tax and delivery costs. You can get more information from OutLaw (for free) at http://www.out-law.com/page-431.
I’m glad to hear I’m not alone. I went through the online process to register a domain at the start of December, entered credit card info, the lot. Nothing, no confirmation email or anything. Also, 24 hours later the domain was still coming up as unregistered. I thought I must have done something wrong, so went through the registration process again. This time I got a confirmation email. Two days later, my credit card had been charged for BOTH attempts but the domain was still available – so I emailed support. I was told (12 days later) that they’d manually registered the domain for me. I checked a short while later and found that someone else had registered my domain. I still haven’t been refunded for either of the charges.
Pingback: 123-Reg Denies Problems
Hi there
I have just set up my whole e-shop and have run into so many problems and spent a small fortune on the 50p per minute help line to be given the run around…anyone know how I can get a refund as I have not launched yet?
Hi
I have had the same problem with 123-reg when registering a domain name.I registered a name 0n 15 jan and they failed to reg so i stupidly tried again on the 17 jan,it also failed, both times i have been charged.
I have TRIED to contact them but no reply.
I have also been trying to get an auth code for a domain for the last 6 months!! 6 emails later still no code.
I am considering moving to heartinternet.co.uk, can anyone tell me if heart internet is ok to deal with
thanks
Jim
I’d been with 123-reg over 5 years with more than 130 domain names regged. No problem. Pipex took over… I regged a name and thought nothing of it. Assumed all was OK (as it had been 130 times before!) I logged in 8 days later to find it wasn’t in my control panel. A quick whois confirmed it had been regged by someone else FIVE days after I paid 123-reg to reg it. I put a previous problem down as a ‘hiccup’ when I was charged for an automatic domain name renewal only to recieve a pro-forma off Nominet as 123-reg didn’t actually renew the name. Took 3 weeks before my emails were answered for that one.
Above comment continued….Ran out of space!
To wrap up, 8 weeks now and NO reply about the reg that wasn’t… so obviously I’ve had no refund. I’m not silly enough to phone their premium rate number to tell them they owe me money either. So Heart internet now have all my business. Unless they sell out to pipex that is.
Just registered a domain with them this morning, it was up and running 30 minutes later. The 123-reg email servers have been sorted, at long last, popboxes seems to work very fast.
Heart Internet was set up by the same guys who started 123-reg, but, for sure Heart is a better package easily. Shame on Pipex for degrading 123-reg.
How they won an award for Customer Service is beyond me. Do they honestly think that 8 days is an acceptable time to wait for an email response? I’ve given up and have taken to writing to them by snail mail. If they think they’re getting any more of my money they can think again! I’ve never dealt with such an unreliable company.
I have been with Supanames for 7 years. Since they have partnered with 123-reg and are controlled by Pipex everything has gone wrong. I have 8 hosting packages with them and one has ceased to work. I can not view my site from my computer, friends’ computers, in the Library, phone booths, internet cafes etc. I can also not use ftp to get in to my site to make updates or get in to my control panel. They have made no attempt to help me, despite 10 emails. They have no phone contact. My website has been down for 48 hrs and does not look set to return. They will not refund my money. Avoid 123-reg, supanames and pipex! Customers should contact Watchdog in my opinion.
I’ve been with 123-reg since last November. Everythings been fine except for the last couple of months. With their recent mail server problems I ended up losing incoming emails so I had to set up another email address for customers to contact me with. Then I had a domain support issue and it took them about 2 weeks to reply to emails. Now a customer has informed me that my contact form on my site which uses a Perl script has stopped working, which was working fine for the first 4 months so I don’t know how long that’s been down for – I’ve potentially been missing out on sales enquiries here. On top of that trying to call their 0900 premium number this morning and it rings for 2 minutes and then cuts me off!. Tried dialling about 10 times. For the amount I’ve spent with them I expect to be able to contact someone there during working hours. Am thinking of moving to another provider and have sent them a strongly worded emailing advising them of such unless a supervisor there comes back with a decent explanation.
I have had a domain for two years suddenly it expired with absolutely no warning and two weeks on I still cannot get it renewed and it is not even showing in my control panel. Does anyway have a number for them when ringing from outside the UK??
Still can’t get through to 123-Reg, after a minute of ringing their phone lines cut me off. I just called Pipex (the parent company) then got put on to Web Fusion ( 0115 917 0000 ) another subsidary to ask if they could check if there is a problem at 123-Reg. The sales advisor told me that 123-Reg have moved offices on Friday at 2pm and that they’ve had a few teething problems. They are as a result having a high level of phone calls which are starting to die down and to keep trying to call them.
Emma sorry I don’t know an outside UK number for them, that’s the only one on their site as far as I can see. Have to email support and hopefully get a reply!.
Ooh check this out, 123-Reg have just changed their opening hours “The 123-reg support team is always happy to answer your questions over the phone, and is available from 9am to 9:00pm, Monday to Sunday. All calls are charged at 50 pence per minute.”
I have been trying to call 123.reg support line for over a week and still no answer even at 50P per min. I use their site builder service that is always going wrong? Does anyone have any contact details for them
Thanks
Adrian Francis
I bought the site builder plus on the 7,3,07. I have not been able to use it since!!!.I have tried phoning, e-mail nothing. Is it not short of criminal what they are doing. Funny how they have no issues taking money from us though.
I just want my money back, I do not deal with conmen or thieves thats how I feel about 123-reg
This is honestly the worst hosting company I have ever experienced.
Over the past year, they have:
“lost” our website
“lost” alll of our email accounts
Been slow to forward emails – up to 24 hours
Charged us 20 times… for one spam guard
Provided slow and inept support
Failed to admit that they are experiencing problems
Cost us hundreds of pounds in IT engineers fees…
Please, please vote with your feet – take your business elsewhere!
They failed to transfer a domain of mine. It took 2 months to get a refund.
Then it turned out that they HAD transferred the domain, just hadn’t bothered to put it in my control panel. I discovered this when the client began to complain about losing emails.
Three months, a month of lost email, many wasted hours and finally I get a resolution.
They will ignore emails, send half-hearted replies, even hit you with sarcasm.
You have to threaten them with Trading Standards. Then you get a reply within three hours.
Send complaints to dan.conlon@pipex.net. Tell him that you have been talking to Trading Standards. It’s the only thing that works.
I bought a domain name which includes the basic version of sitebuilder with the intention of using it to practice and get an idea of what I can do whilst still collating information for my website. I had it for about 12 hours then I wasn’t able to access it. That was 12 days ago. I have emailed them every day and have only received one halfhearted and vague reply and I refuse to phone their ripoff helpline. I have looked into other companies with which to have my website but unfortunately they are the cheapest and as I have very little technical knowhow their sitebuilder seems ideal for what I want to do. I think I would rather have an ebay shop than go to anyone else but I will definately threaten them with Trading Standards before the end of the week.
What a shame!!! They used to be good!!!
I have been with 123-REG for 2 years. Without notice I lost email forwarding and just recently, lost the complete website. When you try to phone or email these clowns you get a complete run around. It seems that Pipex don’t want to know either
I just happened to notice that they have changed their phone number to local rate from premium, not that it was advertised in any way it was purely by chance. I have just spoken to them and this is to clear the backlog of problems cause by the office move.
So after 12 days of not being able to access instantsite the bloke on the phone got me in. This was made possible just by him logging in. When I got off the phone I logged into it myself only to find that my website has disappeared so I called back. After being cut off 3 times I finally get through and explain my problem. Apparently there was a problem on the edit page that they had ‘techie guys’ working on for 4 days but they can’t fix so my work is lost. I asked what would’ve happened if I had bought the Pro package and had done 20 pages of my site and she said I would still have had to start again. I told her that they have just lost themselves at least £80 worth of business as I no longer intend to buy their Pro package and will take my business elsewhere. I would advise everyone else to do the same.
IF YOU VALUE YOUR TIME AND MONEY DO NOT USE 123-REG!
Read your comment whilst trying to find out what the error codes on my instant sitebuilder mean!!! I am in the same boat – I have a few contact numbers for the supposedly ‘supportive service’ T: 045 077 2455, T: 0900 22 11 123 T: 0845 13 02 127* The latter is the only number where I have managed to get hold of anyone – saying that I have been unsuccessful since. Seeing as I have had it for 3 weeks, and have only be able to use it for an hour in total – I think a full refund is in order!
hi Guys Im pretty new to websites and stuff, I just wanted a pop account so bought a wesbite off 123reg after a mate told me it looked like a good deal. I now can recieve emails, but cant send them out? So contacted blueyonder who told me their smtp and it doesnt work…..the website….i just wanted a frontpage of a design i made to say under construction etc as dont want to host as of yet. I had to use some crap template….and now i go on….it has banners for drag queens and porn!!!! I rang last friday 19 times in the space of 2 hours and the phone rang out….6-7. Does any1 have an idea how to setup and send….Im on a macbook so want to set up the mail application. Could you gys email me with help? atm87@hotmail.co.uk. Would really appreciate it. alternatively….how do i cancel my account?
Do not deal with this company they do not answer their phones or e mails. They will take your money!!! Do not spend lots of time developing your site without testing you may find as I did it will never get published.
I can echo everything that has been said here. Had no problems for a year, then noticed my website was down. Now I can no longer publish any updates to it. More fool me I had signed up for InstantShite for my girlfriends business. Site completed but no website published.
4 weeks of emails, some replied to after 7-10 days, but only in generic terms with stuff I had already tried. Called all their available helplines on successive days with no answer. This I find unbelievable. Even contacted Pipex, assured that a manager would be in contact with me. Guess what….nothing. Now contacting Trading Standards and Mastercard to get my money back. In CyberSpace no one can here you scream.
I have faxed, emailed, telephoned to no avail. the only person worth talking to is their PR company : Stephanie Marshall
Berkeley Public Relations
Pipex@berkeleyprnorth.co.uk
+44 (0) 1629 826 942
stephanie welcomes all calls from disgruntled Pipex /123-reg users and will do her best to help you.
yes
have to agree that they are now utter toss. i have used them for 7 years along with webfusion and it seems to me that since pipex have taken over, ther service has gone. i feared this would happen. webfusion has gone downhill too.
just for the record, i set up a email defense account with them. needless to say, i receive emails late and often not at all. the internet headers tell the tale when they do arrive. it takes forever to process through their 3rd rate service. i had another clients account using the email defence. the account needed renewing, they did not inform me and they just cut it off with no warning. it took 3 days for us to realise what they had done. after speaking to them about it, they then sent throug a renewal form. i think not! they do not respond to emails, answer the phone, they are a sham and a disgrace to their clients.
i don’t they’ll ever recover now and it’s time to move elsewhere.
Jesus! How I wish I’d read this lot before buying domain names from these idiots and attempting to get a site hosted.
I thought 2 days waiting for a response was bad, looks like I’m in for a much longer wait yet.
Has anyone EVER got them to answer the phone?
If I knew how to move everything somewhere else I would do. Spent many hours building my site using their instantsite product, which admittedly was nice and easy to use (until you try and publish the site that is).
publish the site you have built to your own IPS provider. Use an FTP software.
I think foul scorn of 123-reg. No service No resonse form any emails, any phone calls, any fax. I will take steps to recover my money and go elsewhere.
Been with them 4 years + had problems registering a new domain and hosting.
As of today, no answer on the phone – 2 hours waiting
The support “ask a question” service times out
The fax number listed on their website is dead
I will be moving all my domains and hosting to someone that actually has a service department, what a waste of time.
123-Reg are an absolute disgrace. They “accidentally” deleted by E-Commerce site from a dedicated server. Customer service does not exist, and is a total disgrace. They used to charge 50p per minute to get through to their “customer support”! Watchdog should be contacted !