POWWEB Web Hosting.

I've let my hosting/domain stuff lapse before, but have never had to pay 160 dollars to renew the domain. I feel that powweb is trying to steal this money from me. Is this common practice? 

Anyway here is the full chat session for those that care.





Thank you for contacting support.

Please be prepared to answer your Security Question when we begin chatting. To enhance our security protocols, we'll need you to provide the answer to your Security Question at the beginning of our conversation. If you have not yet set your Security Question and Answer, please log into your account now to set it up. Thank you.

Please hold for the next available operator to respond.

You are now chatting with 'Udayakanth S'

Udayakanth S: Hi Michael. My name is Udayakanth S, how are you today?

Michael Martin: Hello, I am good.

Udayakanth S: How can I help you today?

Michael Martin: I have a domain with powweb that says is not managable with your domain tools? I had this domain transfer quite some time ago. Can you please let me know how this can be ixed?

Udayakanth S: Could you please provide me with the domain name?

Michael Martin: fridayknights.com

Udayakanth S: May I place you on hold while I review your account and get back to you within 3 to 4 minutes?

Michael Martin: sure

Udayakanth S: Thank you for holding.

Michael Martin: No Problem.

Udayakanth S: Your domain has expired on June 3, 2013.

Michael Martin: Yes. And I contacted powweb to renew about a week ago and this was supposed to be fixed. I paid for a year and they said it would be a couple days for the dns to kick back in.

Udayakanth S: It is under redemption period. So, you cannot renew the domain unless you pay redemption retrieval fee.

Udayakanth S: In order to get the domain out of this period you will need to pay $160 as redemption retrieval fee and one year registration fee $16.99 for the domain.

Michael Martin: This fee is a powweb fee?

Udayakanth S: Yes

Udayakanth S: Hold on.

Udayakanth S: There is some confusion.

Udayakanth S: Let me check your account.

Udayakanth S: Please hold 2 more minutes.

Michael Martin: I'm going to twitter and facebook with this.

Michael Martin: Ok i will wai.

Michael Martin: wait

Udayakanth S: Thank you for holding.

Udayakanth S: The renewal process was not done properly as the domain was in redemption period. So, you cannot renew the domain unless you pay redemption retrieval fee.

Udayakanth S: In order to get the domain out of this period you will need to pay $160 as redemption retrieval fee and one year registration fee $16.99 for the domain.

Michael Martin: How long do I have before I cannot get this domain back?

Michael Martin: I cannot pay 160 dollars.

Michael Martin: Not now anyway.

Udayakanth S: After the expiration date of the domain name, you need to renew the domain within 30 days. You have contact us to renew the domain on July 12, 2013. It was not renewed as the domain was in redemption period. Now, you need to pay $160 as redemption retrieval fee.

Udayakanth S: If you do not wish to pay the fee to remove the domain name from redemption, then we request you to wait for the redemption period to get end. This will approximately take 81 days from the expiration date of your domain. After 81 days your domain will be available for re- registration. While this is more cost effective, bear in mind this will allow others to register the domain name.

Udayakanth S: It becomes available for re-registration after 80-82 days from expiration date.  After this period is over there is a brief 5-7 days where the domain name is in Pending Deletion. After that, you can re-register the same domain name.  So, 30 days ( after expiration ) + 45 days in Redemption + 7 days in Pending Deletion.

Michael Martin: What date do I have before I loose this domain. I have never had this issue before as a long time powweb customer.

Udayakanth S: Michael, I understand your inconvenience. Since the domain is under redemption period, you need to pay $160. There is no other ways to renew the domain immediately. If you do not wish to pay the fee to remove the domain name from redemption, then we request you to wait for the redemption period to get end. This will approximately take 81 days from the expiration date of your domain.

Michael Martin: Is this a risk in losing the domain?

Udayakanth S: If you pay $160 there is no risk. We can charge the credit card on file and ask one of our registrar specialists to renew the domain as soon as possible.

Michael Martin: Is there a risk of losing the domain if I wait for the redemption period to end?

Udayakanth S: We cannot assure you about it.  

Udayakanth S: Once the redemption period is over, it will be available for re-registration.

Udayakanth S: Any one can re-register it. You need to manually check it in Whois.

Udayakanth S: You are one of our valuable customer. So, I suggest you to pay for  redemption period fee and renew the domain name.

Udayakanth S: So that you will not loose the domain and avoid risk.

Udayakanth S: Please let me know what exactly you wish to do.

Michael Martin: ok then we are do here. I'll likely pay the fee, but I will take my business to a company that will prevent this from happening in the future. As " valuable customer" a good service provider would offer a protection from this or at least a heads up. Anyway, I'm not paying right now. It will have to be late. Good Bye.

Udayakanth S: Did you receive my last message?

Udayakanth S: Okay.

Udayakanth S: Is there anything else I can assist you with today?

Michael Martin: no

Udayakanth S: If you want to rate this chat experience, click the “Close” button on the top right corner of this chat window. Our management reads these responses, and uses them to improve the support that we provide. Any feedback you have would be greatly appreciated.

Udayakanth S: Thank you for chatting with us. Please feel free to contact us at any time. We are available 24x7.

Chat session has been terminated by the site operator.