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Network Solutions Opts Customer Into $1,850 Security Service

Posted by Soulskill on from the enjoy-your-new-registrar dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Brent Simmons has posted about a troubling email he received from Network Solutions. He registered two domains with them in the 1990s, and the domains remain registered today. Simmons just received an email informing him that he'd been opted into some kind of security service called Weblock, and that he would be billed $1,850 for the first year. Further, he would be billed $1,350 for every year after the first. Believing it to be a scam, he contacted the official Network Solutions account on Twitter. They said it was real. The email even said he couldn't opt out except by making a phone call."

9 of 405 comments (clear)

  1. Free market means exactly that ! by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Free market, bitches! Suck it you socialist faggots!

    Free market means exactly that - if the vendors do something despicable the customers stop doing business with them and choose other vendors who won't do similarly despicable things to them.

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
    1. Re:Free market means exactly that ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So the free market is being able to defraud people of money and the only consequence is to "lose their business"? Jesus you libertarians are dumber than I thought.

    2. Re:Free market means exactly that ! by manu0601 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      In a truly free market, the domain problem does not arise, because internet have not been created. What you have is a myriad of proprietary networks instead.

    3. Re:Free market means exactly that ! by TrollstonButterbeans · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Network Solutions has to operate within their role as a bleeding legacy domain name provider.

      To anyone reading this who doesn't know, they used to be the sole provider of domain names in the world.

      Most of their remaining clients are very large businesses who don't care if their domain renewal is $6 bucks or $35 bucks or $500 bucks.

      They have to fight to survive in a way compatible with their mainstream client base --- big inept companies that didn't switch to a cheaper provider a decade ago like Godaddy or [insert your favorite low cost provider here].

      Network Solutions has a client base similar to a company running COBOL or with mostly government agencies as clients. Sure their business practices suck, but they are little different than other legacy service providers --- you might ask why the blogger of the article has been overpaying for domain names for 15 years? He probably has flushed $700+ dollars down the toilet compared to what he could have saved with another domain registrar ages ago. But he didn't, he's been volunteering overpaying for quite a while now and that is your average "still with Network Solutions" customer. Network Solutions has been doing this for a decade now through inertia and now for survival. This doesn't make Network Solutions innocent -- they aren't --- but their customer base does consist of people largely willing to overpay, which is largely big faceless corporations --- I bet Blackberry prices gouges captive legacy clients and I bet so does IBM, EDS and Accenture and even Microsoft. It is just what happens to legacy service provider's customers.

      This fellow should have switch a dozen years back if he was price shopping the market.

      --
      Priest: "Universe from nothing, no laws of physics, sped up time"+ huge discrepancies. Creationism? No. Big Bang Theory
    4. Re:Free market means exactly that ! by Desler · · Score: 5, Insightful

      But knowing that would require actually having read all of what Adam Smith wrote not just the parts one likes.

    5. Re:Free market means exactly that ! by zieroh · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm shocked that someone with such a very low slashdot ID would be even the least bit confused about this.

      --
      People who say "sheeple" have about as much sophistication as an AOL user, and in fact are probably actually AOL users.
  2. Ewww. by Marrow · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Their letter says they want to charge him that much for adding security to -their- website. To prevent changes to their data. It doesn't add any value to his service at all. Just theirs. How do people live with themselves.

  3. Re:I can't find this feature by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I googled network solutions "weblock" and got their service agreement which refers to a service by that name.

    From the ToS:

    Although WebLock shall provide for additional domain protection, you acknowledge and agree that the Service is not a guarantee or policy of insurance of any kind, and in no way will the use of or enrollment in the WebLock Service diminish or otherwise alter the other sections of this Agreement, including but not limited to, Section 7 (Exclusive Remedy) and Section 8 (Disclaimers of Warranties) above, which shall continue in full force and effect.

    Can't be the only one here wondering...For $1850, just exactly what in the fuck are you getting then...

  4. Re:Not exactly new by Nemyst · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'd rather have lawmakers understand the field they're making laws in. You can always get lawyers to help you write legal documents, that's their job, but good luck getting a lawyer turned politician to understand medicine, physics, environment, psychology or economics.