A Canadian company will pay redress and alter its marketing practices to settle a Federal Trade Commission complaint that it misled consumers.
Domain Registry of America (DROA), which resells services for Enom Inc., could end up reimbursing 50,000 people, according to the FTC.
The order, which must be approved by the U.S. District of New York, does not include any admission of wrongdoing.
According to the FTC, the firm sent direct mail pieces to that appeared to be renewal notices or solicitations. These conned consumers into thinking that they were renewing their registrations when instead they were transferring their registration to DROA’s registrar, eNom, the FTC alleged.
In addition, the pieces were captioned “Important Notice,” and indicated that when a consumer loses a domain name, it may be impossible to get it back.
DROA also failed to disclose a $4.50 processing fee for incomplete transfer requests even when they were no fault of the consumer’s, the FTC continued.
Finally, the company failed to issue refunds in a timely manner, in violation of the Truth in lending act, the FTC charged.
The company mails millions of pieces a year, according to the FTC.
The order also requires that DROA clearly disclose any cancellation or processing fees, and limitations on canceling domain name services. It also requires that the company submit to monitoring.
The order also requires that the firm provide a full refund, including any administrative or cancellation fees, who any consumer who requests it. And DROA must give customers who were acquired from other domain name registrations the chance to transfer away from DROA, and pay each of these customers $6 to cover the cost of the transfer.
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