unfair terms in RoR dropcatcher's T&C

[tim171080]

Hello, first time poster, although registered since 2005.
I am a domainer from Germany, sorry for my bad English.

I have an issue with one of the RoR drop catcher's terms saying all pre-paid funds are *non-refundable*.
While I do understand that T&C are binding at the time of purchase, I am positive this term in particular is "unfair" in legal terms and therefore null and void.

Out of my 250 catch orders, not a single one was successful. I paid GBP 29 each. Totalling GBP 7250.
So my money is now just sitting there and the site owner repeatetly refers to his T&C.

Would anyone like to comment on this?

I thought I'd try this forum before I possibly have to take it a step forward.

 

[stevelook2]

Sounds like a sore one but as with the T&Cs of any financial transaction it is a part of the purchase agreement which you are bound to by making a ‘purchase’

If it is a no refund agreement I would take it you have these as remaining catch credits for general chasing now?

 

[Sam]

Hello, first time poster, although registered since 2005.
I am a domainer from Germany, sorry for my bad English.

I have an issue with one of the RoR drop catcher's terms saying all pre-paid funds are *non-refundable*.
While I do understand that T&C are binding at the time of purchase, I am positive this term in particular is "unfair" in legal terms and therefore null and void.

Out of my 250 catch orders, not a single one was successful. I paid GBP 29 each. Totalling GBP 7250.
So my money is now just sitting there and the site owner repeatetly refers to his T&C.

Would anyone like to comment on this?

I thought I'd try this forum before I possibly have to take it a step forward.

wowza who did you book via i cant believe they didn't even catch one !

 

[Murray]

I don't like the non-refundable, dropcatch credits type models so I don't use them

Were you aware of the t&c? I assume you must have done a little research how it would work and refund procedure (or lack thereof) before depositing a sum like that

 

[Sean]

Tim, with respect, I think you've been a little naive here however, while it may be legal to take so much money from someone in return for nothing, it's morally repugnant!

 

[Siusaidh]

Just to be clear, I presume you are not referring to the actual Dropcatcher.co.uk website, because they are bona fide and caught 5 .uk domains for me, out of about 10 I pre-reg'd. A strike-rate of about 50% I think. Also, I have used them with success over the years, and of course they don't get everything, but I am impressed with what they do get for me.

Whichever company you used, if you knew the money was non-refundable, and that was in the terms and conditions, then surely £7250 was a very big risk? I understand your frustration, but I wanted to stress that this was surely not Dropcatcher.co.uk and I wanted to clear up any possible ambiguity in the heading of your original post. I am sorry you had so little success.

My personal advice is to spread your approach across multiple outlets, at least that's what I did. Avoid a single point of failure in the strategy.

With regard to whatever company you are actually referring to, I think your only remote possibility of legal success might be if you obtained evidence they didn't even attempt to submit your names, and I'm not sure how you'd obtain that information. Or if they didn't get names for anyone else either. Maybe they were just not very good at catching names in the .uk mass drop?

Did you have any grounds for investing so much money in them, ahead of making that decision? Each day the best names were taken within seconds rather than minutes. People here can confirm that it wasn't a walk in the park to catch the popular names, and some people drew a blank at times.

I am sorry for your loss.

I would be surprised, unless you obtain evidence your names weren't even attempted, if you will get any of your money back.

 

[Nigel]

I booked some slots with a non-refundable site, and got one out of seven. But it was a very nice domain and I'm satisfied with my outlay and have some credits to use on drops in years to come. I understood what I was signing up to and actually thought it would improve our chances of a catch i.e. less people want to sign up to non-refundable slots so would increase our chances of snaring a nice one. T&C's do matter - important to always read these.

 

[GUI]

I was going to suggest maybe you could 'buy' something premium with the credits that's on their tag?

Looking at the TAG DC-LTD, there's not really anything premium on there though, unless they've been transferred away or they used a different tag?

These were all the .uk domains created 1st - 5th July.

 

[Domaintial]

Going by that TAG this looks to be https://www.dropcatcher.co.uk/ ... ?

Edit: And they've had a no cash refund policy for as long as I can remember...

 

[ukdomains]

I was going to suggest maybe you could 'buy' something premium with the credits that's on their tag?

Looking at the TAG DC-LTD, there's not really anything premium on there though, unless they've been transferred away or they used a different tag?

These were all the .uk domains created 1st - 5th July.

i can't see any premium domains in this list either.

i am very surpised they didn't catch any A list domains unless they changed hands already

 

[Ben Thomas]

But damn man, 7k+ is a real loss. This is why you've gotta read T's and C's beforehand. People really don't want to read all that stuff but it's so important, especially when investing such a large amount of cash. You could take it to small claims court of in the UK and battle it out and probably win on unfair grounds, but you'd likely spend 7 grand just getting there. Also this is assuming you acted as a consumer and not as a business, if it's B2B you have even less rights.

 

[Sean]

i am very surpised they didn't catch any A list domains unless they changed hands already

There's no incentive to catch.

 

[tim171080]

Thanks for all your input.

To answer some of your questions:

I don't want to mention the catcher's name. While I think he is at fault, I don't want to damage him before any court has possibly decided against him.

I was not aware of their terms, but thats not what I am building my case upon. It does not matter whether I was aware of them or not if they are void by law.

You are right I was naive not thoroughly reading the terms before making the purchase, especially when investing a not too small sum of cash. I am however not frustrated or emotional with the situation, I can live with the situation as it is. I will nevertheless try to get the court to decide in my favour if I have to.

It looks like I am the only one here having the interpretation that "T&C's" are not "law". Every merchant can be wrong in the wording of his terms. There are terms that are void by law, no matter if you agree to them or not.

 

[ian]

I saw the non-refund clause when they promoted the ROR catch service on here; felt it was at odds with all other providers, so for that reason I refused to use them. Not sure where you stand, but hope you get your money back regardless; seems they are holding on to your money with no justification for having so.

 

[GUI]

There's no incentive to catch.

This is absolutely true. They've got your money, non-refundable. Why bother chasing at all?

 

[Siusaidh]

I'm still confused as to why Drop Catcher is being cited here.

GUI, I don't understand why you refer to "Looking at the TAG DC-LTD". Where in the preceding comments was any reference made to that tag?

To repeat, Drop Catcher Ltd is bona fide, and got me 5 domains in the .uk ROR last week. They are not all on that list you provided, GUI.

I think we are short on facts here.

 

[AssetDomains]

Yep this was an entirely different service to normal catching credits so should be treated as such most people wont mind having a few credits tied up forever 7ks worth completely unreasonable and no justification for it I like many other booked multiple names at multiple places and am being refunded were they failed although its taking its time. The credits model is simply crazy to enforce when on a rare week long occasion hundreds of premiums are dropping. Hopefully you paid by credit card as and they will be of some use by means of a charge back.

 

[RobM]

Forget a chargeback. People have a false sense of security using their credit card. I couldn't even charge back a *fraudulent* transaction letalone if I'd agreed to terms and conditions. The days of simple disputes are gone it seems. If you paid paypal you'd have more chance.

 

[AssetDomains]

Forget a chargeback. People have a false sense of security using their credit card. I couldn't even charge back a *fraudulent* transaction letalone if I'd agreed to terms and conditions. The days of simple disputes are gone it seems. If you paid paypal you'd have more chance.

I think a lot depends on the company how proactive they are in getting your money back

 

[Ben Thomas]

Chargebacks in my experience have always been a one sided affair, they're almost always given to the consumer/customer with very little convincing needed. That being said, nobody has filed chargebacks with me as of yet. However I do have business associates that deal with this month in month out and have 9 times out of 10 lost a dispute.