Consumer Beware! I just got a call from a foreign lady with a shady company called “Domain Registry Support.” She said she needed my fax number to fax me a notification of recent changes made to my domain name. I happen to be the technical contact for that particular domain but I’m not the owner.
I wasn’t born yesterday so I kept quizzing this woman. I asked her several times how her company is related to mine since I’ve never done business with them. She said they provide domain name notifications. I asked her what the heck that means? She repeated the exact same statement. I asked her if they were my registrar. No. My hosting company? No. Well then—WHAT ARE YOU? A company that provides domain name notifications. I could have just about pulled my hair out—but I kept quizzing her.
I eventually got the phone number out of her and while I was still quizzing her as I googled the number. Their site pulled up (domainregistrysupport.com) and it’s a very basic site with no information about the company or their physical location. Just the toll-free number 800-875-7198. Other google results included this wiki that confirmed my suspicions. They are a shady company out to take advantage of the ignorant and naive. I greatly despise companies such as these. Remember—if it’s not your hosting company or your registrar contacting you, there is nothing to worry about. Don’t let companies like this intimidate you into giving out personal information, or even worse, signing you up for their services.
Google lists dozens of blogs from others who had the same or similar experience that I had.
http://www.jerrysartarama.com
Great prices, slow customer service. Jerry’s has some very good deals on a variety of art supplies. Overall, I’ve been pleased with just a few bumps along the customer service response road.
As long as you do your ordering online and don’t need to call in, Jerry’s is a great place to get your art supplies. However, if you have a problem with any of your orders, you can only leave a message that will be returned at their earliest convenience (for me that was two days later). If you want to place an order over the phone, expect to wait in a call queue 10-15 minutes. Hence, as long as things go smoothly with your online orders, you’ll be fine.
On April 18th I ordered a case of foam board and 12 large mat boards. On about the 23rd the case with the foam board arrived damaged. Several tears and holes in the box as shown below:
The box was obviously damaged in shipping and four pieces of foamboard on that side were grossly punctured and unusable. A few days later the matboard arrived also damaged. UPS said I had to contact Jerry’s to initiate a damaged merchandise claim.
I called customer service the day the first box arrived damaged. When you call customer service, the only option they give you is to leave a voicemail message. Two days later, a representative called and left me a message as I was not in my office. I spent the next five days calling her and leaving messages.
On the fifth day the representative called me back and we were able to reach a solution that we were both happy with. Needless to say, I wasn’t thrilled about the slow response but I was happy with the final outcome. At least they did what they could to make sure I was satisfied.
If you do shop at Jerry’s, be sure to sign up for their promotions as they do have several good promotions (like 10 percent off coupons) each month.