Consumer Watch: Globat.com's Questionable Business Practices

A few months ago Globat.com began selling domain name registrations for an unbelievable price of only $1.95. Being the money conscious consumer that I am I decided to take advantage of this offer. After carefully reviewing the fine print to make sure that this price was being offered only for a domain name registration purchase and not in conjunction with a hosting account I was ready to place my order. On January 1, 2007 I registered a domain name through their website and was fully aware of the fact that the $1.95 price was for the first year and that subsequent years would cost $8.95, the average price for domain name renewals. The registration form was relatively easy. After entering in my credit card information and submitting my order I was the proud owner of a domain name that only cost me $1.95 ... or so I thought.

Shortly after setting up the domain name on my hosting account I began using an e-mail address associated with the domain name and simply stopped using the temporary Google Gmail account that I had used when I purchased the domain name. Unknowingly to me, on February 12, 2007 an e-mail was sent to that temporary account from Globat.com with the heading, "Important: Automatic upgrade for ...... " This e-mail described how, as a loyal customer, I was eligible for an automatic upgrade to one of Globat.com's award winning hosting accounts for the yearly price of $39.95. At the end of the e-mail their was a section explaining that this was an automatic upgrade and that if I wanted to take part in this special offer I didn't need to do anything but sit back and wait for the upgrade to be processed. However, if I didn't want the automatic upgrade I needed to click on an "opt-out" link contained within the e-mail. Since I wasn't using the temporary Google Gmail account anymore this e-mail went unread and unnoticed.