Being in the domain industry for about 6 years now, I though I have seen a lot relating to owning a domain name but I was surprised last week with another first. I was sent a collections notice for $463.11? I always pay my bills on time, so I knew this had to be some kind of mistake! It sure was and the reason I got the collections notice is because the collection agency basically did "direct navigation" via whois for the company they felt they were trying to contact!
I happen to own the generic domain name ExpressConcrete.com and the collection agency just so happened to be trying to collect a debt from the company Express Concrete Inc.
I know they used whois data to contact me due to the email address used to contact me!
Here is the collection notice I got via email:
Clearly they didn’t look at the information in whois other than my email address, because I live in Wisconsin and the company they were trying to collect a debt from is in Colorado!
The fact is: Joseph, Mann & Creed collection agency simply assumed that "Express Concrete Inc." owned the domain name ExpressConcrete.com and ended up contacting ME, as I own the domain name. I have no affiliation with Express Concrete Inc., nor any company in Colorado or any other concrete company! I just happen to own the domain name ExpressConcrete.com!
A.) Collection agencies clearly use direct navigation, but just in a different way!
B.) Owning a domain name may lead into you getting a collection notification for a different company that just so happens to match the name of your domain!
I kindly replied to the email that was sent to me and pointed out the fact that they used whois information to contact me and I have no affiliation with Express Concrete Inc, but never heard back from them.
Crazy!
Have you ever got a collections notification by mistake for simply owning a domain name?
Jon
Interesting, seems like you could have found yourself an end-user, only, they’re being chased by a collection agency so probably won’t have any money to spend on a domain name!.
don
great story, give credit to the collection firm for trying to pull out all of the stops to get the money back, it was a shot in the dark, but at least they know that whois exists…
rick
You really should take this much more serious. Often, they don’t correct their mistakes and your credit score will get hit. It would be a mistake to assume that a no response equates to a dispute resolved.
time out to report them to the FTC, BBB, and State Attorney’s office. They all have online forms and it would take less than 10 minutes of your time. This way you have a paper trail if you need to take further action.
Jamie Zoch
@Rick,
I have called them to make sure my name is clear but didn’t go as far as reporting it to the FTC, BBB or anybody else as I don’t see a reason to do so. I never received anything in postal mail or anything like that. Just an email, that never even included my personal name in it.
Jamie Zoch
@Don,
Just assuming they owned the domain and still contacting me when the whois states something totally different then the people they are looking for, makes them look bad.
I do give them credit for using whois, but it also helps if they obtain the proper info in the process
rick
I misunderstood and didn’t realize that was an email. Obviously, you are on top of it.. Just amazing to hear about it.
don
@ jamie
you are assuming collection accounts have a conscience….they would have happily cashed your check, a shotgun approach probably is their status quo..
Steve M
Similar thing happened to me a couple of years ago w/one of my domains.
An attorney sent me a C & D letter to remove what he said were slanderous comments concerning his client which I supposedly had posted to a blog I was hosting on this domain.
Called his office and told him he had the wrong domain (which has always had just a PPC lander page on it); and that if he didn’t back off I was ready to file a complaint with the licensing board in the state he was located in; using the complaint form I had just down loaded from their site.
He apologized and went away.