I got another letter from the Domain Renewal Group. Those of you who have been here before have probably seen me complain about this scam in an older post about them (posted here). They are one group I would not mind seeing go belly up, or shut down by the BBB or someone. They target people that own their own domain and send them letters that … well, I wish my camera was working, because this letter should be seen. I’ll try to replicate the header information… Oh… let me see if I can get my scanner to work…
Here we go, took a few, but I have scanned the latest letter I got from them and blacked out any personally identifiable information. Click on the thumbnail to see the 800×1023 pixel image so you can (I hope) read what they send people.

For those of you who can’t view the image, or just don’t want to, it opens by saying:
As a courtesy to domain name holders, we are sending you this notification of the domain name registrations that are due to expire in the next few months.
It then goes on to talk about how when you switch to the Domain Renewal Group you get “our best savings”, this is important, because this is *THEIR* best savings, not *THE* best savings. For example, my favorite domain name registrar Plato Host at www.PlatonicSolid.Info (which is, yes, my brother – transparency in plugging the guy here) he charges $12 for domain name registration, less than half of what this Domain Renewal Group has as their “best price”. And when you talk to him on the phone or in e-mail, you get a very knowledgeable guy that can answer questions in clear easy to understand and hear English – not some outsourced to another country working on a commission English as their third language person who does not know anything other than how to collect your credit card information. You might recall the Confusing Phone Call I got back in June, which lead to another one that made me point out that Domain Name Theft is a Serious Issue and ended out with my conclusion that They Are Persistent, I’ll Give Them That.
Renewal of a domain name for $30 is highway robbery and these guys get away with it because they are sending their letters to people they find on Who Is (I assume that’s how they find people) and catching ones that read the first line, tear off the bottom of the letter and send it in to renew the website. Websites that in the cases I have got were not even due for 6 months or more.
Don’t let them catch you in a scam and sucker you into paying twice what you should have to pay for your website. If they are not really less than your normal hosting company put that letter in the paper shredder or your fireplace. And if they are cheaper than your hosting company shred or burn their letter and look for someone like Plato Host to work with instead.