Magic Unlimited

DomainNames.com.au

I haven't had the need to compose one of these complaining posts for some time, but this situation is beyond ridiculous.

Back in October last year www.DomainNames.com.au sent me an email letting me know that my domain www.EllisAndWebster.com.au was set to expire. If I wanted to renew I needed to update my credit card details or I would lose the domain.

As I no longer need the domain I let it lapse.

However, that didn't actually happen. Despite the fact that the AMEX card I had lodged with them had expired - they altered the cards expiry date on my account and renewed me for another term!

My Amex was bill $49 on Oct 31, 2012.

I emailed them pointing out that I did NOT renew, my AMEX card date had been altered and they needed to refund my $49.

The reply from 'Nick Stokes' (the guy from CSI?)

"Thank you for your email, I have checked your account and it clearly shows that you haven’t cancelled your automated billing; therefore as per our terms and conditions located at www.domainsnames.com.au/terms-conditions/default.aspx a refund will not be issued."

After a few email exchanges, Nick explained that the ONLY way to prevent future "renewals" was for me to go online and delete the credit card from my account.

However, every time I deleted the credit card from my account, the form would not SAVE my details as it pointed out I need to have a valid credit card otherwise my account is incomplete and cannot be saved.

I pointed that out to Nick Stokes who was puzzled that I couldn't do it as he could do it easilty. (Duh, he has access to the back end of the site...)

So, as a favour to me, he deleted my credit card info from the site so that I wouldn't be rebilled in Oct 2013.

As another favour to me, as I had explained I no longer wanted the domain www.EllisAndWebster.com.au HE DELETED MY ENTIRE SITE!!!!

I had to admit defeat at the hands of either and idiot or a vindictive so and so... so I replaced the now blank website with a page redirecting people to my current website.

BUT IT GETS BETTER!

Last month I started getting automated notifications from www.DomainNames.com.au that my domain www.EllisAndWebster.com.au was about to expire!

Well, thought I. must be a "computer error" as I could see the $49 charge on my AMEX.

This morning they emailed me and yes, my domain has now expired and even my redirect page has vanished from the internet despite the fact that they charged me (illegally) $49.

I can't call www.DomainNames.com.au even though they have a St Kilda Rd address, because their phone number advises me to seek help online.

On their webpage https://supportcentre.zendesk.com/home it advises 

"You can also submit a request or send us an email at Help@DomainNames.com.au"

But sending an email to that address results in this:

"The following recipient(s) cannot be reached: 

      'Help@DomainNames.com.au.' on 13/01/2013 8:06 AM

            Invalid recipient"

And I can't reply to my emails to Nick Stokes because that "ticket" has been closed.

 

 So, I have to resort to my blog and simply state my case, one that even Nick Stokes of CSI couldn't solve, and warn people to avoid doing any business with www.DomainNames.com.au 

They are either intentionally making it difficult for people to cancel rebilling and to access help or they are incompetent. Either way, not a company anyone should be doing business with.

 

Foxtel - Most Aggressive & Persistent Telemarketers of All

Got some more calls today from (03) 8325 0909.

If that number sounds familiar, it's because I've written about them here on the blog before.

Though, if you have caller ID, you may have seen it come up on your phone display after answering a call and discovering no-one is there.

Actually, if you EVER get a call and no-one is there, do a 'call back' to get the missed call number and it will most likely be (03) 8325 0909.

There are pages and pages of complaints about this phone number all over the internet.

Many of the people who are repeatedly called by (03) 8325 0909 are on the DO NOT CALL REGISTER and they have complained to the authorities but this same marketing technique on behalf of Foxtel just goes on and on as it has since at least 2009.

What gets me the most is the fact that the DO NOT CALL people have done nothing about it. I guess, just like Consumer Affairs and other government bodies, they're all talk and no action.

No matter what kind of a deal Foxtel offers me, I won't be purchasing simply because of their use of this invasive marketing technique.

Dotcom Chrome - off to court!

If you've been following the ongoing Dotcom Chrome saga, you might be pleased to know the end is finally near!

CLICK HERE TO READ THE MIRROR'S STORY

 

You might also find this amusing. http://dotcomchromeuk.yolasite.com/

The Google Game

Here's a fun new game - google the term

MAGICIAN MELBOURNE

or

MELBOURNE MAGICIAN

and see if you can spot the odd ones out.

Dear Virgin...

Dear Virgin Mobile,

I am writing this here while I'm trying to get through to your "Customer Service" on my phone.

I tried to email this message to you via the cheery 'Help and Support' section on your website but when I click 'Send us an email' or 'Let us know your gripe', it asks me

"Are you already a Virgin Broadband or Virgin Mobile Customer?"

I click yes.

It asks me to click LOG IN

I click on the LOG IN button

It recognises me and displays my email address and asks me to click NEXT

It asks me

"Are you already a Virgin Broadband or Virgin Mobile Customer?"

I click yes.

It asks me to click LOG IN

 

and so it goes...

here's a tip Virgin Mobile - this is neither helping nor supporting me when I have a problem with your service. It's just making me angrier and making you look pretty disorganised.

And what is my problem?

I just want to set my iPhone to forward my calls.

The Call Forward feature on the iPhone in 'settings' doesn't work, apparently it has to be set through my carrier (Virgin).

I can't do that easily because the only references I can find on the web to call forwarding for Virgin are on forums where people are complaining that they can't get the call forward system working.

I called Virgin Customer Service and one of your staff explained how to do it - 

**21*212#

 then

**62*thenumberyouwanttoforwardto#

 

Simple, isn't it...

Only problem is, it doesn't work.

(I asked him where that information is on the website. He said there is supposed to be a link on this page, there isn't. He doesn't know why, but he's putting a request in to Virgin IT to fix it.)

So, he manually forwarded my calls from his end and tested it and it seemed to work, and I asked him how I can turn the forwarding off. He told me I'd have to call Customer Service again and have them do it.

I said that wouldn't work for me and I asked him to turn the Call Forward off and I'll sort something else out.

Here's my latest problem.

He didn't.

All calls to my iPhone are being forwarded to my office.

So far, I'm into my third hour trying to do something that should take less than 30 seconds.

So Virgin Mobile, if you read this message please call me on 03 9486 4445 and, if it's busy, please try again later. I'm probably still on hold to your Customer Service department.

 

 

More Merlin Awards

Paul Romhany talks about his first hand experience with 'The Merlin Awards' in his latest blog entry here, and there is more to come!

A good business tip for Foxtel

Yesterday I got a few calls where there seemed to be no-one on the line. I called back a few times and the same thing happened. The number was 03 8235 0909 so I googled it and discovered it's a telemarketing number Foxtel has been using for over a year.

According to my research, they use a computer to call you and, if you call back, they now know the times you'll be home and when best to have a telemarketer call you.

Sure enough, today I got a call from Foxtel.

But here's the most ridiculous thing.

A month ago I called Foxtel to cancel my service. I explained they keep putting the price up to justify adding more channels for premium packages. People on basic packages like me, are paying more and getting nothing extra. When I spoke to the Foxtel cancellation man he was most sympathetic. He said they are getting a lot of customers cancelling and expect quite a few more.

However, he didn't, at any stage in the conversation offer me an incentive to stay with them or even say anything positive about Foxtel.

So they sent me out a mailing kit so I could post all the Foxtel equipment back to them at their expense.

Now, after my Foxtel has been disconnected for a week, they're calling me with special discounted offers if I sign up with them again.

That demonstration of inefficient business practice alone is enough reason to not to.

Cold Callers

You may remember there was a company called 'Dotcom Chrome' cold calling people a while ago with a "fixed price, 24/7, guaranteed placement AdWords campaign". 

Now another company, 'Wisdek', is doing the rounds, calling people in Aus offering the exact same "deal". Like Dotcom Chrome there are dozens of threads out there with customers complaining about how they got ripped off.

From the Google Adwords Help Archive "Here's a rule that you can count on: any person or company that promises you any particular position, whether in the unpaid search 
results or within AdWords ad, is misleading you."

There are also dozens of complaints about Wisdek in the Google AdWords Help Forum too, yet strangely enough, Wisdek is still a certified Google AdWords partner.

Be warned.

Possibly one of the greatest examples of Magic Fakery yet

There's a company in China, 52 Magic, who have taken the concept of plagiarism in magic to new heights.

Take a look at some of their offerings:

If you think the fact that they have blurred out Peter Marvey's face is amusing, a lot of their other "products" are promoted using the graphics for the original item but with their web address plastered over the top of it.

They offer many other items like this color changing vest - and this promo photo looks strangely familiar...

Of course... it's the one Lee Alex uses to promote HIS color changing waistcoat...

They also have a huge selection of DVDs. In the unlikely event that they are buying these wholesale and reselling them (they come from several different sources) they may well be copies too.

Bottom line - avoid 52 Magic at all cost.

Magic is a business

I recently heard of a case where an agent, who usually books a reasonably priced colleague of mine, instead booked one of his students for a corporate gig. The colleague was, understandably, puzzled. His student has only just got into magic and knew a total of two tricks.

In a "normal" situation where a client wants to impress his or her guests, they would seek out a particular act based on reputation or recommendation. But more often than not nowadays, clients are booking acts through agencies.

More often than not nowadays, those agencies have never actually seen any of the acts they represents.

More often than not nowadays, those agencies only have a life of about a year.

A client might come to them with a budget of $1000. A good agent, one that wishes to keep the client by providing the best possible act, will sell them someone priced from $750 to $900 and keep the balance as their commission.

The not-so-good agency will find the cheapest possible act, even one as cheap as $100, and keep the balance as commission.

Unfortunately, the good agencies are becoming fewer as more and more "price competitive" agents are popping up with acts that are much cheaper (ie: not considered a good enough standard by the good agencies).

The result. Less work for the good acts in the short term because the cheaper acts will be pushed instead (higher commissions!). Less work for the good acts in the long term because the clients won't want to hire a magician after they have the cheaper acts...

 

Why the sudden increase in the dodgy agents? 

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that money is still tight as we ride out the tail end of the GFC?

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that one magician, he who shall not be named, has been raping and pillaging the industry without repercussion for the last few years?

His modus operandi has been to blanket-bomb with advertising and take as many gigs as possible, regardless of budget. He then picks and chooses the best of the bunch, and farms the rest off to other "colleagues" around Australia. Sure the clients are disappointed that they didn't get the magician they booked based on the advertising... but he did warn them if he couldn't make it he'd send a colleague... And the colleagues were happy, they were getting twice their usual fees (eg: $400 instead of $200) and he was happy because the clients were paying eg: $2000 and he was getting a $1600 commission!)

Other people have watched this magician doing this for years and some have been disgusted by his lack of ethics, while others have chosen to model their behaviour after him in hopes that they can be as successful.

But his success has come at a price. His habit of dropping a lower paying gig in preference to a higher paying one (using the excuse of a sore back) has resulted in so many agents refusing to book him that he's formed his own online agencies. Plus he's found yet another way to rort his magician colleagues by charging them a fee to be represented by him!

Magic is a business.

Back in the 1980s and early 1990s clients were much more "hands-on" and searched out good acts by name. Word of mouth was the key and your reputation was everything.

Now it's the CEO's PA who is given the task to arrange the event and source the entertainment. They Google 'Magician' and book the first name that comes up. (Our magician even offers PAs a bonus Myer Gift Card to them on the side as a thankyou for booking him). As most companies have annual events, and will book a magician one year, then a comedian, then a singer etc... they will only use a magician once every five years or so and by then the PA has been replaced and the new PA will probably inadvertently book the same bad magician... 

Surprisingly, despite our increase in instant communication, people don't "talk" as much anymore. 

Back in "the day" people would be chatting about how good (or bad) the magician was for weeks.

Now, the day after the big event, the PA who booked the bad act goes into damage control and emails a post-event report to everyone saying how fantastic the night was and how great the act was. Everyone sitting in their little cubicles assumes they must be the only one who didn't like the act and consensus is formed by a majority of one.

 

Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? 

Is there a way for the good acts to get the gigs again?

Strangely enough many of the good acts are choosing to tour theatres with their own solo shows. Aside from the artistic satisfaction of having people come specifically to see you, the idea is to build a brand so that clients will ask, not for a magician, but for you by name.

Ironically, there is a lot more work and a lot less profit in staging a theatre show than there is in a corporate gig (assuming a fair commission is taken by a good agent). 

So if good agents are few and fair between, what is the answer?

Kids parties.

That's right. It's the only area of magic where word-of-mouth is king. Parents will generally only book an act for their darling's celebration based on a trusted recommendation.

At $350 a pop, and some performers doing ten or more shows a week.... it's solid, regular income where the client is choosing you above all other acts based on the quality of your work.

 

Hopefully, one day, the corporate market will again take booking acts just as seriously.