Update from my last post…….it has transpired that my client’s domain name was transferred to a marketing company who instead of asking him to change DNS records asked to takeover the domain name to manage. They then had a website site designer company develop a website for him and this year due to the Coronavirus Lockdown and breakdown of communication the website designers admitted that they were at fault and failed to renew my clients domain name.
I have the emails that they had dropped the domain by accident and did not renew it.
As a consequence my client who has been in business for over 15 years and has branded his vehicles with the domain name lost the domain name to someone else who registered the domain in bad faith.
I will explain in a moment and will also warn anyone that gets contacted by these companies which are based in India & USA to stay well away.
The marketing company that first took over the domain was https://www.hmlmarketing.co.uk
So moving forward HML Marketing had SEOFIED developed my clients domain name. The website designers are www.seofied.com located in India.
So this is where it gets interesting in April of this year according to seofied.com they dropped the domain name by accident and failed to renew the said domain which I will come to in a moment.
My clients domain name that has been compromised is owned by someone who registered the domain in bad faith and I will now show you why:
https://www.firstphaseelectricalwales.co.uk/ which points to a clothing website as the keywords in the domain name have nothing to do with the fashion industry and get this the site even has powered by ‘First Phase Electrical Wales’ in the footer of the website lol.
My clients branding has been jeopardised, never mind his carbon footprint of backlinks he has accumilated over the last few years.
Here is proof of his branding.
The reason why I am involved in this is my client came to me a while ago and said he was concerned that www.seofied.com were not doing their job properly and were not updating him or replying to his emails.
So I asked if he had an agreement with them like a contract and he said he did not.
I then instructed him to give www.seofied.com notice and ask for them to transfer the domain back to him and for my client to change the DNS records to point to a website I had built him www.electricianswales.co.uk
Re-Branding Estimated Costs
| Brand Audit / Discovery | £1000 | £10,000 |
| Brand Strategy | £1000 | £50,000 |
| Brand Identity | £2500 | £50,000 |
| Brand Guidelines | £1500 | £10,000+ |
| Signage Design | £500 | £5,000 |
| Stationery Design | £300 | £10,000 |
| Packaging Design | £1000 | £10,000 |
| Vehicle Livery | £500 | £10,000+ |
As per the time of my email to my client I calculated how much income he has lost because his domain was inaccessible based on the 83 days would have beeen as follows:
Consumer unit (fuse box) replacement £500 (0.5 – 1 day)
Electrical inspection report £90 – £180 (4 – 8 hours)
Install and supply a double socket £80 – £130 (1 – 3 hours)
Light fitting replacement £40 – £60 (0.5 – 1 hour)
Repair a damaged power cable £40 – £60 (0.5 – 1 hour)
Electric cooker installation £50 – £80 (0.5 – 1 hour)
Electric shower installation £250 – £400 (1 day)
Install an external security light £90 – £140 (1 – 3 hours)
EV charge point installation £200 to £300 (1 day)
The average loss of business is between:
£180-£350 per day.
Low @ £180 per day x 83 days is £14,940.00
High @ £350 per day x 83 day is £29,050.00
So therefore my clients total losses based on 83 days would be something like:
LOW COST: £14,940.00 in lost income plus re-branding £7,400.00 Total £22,340.00
HIGH COST: £29,050.00 in lost income plus re-branding £155,000.00 Total £184,050.00
However it has surpassed 90 days from the time my client no longer had any access to the domain that was registered on the 10th July 2020.
I need to also note my suspicions as my clients website was still showing as it were an electrical website up until August so that meant that the owner of the website simply changed registrant owner details in July 2020 and in August changed the look of the website.
The current owner has the domain registered with www.openprovider.com
I spoke with Nominet and they told me to get my client to contact this registrar to pass on a message to the owner.
I also sent a direct message on the contact form of the compromised domain/website to cease and desist using the domain name and not surprisingly I did not get a reply.
Nominet advised to start a complaint via www.nominet.uk/go/drs if my client does not get a reply from the current owners registrar.
Moral of the story – support local businesses and consider this, if a website designer offers a low cost website from abroad , what they are essentially doing is reeling you in. Do not think for one moment you are getting a bargain on the contrary in the long run you are getting what you pay for.
I have also added a link to more nightmare web designer stories:
Finally if your are approached by www.hmlmarketing.co.uk or www.seofied.com
BEWARE: AVOID www.hmlmarketing.co.uk & www.seofied.com AT ALL COSTS.
If you are in South Wales UK and need any electrical work Commercial or Electrical do give my client a call and check out the website I built for him.
With the coronavirus affecting a lot of businesses and my clients brand in limbo do try and support him, by liking, sharing, and commenting on this post.
