You may have heard...
www.THEIVYANDCO.com
Even though it's a great new domain name, it's not a pretty story.
On Sunday, I started getting messages from friends saying that they were unable to access my website. I was having my biggest giveaway to date, and everyone was trying to get their last minute entries in! I called Go Daddy that night to figure out what was wrong (which btw has great 24/7 customer service) and they told me I was not the owner of that domain anymore. (WHAT?!?!?!)
Long story short:
-I was furious.
-My credit card info on file was incorrect so they didn't auto renew my subscription for my domain (remember when Hawaiian Air Miles Card switched from Visa to MasterCard this summer? Yep. That happened.)
-I was still furious.
-Apparently they sent reminder emails to an email I don't use telling me to update billing info because my domain was about to expire. I didn't get those emails.
-Furiouser.
-Lo and behold a scammer named "Nancy Nette" bought my newly expired domain (www.ivy-and-co.com). So I hired Go Daddy to get it back from Ms. Nette, ($70 + 10% commission on how much Nancy wants to sell it back to me for). Let's remember that fair market value of this domain is $12.99. I've been checking in with Go Daddy every other day about this, and finally today they said she isn't answering any attempts to communicate but they know she usually charges within the 4 figure range. (WHAT THE HECK.) They work with her "company" a lot and she's had to change her business name 4-5 times... Probably because people hate her! (Was that mean? She's mean.)
-I refuse to give in to extortion, so I decided to change my website to www.theivyandco.com. I'm not quite used to it's ring, but it's the best I can do.
-What makes me most irate about all of this is that the day before this travesty occurred, I passed out tons of business cards at the trunk show, (which I had just ordered), with my previous website on them, and every piece that sold also had a tag with my website on it.
-I can't think about it too much, because I just get more and more furious. I just need to get over it and order new business cards, a new stamp for my product tags, and work on bringing traffic to my new site. This includes getting some key pins onto Pinterest from my new site and delete all the pins that go to my old site. Nancy Nette is not getting any of my traffic.
I have to let bygones be bygones. Let's take a moment to remember all the good times we had with www.ivy-and-co.com
Ok. Let's celebrate www.THEIVYANDCO.com !
NOTE: no content has been lost in this change. It's the statistics, traffic and rebranding that are the main issues.
Everything looks beautiful. Wishing you much success in your NEW site!
ReplyDeleteWelcome, back and I love your name.
ReplyDeleteGood luck on your new name. I am so sorry you had to endure this. I hope this Nancy company gets her due. people will support you.
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry that happened to you. What a terrible woman. Hopefully some bad karma comes her way.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it sad how some people feed on others bad luck. Your new site is beautiful and love that you decided not to cave into such a ridiculous scam. Your followers will find you. Cathy
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you were able to get a similar domain name and get back up and running so quickly. Sad that people take advantage of others like this though.
ReplyDelete