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Anyone else affected by Vodafone disabling demon.co.uk emails after May 2020

Adtadt
4: Newbie

Vodafone own the domain demon.co.uk which I've used for my email address since the mid 1990's...

... when they purchased the company that owned it they didn't want to continue with the domain name. For the last 5 years or so they leased the domain to names.co.uk who have taken on my emails.

 

Today I was advised by names.co.uk that Vodafone will no longer lease the domain to anyone or use it themselves. So during the current virus pandemic I face losing my email address from the end of May 2020. While I can change my email address I will obviously face losing access to some services, companies and friends that I miss. Further, some websites etc don't make it easy to change.

 

Anyone got any ideas...?

200 REPLIES 200

Finally the last of the Demon accounts I have dealings with has been notified - this was email-only after letting the broadband expire (notwithstanding vodafone trying to retrospectively insert a 50 quid connection fee, got that fixed before it was taken though - the Demon accountancy dept being responsive and more importantly taking written requests, no pointless hours wasted on the phone).

 

There must be others who had moved broadband but kept the email as it was a separate service. I'm not sure I've ever seen one where the domain was just going to be taken away for no good reason. This is a subscription service and I don't think it unreasonable for people to want a decent explanation.

 

 

Update From Adtadt...

The 'public' email address of Vodafone's CEO, which get answered by his Directors Support folk is available at:

telegraph.co.uk/bills-and-utilities/phone/vodafone-make-customer-services-listen-complaint

Look for the text:  How to complain directly  - (there's the email address and social media accounts concerned)

To answer some questions...

... While Vodafone own the demon.co.uk domain they don't seem to intend to use it themselves or allow it to be used. As this denies access to 1000's of email addresses it seems reasonable to hold Vodafone accountable for this, hence demon.co.uk users should make themselves heard.

... Just like denying mobile phone numbers when users change Service Providers is no longer allowed by Ofcom, they are reviewing the same for email addresses, hence contacting them seems reasonable as an example of what affect it has as mentioned in my earlier posts.

... I'm advised complaining to Trading Standards is helpful as they do consider business practices that may affect other companies or individuals and any restrictive practice.

Mark
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi @Adtadt, We'll be happy ot take a look into this for you, pop us a message through Facebook or Twitter and we'll be able to help.

Mark,

Not sure if you understood the real issue as detailed above?

I don't want to change the private email address I've had for 30 years, it would be like losing my mobile phone number, which is not allowed by Ofcom. While Ofcom is currently reviewing forcing ISPs to allow customers to take email addressses from one ISP to another, this is not yet a regulation.

 

So, considering I've had Vodafone Directors Supoort folk tell me they won't change their minds, do you still think it's worth posting? Will Vodafone continue to allow me to use my ...demon.co.uk email address perhaps if I pay yet more? 

I too have had a conversation with Vodafone's  Directors Office and found them non sympathetic and unwilling to change their plans.  They do not think that having to change your email during a pandemic is any big deal.

 

Searching the internet reveals that Vodafone has a very low level of customer satisfaction so probably is immune to a bit of bad press. The sad conclusion is that Vodafone views its former demon customers as an irritating inconvenience.

 

So farewell to the last vestige of demon and a strong feeling that Vodafone is never to be trusted again

Thank you Adtadt for your efforts on this, much appreciated. 

iaintsmeek
3: Seeker
3: Seeker

@Adtadt wrote:

.....Anyone got any ideas...?

 

Did anyone check if this was a hoax?  I received th eemail on April 1st.

If it is true, has anyone asked if Vodafone/ Namesco will sell the domain to a consotium of us users?





My first thought was to check it was not a hoax.  Namesco confirmed it was indeed true.  Vodafone are determined to close the domain and, wrongly, claim we had all been told in 2016 that it was a temporary arrangement with names.  I have checked the original email and no mention is made of temporary 

Vodafone will not be shifted, shutting the domain seems part of their business plan and will happen despite pandemics or any concern for their ex  demon customers. At least Namesco are being very helpful

 


@iaintsmeek wrote:

If it is true, has anyone asked if Vodafone/ Namesco will sell the domain to a consotium of us users?



I approached Vodafone with a proposal to put the domain name in the ownership of a not for profit body under the control of the demon user base at the very start of May. Original message attached. After almost 3 months they declined saying their kit is obsolete and thus the domain has to close. Despite us not needing any of the kit!

 

They also declined an offer from namesco to buy the domain without giving a reason. At least that's Namesco's version and in the absence of anything from Vodafone after 3 months I'm going to go with the Namesco version.

If anyone still has any fight left in them, can I suggest contacting: "You and Yours" (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qps9), Ofcom (https://www.ofcom.org.uk/home), nominet (https://www.nominet.uk/domain-support/uk-domain-disputes/) and/or your local mp (https://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/contact-an-mp-or-lord/contact-your-mp/).

...also maybe inform some of their big shareholders that, by the gross incompetence of the management has destroyed an asset which could have easily been sold, and has also destroyed goodwill and trust of potential customers.

 

BTW: messages sent from gmail to my demon do eventually bounce after 24hrs with ....

 

Delivery incomplete
There was a temporary problem delivering your message to myname@mydomain.demon.co.uk. Gmail will retry for 45 more hours. You'll be notified if the delivery fails permanently.
The response was:

DNS Error: 2297805 DNS type 'mx' lookup of mydomain.demon.co.uk responded with code NOERROR 2297805 DNS type 'aaaa' lookup of disabled-domain.com. responded with code NXDOMAIN 2297805 DNS type 'a' lookup of disabled-domain.com. responded with code NXDOMAIN