Thursday, October 26, 2006

What about Nigerians?

I remember the last time I google Nigeria , it was the same as doing a google search for scam. Today it really got on my nerve.

I wanted to put up a DNN site for a friend and followed a referral on DotNetNuke.com to www.infosaic.com. It was all rosy; I mailed support and got a response in minutes. Sweet, these guys are the bomb man! They must be bad (means excellent) and will definitely have a ton of DNN experience since they are sponsors of the open source initiative.
Then I paid online. In Nigeria we don't have ready access to credit cards. Some banks make arrangements and give MasterCard to customers but its not exactly credit, its prepaid.
Anyway, I made payment for a month to rev the hosting package, got an immediate email with dns information, then waited...I waited.
I mailed support the following day and got no response. Waited another day and mailed and still no response. Why have these guys suddenly gone cold? What happened to the immediate, almost automated emails I’m already used to?
Well, I got this response from a support personnel:


Hi Kehinde,

Your transaction has been voided due to previous fraudulent activities.

Thanks again,

April Sherry
Infosaic Technologies, LLC
asherry@infosaic.com
614.855.7084 x70 (local)
888.855.7084 x70 (toll free)


I was furious, suddenly I realized I was Nigerian. A renowned scammer for all they care. Anyway I was still mad and sent a strongly worded letter back. Got a flimsy response of how I have tried to pay for the same domain name with different numbers. Gosh, I was not even buying a domain name, just hosting.

I soon found this to be the trend, web hosting companies shying away from Nigerians, Sad. Sese had a similar experience where he registered a domain which was not honored after they found he was from Maryland in Lagos and not Maryland USA. Harris also paid for a domain on yahoo and though the money was debited, he never got the domain.

Things happen, Shitty things.

Like I promised the support personnel, I have started tendering my case before courts of public opinion.
If only they had a banner saying "Nigerians not allowed".

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