I started a website, now I'm getting call's all hours of the night

[mark01]

I started a computer repair website (have not advertised it yet, just bought the domain name and put up a cheap website). Anyway, last week I started getting call's & emails from people saying for me to "stop putting popup's on my screen!" These people are angry and want me to stop making their computer display these popup's. I had nothing to do with this...

Is it possible that someone is trying to put me out of business, or is it more likely someone who had the domain name before me advertised by using popup advertising?

(These call's come all hours of the night...)

 

[dhulbert]

It could be the company who is hosting your domain, they may be using pop up adverts, you don't say what the pop up's are.
I wouldn't think it's a previous owner as once the domain is re-registered and redirected they have no access to it.

 

[mark01]

Well, I'm positive it's not the company hosting my domain. I pay for no popup ad's.

I bought this domain as a deleted domain, I know someone else had this name & was operating it. I was thinking they may have put adware in programs, then their company went bellyup, their domain got deleted, and people continue to use the program's that may contain that same adware.

But also a possibility I was thinking was someone is trying to sabatoge my website. Of coarse, I have not advertised this site to anyone yet, and can't find it in any search engine search.

 

[dyarwood]

What happens if you try to access the site through IE without popup blockers on?

 

[dhulbert]

Are to pop-up's happening when people visit your web site or are they getting them from some software of what?

 

[dhulbert]

Do I dare ask what the domain name is ?

 

[mark01]

Popup's through this website are not an issue.

They get pop's that have a link to My website when they are other websites. They click the link to my website, which gives them my email/phone number.

They don't even access my website until after they click the popup from some other website.

So they could be getting them from software, or other websites.

 

[dhulbert]

I suppose the previous owner may have set up some sort of pop up advertising, one thing is for sure they will stop in a month or so when the other guy hasn't paid his bill.

 

[mark01]

Thanks for the replies...

I hope they stop soon, I've owned the domain for almost 6 months now, and the domain has been deleted for over a year...

 

[dhulbert]

There are a couple of other forums that may give better help

there is an information security group

Here

and there are a couple of more web/domain based ones if you have a browse about.

 

[dyarwood]

Might be an idea to put something on the site like

"This site is now under new ownership and should no longer be available from popup adverts. If this site is not the one you were expacting to see please take the time to fill in the below form in order for me to investigate further."

You will need to create an email for or just provide a support@blah email address for them to contact you. Then you can contact the ad companies.

 

[jml1911a1]

What about removing your phone number from the contact info, or replacing it with a fake? Another option would be to subscribe to a voicemail service with it's own dedicated phone number (locally here w/ Sprint they are ~$9/month; might be cheap/free online services available, too).

I used to be in real estate--I've recieved more than one middle-of-the-night phone call...it's no fun. Good luck!

 

[spewn]

if you haven't advertised and you're not on SE's yet, you could assume that they (people) are being sent via a link that is no longer good (your domain).

two things:

change the number or change the domain.

or, better yet, since you must like the domain name, and i'm assuming the two businesses (yours and former owner) are related through similar product or service, try to take those calls and turn them into sales.

"I understand your frustration; we too, were upset with the poor advertising firm we hired, and have since cut them out of the equation. Since I have you on the phone, how are your 'widgets' doing?"

or, put a 'business hours' notice up, and then get a service like that from Vonage, where you can buy a number (your own area code or 800) and then switching between voicemail and forwarding to your phone is as easy as clicking on a link from a control panel...

or put a text link that says something like:

to add your name to pop-up complaint list, please click here.

then have a javascript alert() that says "Your have been logged as a complaintant. Thank you."

remember, perception is reality, so "give" them what they want.

but i would change the domain...maybe the .net of it, so you keep the name, but it's a new domain name. if it's only 6 months and it's a headache, think of the lasting impression of your website...

"Oh yeah, I've heard of that site. It's full of spyware and adware. Don't go there."

good luck.

- g