Blu Domain: Poor Service Defined

My second main complaint pertaining to customer service is that the company is totally UNavailable and seemingly nonexistent unless they perceive that their client owes them money. I received an odd invoice from Aundrea Hasselblach, stating I owed the domain billing department for three years. Upon researching it, my credit card receipts showed that I only owe for 2010 to 2011 and then 2011 to 2010. It is odd that they never sent me an invoice last year. But maybe their billing department is asleep too. The frustrating part is that instead of being able to communicate this directly to the billing department, there ensues a string of emails with each response from bludomain arriving days apart from my inquiries. The latest email is from Marlene, and a portion states, "Originally I was assisting with your domain renewal fees but have come across this information on your hosting fees in arrear. Auditing will catch this when it does occur but I seem to have found it first. :) thank goodness I have because what usually happens is the accounts in arrears are put on a terminating list to remove off our servers due to non-payment status." Their tone of condescension and "we are so right and the customers are so ignorant" is a little sickening. It would be nice if they had some business sense and left room to save face. In this case, my records show I again paid for last year's hosting fee. However, the only way to communicate this to them is through email. And the reply from Aundrea or Marlene will undoubtedly take a few more days. In addition, their billing system is very shoddy. There should be a set time of year that all payments are due.

I will definitely be searching for a new website provider.

Do not be wowed by their cool templates! Their customer service is really awful. And I am the type of person who goes out of my way to ask to speak to a supervisor nearly every time I have a great customer service experience with any company. I know how customer service can be a thankless job. When I do not have a question and do not need any type of assistance, I think I'm satisfied with bludomain. But when I have the smallest technical question, I face disappointment with emails that arrive days later and always evade answering my questions.

If you choose a company partly based on good customer service, you can X bludomain right off of your list of choices.

Hi Eric, I really wish I had read your post several years ago before I became a customer of bludomain. Yes, I too, was wowed by the templates as so many other photographers have been. But their customer service is really pathetic. I regularly encounter problems with my image uploads to Client Proofing Galleries. Since they do not offer any live customer service, I filed a detailed Help Desk Ticket and waited. During a portion of my email, I inquired about whether the image resizing can be done solely in Lightroom, and wanted to know about the quality, pixels, etc., that they would recommend, as LR's specs are worded differently than blu's. Rather than offering any type of assistance, they stated, "You can use any program you want to size your images but ultimately, how you do that is up to you. We do not provide support for third party programs..." That type of answer is clearly a way to avoid offering ANY service.

Wish we could have been around when you had these problems. Check out plebu.com if you are ready for a new website! We will be launched soon!

Sorry to hear this news. I was told Blu is great and bought two sites for my photography business and I have never has a problem with customer service. I bought 5 more for friends (they paid, but I did the work) set them up, and I never once had an issue. I even had to transfer a few domain names to them and I didn't understand how to do it, they walked me through it all. Maybe they are improving on their customer service in the current years.

Maybe suggest some alternative sites to use for your readers. I did a lot of research and I didn't find too many good sites to use. But, I have seen some photographers that have produced some good sites using SmugMug.

Thanks for your post!!

I'm having a different issue than most of you appeared to have. I originally purchased my website from them, and that part has went fantastically. I've never had an issue. I have grown my business though, and it's become possible for me recently to build a custom website. I didn't realize that the blu domain owned my domain. They won't respond to my requests to transfer.

needless to say, i'm growing more impatient and angry by the day

Dang, I found all of this out too late. BluDomain took $200 from my fiance and I over a month ago. We keep emailing and we keep getting responses that someone will contact me in 24 hours. We checked out Better Business Bureau and found this whirl-wind of mess.
I don't think they realize how stretched financially many of us are. And we get our hopes up thinking their product will give us that leg up in the industry.
Instead I have wasted 6 weeks of time I could of had a site up and hopefully some more work coming in.

I had a similar problem. Wouldn't refund my money. I'm scared. I'm out $115.00. I contacted paypal. They didn't intervene. I contacted Bank of America and assured me that they would intervene. This guy Daniel has been such a jerk to me. Told me to e-mail his boss... telling me she would no "no refunds" as well.

Should I contact the BBB next? HELP!!!

Thank you for this blog.

That name Aundrea will go to the grave with me 2-3 years ago. Only went there because the Boutwells recommended them!!
Been there bought the T-Shirt, got fcuked over website downtown, IP address choas in the end the site just didnt bring me no work in too big and clunky. Just pulled it in the end.
Havent really seen much that takes my fancy in the mean time however other than bigfolio look pretty decent. You heard of AOL Hell, Blu is how you feel with BluDomain

Same experience here! Still waiting. Money has been on their account for over 2 months.

If any of you have a facebook you can become a "fan" of bludomain and comment on their site...at least they will have to keep deleting our messages. I have had the same problem...was promised a call over two months ago and of course NOTHING and now the number is disconnected...SURPRISE!ARRR..so freaking ticked off.

Sorry to hear about your issues with Blu Domain. They definitely have issues. FYI - I've edited your comment to remove profanity.

**** {editor's note: profanity removed} BLUDOMAIN, they are crooks! We bought 2 sites at once, guess what we are out $800 and have nothing to show for it. We will also be filing a dispute with paypal.

Hello! I am looking for a good company to work with in regards to my website. I like the looks of the bludomain flash sites with the shopping cart option, but have read so many bad reviews that I am not going to go that route. Do you have any suggestions on another company similar to them? Thanks!

Hi Jenny - sorry to hear about your Blu Domain experience. It seems that they've not gotten any better with their service.

Ugh, I purchased a website, domain name and hosting with this company and I am already regretting it. It's been 3 weeks since the purchase and I have yet to gain access to FTP, I was given the wrong template and there has been NO response to my ticket or e-mails sent. I'm giving them another week (it's been holiday season after all) and then I will attempt to do what you did.

Hi Scott - Sorry to hear that you are having trouble with Blu-Domain. Hopeyou get the issue resolved.

I purchased a web-site from this company and they never sent me my web-site. I e-mailed them repeatedly but i never heard back from them.

Fontaine - I'm glad you are having good luck with BluDomain...but telling multiple people that they aren't getting emails from them is ridiculous. The company has problems as seen from the many many many complaints about them. Don't take my word for it...do a search around the web and you'll see there are many more people with the same problems with BluDomain.

PEOPLE. You're emails from BLUDOMAIN are obviously going to SPAM and not getting to you. I am a photographer who has TWO beautiful websites through them, and they have been nothing but super fast and professional! I don't understand where all the bad reviews come from? These sites are awesome for $100-$400! You can't beat it. I just finished building my new wedding website and it was literally finished and live within four days of purchasing. I also pay $100 to host through them, which is SO much easier than hosting elsewhere. I feel like so many people are skeptical to use them, but I think they're awesome, and they return all my emails almost immediately. They also state that if you have filters, check your spam as they have had issues in the past with people thinking they were being ignored.

Same problem with me, I've purchased a site last week of September 09, and still havent received nothing more than an email with their "office hrs" even after tons of inquiries. I'm calling my credit card tomorrow, hopefully they'll be able to give me my money back

I just dealt with the same person. Though I was told when I got my site, it could be moved to another host after paying for the first year of hosting with blu, I am now told there is a fee to do so. The worst part was the attitude I got, and no offer of explanation. When I asked to speak with her manager, she told me she owns the company!

let's seriously file a class act lawsuit! you are not alone. i am a victim of their scam too.

let's seriously file a class act lawsuit! you are not alone. i am a victim of their scam too.

I too am experiencing their wonderful (NOT!) customer service. Am at my wit's end on how to get a real site from them. (I bought one extra, and hey were supposed to give me one, but it's been over a year and I still can't get questions answered. I am now asking them to turn the hosting over to someone else. Still don't have a live site either. And they want me to pay for another years hosting, after having taken out my site over a year ago. Promised to "get me any site I wanted up and running ASAP!) over a year ago. DON'T IGNORE WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT THE BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE! If you've not experienced it YET, you are just lucky. It will hit you.

No site is worth this much trouble!

BluDomain is the most childish, most arrogance ridden company I have ever had the complete displeasure of dealing with in my life. Never...EVER... would I even begin to think about treating a customer the way that they do - and all comes so naturally as if it is actually a required course in their CS training! If you are here researching this company before you purchase a web site, consider yourself one of the lucky few who was warned and just listen - they deserve to be banned from ever doing business again. They are simply lazy and non-caring and I truly hope they begin to realize that 1) competition lies in wait; 2) people talk, especially when really ticked off, as evidenced fully here; and 3) when they are completely "realized" within the photography world as having a customer service that would make a detour into the 7th circle of hell a welcomed and desired experience in comparison. Never in my life have I been belittled and made to feel as if it is they who deserve the service from "us". Absolutely unbelievable. DO NOT GIVE THEM A DIME! There are plenty of choices out there now. They will dry up in due time. Just watch... you'll see.

Nana- No I never did get my money back, or even a response to the several emails I sent them. I am going to be reporting them to the BBB. I think that you should too, if you are unable to get a refund. Hopefully it will help other people from being ripped off. BOYCOTT BLU DOMAIN! Spread the word BBD!

Did you have get your money back? I am having the same issue.

try showitfast.com
I have had it for a few months and love it. The software is a bit slow at times but it allows you to fully customize your own flash website with ease. You do not need to know HTML or CSS. They also allow you to do a trial run plus they only charge you $39/month and no set up fee. :)

Hi Jon - sorry to hear that....it seems a lot of people are having trouble with BD. How they can remain in business is beyond me. That said, a recent poster (Justin) said he paid for and received his site within an hour of paying...I wonder why there are differences in how people are treated? Could it be the person(s) they are dealing with? I know that was a huge problem for us....the person we dealt with treated us like trash.

Hi Justin - glad you had a good experience with BD...but I think the majority of folks that have commented are saying the opposite. I think the history of the BD's customer service shows a lot of room for improvement...hopefully they have figured out that service is key.

Thanks for stopping by.

I paid for my site over a year ago and it is still not up. No response to any of my 100 plus emails. They took my money and gave me nothing in return. BluDomain are LIARS AND CROOKS!

I just have to say this because I feel bludomain is getting a bum rap. I bought a $100 web site from them yesterday and today the whole thing is up and running. There was a small glitch an I was able to get ahold of tech support via the website. It was resolved in about ten minutes. My experience with them is amazingly good. I would recomend them. Who knows mane the days of bad service you guys grip about are over.

Hi Melissa - Thanks for the info. There seem to be much more people that have had bad service from Blu Domain than those that have had good service.

I used to work for one of the most highly visible and famous wedding photographers on the planet and they knew it because they did business with him. So I was regularly in contact with them and knew them well. When I wanted to use them for myself, they treated me like absolute crap. Literally night and day. During the day at my job they were great and would be nice to me - at night when it was me, forget it. And it was like they had amnesia the next day. They make a brilliant product but their customer service is beyond bad. Beyond ridiculous. I had so many excuses thrown my way it was laughable. "We didn't get your email" (this was my favorite since I *always* got an auto-response email as confirmation), "you didn't give us the information", "you didn't read the instructions", etc. And they knew that I was in a position to refer them to the photographers who took our workshops. AND THEY STILL DID NOT CARE. If you have an insanely high tolerance for total b.s., use them. If you're a busy photographer who doesn't have time to play games, I highly suggest finding another company.

Bought a site with Blu on the recommendation of my friend Joshua. Promised a site within 24 hours. 10 days later and after multiple excuses on their end I said I hired someone else, they are fired and I wanted my money back. MAGICALLY they gave me a link 4 hours later. I said "Too bad, I already asked for a refund". They refuse to refund my money, I do not have a site and BUYER BEWARE....PayPal won't intervene because they say it's an "intangible product". They have an "F" rating on the Colorado State BBB site with 14 complaints that they have never even bothered to respond to. Basically I think they are greedy and could care less if they have people who are not happy with them. This is a prime opportunity for some good competition to step in. They are just template flash sites, it's not brain surgery.

Bludomain has an F rating with the Better Business Bureau, and their phone has been disconnected.

Trust us and stay away from bludomain. No matter how much you love their templates. This is what drives customers in and then they rip you off in some way or another.

Yes they do withdraw their websites from your hosting site. They did that to me.

@matilde:

I'd recommend portfoliositez. We have been using them for about 6 months and love them. Service is wonderful and the templates are great.

hi, your blog is invaluable to me! i love bludomain designs, but i am far too weary about them now to go ahead. i cannot count on being the lucky one:( their designs are so beautiful and i couldnt find anyone else who would have templates like them. would anyone be able to recommend similar sites with very very similar templates? or do you think i could get their template but use someone else to host it? can they withdraw the template after it is running under the wings of another host? oh, im so puzzled?;)
i would be so so grateful for any help:*
thank you

Absolutely without a freaking doubt the worst customer service ever in the history of any company....not only do you NOT GET TO TALK TO ANYONE....you don't even get any help for what you submit....or it falls off into never never land or maybe they think if you wait long enough you will just go away.....Submit a request for an urgent issue and wait 36 or more or never to get an answer.......many times NEVER. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND DO NOT BUY A BLUDOMAIN WEBSITE. THEY AFORE CHARACTER IS A PERIOD....LET ME REPEAT.....TERRIBLE COMPANY

Wow... Scary! Glad I found this blog. I was just about to place an order with them!

@leslie: sorry to hear about your problems at blu. Sounds like they are still having issues with their ability to service clients.

You've got some great pictures on your website.

OMG... I just found your blog entry. Blu SUCKS!!! I keep buying their templates bc they're pretty, cheap, and easy. (The templates, I mean!) But I am about to pull my hair out now.

I have 4 websites with them. As of right now, one of them I can't login to and cant get them to send me a password, one is being redirected to another site, and a third pulls up some random weird blue page when you type in the URL. I have emailed them for over two weeks AND requested a phone call. Nothing... ohh, except for one email response from Aundrea asking what problems I've been having and at the bottom of that very email was my original email with the problem!! Uhhh, did you not read my problem before you hit "reply"? I don't even get it.

So now..I wait....losing business day by day...people calling telling me they cant view the website.. etc. etc. Thankfully ONE of them is working properly.

OOppS. I probably just jinxed myself.

If you are considering a website from Blu Domain...RUN THE OTHER WAY IMMEDIATELY!!!! What a horribly terrifying operation they have going. I purchased a website from them in April 2008. They emailed me asking for my website information including user name and password. I emailed them the information immediately. They responded by telling me my user name and password wasn't working. Um, yeah...it is. I use them almost every day. They kept telling me it wasn't working. I asked them 50 times to call me so we can discuss the problem over the phone instead of emails. They never called. WEEKS and WEEKS went by with me asking them to call me...nothing. After 2 months I emailed them again asking them where my website was. They responded by saying "please provide us with your website information including user name and password". The email was worded like I was a brand new customer. It was RIDICULOUS. Another week went by with me trying to contact them. I left messages on their blog but again...nothing. Finally I emailed them saying if they didn't call me within 24 hours I was going to call the Denver Police and Better Business Bureau. "Aundrea", emailed me saying "We don't tolerate threats. We are refunding your money because we don't want to work with you".

The whole situation was utterly ridiculous and it certainly left me with a very sour taste. Although they have nice website templates, it's certainly not worth the trouble dealing with them and there are many other companies with nice websites and much better customer services.

Hi Jake!
Just sent an email to you.
Thanks in advance.

Sam,
If you want to email me I will give you my admin login website and password so that you can see it for yourself. You can click around, all I ask is that you don't make any changes. My email address is jeikeskate@hotmail.com.