Spam complaint threatens business

A SPAM complaint to a US-based domain host has knocked Perth-based web optimiser ineedhits.com offline for 48 hours.

Last week US-based Go Daddy, pulled the plug on the fast-growing technology businesses after it received a spam complaint from one of its users.

This left ineedhits.com chief operating officer Roy Pinto bemused and angry over the loss of income and credibility.

“They didn’t even notify us before they did it. We just got an email to say we were being taken off,” he said.

The words “this page has been re-directed for abuse/spam violation” were put on the ineedhits.com site on June 11 and meant the company could not receive emails or post its own statement.

“We have an anti-spam policy. We are a reputable company that’s been operating for seven years,” Mr Pinto said.

“We have a newsletter group that gets sent out but there is an option to get out of that if you don’t want to receive it. 

“But with the terms and conditions at Go Daddy what happens is if someone complains that they are being spammed by your company they can just cut you off. Anybody can complain.”

Mr Pinto spent the next 48 hours frantically calling ineedhits.com’s business partners to make them aware of the problem.

He said the company would have to look into future domain host contracts in order to maintain its credibility.

“The stupid thing about this is it can ruin your business so quickly, it is that volatile,” Mr Pinto said.

He said the company initially decided to sever ties with Go Daddy and transfer its domain to US-based Network Solutions, however, that option would have kept them offline for 72 hours.

“Go Daddy have reversed the decision in the US so we are running there but we won’t be up in Australia for another 24 hours,” Mr Pinto said on June 13.