Hi guys,

I am sorry that my first post is asking for help, but I am really not sure what to do.

Two weeks ago I bought and payed a Web hosting with a major Swiss hosting provider that also included a domain hosting. I agreed with the Terms and Conditions and payed with my Verified Pay Pall account immediately and expected to get a link to the control panel.

Contrary to that after three days they did not gave me any reply. When I asked them they said something like:

"We need to know what kind of content you are going to put on your web site, and we need a copy of your ID sent over e-mail"

I disagreed over this conditions since they are not part of the Terms and Conditions I signed and after few mails they said they will refund my money. The problem is that they already registered my domain and I am not able to register it with another company. I do need this domain and consider it my property since I paid for its registration.

Anyway two weeks later I still don`t have my domain nor my Payment refunded and I really don`t know what to do? Is there any consumer protection agency in Switzerland that I can turn to? This guys does not seem to care about me at all...

Their request for ID and intended content is not unusual or unreasonable.
Perhaps you should swallow some pride and mend the bridge for your own sake.

You should be able to pay them just the domain registration fee and then transfer the domain to another host.

Contact them and ask to do that.

But why was it a problem to send your ID and tell them what the content is?

... and that's a problem because..??

Thanks for the replays!

I gave them a description of the content - it is going to be my personal business card and is going to be used mainly for the e-mail functionality. But this is not enough for them.


I don`t want to send my scanned ID, because it is illegal by my country laws, because they have not explained and have not stated any precautions they use in order to keep that information safe and last but not least it is not in the Terms and Conditions, so it is probably a discrimination practice...

I will try to convince them to pay the domain registration and transfer the domain...

Is it a legal requirement to identify the owner of a website, maybe?

I really doubt that the Swiss government will require such a thing and if it does, it will be very well documented and they will be some Personal Information Protection act to cover the way the information is transfered and stored.

I really don`t think I will send my copy ID to some company, just because they say so in a formal e-mail. It must be very well documented and legally covered.

You may wish to check out the SR 780.1 Bundesgesetz vom 6. Oktober 2000 betreffend die Überwachung des Post- und Fernmeldeverkehrs (BÜPF) and the Verordnung über die Überwachung des Post- und Fernmeldeverkehrs

Thanks Tom...

I guess I am wrong then... Did not expect they have some legislation forcing them to ask for Identification. Well, they should have told me that at least...

Anyway, thanks to all! Great forum