Site Expired

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  rrunstadler · Member · Feb 3, 2015 at 12:29 pm

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  Hello,

  Recently my site was up for renewal for $99 per year. There was a warning page before it expired saying (in roughly similar words) that I would be able to still access the site at “sitename.wordpress.com” (opposed to just (sitename.com”) after it expired. Since I no longer update the site, that was fine with me.

  Now, I can not only not access the site at the “sitename.com” address, but it cannot be accessed at “sitename.wordpress.com”. I am directed to a similar message when entering that address asking me to now pay $26 to renew the site as well as an additional $80 late fee.

  I’m wondering why I’m being offered a $26 renewal fee now (opposed to the higher $99 it was asking for before) and being charged an $80 late fee ( a grand total of $106) when the assumption given was that the site would go back to the standard free (vs. premium) hosting it was originally on.

  Can someone break this down for me (including wordpress who it seems is increasingly difficult to get directly in touch with). I’d love to just pay the $26 dollars now being offered to keep the site online opposed to the original $99 fee they were forcing upon me, as well as get the $80 late fee waived due to lack of warning or information available about the potential of such a fee.

  Anyone have any luck with this? Can explain the reason in fee differences? Or maybe have a contact number for wordpress billing department? I can’t seem to find a way to get in touch with an actual person behind the site….

  Thanks!

  The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

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  jeremeylduvall · Member · Feb 3, 2015 at 10:00 pm

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  Hi @rrunstadler,

  Happy to explain this for you! The difference here is that the Premium bundle has been removed from your site. However, the domain stayed intact. So, currently on slowboattosomewheredotcom.wordpress.com, you only have the domain upgrade for slowboattosomewhere.com.

  For a short period of time after expiration (the domain expired on 12/30/14), the domain is available for renewal at the normal price. However, after a few weeks, an $80 late fee is charged to WordPress.com by the registrar. You can read more about the late fee and domain expiration process here:

  Domain Expiration

  To recap, we have two options:

  1. You can elect to renew the domain at a total cost of $106 ($80 + $26). Since this fee is charged to WordPress.com from the registrar, we cannot wave it. You can renew at any time here:

  https://slowboattosomewheredotcom.wordpress.com/wp-admin/paid-upgrades.php?page=my-upgrades

  2. I can cancel the domain so that your site is again visible at slowboattosomewheredotcom.wordpress.com.

  Let me know how you would like to move forward!