Spam email from WordPress?

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  carladelauder · Member · Jul 12, 2012 at 4:36 pm

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  My blogs all use WordPress, as does the blog I manage for my mother. The other day she received an email from WordPress indicating she needs to pay for domain mapping or she’ll no longer have a WordPress blog.

  This really confused her, so she went ahead and paid the fee. But we are hosted on HostGator and have never had to pay any fees. With all the spam emails out there, I was worried she gave her financial information to an identity thief.

  Please clarify me the following: If we’re hosted via HostGator, WordPress is absolutely free. We don’t have to pay any fees. I’ve never received any emails like this from WordPress. Also, can this fee be reversed?

  I’d share more details (her account name, URL, etc.), but I don’t see any options for submitting private requests for support.

  Thank you.

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  carladelauder · Member · Jul 12, 2012 at 5:22 pm

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  I do see on WordPress.com that you require customers to pay at least $13/year to use their own URL, even if it’s hosted elsewhere. But I really don’t recall having ever paid this before.

  My mother was given FIVE days to pay this fee and protect her website from not being accessible. She’s a new author and can’t afford to be offline. Surely WordPress gives people more than five days?? What if someone is on vacation or their internet is down. Or they’re older like my mother and need more time to figure things out?

  When I’m logged into my dashboard, I don’t see anything for billing. Where do I find receipts for any payments made? This is VERY confusing.

  Thanks.

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  kathrynwp · Staff · Jul 13, 2012 at 7:29 pm

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  Hi there – could you please let me know your mother’s domain name so we can investigate?

  Private support is closed temporarily – sorry for the inconvenience. If necessary, I will contact you via email to complete the process. Thanks for your understanding.

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  carladelauder · Member · Jul 13, 2012 at 9:00 pm

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  Her domain is http://www.CarolePriceMysteries.com. Thanks. Could we please continue this via email? Much appreciated.

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  kathrynwp · Staff · Jul 13, 2012 at 9:07 pm

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  Hi there – thanks for the domain, I will send you an email about this.

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  raincoaster · Member · Jul 13, 2012 at 9:07 pm

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  That is not a WordPress.com blog, and she would have no reason to pay WordPress for anything unless she’d registered the domain name through WordPress.COM. It’s very common for spammers to target people whose domains are coming up for renewal: I always get at least one piece of actual snail mail telling me I can renew, MUST renew, for the low, low price of only $99.