This is off-topic but thought some of you webmasters/domain owners on this list might be interested in this story...
The scenario: 1. Two years ago a small business registers domain name (for two years) thru EFN (a local non-profit) which is (or was) a reseller for Wildwest domains (which is reseller/affiliate arm of Godaddy). 2. Then two years later, the domain expires. Website/domain 'owner' for some reason is not checking email account set as the 'administrative' contact in the domain registry so misses out on the expiration notices sent from "billing @efn.org" (actually message was actually sent by securepayment.net, not EFN). This is acknowledged. 3. On day of domain expiration the domain was immediately locked by Wildwest and whom parked the domain DNS, redirecting DNS back to Wildwest domains site. 4. Thus accessing domain email and website was no longer possible (unless using IP addresses). 5. This prompted website/domain owner into action. Owner logged into Wildwest admin account and unlocks domain, then unparks and changes DNS entries so to point back to hosting providers DNS. Soon after on the same day domain mail and website access is once again functioning normally. 6. Minutes after domain is unlocked at Wildwest the owner set up an account at Godaddy and pays for five years of domain service thru Godaddy (which is also the owner of Wildwest domains) and requests transfer of domain. 7. A day later the owner received email message from Godaddy that transfer was unsuccessful. And for next several days owner receives repeated messages with same info. 8. So the owner logged into Wildwest domain account which still showed domain is still UNLOCKED and the DNS still pointing correctly to web host provider DNS. All domain services are behaving as normal. So at this point it is assumed a fluke in the messaging system and domain service is functioning as normal. 9. Owner sends a message to Wildwest stating that Godaddy was repeatedly delivering 'transfer unsuccessful' messages. 10. A day later owner logs into Wildwest account but no domain shows up in account, so owner assumes this indicates the domain was indeed transferred. 11. However Godaddy continues delivering 'transfer unsuccessful' messages. So owner sends email message again to every email address that can be found for Wildwest domains. (At this point should have called Wildwest long distance number.... live and learn) 12. The follow up just received from Wildwest states the domain owner has to pay $80 "redemption fee" to Wildwest BEFORE the domain can be transferred. To quote: "In order to get the domain back into your account, you'll need to pay the $80 fee. If you would like us to process the redemption for you, we will need to last four digits of the payment method on file you would like charged. Unfortunately, there would be no way around this fee." 13. So if $80 ransom is not immediately paid to Wildwest the 'owner' loses his domain name and loses the amount Godaddy charged for five years of domain service and domain transfer. Moral of this story is: 1. Be sure to not let your domain expire, even for one day. 2. Ensure you are checking the email account set as the 'administrative contact' email address. 3. Do not rely on your domain registrar to respond to your email messages. Call them. 4. There is no reason to go thru a 'domain name reseller'. They cannot provide you with ANY support resolving registrar issues. The only 'service' they provide is offering a different website to register your domain name through and thus charge you a higher price (double and more) for that service. The exact same service you can get directly thru a primary registrar (e.g. Godaddy). 5. All domain registrars suck. 6. ICANN, like most bureaucracies is failing it's mission in protecting the little guy. So ICANN sucks too. So my question for anyone that knows about this stuff... What happened to the "grace period"? Who enforces the application of the grace period? It seems that ICANN is allowing these domain registrars get away with bloody ransom and allowing them to break grace period rules. Besides the above any suggestions? Thanks. Darren _______________________________________________ EUGLUG mailing list [email protected] http://www.euglug.org/mailman/listinfo/euglug
