My registrar doesn't respond to email

but he's a reseller

[astro_miner]

My registrar doesn't respond to email (and they have no phone support) but he's a reseller for another service. I need to change the name servers for a domain, urgently. They have no domain control panel (I feel dumb for picking them).

Is it possible that I could wrestle the domain out of their hands and transfer it to somewhere I can manage it myself by contacting their provider?

This provider is an ICANN accredited registrar, so I assume there are some rules they have to go by that may favor me. But these mainly apply when their reseller goes out of business, right?

[Leosghost]

get directly in touch with who they resell for ..have all your documentation ready ....normally they will be reasonable with people

[astro_miner]

Thanks for the reply,

I did a more thourough check on them, it seems they are not a reseller, but just bought a domain for me as a normal client.

To top it off, they're also my host. And the domain has whois privacy enabled.

In other words, I'm at their mercy. But the second I can get them to change the whois I'll transfer out.

I'm losing money every second here.... frustrating.

[Leosghost]

is their registrar the super bowl people ..or the guy who posts here ..friend of Bretts ( fogotten his name ...cmon webwork help out ..whas whoosits name ;)..

either way I think that a direct email to the original upstream registrar could be productive ..

presumably you are saying that you bought hosting with a dom name included and that you don't actually know if you own your name ..

[astro_miner]

The whois said my name for a brief time, then I paid the hoster who also gave me the domain to enable whois privacy.

My name on the domain is on record as a previous whois entry on a well known whois data source. You have to pay to see the old data however, so I doubt the registrar is going to open an account there just for my sake.

The domain is about 2.5 months old.

It was not with the superbowl people, but a small local company. Many other people in my area seem to have had trouble with them. Their support policy is 'most emails will be answered immedeately, and at most in 24 hours'.

More than that has lapsed.

I will try to contact the registrar. Not too hopeful...

Edit:
I misunderstood. The registrar is <Snip: Never Slumbers>. But they're not the ones I have a problem with.

[edited by: astro_miner at 2:43 pm (utc) on Nov. 2, 2005]

[edited by: Webwork at 2:59 pm (utc) on Nov. 2, 2005]
[edit reason] It's not my fault! Leo made me do it! :0) [/edit]

[Leosghost]

>It was not with the superbowl people
i meant are they the upstream actual registrar ..if so they will usually see reason ..but you'll probably need to send them copies of your emails and receipt for the hidden whois ..
>The registrar is ****
so try the above proceedure ..when webwork comes in from slumber land he'll edit out their name ..or if you can still get to your edit button do so ..helps preserve the TOS here ..I know it was inadvertant ...)

edited to preserve TOS

[Leosghost]

<Snip: Never Slumbers>

..
thought all the lawyers were busy over halloween ..:)
slept all through the next day ..mine did ..saw him today ..trick or treat made me $1600.00 poorer ..and aneamic..;)

[astro_miner]

Sorry :)

I fired off an email to ******, so... We'll see.

When googling the company I found other people who have had the same problem with them. Doesn't look good.

[astro_miner]

Well, got a reply from ****. I won't quote it directly, but I got a combo between a boilerplate telling me how to log in and a note at the bottom saying that even though I was on file as a previous whois entry, they couldn't do anything about it.

I have asked my host to unmask my whois info now. I don't expect rapid results.

I may have to take them to court over it, or at least threaten to do so. :/

[astro_miner]

The hoster finally replied to my request and changed the name servers for me (which was my original intent and why I discovered they were at best unwilling to lose customers.)

I also got them to remove the whois privacy, but they have kept their email as the admin and tech contact.

But it says my phone number there. I feel I now have a much better case for forcing a transfer, but am still worried since they have kept the contact email.

Does anyone have experience in forcing a transfer with your correct details except for the email adress? Will the registrar go along with this?

Maybe I can have them call me at the phone number in the whois?

[davezan]

Depending on the reseller, they should give you the online administrative privilege of changing the domain's contact details. Otherwise, take it up with their parent registrar.