I'm hoping someone out there can help. I have approximately 170 generic .es names that I have had since its launch in 2005. They have been with the same registrar from the beginning.
On Friday a colleague noticed that some of my names were being auctioned. As I hadn't put them up for sale this concerened me.
I checked my registrar account they were in there. I checked my invoices they stated they'd been renewed. I checked with my bank and I had definately paid.
I checked the whois on the names they are no longer in my name. It looks like my registrar hasn't renewed them.
Does anyone know were I stand legally on this , can I get all my names back?
I hope someon can offer some advise. Thanks
I only found out because it was a UK domain and Nominet (the controlling organisation) emailed me as the Technical Contact to say that it had expired.
I contacted <the major registrar> who sorted it out.
Worrying, though.
...
Does anyone know were I stand legally on this , can I get all my names back?
Where you stand might depend on a variety of things, especially the contract
with your registrar. Many if not all limit their liability.
OTOH, the registrar may or may not correct the oversight, especially if it that
is beyond their control. Check with them.
To give you an idea, though, let me share a few experiences in my past life in
a registrar.
Case A
I had one case where the registrant renewed the domain name, but we didn't
renew it with the Registry for whatever reason. The domain name fell straight
into Redemption Grace Period.
The registrant complained about it, we verified our system didn't renew it as
it should've, and we redeemed the domain name at our cost. Took a few days
to get it back, but it was eventually restored.
Case B
Similar to case A, but the domain name was auctioned off to another and the
domain name remained with us. After it was verified he paid but we neglected
to renew as we should've, we took the domain from its new holder, refunded
him his auction fees, and returned it back to the registrant.
Case C
Similar to case A, but the domain was never redeemed and later re-registered
by another. This time, it turned out our system couldn't process his payment,
we emailed him about it, but he called way after redemption period.
He demanded we buy the domain from its owner. We kinda apologized for the
event, but we politely yet firmly stated we can only do so much.
Rather expected, he threatened suit. We waited, but we never heard back.
Case D
Similar to case C, but we indeed billed him yet didn't renew as it should have.
We refunded his payment after we verified he was indeed charged, but we've
also said we can't do what he asked about buying it from its new owner.
He threatened to complain to BBB and what not. Haven't heard back.
It's been maybe two years since I've moved on, although all four cases have
happened about four or five years ago. Kinda lost track of time.
The point is depending on the registrar and the circumstances behind each of
those "lapses" that occurred, they might or might not be able to fix. Especially
since it's a country code domain name, that's going to be even more...hmm...
challenging to resolve.
Like everyone else, the registrar will only go as far as they decide to. If you'll
sue them inspite of what happened, explore that with a lawyer.
Hope it works out somehow. And I seriously doubt the Registry of that domain
extension will do anything about it, either.
David
