Forum Moderators: phranque
THE BACKGROUND: I'm currently taking over 4 sites for a client who has fallen out with his previous webmaster and need to transfer the domains.
The previous guy is a very dodgy character, so we are treading water as it were, so as not to upset the apple cart.
THE PROBLEM: The clients domains are all registered in his name, but were registered by the previous webmaster. If I send a request for TAG change how can I make sure where this is going to go.
A whois from nominet doesn't reveal the admin email address...
Any ideas how I can check?
May Thanks
Only the TAG holder can request a tag change. Therefore, if the old webmaster registered it directly as a TAG holder (rather than a third party), only the old webmaster can request the change.
If the domains were registered through a third party (such as 123reg), then it is most likely the case that only the account holder can request the tag change.
The clients domains are all registered in his name, but were registered by the previous webmaster.
Just to clarify: Registered in the clients name, or the name of the previous webmaster? The latter is a nasty trick that continues to happen over the years. It has caused me all sorts of difficulties in the past, but lets not get into that now.
If the TAG change cannot be fulfilled by the current TAG holder, then you could do no worse than contact Nominet directly, and explain the situtation. If there is nothing legally binding which is stopping the current TAG holder from transferring your domain to a new TAG, then Nominet can step in and do this for you, AFAIK.
If the domains are registered in the webmasters' name, then you'll need the original invoices from the webmaster detailing the domain names that were registered for you and the charges made from the old webmaster to your client, to prove to Nominet that your client should own the domain names. Convincing Nominet of this can be a time consuming process however, as I know from experience.
HTH,
JP
The domains are registered in my clients name but registered by the previous webmaster. Not as a TAG holder, but with a third party company. In fact a different regsitrar for each domain, for god knows what reason.
In the past I have simply sent a request for transfer via my UKReg account. I assummed this emailed the relevent party for confirmation. I was wondering where/who this went to in paticular.
Maybe I'll just suck it and see and they say.
Thanks
Therefore I would need the webmaster to go into his account in order to update the TAG or go cia nominet costing £15 + VAT a go and taking days to get done...
At the moment I'm attempting to have the previous webmaster update the TAGS.
I convinced the client that this was the easiest way to go, but i wish i had listened to them now.
The ex-webmaster is 45 and lives with his mum. Up till today he has been avoiding all contact and even had his mum telling callers he was ill in bed.
Anyway today I gave it the full wack, told his mum that he was commiting theft (which technically he is) and that we would sue him for all the relevent stuff and take action against the theft charges too.
After I told her it was about time her 45 year old baby did the manly thing an speak to me, he eventually came to the phone with a very false cough.
He tried to avoid the issue and claim it was a misunderstanding. Said if i emailed him the details he would get on with it.
Well, he still hasn't and so i sent him a very polite and diplamatic email stating i was disappointed by his unprofessional attitude and that if he not take action by xyz time, we would contact nominent and later see him the small claims court to recover the costs involved with nominet and my own time etc
I don't hold out much hope for him doing anything, and quite frankily I am discussed to think this guy works in my industy. I have it in my right mind to contact all his customers and reveal to them just what hes upto.
But that wouldn't be very professional on my part, and I won't stoop to his levels.
Oh yeah this same guy fiddles with peoples stats so that it appears they are getting hugh amounts of traffic since they were listed on his site, when in reality they are not. I have been involved personally with this on one occasion and know of at least one over occasion when hes been caught out. I only wish there was some kind of industry board i could report him too
Pheww long post. Apologies, I feel better now though ;)
I only use fasthots UKreg service and then point the name servers in the right direction.
From my point of view they offer the best service to me for price, ease of use, full control of domains etc etc
So it makes sense to let them do all the hardwork automating the control while I worry about being a web designer. :D
