Domain name resold, no contact, no service

[jambafish]

In 1999 I started a literary movement in California. In 2002 I built and managed the website with its own domain name. I just renewed the name with my registrar this July before leaving on vacation. When I returned my site was missing because the domain had been turned off.

After several failed attempts to contact them I finally got through to someone who told me "it's too late, there ain't much you can do now." I have been trying to contact various people for help, but a couple of days ago they sold the domain to another company.

There were no emails sent to me about this and out of the 4 contacts I've had with my registrar 3x they tried to tell me I didn't register with them.

Any suggestions about how I can fight this or get my domain name back? How is this possible?

Thanks,
Jamba

[edited by: engine at 2:23 pm (utc) on Oct. 27, 2004]
[edit reason] No specifics, thanks. [/edit]

[davezan]

Before the mods edited your post, I posted this question to another favorite
forum of mine where many of that company's regulars visit. I'll get back to you
if I get any response from them.

Going back to your post at hand, some questions:

1. The company that managed your domain name is actually a reseller, not a
registrar. Did you get any receipt confirming renewal and payment?

2. Did you get any email from that reseller saying something might have been
possibly violated? (i.e. AUP, inaccurate contact info, etc.)

[jambafish]

Thanks:

1. The company that managed your domain name is actually a reseller, not a registrar. Did you get any receipt confirming renewal and payment?

>This is pathetic, but yes. I did. Electronically, and then I deleted it when I was cleaning house. Arg. What's worse, is that we are now unable to locate the record with the bank because I closed the account recently. I've been terribly sloppy because we moved to another state. The day I renewed my domain and hosting and fixed some scripts we had a little party about it because it was one less thing we were going to have to deal with at the time.

2. Did you get any email from that reseller saying something might have been possibly violated? (i.e. AUP, inaccurate contact info, etc.)

>No nothing. I recently went to Registerfly and (regardless of their telling me the first 3x that I was never a customer of theirs) I filled out a lost password form and they sent it to the address I had set aside for just their email. My email was working and nothing ever went to my other physical address.

[davezan]

Hmmmm, if indeed you renewed the domain name last July, it should've been renewed.
One possibility is that the cc used (you payed by cc, right?) might have encountered
problems and thus the reseller wasn't able to process your renewal.

If that happened, they definitely would notify you about it.

BTW, I just got a reply from one of my friends at the other forum. I gave you their
email address at your inbox, check it out.

If the name turned out to have not been renewed for one reason or another, they
no doubt deleted it eventually due to non-payment. Then someone picked it up.

If you contacted them again and they confirmed what I sent you, let me know and
let's see if we can take another step forward. Be prepared for the possibility, though,
that the name might be gone for good. :(

Good luck.

[jambafish]

thanks : again

Dave:

>I paid by CC, and I am in the process of contacting all of my banks to look for the record. They never sent anything telling me there was an issue. They never sent anything telling me I might lose my domain. They were unhelpful when I finally got ahold of them.
I've had some contact with the support address you quoted me. For a while everything that went to <their support> bounced. (I've seen other postings about this issue.) They basically told me they have nothing showing they are in the wrong. My lawyer says crooks always burn their files because poeple dont keep good records. I guess I learned my lesson.

Regardless, I dont know what they will possibly tell me now. The address was sold by <company 1> to <company 2> who in turn sold it to <company 3>.

Anyway, I have contacted all parties and asked how we can work together to get this domain name back. So far the emails have been cold and unhelpful.

I have been up for days now with this and I'm getting a little worn down. If there is something I forgot to answer, apologies.

At this point, I am ready to buy another domain name so I can join the long list of anti <edit> sites out there.

Thanks again for your ongoing help.

[edited by: tedster at 2:34 am (utc) on Oct. 28, 2004]
[edit reason] remove specifics [/edit]

[vkaryl]

Sad as this situation is for any number of reasons, I do believe that you SHOULD at this point register another domain name. First thing is of course that domains aren't very expensive; second thing is that by doing this you WILL begin to dig your way out of your current "black hole" - some movement in any direction is better than none.

It's truly unfortunate when you fall afoul of "a business gone wrong" no matter in which industry, but the WORST thing you can do is sit and do nothing....

[Dan_Norder]

I've got a lot of names at <regsitrar> because they were cheap, and I'm slowing working on moving them all out, because I've had no end of problems. I could give a long list of just what I've personally encountered, let alone what I've heard.

Because I trust them so little, I manually check my names at the whois services of *other* sites. There's the main registry, and then the records each registrar hold. I know <this registrar's WhoIs> is wonky, because it tells me that names I have with them that are due on a date well before what the main registry entries say they should be due... sometimes the date they claim my names expire are *three months* before they are actually supposed to be do... like when they renew for a year they shave some days off of it so you have to pay sooner next time.

Last summer sometime while I was doublechecking my names I discovered that three of the ones I renewed a couple weeks earlier and had a receipt for were not actually showing an extra year on the whois records elsewhere. So I wrote to them and said, hey, I paid, receipt #, and your files indicate that the expiration date has been moved until next year, but the main registry says they expire in a week. What gives?

Turns out they took my money and forgot to actually renew them for real, and if I hadn't been paranoid and checked it myself I would have lost three of my names. At that point they did renew them, but I shouldn;t have to tell them, you know?

And it sounds like right around the same time you had your problem.

Honestly though, once someone else has it, it's next to impossible to get it back. Registration agreements typically only cover a refund for whatever you paid to renew and not actually getting the name back if it accidentally goes elsewhere. They try to disclaim all responsibility. Short of a long court battle with no guarantees or buying it off the new owners, you aren't likely to see this name again.

[edited by: tedster at 3:15 am (utc) on Oct. 28, 2004]
[edit reason] remove specifics [/edit]

[jambafish]

Sorry to the moderator for mentioning names. I did feel it was crucial that it is known my domain was sold to a company who has lost court cases over their having ended up owning the domains for other established companies. In that light I dont feel like somehow this is only my issue.

I bought other domains today and I will take the advice. Unfortunately, we are known around the world by the other name and the entire site is built around that name, blah blah.

God, I'm so upset I could kick something at this point. Anyway, I will keep looking for the receipt and in the meantime move forward with trying to get the site up again...of course anything that goes up will have a link to the reasoning for the name change and all the people on our mailing list will get the info and a warning since many of them work in computing.

J