Letter recieved from hosts this morning

Wondered if this was common place?

[limbo]

I have been banging my head against a brick wall for 10 days now. We have deicded to ditch our hosts and this was there response to a transfer request:

Transfer OUT Procedure for Biz, Org and Info

This is a manual process and could take weeks or even months to complete.

1. Customer needs to obtain Authorisation code from the current ISP Registrar (the company used by the previous ISP to register Domains).
(This is *****, usually takes two weeks or more).

2.Customer needs to ask ***** them to open a transfer window and request a transfer out.
This will cost £39.00 + VAT

3. Once the gaining host receives the Authorisation code and the transfer window is open the transfer may start to take place.

4. The gaining host will send a Fax to their Registrar with the authorisation code and other relevant details.

5. The gaining host hope that ***** act on the Fax before the transfer window closes with *****.

6. The Domain Transfers across or the Domain does not transfer across.

If the Domain doesn’t transfer across, the customer needs to go back to Step 1, for a new Authorisation code, and start it all again.

Good Luck!

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I have never tried to transfer a .org before - infact I rarely deal with this TLD. Surely this is just terrible service and not common place?

[kaled]

It's outside my knowledge and experience, but.....

Surely you just need to log into your registrar's account, change the settings and wait for servers across the globe to update themselves. Of course, you need to install your site on the new host first and I think people recommend you keep the old host active until Googlebot, etc shows up at the new host but that should not be an issue.

I do recall that there was a policy change some months ago with respect to transfers due to security concerns, so perhaps this letter is accurate, but it sounds like BS to me.

Kaled.

[Harry]

They are yanking your chain. Don't believe them.

Find another host and start the procedure with the new provider. Rules about transfers were chanded last year to overcome unscrupulous Web hosting companies like this one. Unless your domain is locked, they can't stop any process once you start it with another host.

One thing I'm not clear about your transfer request is what exactly you want to transfer? Do you want to transfer the domain registration or the Web hosting?

Also, did you purchase both Web hosting and domain with the same provider?

[limbo]

Thanks for the replies. You have compounded my thoughts. We approached our new hosts and spoke about the best course of action and the transfer will be much swifter than than our previous company detailed.

(when we used our old hosts they dealt with registration issues but they have failed to please us on numerous occasions - hence the move)

The new host will also act as registrar - would you say I would be better to deal with registrars direct - this way seems to be more convoluted but it makes reselling a cinch becasue I can order domains and add hosting from the same cpanel.

[wheel]

Oh woe is me too. I put my registration with a company then moved my hosting over to them later. Now I want to move my registrations elsewhere (to a company I ran into at WMM pubcon) and am having some issues as well.

I've been told that my current registrar needs to approve any transfers out. That can be a delay as it's not a priority for my current registrar. i'm finding transfer requests are timing out because my current registrar never gets around to approving them.

Is this approval process not the case? Is there a way to speed up the process without getting into facing paperwork and stuff? More specifically, does a current registrar not have to approve transfer out requests?

[econman]

I get the impression you might be confusing your web hosting service with your domain registrar. (That's easy to do, because the same firms often function in both capacities).

It should be very easy to change domain registrars. Pick the new one you want to use, (search for domain registration service or a similar search string) and initiate a transfer + 1 year renewal.

You should only end up paying for the time extension on your domain registration -- the cost should be around $9 to $15 retail for a 1 year extension (this is a competitive business, prices vary, as does the level of support you will receive).

You will need authorization codes for certain TLDs (e.g. .info); you must obtain these codes from your existing registrar; just send them a request through their help desk or email support process.

However, be aware of the fact that as you change registrars you may also need to change hosts (e.g. if you are currently purchasing both functions from the same firm). That aspect of the process is the more complex one, and will depend heavily on the new firm you select. A good hosting firm should provide an adequate explanation, and/or provide telephone support, to help you figure out what you will need to do, and in which order each task needs to be accomplished.

[econman]

One more point of clarification: your existing registrar MUST allow domains to be transferred to other firms. They have no discretion; however, you will need auth codes in some cases. If your existing registrar fails to allow transfers they can potentially lose the right to handle that domains within that TLD. However, you will need to complain to the registry that handles that TLD (e.g. Afilias is the firm that runs .info), since they are the "cop on the beat" who can help keep the retail registrars honest.