Free Domain? Or Not!?

[andychev]

Ok heres the story,

Several years ago, bout 5, (before i switched to glowhost) i signed up for a hosting account with someone else who provided a 'free' domain........... ok you know whats coming!

Everything was great for a while but then they closed their forums and stopped contact with everyone etc etc i have tried for years to get in touch with them through e-mail, phone, fax, i even went to their 'offices' to find it was basically a 'rent an address' the hosting has been very sporadic and just recently it has been offline more than on.

Now the trouble i have is that they registered this 'free' domain in their own name. I have tried for years to get this transfered or the hosting changed etc etc but with no contact that has been impossible. I am now at the point where i either need to get this domain registed in my name or i need to completely change my busines name and domain the whole lot! the domain is autovinyl.co.uk

Does anyone have any experience of this and how to claim back what should have been mine in the first place!? or any suggestions?

[Matt]

The best way to get an answer is to not let them get away with it by hiding their identity. You'd be surprised at the response you can get if you post their name for all to see......

So common, who is it that's holding your domain hostage? I have a few tricks up my sleeve depending on who they are. Is it Pipex or 123-reg.co.uk?

[andychev]

I also have 30 domains registered through these people which i would love to transfer to glowhost (these ones are under my name). As although they use a third party to register domains i have nightmares that the sub domain (of theirs) that i use to administer these will disapear one day and never come back! What is the easiest/cost effective way of doing this? Is it just a matter of putting a transfer in when they are due for renewal? and working through them that way over a few years?

[andychev]

I wasnt sure you would want me to post their domain, but as you asked im more than happy to name and shame them www.prowebspace.com they also own and run www.hostelite.com/ probably the worst hosting company on the planet! They obviously used 123reg to register the 'free' domain at the start.

[Matt]

For the 30 domains I suggest using our sister site, InstaPro.net. They have a bulk domain transfer deal which is very sweet.

I actually recommend people keep their domains separate from their hosts because of the nightmares I hear about their host and the fine print that goes along with their so called "free" domain registration.

We actually register the domain in your name, most others register it in theirs then try to sell it to you at a later date, or worse. Stories of hosting companies selling someone's domain to the highest bidder comes to mind.

So anyways, lesson learned. Make sure the domain is always registered in your domain and then you actually do have some recourse with the ICANN Accredited Registrars. Let me see what I can dig up on the name....

[andychev]

try doing a search for them on google, they are notorious! ive just tried transfering one of the domains as a test and put in the auth code etc it is now 'waiting for current registrar approval' something is telling me im not going to get this!

Slight trouble with instapro, they dont accept transfers of .co.uk domains

[Matt]

I googled them. I also went to their website and tried to submit a question using their contact form, which is broken. I would say things do not look promising on that domain unfortunately.

[Ricardo]

I'm pretty new here and I'm sorry to hear about these problems.

I'm also fairly new to looking into domains. Could you direct me to an introduction of your services here? Sorry if I've missed it.

[Matt]

Hello Ricardo,

Welcome to our forums

Does these links for domain name services help any?

Free Domain Registration
Paid Domain Registration Services

[vorpalbunny]

Hi andychev,

And here I was thinking my former host was the worst one in the world!

I'm a newbie and not at all well informed on technical matters, so I'm going to assume you've tried changing the nameservers and that didn't work (which is what I was advised to do when I had a similar problem; fortunately, it worked for me.)

Instead, could you possibly register a domain name that is very similar to your old one? Perhaps something like "bestautovinyl" or "auto_vinyl"? I wouldn't think that changing your domain name would necessarily require changing your business name; a lot of businesses have domain names that do not exactly match their business name. It's not going to make you look disreputable and you won't have to get new letterhead, business cards, etc.

My sympathies for the frustration you're going through. I hope it all works out well for you.