got a domain there which registrar lock is ON , but i can't see any option to turn it off

plus i contacted icann@totalnic.net and it replied to me with this error:

This is a delivery status notification from webhost1.capital.hm,
running the Courier mail server, version 0.32.0.

The original message was received on Mon, 03 Nov 2003 02:08:35 -0700
from localhost.kuwaitnet.net ([::ffff:])

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

DELAYS IN DELIVERING YOUR MESSAGE

The delivery of the following E-mail message has been delayed. This is an
advisory notice only; it is sent only to notify you about a temporary delay
in delivering your message. You DO NOT need to do anything at this time.
Additional attempts to deliver your message will be made. Some possible
reasons for this delay:

* Network congestion or failure.

* The destination mail server is temporarily off-line.

Diagnostic information is provided below for each recipient. If copies of
this message were sent to additional recipients, deliveries to those
addresses are not included in this notice. This is an advisory notice for
the following addresses only:

<icann@totalnic.net>:
<<< Connection timed out

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

If your message was also sent to additional recipients, their delivery
status is not included in this report. You may or may not receive
other delivery status notifications for additional recipients.

The original message follows as a separate attachment.


any idea ?

Try contacting their support and asking them to turn it off. Some registrars do that but won't give registrant the option to turn it off.

I had the same problem with bulkregister.

yeah emailed them and waiting

coz no option at their POOR control panel does it

Good luck! I've been trying for a year now to transfer many domain names away from TotalNIC - They will find any excuse to not release the domain to another registrar.

After 10 months, they now write to me and tell me that my domain name is within 30 days of it's expiration date, and will require a renewal.

These jerks are breaking every ICANN established rule. Here's a snippit of some of ICANN's rules that TotalNIC is supposed to follow:


Registrars would be prohibited from using "Registrar Lock" in order to secure payment from registrants (TTF §2.20).

Losing registrars would be limited to only seven possible reasons for denying a transfer request – fraud, UDRP action, court order, identity dispute, non-payment for current or previous registration term with domain on "Registrar Hold," express objection from the registrant or administrative contact, or failure of the gaining registrar to follow the minimum required transfer procedures (TTF §§ 3.5, 5.21).

Losing registrars would be prohibited from preventing transfers of names that are on "Registrar Lock" status (*Note: this provision would appear to require modification of the registry software and specifications since currently all transfer requests for domains on registrar lock result in an error.) (TTF §3.6.iii).

eah same here they didnt let me transfer out the domain and i had to renew it

what can we do in such cases report them to ICANN ?

Here's the deal with TotalNIC

You can't transfer a domain name if it has been registered or renewed within the past 150 days (ICANN regulation says you should be able to transfer it after the 61st day).

You can't transfer a domain name if it expires within the next 30 days (ICANN says you should be able to transfer a domain name so long as it is in a paid status).

However, the main issue with TotalNIC is that they auto lock all domain names on their system. They are not declining the transfer, they simply block the request from ever getting to them by locking the domain names.

To unlock your domain name with them, you must get a form they email to you, and provide a notarized copy of your drivers license, and the form they provide to you. If there is a business listed as the registrant or in the registrant information, you will also need to provide a notarized copy of the business license etc.

Once you have all of that, you have to mail the information to them in Australia. You can only use USPS, and can not send the mail via any method that requires personal attention (no registered mail or FedEX).

IF you are able to convince them that you sent the information (it seems to get lost in the mail a lot), they will unlock your domain name ..... for 10 days. After the 10 days, they lock your domain name again, and it's time to start all over.

As someone mentioned, they have been working on a transfer for 10 months. I have heard of people trying to transfer their name for 2 years and never getting anywhere.

Also, TotalNIC is currently under investigation by the ACCC, Australia's version of the BBB / FTC I think.

As for the ICANN rules that they are breaking, it seems to just be the one that says a domain name should be able to be unlocked by an easy method, and their method is anything but.

I bid you the best of luck :/

Originally posted by DanimalEQ
To unlock your domain name with them, you must get a form they email to you, and provide a notarized copy of your drivers license, and the form they provide to you. If there is a business listed as the registrant or in the registrant information, you will also need to provide a notarized copy of the business license etc.

Once you have all of that, you have to mail the information to them in Australia. You can only use USPS, and can not send the mail via any method that requires personal attention (no registered mail or FedEX).

IF you are able to convince them that you sent the information (it seems to get lost in the mail a lot), they will unlock your domain name ..... for 10 days. After the 10 days, they lock your domain name again, and it's time to start all over.

As someone mentioned, they have been working on a transfer for 10 months. I have heard of people trying to transfer their name for 2 years and never getting anywhere.
I did all that, don't waste your time. I'd like to know if there is anyone who has ever successfully transfered a domain registered with Totalnic to another registrar. Anyone? I've yet to run across someone who has, but maybe these people exist.

I didn't pay them, let the domain expire, they kept it for nearly a year but dropped it eventually. It's now available to be registered (currently unregistered and free like a bird, away from Totalnic's clutches).

My story (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=52753&highlight=totalnic) and countless others' stories (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/search.php?s=&action=showresults&searchid=1812485&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending).

but Chichen my domains is really valuable domain i can't just let it drop and re-register it or even backorder it!

i think i'll approach icann if they dont unlock my domain!

Good luck. TotalNic shold have been yanked a long time ago, you aren't the first one to have problems, and you won't be the last. If it's truly valuable to you, then I'd just continue paying TotalNic (what they want you to do), while you try to resolve the issue (which will make you old and gray).

I deal with many people who transfer domains to and from various registrars. Many have tried transferring from them. So far, 2 have had partial success, after a year of sending mail to Australia. And by partial, I mean they had 4 domains on the request, but only 2 of them ever got unlocked.

ICANN won't do crap.

ACCC gives back a canned response that yes, TotalNIC is underinvestigation, and check up on Australian law to find out the scope of what the ACCC covers.

Yes, Exactly ICANN does crap...they gave us the exact same answer that its under investigation. That was more than a year back.

Totalnic are real b*astards, we've been forced to renew with them for last 4 years.

To the guy who was suggesting that we should let domain drop...Totalnic beats that too, they ACTUALLY auto-renewed the domain and suspended it. After that we had no option but to pay them.

Search for "TotalNIC sucks" on Google :D

Did you get it through Snapnames ?

Maybe try and get them to unlock it for you

I have been trying for months to transfer away my domins. So far no luck. Icaan refered my complaint to a person who never will respoond to my emails, voice mails or snail mails I have sent. I have one person at Icaan who is responding and trying to help but in 4 months I am going to hve to renew some of the 17 domains they hold hostage. It is amazing there behavior is allowed. I did receive mail from the Austrailian ACCC and they added me to there list of complaints.But I have not gotten an email from them in 6 Months. when I first started my quest. I figure eventaually someone will get something done.

one of the biggest domain owners has some domains there and couldn't get them out of there..

i think he spoken to his lawyers to open a legal case about this :) i hope they learn from this.

OMG, is this for real? I just got a domain through fastsnaps. It's totalNIC.net :(.

Add me to a complaint list, I was about to register totalnicsucks.com but turned out there was a site already.

Good luck getting the name away. Someone should call up Dan at icann and give him an earful

you wont be able to get it away UNLESS its not locked.

i got some names there and wasn't locked until i told them how come one of names aren't locked and rest are ? so they got all names LOCKED :angry:

they should change their name to TotalLOCK

Well, i had to loose some money long back when i tried using GoDaddy Domain Transfer and TotalNic refused to respond.

So i guess we are stuck with totalnic.


SR Prasad

You should not be charged for a transfer that did not occur.

TotalNIC really sucks, I got the same problem here.

Does anyone know their office address? (Is it in australia)
Let's LOCK 'em up :D

I'll keep trying to transfer my name from them, although it seems like i have to renew my domain for another year.

Please keep posting especially if someone succeeded to transfer a domain away from them.

Cheers

With Totalnic the solution would be a guided Cruise missile. They are by far the worst "registrar" out there.

Originally posted by timechange.com
They are by far the worst "registrar" out there.

100% COrrect

Has anyone ever taken legal action against TotalNIC? I'm sure if an Australian actually decided to take action against TotalNIC, things would actually work out. There's no way TotalNIC can just rot away abusing its registrar status

International Court of Justice. . . hmm. :homer:

wow, this is terrible i am glad i have read about this now, I use enom for most of my domains, also have a few different ones But i'm glad I didn't try this one, it sounds like one big trap, I hope no one else falls vicitm to this registrar. I really which icann would do something about this and make some sort of action instead of taking complains and "investigating".

even BIG BIG domain owners couldn't get their domains out of there _yet_

he raised the issue to court and waiting for finalization, hopefully he can sue them real hard to stop this childresh aciton

What??
Even BIG domain owners couldn't get their domains out of TotalNIC???
That means there's no way I can transfer my domain out from TotalNIC either, how sad??!!!

I'll keep trying to transfer it out from them although I have to renew it for another year.

maybe unless you're in australia and visit them personally ? :D

Damn,

I really wanted a domain that has been registered through total nic. I tried grabbing it, but the owner kept renewing it every year. This year, the price being sold has been the lowest ever, and all I'm hearing is horror stories about total nic.

:bawling: Maybe I should just sacrafice the fee.

same here i got a domain grapped by snapnames and could't get it out till i sold it for someone and let him deal with it :P

my 3 names left there will be following the same issue and i will keep renewing for double or even triple of market price..

HI Everybody,

I've just come across this thread and I so pleased to see I'm not alone here!

I've been trying, on and off, to get a domain out of TotalNic for 3 years... Jumped through all their hoops -- notarized documents sent by ordinary airmail etc. They just sent standard replies to my messages saying that the administrative contact would be informed when the domaim was unlocked. It never was. I then had to renew again with them. !6 messages later and 3 months after renewal, I'm going to try again.

The problem is, I cc'd some of my letters to the Australian Authorities and TotallNic made that an excuse to tell me that they would now only correspond with me my s-mail. It is obvious that all my letters will "go astray"!

Nobody seems to be doing anything at all about this. TotalNic seem to be able to get away with murder. Can't we complain to anyone? Surely their refusal to even reply to their customers and their holding us hostage MUST quite simply be illegal. Can we complain to the police?

Does anyone have any ideas? Isn't there anyone local who can go knocking on their door?

Cheers

Johnda

It sucks that even AFTER jumping through hoops they won't unlock you... I figure they'd discourage enough people with the notarized letter to australia that they could unlock the few people that do follow through.

This is very bad.

I tried getting ICANN but totally no reply from them. Anyone tried with better results?

ICANN doesn't care.

Arent they suppose to be the authority?

Yes, but it doesn't mean they care or enforce any rules.

I cc'd ICANN most of my emails (with TotalNic's messages quoted -- that was why TotlaNic decided to not correspond with me any more by email) Pity I bothered, because out of about 10 emails sent (either cc'd to ICANN or messages sent specifically to them) not one got a reply.

No they don't care. The irony is that Totalnic's email address is icann@totalnic!

I was wondering if there is any organization we can contact in Australia that deals with illegal activities. Totalnic is definitely infringing the law and nobody seems to be protecting the "consumer"

I'm thinking in terms of an ombudsman, mediator, police, chamber of commerce... but, up to now, haven't got very far.

Has anybody got any bright ideas? Perhaps we people in the same boat should join forces and work together?

Cheers

Johnda

Hi again,

For info, appropriate articles governing such practices which TotalNic are not complying with are:


1) ICAN's Policies and Processes for Gaining and Losing Registrars, article 1:

"Registrants must be able to transfer their domain name registrations between Registrars provided that the Gaining Registrar's transfer process follows minimum standards and such transfer is not prohibited by ICANN or Registry policies."

2) Australian Trade Practices Act Section 46: "abusive trade practice and misuse of market power"

3) Australian Trade Practices Act Section 45: "Arrangements which Restrict Dealings or affect Competition"

and...

4) It MUST be illegal for a company to "cut off" all forms of communication with the clients they are holding hostage.

- only a phone number in the US where all they can say is to send an email/letter to Australia and then ...

- ignoring emails sent to them

- no working phone number in Australia

- they refuse any mail they have to sign for (FedEx, registered mail, recorded delivery...)

- as for any other mail, they claim they have not received it!

- no names (contacts, directors etc)


Quite apart from this, a long time ago, they disabled my 11 Olympic-related domain names just before the Sydney Olympics, after which, of course, these names were useless! I lost the names and I lost $385 in fees paid to them! That is an old long complicated story and I don't want to confuse the present issue, but I can say that their behaviour amounts to "theft" and remains unpunished.

Cheers

Johnda

quit trying, big big big domain owners couldn't get the domains away from totalnic.

Originally posted by Bashar
quit trying, big big big domain owners couldn't get the domains away from totalnic.

We can't just sit back and let them get away with this! As far as i know, Australia is a free, fair and democatic country. Surely the Australian authorities can't just let law-breakers have their way? But the Authorities may need "pushing" a bit. Otherwise they will always have "more important" things to deal with!

Cheers

Johnda

just let me know if tehre is anything to sign ill go and sign it :D

They're real crooks. Nothing will stop them. I have been trying to get domains away from them for 2 years. No success. I sent them a notarized form by registered mail, it bounced. They will use any legal & illegal method to prevent you from transferring your domain names to other registrars. They're criminals.

If you want their contact details in Australia, here it is:

www_totalnic_net_au/contact.htm (replace _ with dots)

Contact Us

By email to: icann@TotalNIC.net
Transfers: transfers@TotalNIC.net

By phone: +61 2 9233 6100
By fax: +61 2 9475 1235

If you have a complaint please address it to us by email to hostmaster@TotalNIC.net. If the complaint concerns a .AU domain registration you may have the right to complain to AuDA in the second instance. Information on AuDA's complaints policy can be found at www_auda_org_au/registrars/complaints.html

They have been playing these games for a long time, I am shocked they are allowed to continue

Everybody seems to agree that TotalNick is TotalCrook, but they continue to get away with it in a civilised and democratic country. It's amazing!

Doesn't anyone know who we can EFFECTIVELY complain to? Some organization in Australia who will take action. Is it any use complaining to the police? Is there any simple and cheap procedure (small claims court, for example)?

Who can answer these questions? So far I've had little success in getting any real answer, personally.

Lucky for me I didnt use my money on notarised letters, I just continue paying, notarised letter about US$60 might as well continue paying. If u pay and dun transfer totalnic quite ok....

I don't think the police will do anything. I already complained to ICANN and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), they both didn't help. I doubt it if there is any solution besides suing them. They're crooks, nothing will stop them. Even if somebody sues them I don't think there will be any solution for the rest of us, unless we all sue them together. And even if we do sue them, they may use illegal methods to prevent us from transferring our domains away from them. Like I said they're real crooks, and nothing will stop them. This company is operated by the devil himself.

:mad: :mad: :mad:

one big domain player has raised this issue to court. lets hope he win and this dilemma ends soon.

one big domain player has raised this issue to court

Can you give us more information about this lawsuit? Any information will help. I also think I will have to sue them myself.

i personaly know one big domain player which he told me he raised a lawsuit against totalnic, not sure where is the info about it. ill ask and get back to you :)

Interesting! I'd like to know too, Bashar

Johnda

I would be very interested to know what big player is involved

Interesting thread, never had any dealings with Totalnic until last week when a customer wanted to transfer over 100 domains who are registered there - seems like no chance

On checking though there is 2 ( maybe more) that lapsed last year and never renewed, these domains are still listed with Totalnic no redemption period no nothing so seems like they are not even dropping the ones that don't get paid.

Goldwing, I feel sorry for you and your customer. TotalNIC will never release 100 domains. 100 domains mean $3500 for them every 2 years, or $2000 every year. It's a lot of money for them, and they will do enything to prevent your customer from changing to another registrar. Trust me, I know. I had about 30 domains registered with them, and I have been trying to transfer them for over 2 years. No success. TotalNIC will not release them. The only solution for your customer is to hire a lawyer and sue them. Of course I wish your customer good luck, but I'm very skeptical. If you do succeed, please write us here.

$50 he won't be able to move single domain
double or nothing ? :dgrin:

Hi Everybody,

Nobody ever seems to answer my posts (with a constructive reply!) about HOW we can complain to WHICH authorities about TotalCrook's ILLEGAL actions.

When someone harms another person (or entity) the offender can expect to be sued. When they systematically conduct a business illegally, surely they should be prevented from doing so by the legal authorities of their country.

I repeat, does anyone have any idea of what action we can ALL take in contacting WHICH Australian (or other) authorities? Totalnic is breaking the law.

Johnda

Johnda wrote:

Nobody ever seems to answer my posts (with a constructive reply!) about HOW we can complain to WHICH authorities about TotalCrook's ILLEGAL actions.

Good question, no answer. We don't know, sorry. We already tried everything. I think the only solution is suing them. Or you can hire a lawyer and try to settle with them. Besides this, I don't think there is any solution. I wish there was.

they did not harm you by keeping their domain with them and renewing at higher price did they?

or paying extra is harming?

i'd advice you to contact some spesific domain lawyer like www.esqwire.com and ask him.

Johnda,

Try complaining to auDA (www.auda.org.au) and also to ICANN again. Write to Dan Halloran <halloran@icann.org> and maybe other staff members and directors. You can see their names and contact details here:

http://www.icann.org/general/staff.html
http://www.icann.org/general/board.html

If they don't respond, write all the staff and directors of ICANN. If they still don't respond, write them again.

If you find a solution, please let us know!

I complained to auDA and they said they can't do anything, but here is their suggestion:

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission enforces and regulates company and financial services laws to protect consumers, investors and creditors. They have a complaints section which you can find at
http://www.asic.gov.au/asic/asic.nsf/byheadline/Complaining+about+companies+or+people?openDocument

Another TotalNic Victim here, hope they get sued!

I heard that people already sued them and won. I don't know all the details, but I think it's a good idea to sue them. Here is the details of the lawyers of some of the people who sued them. If you want you can contact them for more information:

Att: Andrew Ball (Solicitors)
Coady Barristers & Solicitors
15th Floor, 535 Bourke Street, Melbourne 3000
Telephone: (03) 9621 1499
Facsimile: (03) 9621 1804
http://www.coadys.com.au
Email: jacki@coadys.com.au (his assistant)