I used to have a website at WebWorkzCentral (aka WebWorkzNetwork). A
neighbor asked me to design a website for her business, so I helped
her to set up a hosting account at WebWorkzCentral (since I had been
happy with them) and designed the site for her.

About 2 weeks ago, I got an e-mail from WebWorkzCentral saying that
the company was closing down due to lingering problems from Hurricane
Rita, and all their sites would go offline in a few days. Since I was
going to be out of town that week, I didn't have time to do anything
about this until this past weekend. (I e-mailed my neighbor to let her
know that I would be working on it.)

I looked over all the information I had saved/printed from my own
website, and saw that my domain name had been registered through
name.com. So I signed up for a hosting account with GoDaddy (since I
currently have another site there and it's been working fine) and
logged into my account at name.com to change the nameservers.
Everything worked fine, so my domain is back up and running.

However, when I looked at the information I had saved/printed from my
neighbor's website, I saw nothing from name.com. Upon doing a whois
search for the domain, it appears that WebWorkzCentral is/was the
registrar. Below is a portion of the whois record (e-mail addresses have been modified to show "*AT*", and web addresses have been modified to show "dot-com" due to the fact that I can't show e-mail or web links yet, because this is my first post):

------------------------------
[whois-dot-OnlineNIC-dot-com]
The Data in OnlineNIC's WHOIS database is provided by OnlineNIC
for information purposes, and to assist persons in obtaining
information about or related to a domain name registration record.
OnlineNIC does not guarantee its accuracy. By starting a WHOIS
query, you agree that you will use this Data only for lawful
purposes and that, under no circumstances will you use this Data
to:
(1)allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass
unsolicited,commercial advertising or solicitations via e-mail(spam).
(2)enable high volume,automated, electronic processes that apply
to OnlineNIC Inc.(or its systems).

OnlineNIC reserves the right to modify these terms at any time.
By starting this query, you agree to abide by this policy.


Registrant:
WebWorkz Customer Registration (admin*AT*webworkznetwork.com) +1.4097679090
Webworkz Network, Inc.
719-B Procter Street
Port Arthur,Texas,US 77640


Domain servers in listed order:
ns2.mcc-sys-dot-com ns3.mcc-sys-dot-com

Administrator:
Name-- Dean McClendon
EMail-: (admin*AT*webworkznetwork.com)
tel --: +1.4097679090
org: Webworkz Network, Inc.
719-B Procter Street
Port Arthur,Texas,US 77640

Technical Contactor:
Name-- Dean McClendon
EMail-: (admin*AT*webworkznetwork.com)
tel --: +1.4097679090
org: Webworkz Network, Inc.
719-B Procter Street
Port Arthur,Texas,US 77640

Billing Contactor:
Name-- Dean McClendon
EMail-: (admin*AT*webworkznetwork.com)
tel --: +1.4097679090
org: Webworkz Network, Inc.
719-B Procter Street
Port Arthur,Texas,US 77640


Registration Service Provider:
name: Webworkz Network, Inc.
tel: +1.4097679090
fax: +1.4095151213
web: webworkznetwork-dot-com

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

The original e-mail from WebWorkzCentral stated that "If you purchased
a domain through us, we will continue to renew your domains and
assist with transfer requests." The e-mail asked us to use support
through e-mail and their website, rather than by phone. However, an
e-mail to their technical support address (admin*AT*webworkznetwork.com)
received no reply.

Does anyone know how I can go about accessing my neighbor's domain
account, so that I can set her up with a new host and transfer the
nameservers? What happens to a domain if the registrar goes out of
business?

Thanks,
Jaclyn

Should still be registered to an extent. Most domain registrars are just resellers, so the domain probably still goes through a parent company.

The problem you have is that you or your friend aren't down as the administrator, it might be worth getting in touch with onlinenic.com who are the registrar and might help.

Should still be registered to an extent. Most domain registrars are just resellers, so the domain probably still goes through a parent company.

If they are a domain registrar they are not a reseller. Registrars are like godaddy, tucows, netsol a reseller is like namecheap and others

Was the domain name acquired as part of signing up with a hosting package with
the company in question? If yes, what you saw is almost "typical" of such.

Unfortunately many people don't know this. And this can potentially hurt bad.

BTW, the hosting company appears to be a reseller for the actual registrar named
Bulkregister:

http://www.iwhois.com/index.php?domain=webworkznetwork&tld=com&lookup=Lookup&clean=1

Domain Name: WEBWORKZNETWORK.COM
Registrar: BULKREGISTER, LLC.

Your only chance is to persist with the hosting company in question before asking
Bulkregister to step in...if they'll step in at all.

Read the TOS very closely. I have seen a number of people burned by doing their research BEFORE they signed the dotted line

in this case i believe onlinenic.com can help you out if they are your domain parent registrar

I was wondering what you were able to do about your domain name locked up by WebWorkz? PLEASE advise. The SAME has happened to me! gojjr.

I used to have a website at WebWorkzCentral (aka WebWorkzNetwork). A
neighbor asked me to design a website for her business, so I helped
her to set up a hosting account at WebWorkzCentral (since I had been
happy with them) and designed the site for her.


Thanks,
Jaclyn


I had the same problem. a client of mine lost www dot cbshots dot com
This site is a very established site linked to photos my client has had published in several international publications. The link is referenced all over the world.

If anyone can help me recover this site, it will really help my client (self-employed artist - read "starving artist")

Thanks for any help.

Jon Howard

Was the domain name acquired as part of signing up with a hosting package with the company in question? If yes, what you saw is almost "typical" of such.

The day that you wake up and discover that your hosting company just went dark (all the servers turned off, emails bounce, phone disconnected) is not the day that you want to try to access the same dead website or call the same disconnected number in order to transfer your domain to another hosting company...
:eek:

Guy Macon
http://www.guymacon.com/

Guy, I've been working for months to get this domain back. We received an email from the company as things got "bad" down there. Then, all contact has gone unanswered.

I've called several companies, searched on the "new" contact's info. To no avail.

This is a pretty serious loss for my client. We did everything we were told to do. We still lost the domain.

Any ..constructive.. help will be greatly appreciated...

The obvious first things to try are:

[1] Sing up with Pool, SnapNames, Godaddy, and anyone else who will backorder a domain and have them try to get it for you in case it becomes available. This probably won't work, but it will cost your company $20 and a half hour of your time (maybe another $60 if you get it) just to be sure.

[2] Set up a schedule and follow it, checking Enom and any other company that has lists of domains for auction in case yoiurs shows up. Again, this probably won't work, but it's easy to do, and if it is important to you you will cover all of your bases. Include http://aitdomains.com/prev_ownedDom.php on that list.

Now for the stuff that is more work but more likely to work:

Yoiur WHOIS info is:

Domain Name: CBSHOTS.COM
Registrar: THE NAME IT CORPORATION DBA NAMESERVICES.NET
Whois Server: whois.aitdomains.com
Referral URL: http://www.aitdomains.com
Name Server: NS1.MCC-SYS.COM
Name Server: NS2.MCC-SYS.COM
Name Server: NS3.MCC-SYS.COM
Name Server: NS4.MCC-SYS.COM
Status: ACTIVE
Updated Date: 01-jan-2006
Creation Date: 31-dec-2003
Expiration Date: 31-dec-2006

www.aitdomains.com is a working website and the costomer service phone # gets to a automated system. I didn't bother waiting to see if a human ever answered -- how long did you wait?

Spamcop says that aitdomains.com is reall aitcom.net, and there is a working website at http://www.aitcom.net/, which contains names and emails of the corporate officers. Did you try contacting them?

Thanks,
I finally made a trip to their headquarters in Port arthur, Texas where I made contact with webworkz to find out that they had irresponsibly let the names lapse. I'm now waiting the 80 days that godaddy says that it takes for them to become available, have registered and am using similar names to get back online. Thanks for everyone's help and suggestions. gojjr.

Thanks,
I finally made a trip to their headquarters in Port arthur, Texas where I made contact with webworkz to find out that they had irresponsibly let the names lapse. I'm now waiting the 80 days that godaddy says that it takes for them to become available, have registered and am using similar names to get back online. Thanks for everyone's help and suggestions. gojjr.

I am sure they are suprised to see you show up