Hi, my domain .com was registered with DomainsRForever, who went bust at the end of last year and ceased trading.

while they were still trading, and a few weeks before my registration with them ran out, I sent an email to DrF asking to renew my registration and asking why I hadn't been sent renewal information. I got no reply so sent one again. My renewal date passed and I still heard nothing, but my .com was still active. I wrote a recorded delivery letter asking what was going on and requesting renewal or transfer out of my .com. I sent 2 more emails.

Finally I got a reply, around a month later, saying that my request to transfer out could not be completed because my renewal date had passed, and that DrF had ceased trading and all communication with them was now closed. There seemed to be nothing I could do - even though DrF had obviously broken rules (or even laws?) by not allowing me to renew or transfer out, as they had ceased trading it seemed I couldn't take action against them.

My domain eventually went back on sale, and even though i kept checking for it's availability every few days a company called WhiteGlove domains managed to buy it first, and are now using it as a parking site full of adverts and taking advantage of the publicity I generated for it. I have contacted them and explained my situation but they have refused to sell.

Is there any way out of this situation? Although Whiteglove actions may be morally questionable they haven't done anything illegal, and DrF may have acted illegally, but they no longer exist?

Any help would be greatly appreciated as this has been a real headache for me for some time.

Whiteglove probably grab it when your domain was release.. you can try contact them to ask whether they can give you back the domain.

Whitescar,

Unfortunately it does seem like quiet a bad situation, one has gone out of business, the other has no obligation to do anything for you. However... Just because a company has stopped trading, does not mean that the director/owner/sole trader can't be held liable for such things. In the UK if a company is a Limited company then it creates a complete seperate entity from the business owner. In this matter if the business ends up in a lot of debt, the money then can't be taken from the owner and the business will go bankrupt.

Depending on how much traffic that domain was getting and how profitable it was (from adverts, selling goods etc) it may be worth seeking legal advice. There are all sorts of ways to get money back that you may have lost from loosing the domain, prehaps the company wasn't Limited (UK) or Incorporated? (USA) and the owner in fact can be held liable. This would allow possibilitys such as a lawsuit for loss of earnings, loss of revenue, prehaps this person had intent for with holding the domain and classed as sabotage? (This is just purely giving examples)

In any way, it might be worth taking it a little further and report them so that prehaps the owner will have a mark against their name so if while running a future business if something similar happens to another person then the owner may not be allowed to operate another business.

Just my thoughts, either way though it doesn't look like you will be able to get your domain name back. The only way domain names are recovered is if its in violation of a trade mark and the company must surrender it for a reasonable price.


Good luck!

What was the domain name?

That's an unfortunate story. My only advice would be to go with someone who is reputable in the industry, and by searching around to find who is reputable.

I'm fans of Namecheap and Ukreg.