Currently I have 2 domains registered with Enom and 2 with Yahoo/Melbourne IT, and I've been looking around for a more affordable (and reliable) registrar where I can consolidate everything. I had it down to Moniker and Namecheap and decided on Moniker.

So last week I signed up for an account, and I tried transferring a domain from my Yahoo! domains account. I payed via Paypal and it went through, but shortly after I found myself locked out of my account with the obscure message "Login to account failure". I know the username/password is right, I even requested my password just in case and had it sent back to me. So now I can't log in, and support isn't answering my emails about this... what should I do?

Your Moniker account will remain disabled till an account rep is assigned to you , keep sending reminder emails to all concerned.

It's odd that they don't tell us these things before locking us out of our accounts; at first I thought they stole my money and just disabled my account. :/ I emailed them again earlier today and still no response... how long does it usually take to have a rep assigned to my account?

It took 2-3 days for me . That is why I open an account with different registrars, what is good for others , may not be good for you. Better to keep all options open.

That's SOP for Moniker. It's a security "feature" ;) Yep 2-3 days sounds about right, excluding weekends, holidays, and conferences.

But it's been a week now and I still can't log in... support hasn't gotten back to me either. :(

Right now I'm wondering if this is even worth it. I *thought* something like this might happen, so I only initiated the transfer of one domain (which hasn't been transferred either) instead of all of them, so it only cost me $15 - not a big loss.

Would it be a good idea to give them until Monday, then file a chargeback with Paypal and just use a different registrar if they haven't worked this out? If it takes two weeks to set up an account, I don't think I want to deal with their support when I actually have issues and no way out (ie. have all of my domains registered with them). :P

Have you tried calling them? I've been a bit disappointed with their email support as well (long resolution times), but their phone support is still top notch.

I'll try that tomorrow afternoon (if I get some extra time), thanks for the suggestion. :) Do they have 24x7 support, or only regular business hours? I'm concerned because although I've emailed them 4 times now, I've received no response at all... not even an automated message saying that they've received my email and will look into it sometime within the next decade.

Email is the most convenient way of communicating for me... especially if they only have phone support during regular business hours, because I usually don't have time to call during those hours. If my business with them isn't important enough to warrant having an account activated within two weeks, I think I'd sooner find someone who actually *wants* my business. :cool:

For email/ support tickets, Resellerclub is usually fast , you get a response within a few hours for standard problems. GoDaddy takes about 12 hours, others I have not needed much support

domain registration is the last thing where you would want to file a chargeback. their TOS may let them refuse a transfer, drop the domain on the ground, take over the domain, whatever.., on the basis of unpaid amounts.

thanks for sharing this SOP with us though.

domain registration is the last thing where you would want to file a chargeback. their TOS may let them refuse a transfer, drop the domain on the ground, take over the domain, whatever.., on the basis of unpaid amounts.

thanks for sharing this SOP with us though.

They don't have any of my domains it their possession, though. I started the transfer, waited awhile and after finding my account locked out and nothing from support/sales, locked my domain with Melbourne again until this can be sorted out. Would doing a chargeback be a good idea in this case?

I sent them another email this morning, and I'm going to call them as soon as I get home today and hope that they answer. :)

If the transfer is not complete, cancel the transfer using the email link and then file a chargeback . When I have done it for other registrars, the amount was automatically refunded.

I wouldn't do a chargeback or even mention you are thinking of doing so. The mere mention of a chargeback will completely sour any chances of resolution. If you can't call them, try emailing support again. I'm sure it's only a glitch and nothing intentional.

Just a quick update on this. After not hearing back from Moniker after emailing their support again, I filed a dispute with Paypal explaining the entire story - that I registered an account, paid for a transfer, got locked out of my account, and haven't been able to contact Moniker's support team since then.

Less than 24 hours later, my account has been activated, with the excuse that an upgrade caused Paypal transactions to be forced to be verified, and that normally they are accepted immediately. I understand that it *could* be plausible, but there's no excuse for not contacting a customer (basically ignoring him) for that length of time. I also found it funny that immediately after filing a dispute with Paypal, they hurried up and verified my account. :rolleyes:

But anyways, I requested a refund with them since I'm now moving my domains to Namecheap, and they refunded me what I paid for the transfer.

Good for you!

Businesses who think that it is acceptable to ignore requests for service beyond accepting money ought not to be in business at all.

my $0.02, no chargebacks please :)