Register dot com is incompetent. Run as fast as you can from them. They hold you hostage so you can't transfer...

I want to transfer my registration to a real company, and when you do a 'whois" against my domain it does not show the contact info to verify I own it. The morons at REGISTER dot COM answered with the email below.

Run, don't look back...

Jim P


Discussion Thread
Response (Dan S) 05/28/2008 02:50 PM
Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for contacting ... Support.

This is a global issue affecting all of our domain names. It is something we have been working on resolving for quite some time. The issue is intermittant, so trying multiple times may yeild results. The one was to guarantee 100% success is to check the whois database directly from our website www dot poweryourname dot com. On the left side under "Domain names" click on "Whois". Names will show up with 100% success when checked from this database. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions or require additional assistance.

Sincerely,

Domain Support

A division of Register dot com

Customer (Jim Presley) 05/28/2008 10:32 AM
When I try and transfer registration to another company, they say this:

Domain [bunkerhillmine dot com] is ready for transfer, but we are unable to obtain information from the whois server. If the administrative contact information looks clear to you, then contact customer support immediately to investigate the problem, otherwise contact the Current Registrar to have the problem repaired.

Running whois against this domain does not return any of the administrative contact info. Would you fix that?

Jim P

I noticed today that WHOIS on Registry.com registered domains returns thin registry data not thick registrar data . Same if you do the WHOIS at the Registry.com site. Hopefully its temporary.

Just confirm your transfer by fax, the gaining registrar should support that.

Register.com thick WHOIS is back and working for me now.

Just confirm your transfer by fax, the gaining registrar should support that.
But HOW? The gaining registrar has to get the Admin Contact info directly from the losing registrar, no?

You confirm by fax, the gaining registrar can then check the whois through the website and not the whois port 43 service.

You confirm by fax, the gaining registrar can then check the whois through the website and not the whois port 43 service.
Yes, actually the GAINING registrar could (and should) MANUALLY check to verify the Admin Contact info instead of just sitting there waiting, esp. after 24 hours. My personal experience with Tucows is that they switch to manual after about 6 hours or so (definitely less than 24 hours). This happened to me for more than a handful of times, when DomainSite more than infrequently has (or at least had) their whois port down.

I've tried others in the last 24hrs and they all fail to transfer. They all tell me my present registrar has to fix things. Register dot com says today their developers are working on it. What a completely incompetent business.

Are you running away yet? Check who your registrar really is, if it's register dot com, start emailing them often (like every hour) asking why they don't allow you to leave.


BTW, nice advertisment nameslave.

Jim P

doesn't surprise they would pull stunts like this, im guessing they keep a lot of clients by having these *difficulties* because they dont leave and end up renewing and say screw it and stay because they have more important things. sorry about your troubles

if it's register dot com, start emailing them often (like every hour) asking why they don't allow you to leave.

And you realize that while doing that can like tell them numerous times how important it is to resolve that issue quickly, that that act is adding more work than necessary?

That unable-to-parse-WHOIS thing has been going on for who knows how long. Even the registrar I worked with had that problem a few times a few years back, although that hadn't happened at all last year IIRC.

IMHO what Tucows does during that situation is a model to follow. Unfortunately it's the gaining registrar who has the burden of doing that, depending on priorities.

Dave. It's their job! Customers PAY them to take care of that stuff. No room to listen to "don't give them heat cause that will make more work for them" crap. If they can't take care of simple things that have very detailed specs for how to do it right, they should go away...I think they can do it right, and don't to benefit themselves....

BTW, I work for a bigtime dot com company....I manage folks who do this daily...the technology and resources to this right are menial.....really. Simple "can you speak the language" type detail.

These people should burn up and go away, or at least have other professionals looking into their business practices in a micro way. :) . I send an email EVERY DAY somewhere that has the name register dot com it it. At some point, they will feel a burn somewhere and wonder why...

I am very patient.

Jim P

BTW, nice advertisment nameslave.
Sorry? What advertisement?

BTW, I work for a bigtime dot com company....I manage folks who do this daily...the technology and resources to this right are menial.....really. Simple "can you speak the language" type detail.

Uh huh. And I suppose just because how things are done in that bigtime dot com company you're with that Register.com should do or be similar or almost the same, considering none of us here know even remotely how it works on their side of the fence?

Register.com is aware of that issue and are trying to resolve it fast. It's indeed frustrating for everyone concerned, but they also have a vested interest in getting that fixed if, at least, to stop people from calling their attention to it further.

Of course, people can conveniently believe there's some kind of conspiracy going on. But that doesn't always mean it's true, especially if there's no way to verify it.

At any rate, as nameslave said, the gaining registrar can always try to manually obtain the info via fax or so. Tucows and Network Solutions actually do that, although whether other registrars (including the one you're hoping to transferring to) should do that as well or not depends solely on them.

Why not check with your new registrar if they can do that? They aren't limited to obtaining that info electronically.

Bunkerhillmine,

Register.com? What a pain in the arse you are going through for a simple domain transfer.

Thanks for the info and good luck.

Uh huh. And I suppose just because how things are done in that bigtime dot com company you're with that Register.com should do or be similar or almost the same, considering none of us here know even remotely how it works on their side of the fence?

Register.com is aware of that issue and are trying to resolve it fast. It's indeed frustrating for everyone concerned, but they also have a vested interest in getting that fixed if, at least, to stop people from calling their attention to it further.

Of course, people can conveniently believe there's some kind of conspiracy going on. But that doesn't always mean it's true, especially if there's no way to verify it.

At any rate, as nameslave said, the gaining registrar can always try to manually obtain the info via fax or so. Tucows and Network Solutions actually do that, although whether other registrars (including the one you're hoping to transferring to) should do that as well or not depends solely on them.

Why not check with your new registrar if they can do that? They aren't limited to obtaining that info electronically.

only if an angry customer is worth less than one who transfers out.... my bet is on an angry customer (in measurable terms) is worth more than one who transfers out (presumably never comes back anyways). so im not realy sure it's in their interests to fix the *problem*

bunkerhillmine:
http://reports.internic.net/cgi/registrars/problem-report.cgi
they almost certainly wont respond, but if enough people complain, register.com gets yelled at and will probably have to really *fix* it

so im not realy sure it's in their interests to fix the *problem*

They definitely have little to no incentive to fix that problem since some of their customers are moving away. If anything, that's at least one less thing to deal with once resolved.

Unfortunately it's up to them to prioritize.

I did fill out the ICANN complaint form a couple days ago, but thanks for bringing that up. Maybe a few hundred others will do the same thing.:D

Actually my biggest complaint is that I hate lazy, worthless companies. And companies that could care less about customer service and hold them hostage are lazy and worthless. register dot com is just a small insignificant company that is part of a larger company. They are probably in the business for the write-off, and just don't care.

Oh well, I'm on the third company trying to get the required info to transfer the domain to them as the registrar. The first two gave up... By the way, Godaddy has a specific paragraph on their site devoted to register dot com. It says if register dot com blows them off when you want a transfer, you are screwed and there is nothing Godaddy can do to help you.

Send that to Internic and ICANN.

Jim P

Your best bet would be to file a complaint with ICANN, it definitely won't be easy to get it resolved if they wont help you.

Best of luck.