:mad: Yes this is weird - I've registered several domains with magmahost.com and for the last 2 months I am spamming them with tickets reagarding domain transfer to a different registrar like godaddy but no answer at all - they are completely ignoring my requests and it's not a comunicatioin problem as they answer any other tickets like website down, etc.

Tried calling (no one answers), tried emailing to all contact and administrative addresses (no answer), tried the ticket system (ignored).

Now the reason I want to transfer my domain is obvious - they are a ****** company with a server uptime of 65% and I need to have at least my domains secure somewhere else far away from magmahost.

So right now they are holding my indexed/ranked domain against my will and I find myself in the situation where I see my domain registered to some guy from UK that works for magmahost - or at least that's what the contact email say.


I've already reached icann but as stated on they website they don't handle individual disputes. Now my question is there any authority that should solve this kind of problems or the WWW is actually the Wild Wild West?

I'm afraid you have made a mistake whern allowed them register your domain named by them... I'm certain they are resellers. So I suppose you can contact registrar and explain them this situation. Perhaps they will be able to help you somehow.

That's bad bad news for me .. so anyone can open a hosting company then all of the sudden they can just close the whole deal and keep all the domains ?

I see that godaddy is the registrar for my domains - I will try to get in touch with them and will update regarding this situation. If anyone has other suggestions I might try please leave me a note.

What I can understand from what godaddy replied is that magmahost is not necessary a reseller because they did not bought this domain for me but for them under their name.

"Unfortunately we would not be able to assist with this issue as they are registered as the legal registrant of the domain. If you were listed in the WhoIs for this domain, you would be able to request a change of account for the domain, however at this time there is no way to prove you are the owner if none of the registration details are currently yours at this time."

Now, my only proof that I have payed for that domain is my paypal account history but I'm not able to see my 2009 transactions - and even if I can find my initial domain payment to magmahost, how can I proof that it was a payment for a domain and not for hosting (for example).

If anyone has any ideea how can I prove that I have payed for that domain feel free to leave me a note.

Should show up on your invoices that you purchased a domain when you first signed up.

What invoices are you talking about ? Paypal invoices, my invoices that show up in my magmahost control panel or the invoices I've received over email?

Regarding paypal invoices - I found only the invoices I've received from paypal over email but there is no specific information regarding on what exactly is that payment for - It will only show the amount payed and that it was a payment to magmahost but, again, no specific details regarding on what services I've purchased - as far as I'm concern they can tell anyone that I've payed for hosting and not for a domain name.


Regarding my magmahost control panel invoices - they only show some recent invoices but not the domain purchase invoice.
And finally regarding the invoices I've received in my email from magmahost - I have them - but I don't think those can proove anything as they can be easely faked.

Even so, whom do I show this invoces to ?

That's bad bad news for me .. so anyone can open a hosting company then all of the sudden they can just close the whole deal and keep all the domains

Well of course anyone can defraud you in any business. It appears that they registered it in their name from the beginning, so I suspect they never had any intention of letting you have your domain. I'm sure if they did it to you, they are doing it to many others, many of whom don't know it yet. I don't know the legal options in the UK, but a letter from a lawyer might, or might not, get their attention. What they are doing is probably criminal, but I don't know if the level of proof, or the scale of the crime, would get the authorities to act on it.

Well of course anyone can defraud you in any business. It appears that they registered it in their name from the beginning, so I suspect they never had any intention of letting you have your domain.

It could be ignorance, rather than malice. The host could be a 13-year old who has no idea how (or is too lazy) to set up a domain reseller account to use with their hosting business. With the lack of response to relevant support requests, though, I doubt ignorance.

@OP: If you're in the U.S., you can take it to court. You purchased a product with the expectation that you would be the owner of that product, not a lessee. Unless the contract you agreed to with the host specifically says the domain will be theirs and you are only allowed usage... If they are in breach of contract, and you send the court document proving such to GoDaddy, I'm sure they'll transfer the domain to your account.

I can properly help you recover your domain (80% chance) but I am unable to give you my e-mail address as a WHT admin removed it.

@OP: If you're in the U.S., you can take it to court. You purchased a product with the expectation that you would be the owner of that product, not a lessee. Unless the contract you agreed to with the host specifically says the domain will be theirs and you are only allowed usage... If they are in breach of contract, and you send the court document proving such to GoDaddy, I'm sure they'll transfer the domain to your account.

That's an interesting thought. I'm not so sure you can get a US court to hear it, as the host is not in the US, but if you can, you'll probably get a default judgment, since they certainly aren't going to fight, in a US court, over a single domain name. It would just be small claims court, so it wouldn't cost you much, and if you did get a judgment in your favor, I'm sure GoDaddy would turn over the domain. If you are in the UK, I don't know if there is something similar to small claims court but again if you can get an order from any judge, I think GoDaddy will honor it.

I have been the victim of domain theft by DOTSTER after I requested code to transfer to no-ip.com.
When I do a whois it now shows their sister company 'NameWinner.com' as the owner.

What can I do, there must be something, as I set this up several years ago for our company.

I have been the victim of domain theft by DOTSTER after I requested code to transfer to no-ip.com.
When I do a whois it now shows their sister company 'NameWinner.com' as the owner.

What can I do, there must be something, as I set this up several years ago for our company.

Did the registration expire, or did the ownership change in mid term?

I don't think there is any such regulatory that can help you. Better send them a legal notice..

I first requested it prior to it's expiration. and was told that it was paid through xx/xx/09 and that, anyway "I would have a 30 day grace period."
I see the way they played me now. But how do I know, I am just a novice.

The Ownership never changed.

I first requested it prior to it's expiration. and was told that it was paid through xx/xx/09 and that, anyway "I would have a 30 day grace period."
I see the way they played me now. But how do I know, I am just a novice.

The Ownership never changed.

Maybe the ownership never should have changed, but if you see the owner in whois change, that's what I was talking about by change in ownership. You can't transfer the domain after it expires, but you should have some grace time to renew it. If it has expired now, and you are within the grace period, you should attempt to renew it now before it goes into redemption. 60 days after the renewal you can transfer it to a different registrar, without loosing any time you paid for, but for now the most important thing is not to loose it altogether, which will happen if you don't renew it where it is. After you get it back in your control, you can argue with them about the fact that they didn't let you transfer it before it expired, but don't waste time with that, until you get the domain back in your name. You can still take your hosting someplace else while the domain is registered where it is. If it expired back in 2009 your only hope, besides buying it back from them, is that it will be made available again and you can buy it on the open market

Thanks for the help. Since we just went through some company management reorganization it isn't as important as it would have been earlier. I just wanted to become more aware of how things work so I don't make that mistake on a more important domain in the future.

One thing I don't want to do is reward theft which just makes them continue this type of thievery. If they can steal it and then blackmail you as they attempt to sell it back that sucks. It's obvious they do this when they suspect a novice and they can hide behind the fact that you didn't do something exactly correct.

Someday they will do it to the wrong person.

I thank you for your informative Help. This has been a good/bad lesson for me.

There are two methods, either you check with the registrar they are using most of the time its enom, contact them showing them your reciept and other information that they may ask you and explain to them everything may be you can get your domain back. best of luck.

Thanks for all the help.
I'll be a little better prepared next time.
I sure appreciate all the suggestions .

I have done some digging for you, and after extensive browsing, and a couple tech support personal thumbing through old files, I have what might hopefully be your answer.

The USA Cyber Crime Governmental Website.

Cyber Crime (http://www.cybercrime.gov)

U.S. Department of Justice
10th & Constitution Ave., NW
Criminal Division, (Computer Crime & Intellectual Property Section)
John C. Keeney Building, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20530

Tel (202) 514-1026
Fax (202) 514-6113
Media Inquiries: Office of Public Affairs (202) 514-2007

This is in response to the original post (i.e., the one about Magmahost)

As others have pointed out you will need proof that you paid them to register these domains for you. If you have mislaid the receipts you can ask them for copies - as a UK company they are legally required to keep all financial records for seven years, so they WILL have copies. Likewise Paypal should be able to supply you with copies of old transaction records as they are a bank and are subject to banking law.

Have you checked Magmahost's T&Cs to see if there is a clause in there saying "any domains we register become our property"? If there is then you are in a very weak position. If there isn't then your position is much stronger.

Ultimately you may have no choice but to engage a domain name lawyer (yes, they do exist). It may well be that a letter from such a lawyer is all that is required

Thanks so much for the Kind and good suggestions.

I think this may be the best response, although I have appreciated all of them.

I know this is an old thread, but has this person received control over his domains. I haven't seemed to see an update! And why on earth would MagmaHost not come here and explain to the man that they would transfer ownership. What a disgrace, a true disgrace.

Was this a free domain with hosting deal?

I have received several good suggestions but I have not recovered my domain name.

I should fight but I have been ill and don't have the strength.

I guess,

Might makes Right

http://magmahost.com/ is still up but I suggest you not to register domains with a web hosting company again. Do it at namecheap, godaddy, enom, or somewhere else.

I for one am so ticked off at this company its not even funny, I have several domains registered with them and I have a couple of their $1.00 hosting accounts just to test sites etc. I haven't had any real problems with them and didn't expect much from their hosting so about a month ago I registered 2 more domains with them, well about 2 weeks went by and many un answered support tickets and I realized they never where registered so I instituted a Paypal claim, they didn't answer and I got my money back,, well in retaliation they closed my hosting accounts which were paid up and parked 2 of the domains that are paid in full and have about 6 months left for renewal.

Now I have all of my documentation from them and paid invoices, what I am doing is filing a criminal complaint against them and suing them in court,, that is outright thievery in my book

I Hope you get somewhere.

I just thought 'Dotster' could be trusted, but when I tried to transfer it to Google they did something they thought clever and listed their sister company as the owner so the request for conformation on the change went to themselves.

But never again

well I would just request everyone to not got for magmahost for any hosting or to change their host, even I had so many unanswered tickets and so many problems finally I shifted to royalehost.com last month no problems till now, I also opened a support ticket to magmahost.com to close my account but no respond and i still get the invoice...

Hi,

I know this is a quite old thread.

But, I am currently facing the same difficulties with renewing / transfering a domain hosted with HostMaker.com.

I do not yet know for sure if they or he, or she :mad: is/are a criminal entreprise or just a lazy bunch, but I am going through tough times right now.

If someone has some update or suggestion on how to solve this problem, it is welcome.

I will keep you informed with my "progress" if any...

Thanks in advance :)

Magmahost.com is registered to the postal address.

PP 60
2 Lansdowne Row
Mayfair
London,W1J 6HL
GB

A quick Google of the street address reveals that it belongs to a mailbox service: http://www.citiboxcentre.com/

Such services are a favourite of Fly by Night operators.