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  1. #1
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    OnTheSpotHosting.net - Domain [ISSUE]?

    Well last summer I decided to take a web hosting account out with OnTheSpotHosting.net, and register a new Domain with them to go along with this account.

    I had the account running for some time, but then the project it was based on died so I send in a support ticket asking to cancel the account.

    I now have moved to a VPS and had setup the site again on this VPS, so I emailed the support again requesting that they change the Nameservers on the domain that I registered with them, this was done about 3 days later after the first request.

    However, that VPS fell through so I moved my sites (again) and then I sent in another support ticket kindly asking to have my Nameservers updated again (a task which I imagine would take the best part of 2 minutes).

    However I got this response:

    ===========================================================================

    Daniel Grant
    Posted On: 19 Jan 2008 08:51 PM

    Hi,

    I need the Nameservers on my domain (##########.com), which I registered some time ago, to be changed please.

    The old Nameservers are no longer in use and I need to delete them, but since the above domain is using them I can't.

    So can you please update my Nameservers to point to:

    ##########.com
    ##########.com

    I need this done quite quickly, I would appreciate your urgency on this.

    Many thanks,
    Daniel Grant.

    ===========================================================================

    Jonathan Case
    Posted On: 19 Jan 2008 09:17 PM

    your not even a customer of ours, the domain needs to be transfered we will no longer handle these issues for you.

    ===========================================================================

    Daniel Grant
    Posted On: 19 Jan 2008 09:20 PM

    Actually, I am still a customer of yours.

    Your definition of the word "customer" may differ from mine, but I still have an active domain that I registered with you, you are the registrar for this domain, hence I am still your customer.

    Can you please make the changes.

    Thanks,
    Daniel.

    ===========================================================================

    Jonathan Case
    Posted On: 20 Jan 2008 04:43 AM

    not so much. advise me on your email and ill change the domain info to that. youll need to transfer it. thanks!

    ===========================================================================
    Long story short, he is refusing to do anything with my Domain unless I move it away from ontheposthosting.net (something which I can't afford to do right now).

    Now, I'm not an expert on Domain management, but I was under the influence that as a Domain Reseller he has to change the Nameservers on request, but it seems he is no longer regards me as a customer as I don't have a web hosting package, even though I have an active Domain.

    What can I do about this?

  2. #2
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    This wasn't about theft, so the subject was edited.

    Find out where the name is actuially registered (what registrar) and see if there's a way for them to "push" it into a free account with them. Many registrars offer free accounts and a way to move a name into a different account at no cost.
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  3. #3
    If they are refusing to provide services for your domain then only thing you can do is transfer it. Transfer to domain registrars like namecheap.com does not take much time, initiate the transfer and ask them to update nameservers as transfer is already in progress.
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  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by ImageLeet View Post
    If they are refusing to provide services for your domain then only thing you can do is transfer it. Transfer to domain registrars like namecheap.com does not take much time, initiate the transfer and ask them to update nameservers as transfer is already in progress.
    I have most of my domains with 123-reg, and I know a transfer would solve the problem but thats not the point, I shouldn't have to transfer it.

    I registered the domain with them, and just because I don't have a web hosting package with them doesn't mean I should have to transfer the domain away from them...

    As for contacting the registrar directly, the WHOIS says the registrar is Enom, so I guess I will try and contact them directly.

    What annoys the most about this is that the Nameservers the domain is currently using need to be deleted, and because he won't change the Nameservers for me, I can't delete them. It would take a whole of 2 minutes to do this, absolutely rediculous and totally unprofessional in my opinion.

    Any more advice on how to handle this is welcome.

    Thanks,
    Daniel.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by bear View Post
    Find out where the name is actuially registered (what registrar) and see if there's a way for them to "push" it into a free account with them. Many registrars offer free accounts and a way to move a name into a different account at no cost.
    I've failed to get any more response out of OnTheSpotHosting.net regarding this (despite their advertised "24/7 support").

    The WHOIS shows the registrar as eNom, but how would I go about contacting them regarding getting the Domain pushed into a free account so I can manage it myself? I've been through their website and I don't see anything about this, and I can't find the appropriate email to contact.

    Thanks,
    Daniel.

  6. #6
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    Unfortunately Enom doesn't have a free account level, so that isn't possible in this case. I highly recommend you find a way to afford the cost of transferring to a new registrar, which can be well under $10. This renews the name in the process of moving it so it would fix all your issues in one shot.
    Surely you can find a way to get a registration fee somewhere?
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  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by bear View Post
    Unfortunately Enom doesn't have a free account level, so that isn't possible in this case. I highly recommend you find a way to afford the cost of transferring to a new registrar, which can be well under $10. This renews the name in the process of moving it so it would fix all your issues in one shot.
    Surely you can find a way to get a registration fee somewhere?
    Yeah, I probably can, but that isn't the point. I shouldn't have to do this, I shouldn't have to go to the hassle of carrying out a domain transfer, paying for it, then sitting about waiting for it to go through, after all it takes about a day to get a response from their support, how long will it take to get them to initiate a domain transfer...

    The point is, OnTheSpotHosting.net have effectively stolen my Domain and the only way to get it back is to pay to have it moved.

    I expected more than this from a company that apparently hosts over 40'000 websites including Fortune 100 companies and Government Agencies...

    Edit: typo
    Last edited by Daniel_G; 01-20-2008 at 09:40 PM.

  8. #8
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    I don't disagree that this is wrong of them, but it's thier choice. Since you'd eventually have to pay to renew it anyway, you can at least take solace in the fact that they won't get your money, and you won't be losing money because transfers add a year to the domain.
    Still a pain, no doubt.
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  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by bear View Post
    but it's thier choice.
    Isn't there a Reseller Agreement that Domain Resellers have to agree to that states they aren't allowed to do this sort of thing? I believe I read that on here somewhere a while back...

  10. #10
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    No they don't have to change the name servers at your beck and call if you re not a customer of there's.

    They are doing nothing wrong and have told you what you need to do, transfer the domain out.

    The only thing they would be doing wrong would be if they refused to release the domain to you which is not the case here.
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  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Danny_G View Post
    Well last summer I decided to take a web hosting account out with OnTheSpotHosting.net, and register a new Domain with them to go along with this account.
    Quote Originally Posted by Keith W View Post
    No they don't have to change the name servers at your beck and call if you re not a customer of there's.
    How is he not a customer of theirs if he registered his name through them?
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  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by bear View Post
    How is he not a customer of theirs if he registered his name through them?
    When he cancelled his account with them

    The domain name was bought in conjunction with, and was managed through his account with them, he cancelled his account and therefore his ability to manage his domain.

    From what I can see they do not offer a separate domain purchase and management service.

    It is the same with a lot of hosts, you can either use your own domain or you can buy one when signing up for your hosting, once you cancel your hosting though you loose the ability to manage your domain.

    It is always best to keep domain name purchases separate from your hosting purchases, that way you always have control of your domain should you cancel your hosting service.
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  13. #13
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    Well, I don't know the full story, but to me it sounded like he terminated his hosting account, but not the domain. Could be tied, I suppose.

    Did see this however:
    http://onthespothosting.net/tos.html
    Customer may access Customer's Personal Information and/or domain name registration information in Bulk Register's or onthespothosting's possession to review, modify or update such information, through a onthespothosting information maintenance interface ("onthespothosting Interface") that is accessible on the onthespothosting website.
    Seems to me they are refusing access to something their TOS says he should have. Interesting.

    And also this, implying they sell domains separately:
    J. Welcome Page. Customer consents to onthespothosting's activation ("parking") of the registered domain name on a "Welcome Page" containing a notice, "Welcome to my Future Website." Such "Welcome Page" indicates that onthespothosting registered the domain name, and links to onthespothosting websites. This "Welcome Page" may be replaced by the Customer when the Customer contracts for web hosting and posts Customer's own content.
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  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by bear View Post
    Well, I don't know the full story, but to me it sounded like he terminated his hosting account, but not the domain. Could be tied, I suppose.
    Well, what do you suppose this means?

    GENERAL SERVICES
    This Service Agreement ("Agreement") applies to the purchase from onthespothosting and its affiliates (collectively, "onthespothosting") of all services selected by Customer on the Order Form and the Domain Name Registration Form, as applicable, (collectively, the "Services")
    I guess the host should've put certain words in bold instead of their own name to emphasize certain points.

    It's a common misperception that a domain name is considered separate from hosting if the customer purchased all the services together in one account with the same provider. It's not, especially if the host's legal agreement especially spells that out like this one.

    If your interpretation doesn't coincide with the provider's, yours doesn't matter unless you want a neutral party to step in. However, I'm not sure one would want that party to read that agreement for you.

    So no, the OP is indeed no longer the host's customer when he cancelled his account with them. Given that, the host no longer hsa to do anything for him.

    I don't know if eNom can help in this, given that they have a contractual relationship with their reseller, not the reseller's ex-customer. But I guess it won't hurt for the OP to find out what his options (if any) with eNom are.

  15. #15
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    This is just a total disgrace, I am still a customer, I still have a domain with them. Just because there is no coinciding Web Hosting package changes nothing.

    For all potential future customers: stay well away from this guy (thats right, its a 1 man show, every communication I have ever, ever had with this "company" is with 1 person).

    They lie all over their website, they don't have 24/7 support. They claim to host 40'000+ websites and yet DomainTools.com NS Spy reports only 350ish (http://www.domaintools.com/ns-spy/ - Their NS: ns1.noctx5.net)

    Oh, and I had to find out the hard way that they actually block a lot of PHP modules (I am not sure if this may still be the case though) that are essential for running a lot of stuff (of course, you don't find this out until after you have signed up and payed) - this is one of the reasons I left.

    Their support is completely unprofessional, I mean seriously, read the support ticket in the original post, what kind of host speaks to a someone like that, its not even grammatically correct, looks like its just some kid with a dedicated server tbh.

    Avoid at all costs...

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Zan View Post
    It's a common misperception that a domain name is considered separate from hosting if the customer purchased all the services together in one account with the same provider. It's not, especially if the host's legal agreement especially spells that out like this one.
    I'd like to point out again the wording in that same agreement regarding domain name purchases.
    J. Welcome Page. Customer consents to onthespothosting's activation ("parking") of the registered domain name on a "Welcome Page" containing a notice, "Welcome to my Future Website." Such "Welcome Page" indicates that onthespothosting registered the domain name, and links to onthespothosting websites. This "Welcome Page" may be replaced by the Customer when the Customer contracts for web hosting and posts Customer's own content.
    To me that states that domains can be purchased without web hosting, and will have an OTS welcome page with links, etc., until such time as they also purchase hosting.

    In this instance, they obviously feel the domain was intimately tied to the hosting account. I saw nothing in the agreement that stated this implicitly, and several things that seemed to say just the opposite. Of course, a quick search finds this precise wording on at least 4 other sites, so it might be a case of copy/paste of someone else's agreement.
    They probably should have read it before using it.
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  17. #17
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    The wording the OP used:
    I had the account running for some time, but then the project it was based on died so I send in a support ticket asking to cancel the account.
    Anybody see that as anything other than 'close my account' ?

    Maybe the provider is not doing himself much good, but I'm afraid to me it seems justified, just transfer it & stop whinching.
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  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brian-de-vie View Post
    The wording the OP used:


    Anybody see that as anything other than 'close my account' ?

    Maybe the provider is not doing himself much good, but I'm afraid to me it seems justified, just transfer it & stop whinching.
    The way I see it, is a customer is a customer for the duration of a service which he/she purchased. The domain is still in service...

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by bear View Post
    To me that states that domains can be purchased without web hosting, and will have an OTS welcome page with links, etc., until such time as they also purchase hosting.
    More often than not, contract terms mean exactly what they say. Read that term you quoted earlier and see if it says exactly how you interpreted it.

    If your interpretation doesn't coincide with the provider's, well...I'm sure you can imagine the potential consequences. That's why it's important to ensure both parties mutually understand what they're getting into, or one can ask questions to clarify certain things before entering into an agreement.

    If onthespothosting copied that term and the others from another provider or so, that's not our issue now, ain't it?

    While you're certainly entitled to believe you're still onthespothosting's customer, Danny G, the fact remains your host's obligations with you ended the moment you asked them to cancel your account and they processed it. It'll surely be nice if the host accomodates you despite the lack of a contractual relationship, but they no longer have to do anything for you at this point.

    What further complicates this is onthespothosting apparently was a Bulkregister reseller prior to eNom's acquisition of BR. I have a few ideas why onthespot's still using some of Bulkregister's terms, but obviously I don't know the exact answer why until someone privy speaks up.

    I'm not here to argue that you don't deserve any more help, no. I'm trying to give a realistic explanation why the host isn't likely going to do a thing for you after you cancelled your service with them.

    That being said, though, has eNom and/or Bulkregister said anything about this?

  20. #20
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    OnTheSpotHosting.net have just provided me Control Panel access to manage the Domain myself.

    I regard this issue as resolved.

    Thanks for everyones input,

    Daniel.

  21. #21
    Glad to read your issue's been resolved, then. And good luck on your ventures.

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