Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Domain Names : Warning: stay away from XREG.CO.UK

[UH-Matt]

Trading as "Coveria" I may have posted about them before.

About 6 months ago the support team seemed to disappear leaving us no way of controlling our domains (there system was very buggy and throwing errors back at us).

Having dug up phone numbers for this company they led us to builders yards and all sorts. Other customers began to receive a response but we still did not get any replies from support, probably due to the fact that we wanted to move over 300 domains away from them due to continued poor service.

In the end we managed to find a way of 'hacking' one of the php pages in there system to automatically switch the tags of the domains to ours, thus gaining control forcefully (the .co.uk domain system works on a tagging system for transfers).

So we rescued all but one of our domains without the help of xreg themselves. Other customers are now getting support responses but we have tried numerous times to get this final domain moved away and onto our tag.

They have now LOCKED US OUT of the system and do not respond to any support requests. They have also taken there forums offline where other customers like us were posting similar horror stories.

We are attempting to take control of this domain again directly from Nominet and seeking legal advice.

Just a warning to those of you looking for a registrar for .uk business, do NOT use xreg.co.uk there are far bigger and more professional companies such as 123-reg.co.uk

Thank you for listening!

[Lubeca]

If these are all .uk domains then you can easily take control of them by using Nominet's online form - no need to hack into someone's system for that. It will cost you an administration fee of GBP 15 plus VAT per domain, but I found myself in that situation I'd pay and sue the hosting company afterwards.

Also, you should make a formal complaint to Nominet as the hosting company is in breach of their tagholder agreement (which specifically requires them to action transfer-out requests within a reasonable time)

Edited to add: If you have 300 domains then I don't understand why you don't have your own tag!

[UH-Matt]

300 x £15 for domains we own? No thanks.

Was easier to take them onto our tag for free.

[Bladerunner]

However having 300 domains I can understand the want to not pay £4500 to have them all changed over to his own tag the "correct way" when he legally owns them all.

[dmaven]

I thought someone said recently as of a week ago that the support problems at xreg were behind them and it is all better. Seems to not be the case.

[UH-Matt]

While digging for an address that was genuine for this company to issue a letter to we also found the their company accounts are overdue to Companies House.

What a way to run a company.

[markcastle]

Originally posted by UH-Matt In the end we managed to find a way of 'hacking' one of the php pages in there system to automatically switch the tags of the domains to ours, thus gaining control forcefully (the .co.uk domain system works on a tagging system for transfers).

If i was you i'd be careful about saying that sort of stuff on a public forum.

[UH-Matt]

Why ? We didnt do anything wrong. We didnt hack any servers or anything like that we just had to adjust some of the URL's in their control panel to allow the tag to change. (Guessing the ID numbers for each of our domains in order to unlock them).

Not our fault the system is ******.

[UH-Simon]

Yes, hack was the wrong word. The control panel was broken and thus rendering the transfer our feature useless. We just changed the domain ID in the URL to do the transfer. We even emailed Xreg to let them know about this method but we got no response (surprise surprise).

I was on the phone to Nominet discussing the Xreg issue for about an hour today; unfortunately, the general message was there is very little they can do while Coveria continue to pay their bills. They suggested we complain to Ofcom so that may be our next course of action.

One good thing to come out of this whole fiasco is that it gave us a push and we are now Nominet members and therefore much more in control of all our .uk domain business.

I would be very interested to know if anyone has had any communication back from Xreg staff in say the last 2 weeks?

[WirralNet Matt]

I have spoken to Anton today, so I have had communication from the xReg staff. He was actually quite helpful

Ive also managed to transfer a .co.uk for my father to 123-reg.co.uk without any hassles...

[Lubeca]

Originally posted by UH-Simon
[B]I was on the phone to Nominet discussing the Xreg issue for about an hour today; unfortunately, the general message was there is very little they can do while Coveria continue to pay their bills. They suggested we complain to Ofcom so that may be our next course of action.

Nominet has the power to suspend someone's tag if they are in breach of their tagholder agreement.

Not actioning tag change requests in a timely manner IS a breach of their tagholder agreement. There was a long discussion about this on another forum not that long ago.

[UH-Simon]

Originally posted by Sash!
I have spoken to Anton today, so I have had communication from the xReg staff. He was actually quite helpful

Well, if that's the case then would you kindly ask him to contact us asap. I would be very interested to know why his company is blatantly ignoring all communication attempts by us. I suspect it's due to us going from probably being their biggest customer to smallest overnight!. When it comes down to it, ignoring our requests is only going to make us all the more determined to make Coveria accountable for their actions (or lack of as the case may be). Does Anton own Coveria? Companies House online information doesn't list directors names, we have to contact them to get that.

Thanks.

[Lubeca]

Originally posted by UH-Simon
Companies House online information doesn't list directors names, we have to contact them to get that.

You can get directors' names online from Companies House - you just have to pay for it. It's a trivial amount - a fiver or so for a .pdf copy of the full annual return. It's very quick and very easy - you just enter your credit card number and then get access to a URL from which you can download the information.

[UH-Matt]

Thanks for the info Lubeca, we will do that!

[WirralNet Matt]

Im not sure of the problems you had. Either the problems only apply to more recent accounts or they have been fixed, because not only have i moved 1 .co.uk domain name to 123-Reg with no problem, but I have also moved 2 .com and 1 .net domain names to NameCheap today (because I am a bit worried about the reported problems within the company and control panel I will probably move most of my domain names away in the next few months), again with no problems at all .