Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Domain Names : need help badly to get out of register.com

[imago-allan]

Guys!

Can you help me out on this one? Here is the scenario:

I have one domain (actually my very first domain), that
I registered with register.com ($35/year) way back June 2000 which I renewed June 2001 and will expire June 2002. The domain name is che-comp.org. We were hosted at virtualave.net and been paying $10/month until we found out about valuablehost.com which offers a cheaper and more reliable hosting.

The person in-charge for paying the hosting agreed to
transfer the hosting to valuablehost.com. Payment has
been done and everything seems perfect. Now, all
I have to do is change the DNS info and everything will
work out just fine.

Register.com allows change of DNS info in the control panel but it has to be confirmed. Their system sends an automailer to the admin account (which is also my email address: allanh@usls.edu -- no spam please). Well, after doing the changes, I waited for long for this email to arrive at my mailbox but it didn't.

So I opted for a second alternative. On December 13, 2001, I attempted to transfer the domain from register.com to Stargateinc.com. The automailer of stargateinc.com tells me to confirm. Take note it is still the same email address that I mentioned above. I even tested sending emails to that address to verify that it is working perfectly. Anyway, time passed and after 5 business days, the transfer was rejected because register.com have not acted on it. I attempted again last December 25, 2001 and today got another rejection
message. Oh boy.

What will I do? I cannot successfully change the info from the control panel of register.com.

Another alternative, I contacted them using their contact form. But, I haven't received any word from them!

Do you have some other means for me to get out of register.com?
The domain che-comp.org is for a professional organization of chemical engineers worldwide and it got stuck in there.

Will someone who has contact with register.com bring this case to them? Today I sent my 3rd or maybe 4th email using their contact form.

If this case is not resolved, my only alternative will be to register a new domain and let that old domain stay there for good. But, this is the last alternative. The domain has already been fully circulated across the chemical engineering community and has already been listed in several directories and indexed by major search engines. If you want to check it, feel free.

And do I have a valid reason for a refund or if not a chargeback?

(Just a side note, I also found out that you cannot simply change registrant info in register.com. You will need to pay $35 for that while other registrar offer this for free.).

Thanks for taking the time reading this and I hope you can help me.

*Smile icon reserved for the moment.

[thewitt]

I'm sorry, but there is really nothing you can do to transfer your domain other than to pay register.com the transfer fee they are asking unless you want to try to hire a lawyer.

When you signed up with them, you agreed to their terms of service, and that means paying them when you transfer away from them.

As for changing your DNS information, register.com should certainly allow that. If you cannot contact them using the methods published on their website, try using their WHOIS contact information Whois

Good luck!

-Tim

[imago-allan]

Ugghh!

They will charge me if I want to transfer away to another domain registrar? Oh boy, that is odd. Here is another rather weird practice. Why is it that I am able to transfer from one registrar to stargateinc for only $8? Now, in this case register.com will charge me for transferring away from them? I get to pay both transfer: from register.com and to stargateinc.com? What a luck!
I never knew this whole thing when I "innocently" registered to them last June 2000.

Fine, no questions. I will pay them if they want the
extra pay. What I can't understand is this whole transfer
process is not all so clear as it should be.

Anyway, I will try to contact them through the means you have suggested and maybe this thing will be resolved soon. Their contact form is of no good. It never sends email to me.

Thanks.

(no smile icon yet for this one).

[thewitt]

The domain transfer process is not easy to understand, so don't feel like you are the only one who doesn't know what's going on.

I had a customer try to transfer me a domain a week before it expired. I suggested that she first renew it with the current registrar and then transfer, but she was more interested in trying to save $5 - my registration fee was lower than her current registrar.

The transfer was held up at her current registrar, and the domain expired. I did not think this was even possible - but now her domain is expired and "stuck" between registrars. I've got the technical staff working on it, but...

-t

[elsmore1]

Register.com does not charge you to transfer domains away from them, unless their policy has changed very recently, and I don't believe it has.

It sounds like the only trouble you are having is getting email from register.com They DO require you to affirm that you want to transfer domains away from them, which means you need to be able to receive email sent from register.com to your listed admin email address for the domain, so that you can get the instructions for affirming.

If you cannot figure out why you are not receiving those emails, (do you have register.com blocked by a spam-filter or anything?) maybe you can get the admin email changed to a different one via their manage interface. Otherwise, you may have to call them.

Originally posted by consul
Ugghh!

They will charge me if I want to transfer away to another domain registrar? Oh boy, that is odd. Here is another rather weird practice. Why is it that I am able to transfer from one registrar to stargateinc for only $8? Now, in this case register.com will charge me for transferring away from them? I get to pay both transfer: from register.com and to stargateinc.com? What a luck!
I never knew this whole thing when I "innocently" registered to them last June 2000.

Fine, no questions. I will pay them if they want the
extra pay. What I can't understand is this whole transfer
process is not all so clear as it should be.

Anyway, I will try to contact them through the means you have suggested and maybe this thing will be resolved soon. Their contact form is of no good. It never sends email to me.

Thanks.

(no smile icon yet for this one).

[thewitt]

Originally posted by elsmore1
[clip]If you cannot figure out why you are not receiving those emails, (do you have register.com blocked by a spam-filter or anything?) maybe you can get the admin email changed to a different one via their manage interface. Otherwise, you may have to call them.

He is not the domain owner - his hosting company is. Therein lies the problem - his hosting company is receiving the emails, not him.

-t

[imago-allan]

Well, at least their automailer for confirmation is now working.
Whew!

As to the case if they are asking for a fee if you want to transfer away to another registrar, I may have to wait for their reply on that question too.

Next time, I will attempt (for the third time) to transfer to Stargateinc, but that will not be a main priority right now. We have to take care of the new hosting. Maybe next week.

Thanks for all the responses folks. You want to know who helped us? It is the people from valuablehost.com where we ordered the new hosting package. Their support ticket is excellent.

(MODS: I have to state the last few sentences just to give credit to a work well done by them. Feel free to edit out if you feel it is inappropriate.)

[elsmore1]

Originally posted by thewitt

He is not the domain owner - his hosting company is. Therein lies the problem - his hosting company is receiving the emails, not him.

-t

Originally posted by consul

Register.com allows change of DNS info in the control panel but it has to be confirmed. Their system sends an automailer to the admin account (which is also my email address: allanh@usls.edu -- no spam please). Well, after doing the changes, I waited for long for this email to arrive at my mailbox but it didn't.

I must be reading that part originally posted by consul (note the bold section) wrong. I can't see where it says that the email is going to the hosting company. Maybe you could explain it to me?

The whois also shows him as the owner/admin contact, hence his belief that the email would go to him as the admin contact. Maybe he got that changed recently?

[imago-allan]

elsemore1,

you are right, I am still the admin in there. The email nsadmin@virtualave.net is the hosting company's.

When I did the changes I checked the confirmation to be sent to my admin account (allanh@usls.edu) as mentioned.

So the email has to be sent to my account. And I haven't received any at that time.

Anyway, it is already moot since their automailer is now functioning and I am able to make the necessary changes. You may want to do a whois on che-comp.org to verify. And like I've said, I will only have to do the domain registrar transfer later.

Again, thanks for the time guys. At least, I can now afford to smile.

[freakysid]

I went through the very frustrating hassle of having to update the contact email address for 70 domain names with register.com because the original registrant let another domain name (which was the one he had used to for the contact email address for the other 70 domains) expire. I had pre-warned this person that he was going to end up in big trouble if he let the domain name expire and did not change the contact email addresses before it did. But did he listen to me?

Register.com do solve these things - but you have to put the effort into working through it. After all, it's your problem not theirs if the contact email they have on record for the domains is not yours! We needed to provide them with documentary proof of the owner when requesting them to change the contact email address (because we could not respond to emails sent to the email address on record). Several phone calls later, and email back and forth, everything got solved. But, please, don't think that a company like register.com is going to bend over backwards trying to help you if the email address they have for the domains is not the right email address.

[imago-allan]

HI!

I have received verification from register.com that they are NOT charging any fee for transferring away to another domain registrar. So that settles the issue.

I have changed the admin contact email address to my yahoo account just to make sure it gets delivered next time when I ask for changes or transfer away.

Register.com may not have been at fault if there is a glitch in the email delivery somewhere.

Well, I am glad that my problem is already solved. Perhaps I will do the registrar transfer as soon as I can, not because of poor service but mainly now because of rather "costly" renewal.

[thewitt]

Originally posted by elsmore1
I must be reading that part originally posted by consul (note the bold section) wrong. I can't see where it says that the email is going to the hosting company. Maybe you could explain it to me?[clip]

Sorry for the confusion. I was mixing up problems between this one and one I'm working for someone else!

Brain cramp!

-t