My Host is down, their Phone # gone, where do I turn???

[menstroy]

Heres my situation:

About 8months ago, I purchased a domain name and servr space from

http://www.hostonic.com

I should have known the price was to good to be true.

Long story short, my site, and their site is down, and their phone # disconnected.

My concern is how do I get my domain name back? I think they might have screwed me over when I do a 'whois' on my sitename instead of showing my information it says its registered to 'hostonic' (the company i paid to register and host it)

Where do I turn!? I want my site name back...

 

[sedj]

Whats that saying ... pay peanuts, get monkeys ...

I would first contact your country's domain name registrar and tell them what has happened. You may be able to move the domain to another provider, but I guess it depends on what the registrar says.

The UK registrar is nominet -

http://www.nic.uk

The IS one is neustar -

http://www.nic.us

--------------------------------------------------
Free Database Connection Pooling Software

http://www.primrose.org.uk

 

[sedj]

typo -
The IS one is neustar -

http://www.nic.us

should be :

The US registrar is neustar -

http://www.nic.us

--------------------------------------------------
Free Database Connection Pooling Software

http://www.primrose.org.uk

 

[sedj]

This might be helpful too :

http://sunny.nic.com/cgi-bin/whois?domain=HOSTONIC.COM

--------------------------------------------------
Free Database Connection Pooling Software

http://www.primrose.org.uk

 

[menstroy]

Yah, I tried calling all the numbers listed, and disconnected, I even went as far as looking up his name in the yellow pages/phone book... I found a phone number that matched his name & address but that also is disconnected.

 

[menstroy]

This is the response I got, I'm still confused where to turn... sigh

If the domain is registered to your ISP, then even the sponsoring registrar cannot help (check
for sponsoring registrar at

http://www.internic.com

). But if you have any correspondence from your ISP
confirming that they had received payment for this domain name, and the ISP still disputes your
claim, then you can contact the registrar's dispute resolution department for assistance.

If the registrar says they cannot assist, then your only other recourse would be to take the
case to a legal entity that handles disputes of this nature, which could be an ICANN approved
dispute resolution panel (find links at

http://www.icann.org

), or a court.

Good luck!
Kind Regards,
.US Customer Support

 

[sedj]

So basically, if you have emails or evidence that you paid for the domain, then you may be able to recover your domain. If not, then you are stuffed.

If you have evidence, find out who the registrar is (via a

http://www.internic.com)

and go to them with your evidence and enter into the domain dispute process.

--------------------------------------------------
Free Database Connection Pooling Software

http://www.primrose.org.uk

 

[tviman]

I've never had this happen but it would seem to me that if you signed up with another hosting company and had them trasnfer the domain, you should be OK. There may be some delay in transfering the DNS values. My reasoning is that you are the owner of the domain - regardless of where your site is hosted.

There's always a better way. The fun is trying to find it!

 

[menstroy]

I agree, I should own it, but how proof do I have? Isnt this stuff regulated, I mean I cant just say I want microsoft.com to point a a certain IP address and its done...

When I paid hostonic to register my name, they put it in their name, so when I do a whois on it it shows their name and not mine.. So I find it hard to belive I can just call up and place and have the IP address change?

I contaced 'godaddy' who regiester hostonic.com and this is waht they told me.

I'm so confused and mad.

Thank you for contacting customer service. This domain is registered through Enom.com, and it does appear that it is registered in Hostonic's name. Unfortunately, we are unable to affect how Enom handles domain disputes, so I suggest you contact them, and request their advice.

Please let us know if we can help you in any other way.

 

[tviman]

If they put it in their name then you're pretty much screwed. Lesson learned - NEVER LET ANYBODY ELSE register your domain for you and put their name on it.

There's always a better way. The fun is trying to find it!

 

[Wullie]

As far as I am aware, they have been ready to close up for a while now. I believe they have had downtime of 2 week periods recently.

Regarding the domain, as has been mentioned above, if the domain is not registered in your name (The actual regisrant) then you have no claim over that domain, because legally it belongs to the person in the registrant field.

If you can provide me with your domain name, I may be able to help, although I cannot guarantee anything. However, this forum is not the place for this type of request, so please contact me by e-mail if you wish to discuss this.

Hope this helps

Wullie

http://www.freshlookhosting.com

http://www.tutorial-world.com

http://www.freshlookdesign.co.uk

The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails. - John Maxwell

 

[menstroy]

Sorry for my ignorance, but how should I contact you? I don't have your email, is there a way to send u a note via tek-tips?

 

[Wullie]

menstroy,

I got your email and sorry but there isn't anything I can help with. Your options are either to put in a transfer request and see if they approve it and release the domain, or contact ICANN and provide all evidence you have regarding the sale of the domain.

Wullie

http://www.freshlookhosting.com

http://www.tutorial-world.com

http://www.freshlookdesign.co.uk

The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails. - John Maxwell

 

[cyclegeek]

Not to beat a dead horse or anything but to follow up on a couple good suggestions:

Registering one's own domain oneself thru an official registration channel like Network Solutions, or Registrar.com is better than having a host or other third party firm register a domain name. Even if a third party firm registers a domain in your name, so that a WhoIs lookup reflects your information as the owner, that third party firm can still have a great deal of technical control such as DNS entries.

Control is everything - register the domain name yourself, take care of DNS entries yourself - because it's bad enough when your own site goes down - it's a million time worse when it's your client's sites that get hosed.

Cheers,
cyclegeek

 

[Wullie]

cyclegeek,

If the host registers your domain in your name then you have control of it. Because the host has control over DNS setup is not a bad thing, many people prefer it this way.

It is simple to move the domain to another server at any time because you are listed as the registrant and can make authorative changes.

Advising against using a third party solution without providing any evidence to support your cause is pointless. If you can provide cases where the registrant cannot complete a transfer request then I would be very shocked.

Hope this helps

Wullie

http://www.freshlookhosting.com

http://www.tutorial-world.com

http://www.freshlookdesign.co.uk

The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails. - John Maxwell

 

[cyclegeek]

Wullie,

Prepare - to be shocked (but probably pointlessly).

I personally was thwarted from having multiple domain DNS entries changed by a host because of how they register domains.

Here are the hopefully not pointless details: The host in question was CI Host. By the way, they suck. CI Host has an account with Registrar.com, so when someone asks CI Host to register a domain and set up DNS entries, they go to Registrar.com and have a domain added to their master account, then take care of the DNS entries themselves.

When CI Host had a meltdown for two odd weeks I cancelled my accounts with them. The nasty surprise came when I contacted Registrar.com to change my DNS entries - and couldn't. Not only couldn't I change my DNS entries, Registrar.com wouldn't even do it for me because the domains were on CI Host's master account. They said I owned them, but had to get authorization from CI Host to release my domains into my control. Imagine that. And just to reiterate(probably pointlessly), the domains belonged to me. A WhoIs lookup showed myself as the owner.

That wasn't the worst part. CI Host pointelessly REFUSED to cooperate. For days. It took a lot of time and effort to motivate them in the proper direction. Registrar.com assured me that once they heard from CI Host, my DNS entries could be changed in minutes, by me.

Long story short, I had several domains that belonged to me, but I had no control over the DNS because I had a third party firm register them for me.

Now, even if I didn't have this personal (pointless) experience, there is nothing wrong with advising that anyone who maintains a web site retain as much personal control as possible. Besides, not everyone's interested in my long, drawn out, pointless sob story

Let's face it, hosts are a dime a dozen. It's like that hooker scene from Full Metal Jacket "Hey baby - you need hosty hosty - I host you long time." So the lesson is, look out for yourself, and you won't have to convince negative slackers that your advice isn't pointless.

CYCLEGEEK

 

[Wullie]

When CI Host had a meltdown for two odd weeks I cancelled my accounts with them. The nasty surprise came when I contacted Registrar.com to change my DNS entries - and couldn't. Not only couldn't I change my DNS entries, Registrar.com wouldn't even do it for me because the domains were on CI Host's master account. They said I owned them, but had to get authorization from CI Host to release my domains into my control. Imagine that. And just to reiterate(probably pointlessly), the domains belonged to me. A WhoIs lookup showed myself as the owner.

CI Host are well known in the industry for the lawsuits that they brought on many people and while there are many dodgy companies, that does not mean that every company is the same as this.

That wasn't the worst part. CI Host pointelessly REFUSED to cooperate. For days. It took a lot of time and effort to motivate them in the proper direction. Registrar.com assured me that once they heard from CI Host, my DNS entries could be changed in minutes, by me.

No matter whether you had gone directly with a registrar or not, this situation could arise. Any company could go under and any company could decide that they want to screw their customers. As you are the registrant, you legally have control over that domain and when pushed, the registrar must release the domain into your control.

Just because you go directly to a registrar does not mean that you have total control over the domain without their approval. Some registrars allow you to control your domain from a control panel but require e-mail to switch nameservers or release the domain from their control. The point here is that any company can make life difficult for their customers if that is their intention.

So the lesson is, look out for yourself, and you won't have to convince negative slackers that your advice isn't pointless.

I offer domain registration through my company. (Although it is only provided to expand our services, it is mainly aimed at hosting customers) I think I am well within my rights to question someone who comments that people should never use my services. (You never said that directly, but I was bundled with the companies never to use)

If you have a business, would you agree with someone posting that people should never use your services and not providing one piece of reasoning?

Let's try to stay with Adult comments, what is name calling going to solve? If you had read my post, you would have noticed I said the following:

Advising against using a third party solution without providing any evidence to support your cause is pointless.

I never said saying this was pointless, I said it was a pointless statement when you provided no evidence in your post to backup your claim.

Wullie

http://www.freshlookhosting.com

http://www.tutorial-world.com

http://www.freshlookdesign.co.uk

The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails. - John Maxwell

 

[cyclegeek]

Right on Wullie - you got it all figured out. Let's hear it everybody - Bully for Wullie.

Best of luck menstroy - I feel your pain and I hope you don't have to pursue legal action to get hostonic to do right by you.

Cheers,
cyclegeek