.co.za/Uniforum down?

[wm0000]

Anyone else noticed this. They have been down since Sunday. Seems like the attitude was "last one to leave on Thursday, pull the plug"

1,192.168.0.1,2ms,None,----
2,41.132.24.1,28ms,41-132-24-1.dsl.mweb.co.za,----
3,196.22.169.134,10ms,None,----
4,196.22.189.2,163ms,vl-92.vic-hscore-1.mweb.co.za,----
5,196.22.169.66,179ms,tengig-3-1.vic-core-sw1.mweb.co.za,----
6,196.22.185.46,123ms,None,----
7,196.22.163.1,84ms,jx2621-1-S0-AP.mweb.net,----
8,198.32.142.29,16ms,uniforum.jinx.net.za,----
9,206.223.136.25,16ms,cisufrm2-cisufrmjnx.coza.net.za,----
10,----,Timeout,n/a,----
11,----,Timeout,n/a,----

[ghoti]

Uniforum work? LOL. .. yeeh.....

Theyre pretty useless but have the monopoly.

[cyPHunk]

Yeah... they have been down since Saturday (that I noticed)

Called them this morning to find out the status... which was "unknown" and more information to assist us... which was "unavailable"

I must say that I've never had a problem with Uniforum. We've registered over 500 domains with them and have never really had a problem. Sure registrations via their email script is quite stupid, but it works... and come on... it helps ISPs by pushing away beginner to intermediate IT users wanting to register a domain away from "doing it themselves" - when in actual fact it is quite possible. Still, I think that they do a decent job from face value point of view. Dont ever expect a reply from anybody but their accounts department though

This however is enough to piss somebody off. If you are going to be the sole provider of registrations in the .co.za namespace, implement a network design that makes use of multiple redundancy measures.... we've got registrations pending now since Friday. God help them all if the domains we need are snapped up during this period of outage.

Chris

[wm0000]

Yeah... they have been down since Saturday (that I noticed)

Called them this morning to find out the status... which was "unknown" and more information to assist us... which was "unavailable"

I must say that I've never had a problem with Uniforum. ...
This however is enough to piss somebody off. If you are going to be the sole provider of registrations in the .co.za namespace, implement a network design that makes use of multiple redundancy measures.... we've got registrations pending now since Friday. God help them all if the domains we need are snapped up during this period of outage.

Chris

Same here. Never really had a problem until now but for the only domain registrar for .co.za, being down the whole weekend is beyond a mere 'technical glitch'. It's totally unacceptable. I guess we can be count ourselves fortunate uniforum doesn't run any of the root servers.

[eugenevdm]

This is causing havoc with my business.

[wm0000]

Just called them now and spoke to their tech support. The guy I spoke to wasn't phased at all that the only .co.za registrar in the country has been down since Saturday "because they don't work weekends" and that "we should be up soon" .

When I asked him if "soon" meant today his answer was "maybe". I kid you not, .co.za "may" be up today sometime or tomorrow.

This is causing havoc with my business.

Same here. We have a dozen or so domain to register since Saturday and some people are getting very testy.

[ghoti]

Well all those people who didnt know how Uniforum are to their customers are getting a brilliant education today

[portcullis]

This is causing havoc with my business.

+1

[RSkeens]

I am actually amazed that they are still down, it is delaying work.

[schurtek]

Well I try and convince my clients to rather take a .com and a .net

Uniforum is so full of #Fail they are like a bad 4chan joke.

I am just annoyed that I can't do whois checks at the moment.

I stopped pushing .co.za domains when a client decided not to pay us, and Uniforum took the clients domain from us and gave it to the client. So that client can now get another IT company to do the work and then refuse to pay, and Uniforum will just move the domain AGAIN so that one by one Uniforum can cause companies to lose money.

In the mean time Uniforum still makes us pay R50 for a domain, even if the client doesn't pay us. Forget the chance that a project may require more than 30 days to complete resulting in not all monies being collected before Uniforum deletes the domain (as they tell us we mustn't pay the R50 until the project is complete and the client has paid in full...)

Uniforum takes action with out due process. They make a decision with out consultation and G_d help you if you try and take the matter up with ZADNA. They have no requirement to protect the businesses that make use of the .za namespace.

Everything in .za oozes fail, so now I only push .com, .info, .org and .net.

Unproudly South African!

[wm0000]

I am actually amazed that they are still down, it is delaying work.

cyPHunk noticed them down since Saturday and it's now pretty much 2/3 through Tuesday ... they are pushing 3+ days now. Not much of a recommendation for the company I'm afraid. It's beyond me that this can happen to a country level TLD/registry. Do they not have a contingency plan? Guess not. So very disappointing.

[RSkeens]

I stopped pushing .co.za domains when a client decided not to pay us, and Uniforum took the clients domain from us and gave it to the client.

While I agree with a lot that you have said, I am a bit confused as to what this means. How can they take a domain name "away from you" unless you don't register it in the client's name? They should have total control and ownership at all times, regardless of any billing situation.

So that client can now get another IT company to do the work and then refuse to pay, and Uniforum will just move the domain AGAIN so that one by one Uniforum can cause companies to lose money.

Is this in reference to web design for the domain name? I am also confused here, as again they should be free to move. If there are outstanding invoices for the domain name, then it WILL be deleted and in most cases can't be moved (even then, it will still be deleted if it isn't settled).

[portcullis]

While I agree with a lot that you have said, I am a bit confused as to what this means. How can they take a domain name "away from you" unless you don't register it in the client's name? They should have total control and ownership at all times, regardless of any billing situation.

Stop me if I'm wrong, but I suspect Schurtek's been a victim of this trick:

The client doesn't pay for his / her website hosting.
The hosting company (Schurtek) puts up a default page to say "this site suspended for non payment".
The client still doesn't pay, but now the client's moerig because he / she has been outed.
The client then decides they want to move their domain to somebody else.
The hosting company says that once arrears hosting is paid, they can go.
The client has a hissy fit and gets Uniforum to move the domain to a new hosting provider and the old hosting company is left out of pocket.

[schurtek]

Is this in reference to web design for the domain name? I am also confused here, as again they should be free to move. If there are outstanding invoices for the domain name, then it WILL be deleted and in most cases can't be moved (even then, it will still be deleted if it isn't settled).

We were developing software that would have a web interface. They agreed to a proposal of R89000 (with change). They paid Deposit, and then when the next invoice came in, they refused to pay saying that we promised to do the work pro-bono. (There was a lot more than that... but it boiled down to them wanting the work Pro-bono). After several months of legal battles we went our seperate ways (with them owing us R10 000).

So we deleted the domain. After the domain was in public domain, we re-registered it, as we had another client requesting a similar name. (First come first serve). Uniforum then changed the registration details back to the original client citing that we are never allowed to delete a domain, only the client can. From what I understand, we have to keep paying for domains that clients default on until one day they decide to delete them. Calvine refused to provide any written communication of his actions or explanations. A month later they moved the domain out citing that we are never allowed to refuse a registrants request to move the domain. Even if they never paid us for work or hosting. We are suppose to hand over all work done and if the client owes us money that is not the clients fault. Now bear in mind, the client never requested us to register a domain name. It was all part of our proposal for the software being developed. Second the client was very angry that our staff who we contracted to develop software were not working FOR HIM AT HIS PREMISES under our expense. He also claimed ownership of said staff.

My concern comes in when one of my clients has a staff member or partner that goes sour, and they end up getting Uniforum to move the domain out, and I GET SUED!!!... Calvin's attitude is that he makes the rules and what ever he says is gospel. These actions caused us to lose the only chance we had at recouping our loses caused by the client. Work was done, and we have to pay the staff. In the future, we may end up losing a lot more than R10 000 outstanding. We may lose everything when an angry customer sues us as a result of Uniforum moving a domain because he received an Affidavite stating that the domain must be moved. Yes, that's all it takes to have a manual transfer done. A piece of paper with a SAPS stamp.

[schurtek]

Stop me if I'm wrong, but I suspect Schurtek's been a victim of this trick:

The client doesn't pay for his / her website hosting.
The hosting company (Schurtek) puts up a default page to say "this site suspended for non payment".
The client still doesn't pay, but now the client's moerig because he / she has been outed.
The client then decides they want to move their domain to somebody else.
The hosting company says that once arrears hosting is paid, they can go.
The client has a hissy fit and gets Uniforum to move the domain to a new hosting provider and the old hosting company is left out of pocket.

Hit the nail on the head there!!!