Domain name claim

M

MyWorld

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My soppy story:
Our flyfishing club were using a hosting company for a couple of years now and they managed everything, hosting, designing and domain registration.
We were paying something in the region of R3500-00 p/a for these privileges until I joined the club and felt this to be extortion (lets just say they milked the club for R15k in 3 years, designing, admin fees and whatnot added onto the monthly fee).
We informed them that we wanted to review our solution and bargain for a better price (keep in mind the club is a non-profit organization) and they just refused any negotiations and we today saw that they took the site offline.

Now I would like to switch to texo for hosting, but to my shock I saw that they registered OUR domain under their name!

What steps can one take to get ownership of the domain name? I'm going to have a talk with them on Monday and hope that they are willing to transfer it over to the club, but if not, what am I to do?
The domain name is rather important to us since the club name and domain name is one and the same, so opting for a different name is a no go for us.
 
As a service provider, one comes across this kind of thing relatively often. I've been battling with transferring a domain name to ownership in one of our client's name for over a week now and have only succeeded today. They did not even list the owner as one of the contacts.

ALWAYS check that your web host registers the domain name in your name. Anything else is simply inexcusable.

You should get the current account holder to phone the company and inform them that he is going to have the domain name transferred and that they must accept the transfer, they will have 24 hours to accept. Depending on how efficient they are, you may need to rinse and repeat a few times.
 
Are you sure that you are telling the whole story? Like maybe you have decided to hold back on payment of the previously agreed monthly fee while you search for a better deal?

And is R291 and some change a month really extortion for a professional service? (assuming they are providing as such)
 
If this is a .co.za domain, then it might be possible to a manual transfer (requires a certified affidavit etc) if Uniforum is satisfied with the information supplied. I've had to do quite a few of these for clietns whose domains weren't registered correctly.
 
Freshy-ZN said:
Are you sure that you are telling the whole story? Like maybe you have decided to hold back on payment of the previously agreed monthly fee while you search for a better deal?

And is R291 and some change a month really extortion for a professional service? (assuming they are providing as such)
Click to expand...
I did not need to search for a better deal, I knew where to find one since I've been hosting with Texo for a while now, and no, they are paid in full. The chairman of the club has 3 other websites with them, so it is not a matter of payment due or such thing. Just note that the chairman is a wealthy business man and is computer illiterate, he took it on good faith that the hosting company was giving the club a cracker of a deal. I have a feeling he is going to cancel all three his other websites from them very shortly...

Just had a look at the financial statement, it is R3 900-00 p/a, bringing the total to +/-R325 for 100Mb website with less than 1Gb of traffic allowed p/m, extortion? In my book, yes. Then add to that R15k for website design and random admin fees.

I do not know what the going rates are nowadays, but seeing things like this makes my blood boil, admin fees for a website that was last updated in 2007???? That is just not on!
:mad: :mad: :mad:

Texo, I'll PM you Monday to see if you can help me transfer the domain to the club and also for an all-in-one hosting package.
;)

EDIT:
It is a co.za
 
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Well you're not making a bad choice with going to Texo.... and good luck getting the domain ownership sorted. It does sound like those guys milked you. Often "all-in-one" packages (hosting+design+admin) has a lot of profit involved....
 
Who the hell is this hosting company anyway?

If it's co.za names the hosting company is on the wrong side of the T&C for registering the owner as themselves...
 
AcidRaZor said:
Who the hell is this hosting company anyway?

If it's co.za names the hosting company is on the wrong side of the T&C for registering the owner as themselves...
Click to expand...

There's a lot of hosting companies that register the domains under their own names...
 
froot said:
There's a lot of hosting companies that register the domains under their own names...
Click to expand...

Yup I know, but a hosting company that switches off a fully paid for domain just because the client wants to negotiate better prices?

Probably run by a bunch of 13 year old girls only finding out they're starting PMS and afraid they're going to lose business?

**** me, seriously, in this economic climate, I would've think the company would be open to negotiation for cheaper rates so that they can keep the client at least...
 
MyWorld said:
What steps can one take to get ownership of the domain name? I'm going to have a talk with them on Monday and hope that they are willing to transfer it over to the club, but if not, what am I to do?
Click to expand...

Generally speaking, the law is on your side. If they are not willing to transfer it, I would send them a written letter demanding that they transfer it to you. If they refuse, you could lay a compliant under the Alternative Dispute Resolution Regulations for <.co.za> domains.
 
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