Problems renewing a domain name

[Sam Hobbs]

I unintentionally let a domain name expire. It expired October 15. When I tried to renew it, the registrar said it was not in their system anymore. The whois still shows me as the owner, so I cannot register it as new. Since I cannot use the registrar to renew it, I cannot do anything.

I created a help request for the registrar on November 20. That is much less than 60 days after expiration. I finally got a response from them today and they say it has been expired for more than 60 days. They also say that it is in a redemption status and will cost $160 to get out of redemption. I don't see that in the whois.

The registrar is a reseller of enom so I sent them a message but I have not heard from them.

Who is it that is (or will) charge $160 for the domain name? Will the registrar make money from it? What can I do to complain about them not allowing me to renew the domain name?

I want to do everything reasonable about this, so that they can't say I did not try.

[alemcherry]

probably, they are right. Here is somethign useful:
http://www.netmechanic.com/news/vol6/promo_no17.htm

I am not sure if the redumtion period kicks in within 60 days. I recommed you to pay the money and get your domain back, before it goes to "pending delete" stage. You may complain to bbb for a reimbursement, if you feel it was their mistake and the dates you have are correct. Make sure that you have the docs to support your argument.

Some useful info is here:
http://reports.internic.net/cgi/registrars/problem-report.cgi

[Sam Hobbs]

You don't understand. I cannot do that. I cannot renew it for any amount of money. They refuse to fix the problem. If they are going to cause me to pay $160 and if they get a commision from that, then they obviously don't want to fix the problem.

Do you truly believe that that is reasonable? I sure don't. It's amazing to me that they can get away with this.

You probably have thousands of dollars in the bank, but I sure don't. I assume it is easy for you to spend $160, but it is not easy for me.

[Sam Hobbs]

Note that that NetMechanic article is more than three years old. It describes manual processes and such. Things have changed a lot in the past three years and most everything done with domain name registrations are automated, which that article does not mention since it is so old.

[Sam Hobbs]

The InterNIC Registrar Problem Reports is the type of thing I was looking for. I probably will submit the form, but since it is not likely to have an affect on my situation, I will probably wait until the process has reached a significant development.

[PrimeHost]

I unintentionally let a domain name expire. It expired October 15. When I tried to renew it, the registrar said it was not in their system anymore. The whois still shows me as the owner, so I cannot register it as new. Since I cannot use the registrar to renew it, I cannot do anything.

I created a help request for the registrar on November 20. That is much less than 60 days after expiration. I finally got a response from them today and they say it has been expired for more than 60 days. They also say that it is in a redemption status and will cost $160 to get out of redemption. I don't see that in the whois.

The registrar is a reseller of enom so I sent them a message but I have not heard from them.

Who is it that is (or will) charge $160 for the domain name? Will the registrar make money from it? What can I do to complain about them not allowing me to renew the domain name?

I want to do everything reasonable about this, so that they can't say I did not try.

Hello Sam, it is really unfortunate this has happened. I think there really isn't much you can do to get the domain back other than paying the $160 dollars. The other option would be to hope the domain drops and becomes available for you to register again. You take your chances.

I believe enom would get the $160 dollars since they are the registrar.

I always advise our clients to renew their domain well in advance to avoid this type of situation from happening. As for myself and my personal domains, I renew them in advance unless I really don't value the domain, then I'll wait to the last day.

[ASP-Hosting.ca]

You don't understand. I cannot do that. I cannot renew it for any amount of money. They refuse to fix the problem. If they are going to cause me to pay $160 and if they get a commision from that, then they obviously don't want to fix the problem.

Do you truly believe that that is reasonable? I sure don't. It's amazing to me that they can get away with this.

You probably have thousands of dollars in the bank, but I sure don't. I assume it is easy for you to spend $160, but it is not easy for me.

The question is - Is this domain/website worth more than $160 to you? If it's not and you can't get it without the $160 fee, just let it drop. If it is, then you don't have much choice, but pay the fee.

[InfoRelay-Greg]

The question is - Is this domain/website worth more than $160 to you? If it's not and you can't get it without the $160 fee, just let it drop. If it is, then you don't have much choice, but pay the fee.

That's correct. That's what i would do. the thing is if you really need it and if you think that this website really cost effective more then 160USD then go for it. Otherwise you simply lose in that's story.

That's my opinion.

[Ahmad]

I finally got a response from them today and they say it has been expired for more than 60 days.
It was 35 days after the domain expiry on November 20, their actions are absolutely correct, because if the domain has just expired you have the initial period, which is called expiration period and which lasts usually for 29 days, and redemption period, lasting for 30-35 days. There is no additional fee to get a domain name out of the expiration period, but if it's redemption period your registrar charges you a certain sum plus renewal fee.
So, your reseller's action look rather legitimate.

[Sam Hobbs]

I think there really isn't much you can do to get the domain back other than paying the $160 dollars.I think you did not read my question. I was totally unable to do that.

I always advise our clients to renew their domain well in advance to avoid this type of situation from happening.Yes, of course. I really get frustrated by things like this because of problems such as this. I definitely realize that I was the initial cause but there is too much greed associated with domain names. It is a hastle; I should not have let it expire, but it is hastles such as this one that makes me procrastinate.
However, I know I should renew on time!

the thing is if you really need it and if you think that this website really cost effective more then 160USD then go for it. I think you did not read my question. I can't! The issue is that the (reselling) registrar does not allow me (due to a problem) to renew at any price and they were quite unresponsive to answering my questions.

So, your reseller's action look rather legitimate.I think you did not read my question. I was totally unable to do that.

[Alcatrazz]

How was the whole issue resolved?

[Sam Hobbs]

It is not resolved. The domain name still shows as belonging to me so I cannot register it as new. GoToNames (the registrar) lists the domain name in my list of names for my account but it just says "No longer in our system" without the ability to do anything with it. I was going to contact them but I decided to wait until after Christmas. So I will now go to the ticket and re-open it, or contact them somehow.

[Sam Hobbs]

GoToNames (the registrar) says that there is nothing they can do; that I must wait 3-6 months for enom to release the domain name.

[aloha2]

The InterNIC Registrar Problem Reports is the type of thing I was looking for. I probably will submit the form, but since it is not likely to have an affect on my situation, I will probably wait until the process has reached a significant development.

Thanks :) :)

[radnam]

Hey Sam I have worked for a hosting company which had a reseller account with enom and it is true that your domain will not be in their account after 30 days of expiring. And ENOM does charge $160 so its not the hosting companies fault or your its enoms fault. If you want you can try to contact ICANN who have the right for domain registration of all the domains in the world. So try to contact them may be they will help you.

This is your last resort.

Best Of luck

[SilverStone]

GoToNames (the registrar) says that there is nothing they can do; that I must wait 3-6 months for enom to release the domain name.

Hi,

I think your registrar (GoToNames) can help you because we also facing this issues before with our client domain. When we contact to Enom and they agreed to released the domain but the charges $160. In our case my client not effort to pay that amount..:D

Thanks,

[sinder-cinder]

I unintentionally let a domain name expire. It expired October 15. When I tried to renew it, the registrar said it was not in their system anymore. The whois still shows me as the owner, so I cannot register it as new. Since I cannot use the registrar to renew it, I cannot do anything.

I created a help request for the registrar on November 20. That is much less than 60 days after expiration. I finally got a response from them today and they say it has been expired for more than 60 days. They also say that it is in a redemption status and will cost $160 to get out of redemption. I don't see that in the whois.

The registrar is a reseller of enom so I sent them a message but I have not heard from them.

Who is it that is (or will) charge $160 for the domain name? Will the registrar make money from it? What can I do to complain about them not allowing me to renew the domain name?

I want to do everything reasonable about this, so that they can't say I did not try.

:) it is an international rule to renew the domain the domain name less than 60 days after expiration,you can not forget it.but as I know,if you register on http://www.plusregister.com.
it will remind you by e-mail to renew your domain name in advance.I think it will solve your problem and avoid much unnecessary loss.

[Sam Hobbs]

if you register onI did not ask for a suggestion therefore suggestions are off-topic for this thread.

[sinder-cinder]

:( I just want to tell me this registrar is reliable
perhaps other people who saw this topic can register on this website and avoid unnecessary loss

[Sam Hobbs]

The main problem was support. They did not respond to support requests, at least not for days.

The hosting service LiveHost.net is managed by the same business as GoToNames.com. They also are slow to respond to support requests.

Worse than that, LiveHost.net gets hacked. Web sites hosted by them get infected by trojans or whatever it is called. It has happened to my site twice. The first time it happened, Google sent me an email stating that my site was dangerous and Google had a warning in search results that my site was dangerous. The problem existed because the hosting site was hacked.

The LiveHost.net home page also has been infected; a week or two ago it tried to install an ActiveX control that I am nearly certain is a trojan or something like that. The reason I am virtually sure it is an undesirable ActiveX control is because once or twice an attempt was made to install it when I went to my web site hosted by them, and I know for sure I don't use any ActiveX controls in my site.

The business has probably lost many customers after the change in management and they will continue to lose customers if they don't restore their support to a level closer to the high level that existed before the change in management.

[maxartone]

I have had problems with enom too. I have a disput with their reseller and when I called enom they tell me it is not their problem and they cannot help me. Enom sucks.

[Sam Hobbs]

I don't know much about enom. I am not talking about enom except that GoToNames.com uses enom to send domain names. Part of the problem I had was enom's policies but GoToNames.com did not adequately communicate the situation to me.

Perhaps enom is a problem too but I don't know how it compares to the other big reseller registerapi. That however is off-topic for this thread; discussion of enom and registerapi should be done in another thread.