Sorry about the delay with this post but.....
Here goes...
I have quite a few domain names registered. I have 26 dot tv names as well as a few dot coms, dot co.uk domains etc..... registered to me, most of the dot tvs are held by the Dot tv corp in my account registered with them. On the 18th of March this year I registered the domain name "automart.tv" for a 10 year period so any renewal fee would not need to be payed on this domain until March 18th 2015. Around the end of March I was logged into my account and while I was in checking my domains I noticed my list looked a tad shorter than usual so I did a check to see what was missing. Whilst I was in my account I noticed domain names disappearing one by one. I immediately called the Dot tv corp to express my concern and to find out what was going on with my account. The customer care representitive was very helpful but it was obvious that he was surprised by what was happening but told me it was more than likely that my credit card had not authorised payment and the names were being cancelled and he suggested I immediately contact my credit card company to deal with the situation. I was off the line within seconds and found myself urgently tapping in the telephone number of my credit card company (american express). I expained the situation to the amex representative and he assured me that all payments had been authorized and went on to explain that I could not have completed my domain purchases with the dot tv corp had there been any issues. I must have spoken with about 3 different people from amex including security on serveral occasions but I was assured on each occasion they had payed my purchases in full and would either get involved themselves or provide me with all the evidence I need to prove my purcheses to whome ever necessary. I immediately called the dot tv corp and explained to the same representitive my conversation with amex and he went on to investigate further. During the time of the phone call he said that a "misuse" flag was logged against my name but I explained that I did not use any of my domain names other than to setup the generic domain parking pages provided with the dot tv corp so the "misuse" flag could not be correct either. I also communicated my concerns about my automart.tv name being inavalable unlike the other 4 which were showing as available for purchase on the dot tv site. The five domain names they cancelled from my account were: automart.tv, sportsusa.tv, netsport.tv, netsport and homestore.tv. All 5 of those domains left my account at the same time and all but automart showed as being available the second they left my account. The dot tv rep could offer no explanation as to why this situation was how it was and when I asked who the automart domain was registered to all he could say was the name was "locked" to verisign and he needed to consult with collegues about my situation.
I was contacted shortly after my initial conversations by someone from verisign telling me that my account number was very similar to someone elses and this other persons account was due for deletion and they entered one wrong digit which caused the cancellation of my 5 domain names rarther than the cancellation of this other persons account. Never the less, I was happy the situation was now resolved and my domain names were going to be returned. Sure enough, All 5 domain names appeared back into my account and the dot tv whois was showing me as the registered owner.
A few days later I decided to to a routine accounts security check (credit cards, domain accounts etc...) and whilst I was in my amex account I noticed that there had been a number of refunds made to my card. I checked my master card account and found there had also been a refund to that card also so I added up the full total of refunds which came to over $2000 (the exact amount I spent on the registration of the 5 vanishing domain names) and called the dot tv corp to find out what was going on. I again spoke with the first representitive and he could offer no explanation but advised me that the refunds would eventually show up on there system and they would want the money back which was not a problem for me.On the 6th of April 2005 I received an email from the rep at verisign requesting the security codes for 3 of my cards so the refunds could be taken back. I called verisign direct and re-issued the payments back in full. I was then sent a recipt for $2,250.00 on the 7th of april showing I had re-purchased the 5 vanishing domain names. Phew, I thought, everything is now safe and secure in my account.
Around mid June I was looking over my domain parking pages and decided to type "automart.tv" into the address bar of my browser and was shocked to see my domain redirect to a 123-reg domain parking page. This is not my page! I thought and immediately called verisign for and explanation. The same verisign representitive who returned my names previously checked the domain while I was on the telephone with them and was equally surprised to see the 123-reg page appear and after I little while discussing the situation promised to have their engineering dept investigate and find out what was happening. A ticket number was issued so I decided to wait. A few days later the verisign rep emailed me with the engineering report which almost gave me an heart attack. I was told a "fulfillment issue at the registry actually had prevented the domain "automart.tv" from being re-registered and returned a "false positive" that the domain was registered when in fact is was in a "pending delete" status that should have prevented processing the registration and payment and upon completion of the pending delete process was made available on a first come first served basis and a refund was being processed to my credit card" Bulls*#T I thought and grabbed the phone! I explainded to the verisign rep I was not accepting that explanation as it did not make any sense and contradicted previous explanations given to me. I also requested that I DID NOT wish to be refunded and I was very suspicious of the whole affair. I was also told during the conversation that had the cancellations not taken place around the end of March everything would be fine with my account and all my domains would be safe and securly registered to me displaying my parking pages. I was also told during this conversation that the initial cancellation was now showing as caused by suspected credit card fraud.....Yet another excuse! If they suspected that then how is it that they have accepted many other payments from all my cards both before and after the purchase of the 5 vanishing domains? I was also pretty cheesed off and mentioned that I was not going to accept the loss of automart.tv and would do whatever it took to regain control of what is rightfully mine. I said I had kept all my recipts and taken screen snapshots of everything regarding automart showing this name was legally and correctly purchesed by myself. I received an email shortly after this conversation telling me the situation was now being re-investigated and they wanted to also put in writing that there would be NO refund activity taking place regarding this name.
During the time I was waiting for further updates to the situation I decided to investigate who was the new registrant showing to have registered automart.tv on 15th may 2005 on the verisign "whois" website. I eventually managed to get the id from the tucows registry showing the registrant as : Patrick Morrow of the Armidia group, Further Investigation revealed that Armidia is the parent company of "automart.co.uk" Damn, I knew I was right!!! It had to be someone big. Remember, I had asked on several occasions for the id of the person/s who had gotten control of my domain but on each occasion the requested info was not available. I emailed my findings and confirmation of my "right from the beginning suspicions" to verisign and awaited a responce. I was email briefly a little while later saying that my issue was being reviewed by verisigns legal dept. I was finally emailed on the 21st of July 2005 stating that verisigns legal dept had advised that a full refund should be immediately made to me because the domain was not registered with the dot tv corp and is now registered with tucows and that the re-registration of the domain on 28th of march had yeilded the this one domain had gone into "Redemption grace preiod" (rgp) that lasts for 30 days. When finance reprocessed the previously cancelled domain names, a fulfillment issue at the registry yeilded a "false positive" that automart.tv was registered to my account when this one out of five domain names was still in RGB and was not available for registration. I was told the RGB then ended and the domain went into a five day pending delete process and on may 4th the domain was released and made available on a first come first served basis and was subsequently purchased through tucows on the 15th of may on behalf of Mr Morrow (managing director of Armidia. parent company of automart.co.uk). I was in deep shock once again at the outcome and ance again called the rep at verisign to repeat that I DO NOT want a refund and I intend to fight for what is rightfully and lawfully mine.
I would like to make it clear that I do not question the integrity of the rep at verisign at all and I would like to thank them for all their hard and stressfull work in trying to resolve this situation in my favour.
Facts about this situation:
Multiple excuses for the domain cancellations,
1: Failure of my creditcards to make payment. This was proved not to be the case and I can prove this by obtaining written proof from amex and mastercard!
2: Misuse. I have never used any of my dot tv purchases with the exception of the provided "domain parking page"!
3: Account error (1 digit input error deletes my domains and not intended customers account). Not possible!
4: Credit card fraud. Then why did they allow many subsequent purchases from my suspected stolen cards and not alert anyone including the creditcard companies about their suspicions???
5: "False positives" and "RGP" and "pending delete" and strange electronic pulses from Mars screwing up my re-registrations of the domain..Please note: automart.tv was the only one out of the 5 vanishing domains that was effected by this strange anomaly. Again, I would just like to remind you that automart.tv has NEVER shown as being available for registration since the first time I registered it on the 18th of March 2005. I checked this status on an almost daily basis and I am 100% certain that no one could have made a registration via the normal registration procedure.
Facts about new Registrant:
1: The new registrant has tried to remain in the shadows through out this whole affair, the info at tucows just gives his name and his parent company "Armidia" Armidia own quite a few on-line interestes and if you check "armidia.com" and look at what the whois results yeild than you will see that all his domains go through "Name Server: NS.AUTOMART.CO.UK". Strange my automart.tv does not and to think for such a well established on-line company such as automart.co.uk to still point to a standard 123 reg parking page and not the main automart.co.uk site even though whois shows he registered back in may arouses suspicion in its self. I suppose automart.co.uk should feel very happy about being in the right place at the right time (the millisecond) my domain must have become available for purchase on the very rare occasion my back was turned (i think i needed to take a leak).Patrick Morrow should be more than relieved that I am the only person in the history of verisigns rule to have my account effected by so many stange anomalies at the precise time he decided to make a move to register automart.tv
Facts about myself:
1: I was the first person to register automart.tv on the 18th March and I have kept all my reciepts to prove it.
2: I was suspicious right from the beginning when I saw that automart.tv remained unavailable and the other 4 domains were showing as available right from the second they left my account.
3: My name and details were showing at
www.tv whois registry right from the 18th of March - 22 of July 2005 when my name as the registrant was deleted from the dot tv whois data base.
4: I have taken the liberty of saving all evidence including snapshots of the dot tv registry prior to the deletion of my details on the 22-07-05 and will provide anyone anyware with copies should you wish to review the documents for yourself.
5: I am still in a state of shock about how I have been treated by these people and even more shocked that they assume I am going to allow this matter to quietly fade away.
6: I am considering serveral courses of action including a complaint being made to the police due to the fact I feel like a "victim of crime". Something I bought legally to which I have reciepts was removed from my possesion without my knowledge or permission (i'm sure there is a name for this type of action)
7: I was never receieved any warnings what so ever that any of my domains were about to be cancelled or any warnings that my automart.tv was in any form of pending delete status. It is my understanding that during pending delete the domain owner is contacted multiple times in order to halt the deletion. I was not alerted that any refunds were being made to my a credit cards at anytime and I only discovered this by checking my credit card activity on-line the same way I discovered my cancelled domains by actually being logged in to my dot tv account at the time they were being removed.
I have given the basics of what has occured and I have my own very very strong 99.9999% suspicions of what has happened to my automart.tv domain and will be making direct accusations at the parties I know are involved via my own website which will be constructed in the very near future. If any party feels I am bringing their "good names" into disrepute then all I can say is take me to court when my site goes up if you dare!
I have other information regarding this unfortunate situation but it would be inappropriate to post at this time but please be sure that I intend to keep the world updated regarding all action I decide to take regarding the recovery of my property.
Thanks for you time and I would appreciate any thoughts you might have regarding this matter. I would also like to invite anyone either at verisign or anywhere else with any knowledge of the events leading up to the loss of my domain to contact me anonymously with any information you think might help me prove what I already know. I am also looking for any advice you might wish to offer me on any other course of action I could take that I may not have already thought of. If I do not act and simply do nothing about this situation then NO ONES domains are safe including the rest of my dot tv portfollio. If they can just be taken at will after giving a bunch of lame and improbable excuses. It looks like another "David and Goliath" scenario but I am a pretty good shot whith the proverbial slingshot and I am ready to do what it takes to get justice!
Thanks in advance and I will keep you posted on all developments.
Ree Semley
[email protected]
