Domain stolen from me... What can I do??

[luciana]

Hello guys...
I have a problem: on 21th March I registered a domain @ IPower. On 30th March somebody else registered the domain at IPower. That means they took the domain from me and gave it to the other guy.
What can I do to get my domain back (legally or is there another way)??
I spoke with someone at billing and he said "Sorry but we have a glitch in our system".
Did anybody else here experienced similar problems? Please help me find a way to get my domain back!!!

 

[RJ]

What does the WHOIS show the registration date as, March 21 or March 30?

 

[luciana]

March 30 ...
And I have the purchase confirmation email received on 21th March and the "account setup" email... So on 21th March I had access to the domain.

 

[RJ]

In that case, it's likely the new registrant is the legal owner of the name. There may not be much you can do outside of getting a refund for what you paid to them.

The question is, what happened to the domain? Did the domain resolve for you between March 21 and March 29? Its possible Ipower could have deleted it, but its more likely they never successfully registered it for you in the first place.

I do find it strange that out of hundreds of domain registrars, it gets registered at the same registrar as you used originally. You could try contacting the new owner and see if he's willing to sell it reasonably.

 

[weblord]

if their alibi is this:

Sorry but we have a glitch in our system

then you can't do anything about it, better switch to a reliable domain name registrar such as namepros.com so you won't get that foolish alibis again.

 

[luciana]

if their alibi is this:

then you can't do anything about it, better switch to a reliable domain name registrar such as namepros.com so you won't get that foolish alibis again.

I know I made a mistake by registering my domain there... This is only a small part of the problems they have. I think I was attracted by the small prices but At least I've learned from my mistake...
I'm so upset because I own the whole "family" (the net, org, us, info..) and now I'm missing the .com
I really thought there was something I could do... I'm not interested in a refund, to me the domain is worth much more...


Maby I could try to take advantage of their glitch and register google.com
((((... Argh I feel like going there and kick their..

 

[weblord]

well, you can't argue with their alibi actually it's a valid one. if it's a software glitch then you can't hold them up against it legally. i think you're next step is what Rj suggested if you can approach the domain owner and show him that you want to complete the whole domain .tld family and show him your domains lists he might sell it to you at a reasonable price, if not then anyways you got the whole list of tld's under your control.

 

[HBK216]

Showing them that you have the other tld's might make them jack up the price. I'd approach without showing you are desperate for the name.

 

[almarti2]

I think that despite the glitch you could still make a case that they are fault for failure to give adequate notice of the glitch. The time frame between the two regs is evidence that if they had notified you of an error you may have mitigated your damage by re-regging.

However, in the real world, like others have said, the only damages you could get are a refund. Your value of the domain is too subjective and there is no way you could get specific performance and recover the domain name, particularly from the current registrant who likely regged in good faith (that no one else claimed it).

The best strategy would be to develop the current sites you have and file a trademark. This would faciliate bargaining with the current registrant for the name in the future.

Just some opinions, good luck.

 

[Tippy]

The same thing happened to me with a .ws name at GD, I regged the name and a few days later someone else regged it, GD actually removed it from my account and placed it in the new owners account.

Obviously I wasnt to pleased and I let GD know about it, glitch or not, they have the name, I have proof that I regged it fair and square days prior, ...the name was returned to me the next day.

Dont use some Joe Blow, fly by night registrar...

 

[SpareDomains]

sorry to hear about that, I think the old sayings "you get what you pay for" and "if it looks too good to be true, it probably is" seems to hold true for years whether you are talking domains, web hosting, or non internet related items. Usually if looking at super cheap prices online either the control panel, features, or support will be lacking. There are a few exceptions to this rule but not too many that I have found. I have had good experiences with the following namepros, namecheap, godaddy, enom. Check out this link http://www.registerindex.com/ to see comments on what everyone else thinks of the different registrars. You can have problems at any registrar but what matters is if support is there to correct or simplify any issues you may encounter. As far as your case goes I would bet that the issue with their system is that it charged you but they didn't register it for you, which seems odd that 8+ days after payment they still haven't registered it, which allowed someone else to grab it, not sure if they just use a reseller account or if they themselves are an accredited registrar, did the domain ever work or resolve for you? If it did work for you when you bought it and now it was resold 8+ days later and you have a receipt for it, I would press the issue.

 

[AdoptableDomains]

I do find it strange that out of hundreds of domain registrars, it gets registered at the same registrar as you used originally.

I had that same thought. Particularly with such a small scale registrar. It really sounds pretty fishy. I'd do some research on who the new registrant is first, to see if they can be traced to the registrar in some way (as an owner, same city, same ISP, similar IP numbers, etc.) If you PM me the domain name, I'll run a whois history on it to see if I can dig up any more info as to registration and creation dates, etc.

It does sound like they may have deleted and then re-registered it placing it into another account there. That seems to me to be more than an uncontrollable glitch, but possibly negligance. I would insist they get you the name even if THEY had to pay for it. If it's at their registrar still they do have control and CAN do something. Let them explain to the current registrant that it's a glitch. Remember the saying that the squeeky wheel gets the grease.

 

[SpareDomains]

just to add on to my previous post, MAKE SURE YOU SAVE WHATEVER RECEIPT THEY GAVE YOU as this could be a crucial evidence factor if something shady has happened on their end.

 

[AdoptableDomains]

Dont use some Joe Blow, fly by night registrar...

I just registered JoeBlow.biz...So you don't think I should use it to start a registrar?
:D