Epik Removed 70 Domains from Our Account

[dnlucky]

For a number of years we have kept thousands of domains at Epik, and several years ago Epik set our account so domains remain in the account for 35 days after they expire, before they drop out and a Redemption Fee of $90 is required to renew them.

In the early hours of December 29th, 70 domains that were 30 or more days past renewal dropped out of our account, and several hours later Epik issued their "Important Notice - Grace Renewal Period Update" email which notified all customers that Epik's default grace renewal period was being increased from 15 days to 30 days.

After seeing that our grace renewal period was decreased, not increased, with no warning whatsoever, I imagined that Support would agree to temporarily restore the 70 removed domains so we could renew them at the regular renewal rate, but that request was denied and has now been denied several times, despite my writing CEO Brian Royce about this matter and copying him on several emails to Epik Support. Epik is demanding that the $90 Redemption Fee be paid to restore the domains, and additionally has put them up for auction.

If Epik can do this to us, then they can do the same to all Epik customers, which is to say that at any time they can decide to reduce the grace renewal period back to 15 days or less, so that any domains in any account which are more days past expiration than the new number they set immediately disappear from the account and are subject to the $90 Redemption Fee and auctioning.

So please write [email protected] with a copy to Brian Royce at [email protected] (or vice versa) requesting that our (Blue String Ventures) 70 domains be restored for a reasonable period of time so we can renew those we wish to renew at the normal renewal rate.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Domain Ethos]

Not surprising. Epik has been rogue and on a rampage of doing whatever they want with no rhyme or reason.

Just playing devil’s advocate though, why even let the domains get to the grace period point? Especially with the known issues.

Seems like an easy lawsuit. Or send them an intent to sue letter. Looks like they broke their own policy: https://support.epik.com/hc/en-us/articles/10754318778523-Expired-Registration-Recovery-Policy

 

[dnlucky]

Not surprising. Epik has been rogue and on a rampage of doing whatever they want with no rhyme or reason.

Just playing devil’s advocate though, why even let the domains get to the grace period point? Especially with the known issues.

Seems like an easy lawsuit. Or send them an intent to sue letter. Looks like they broke their own policy: https://support.epik.com/hc/en-us/articles/10754318778523-Expired-Registration-Recovery-Policy

Long story about why, but thanks very much for your post. I still haven't heard from Brian Royce, who I imagine is very busy now (and we have close to $23,000 in Masterbucks funds, about $17,000 of which we've been trying to withdraw for about two months), so hopefully he'll intervene and correct the situation soon.

 

[sharfab]

This comes down to how much value you put on your domain name assets. What happen if they are sold at auction. You seem to SHARE some blame to resolve this issue due to the late delay in renewing your names, At this point the master bucks don't have any value in the real world so its best to use its only value with Epik. I would suggest you use the master bucks money that you mentioned and renew the domain names you are willing to keep. Imo

 

[dnlucky]

This comes down to how much value you put on your domain name assets. What happen if they are sold at auction. You seem to SHARE some blame to resolve this issue due to the late delay in renewing your names, At this point the master bucks don't have any value in the real world so its best to use its only value with Epik. I would suggest you use the master bucks money that you mentioned and renew the domain names you are willing to keep. Imo

With Epik having agreed, years ago, to giving us 35 days to decide whether to renew domains before they drop out of our account and are subject to the Redemption Fee, we had a legal right, I feel quite sure an attorney will advise us, to utilize the full 35 days which they had granted. So I do not feel I share any of the blame whatsoever.

There are numerous reasons why different people renew their domains at different times, with many factors being involved, but that simply isn't relevant here. I grant that Epik had a right to reduce the 35 days to whatever number of days they want, but *not* without giving us any notice whatsoever, removing the domains from our account before we were even notified of the change. Please don't give them any fuel for a counter-argument, because there really is no basis for one.

 

[sharfab]

With Epik having agreed, years ago, to giving us 35 days to decide whether to renew domains before they drop out of our account and are subject to the Redemption Fee, we had a legal right, I feel quite sure an attorney will advise us, to utilize the full 35 days which they had granted. So I do not feel I share any of the blame whatsoever.

There are numerous reasons why different people renew their domains at different times, with many factors being involved, but that simply isn't relevant here. I grant that Epik had a right to reduce the 35 days to whatever number of days they want, but *not* without giving us any notice whatsoever, removing the domains from our account before we were even notified of the change. Please don't give them any fuel for a counter-argument, because there really is no basis for one.

I understand your frustration in dealing with this Epik issue. I also made my statements based on what is going on with Epik's current situation. If you check throughout this forum you will see disputes with Epik and how they disregard the client's rights by using the company's "TOS" as a cover to downplay the dispute along with other tactics such as not replying or removing domain names without notice. Since you have your agreement with Epik in writing then you are well within your rights. Now having said all of this, most litigation is a timely process which could cost you the lost of your domain names at auction while waiting for a judicial win. Im not here to bash you. I just offered a "protection suggestion" on the best possible way for you to keep the domain names Epik removed from your account while continuing to address their breach of contract. The redemption fee cost may or may not out weigh the Value of your domain name assets. Only you would know that...

 

[dnlucky]

I understand your frustration in dealing with this Epik issue. I also made my statements based on what is going on with Epik's current situation. If you check throughout this forum you will see disputes with Epik and how they disregard the client's rights by using the company's "TOS" as a cover to downplay the dispute along with other tactics such as not replying or removing domain names without notice. Since you have your agreement with Epik in writing then you are well within your rights. Now having said all of this, most litigation is a timely process which could cost you the lost of your domain names at auction while waiting for a judicial win. Im not here to bash you. I just offered a "protection suggestion" on the best possible way for you to keep the domain names Epik removed from your account while continuing to address their breach of contract. The redemption fee cost may or may not out weigh the Value of your domain name assets. Only you would know that...

Thanks for the advice, will consider!

 

[Haroon Basha]

Isn't Epik increasing the grace period from 15 days to 30 days is a good opportunity to renew the domains? Why criticize them?

 

[internext]

Isn't Epik increasing the grace period from 15 days to 30 days is a good opportunity to renew the domains? Why criticize them?

Because the OP had a deal for 35 days grace period in place. This was actually REDUCED to 30 days for them without warning.

 

[xcloud123]

！
will see what happen next

 

[anantj]

I renewed a domain (One Word .co). They deducted the funds but have not applied the renewal for over a week now and each time I contact them, "Raj" has no estimate of when it will be fixed and the renewal applied.
I contacted them today to cancel the renewal and refund the funds and his response is the same. We will cancel but I have no idea when it will happen (paraphrasing)

Epik is a complete shitshow

 

[CamMK27]

For a number of years we have kept thousands of domains at Epik, and several years ago Epik set our account so domains remain in the account for 35 days after they expire, before they drop out and a Redemption Fee of $90 is required to renew them.

In the early hours of December 29th, 70 domains that were 30 or more days past renewal dropped out of our account, and several hours later Epik issued their "Important Notice - Grace Renewal Period Update" email which notified all customers that Epik's default grace renewal period was being increased from 15 days to 30 days.

After seeing that our grace renewal period was decreased, not increased, with no warning whatsoever, I imagined that Support would agree to temporarily restore the 70 removed domains so we could renew them at the regular renewal rate, but that request was denied and has now been denied several times, despite my writing CEO Brian Royce about this matter and copying him on several emails to Epik Support. Epik is demanding that the $90 Redemption Fee be paid to restore the domains, and additionally has put them up for auction.

If Epik can do this to us, then they can do the same to all Epik customers, which is to say that at any time they can decide to reduce the grace renewal period back to 15 days or less, so that any domains in any account which are more days past expiration than the new number they set immediately disappear from the account and are subject to the $90 Redemption Fee and auctioning.

So please write [email protected] with a copy to Brian Royce at [email protected] (or vice versa) requesting that our (Blue String Ventures) 70 domains be restored for a reasonable period of time so we can renew those we wish to renew at the normal renewal rate.

Thanks for reading.

Same thing happened to me as well. They removed 4 domains without warning. I have had the 35 days grace period since 2015 and they used to return the domains to renew at the regular cost sometimes even after 35 days which is the reason I kept my domains at Epik. Now, after this incidence Arjoun (a CS supervisor) was not willing to return the domains even though they dropped out of my account after 30 days instead of 35. I have decided not to give them my business anymore and I am moving all my domains elsewhere. Getting sick of Epik's down the hill customer service and many other issues. I hope you and all the other domainers move their domains elsewhere, because it seems like Epik doesn't give a flip about domainers/customers who helped them build the company when they started.

 

[NameBuyer.com]

For a number of years we have kept thousands of domains at Epik, and several years ago Epik set our account so domains remain in the account for 35 days after they expire, before they drop out and a Redemption Fee of $90 is required to renew them.

In the early hours of December 29th, 70 domains that were 30 or more days past renewal dropped out of our account, and several hours later Epik issued their "Important Notice - Grace Renewal Period Update" email which notified all customers that Epik's default grace renewal period was being increased from 15 days to 30 days.

After seeing that our grace renewal period was decreased, not increased, with no warning whatsoever, I imagined that Support would agree to temporarily restore the 70 removed domains so we could renew them at the regular renewal rate, but that request was denied and has now been denied several times, despite my writing CEO Brian Royce about this matter and copying him on several emails to Epik Support. Epik is demanding that the $90 Redemption Fee be paid to restore the domains, and additionally has put them up for auction.

If Epik can do this to us, then they can do the same to all Epik customers, which is to say that at any time they can decide to reduce the grace renewal period back to 15 days or less, so that any domains in any account which are more days past expiration than the new number they set immediately disappear from the account and are subject to the $90 Redemption Fee and auctioning.

So please write [email protected] with a copy to Brian Royce at [email protected] (or vice versa) requesting that our (Blue String Ventures) 70 domains be restored for a reasonable period of time so we can renew those we wish to renew at the normal renewal rate.

Thanks for reading.

Thanks for posting. Same thing happened to me. Luckily I had renewed all my better domains and had been in the process of transferring domains out for 2 weeks prior to this. But I still lost about 20 domain names from them changing their policy with no notice.

My support requests for this and all other issues including those for customer leases are just ignored now. If you start legal action, I would also join. Otherwise I'll be filing my own for this and another matter. I realized they had subverted their process and stolen several domains from my account. If you ever had any domains hit their drop process in the last 1-2 years, look closely because for names they want they don't even give you the standard 24-48 hours to renew after they drop like they had in the 8 years prior. They would just take the ones they wanted and would never send you ANY notice whatsoever about the domain leaving your account. These domains are not even on the drop warning email for the day. They just aren't in your account anymore.

 

[CamMK27]

I realized they had subverted their process and stolen several domains from my account. If you ever had any domains hit their drop process in the last 1-2 years, look closely because for names they want they don't even give you the standard 24-48 hours to renew after they drop like they had in the 8 years prior. They would just take the ones they wanted and would never send you ANY notice whatsoever about the domain leaving your account. These domains are not even on the drop warning email for the day. They just aren't in your account anymore.

Did you know which domains were stolen from your account? Did you get them back or get it resolved?

I noticed this too in the last couple of years that I lost number of domains. I usually login and check my account everyday and a couple of times I noticed the count on my total domains was less than what I had seen the day before. Unfortunately I didn't keep a csv file of my domains so didn't know which ones disappeared. Now, I make sure my total count matches the number of domains I had the day before or every few hours and also when I am transferring out. I have also exported a csv file of all domains.

 

[GoKaizen]

Did Epik put these expired domains into the auction stream at NameLiquidate?

 

[gotaheadrush]

epik fraud, both this brian royce clown and the other bible bashing idiot, i actually only did a transfer as this site recommended it! Good way to scam funds from people, icann should shut them down and both directors should be in jail cells.

 

[Revisiting]

This thread reminds me that the Changing of 'Grace-delete' policy can happen at any register and can happen at a 'personal account level' I had, what i thought, was a great account manager at Godaddy. Then for some reason he was removed (I believe he was sacked) then overnight my extended grace period and also a number of my domains disappeared. I never got any of them back apart from one I paid the $70 redemption for. No explanation, No sense of responsibly on the part of godaddy.

Yep it was a painful lesson on using grace-periods regardless of registry service. Don't get get sucked into a sense of it's all OK like I did.