Epik, We have a problem. Domain removed from account without permission.

[bmugford]

I am sure as many of you are aware I have had issues with Epik in the past, but decided to give them a chance when I saw a domain I wanted on Name Liquidate.

I purchased the domain PianoMoving.com on 7/20. It was transferred into my account then.
This was the only domain in my account.

It was in my WHOIS information.
I updated the nameservers.

When I just checked it is magically no longer in my account.
The nameservers were changed.
I received zero contact about the domain being moved.

I have all the receipts -

1.) The purchase/renewal from Epik.
2.) The Paypal charge.
3.) Email of when the domain was moved into my account @ Epik.
4.) Email when the nameservers were updated in early August @ Epik.

I don't see any indication that the domain was removed from my account.
On top of zero communication, there also appears to be nothing under "Outgoing Pushes" or "Task History".

I sent a DM to @Rob Monster about this earlier this morning, but have not received a response yet.

I was just notified I received a refund. I don't want a refund.

I want the domain I won, that was in my account, which I had full control over.
It was removed from my account without permission or even notification.

I do not find this acceptable in any way.

@Epik.com, you have some explaining to do.

Brad

 

[theinvestor]

Is odd when you own it for less than 2 months then lose it. But, yeah guess that can happen, but just disappearing like magic from your account sounds odd but if new owner has sold it you may not be able to get it back.

Why would you say he can’t get it back? He’s the rightful owner. Epik used their power to take the domain from him and continue on with a sale when domain expired. I hope ICANN steps in and gives the domain back.

 

[theinvestor]

I am unsure how complaint process works with ICANN but hopefully they are able to resolve this and give @bmugford his domain back.

What would the outcome be from Epik? They would have to refund the buyer and @Braden Pollock loses the sale.

There are so many different ways to resolve this properly. I would even be satisfied with @Braden Pollock giving the $12K to @bmugford since he earned it off a domain that wasn’t his when the domain sold.

No one seems to want to do the right thing here. You can’t just transfer domains out of someone’s account if you don’t have authorization and you are not the legitimate owner of the domain.

This situation needs to be resolved. We are setting a precedent here. We cannot allow this.

 

[bmugford]

I am unsure how complaint process works with ICANN but hopefully they are able to resolve this and give @bmugford his domain back.

What would the outcome be from Epik? They would have to refund the buyer and @Braden Pollock loses the sale.

There are so many different ways to resolve this properly. I would even be satisfied with @Braden Pollock giving the $12K to @bmugford since he earned it off a domain that wasn’t his when the domain sold.

No one seems to want to do the right thing here. You can’t just transfer domains out of someone’s account if you don’t have authorization and you are not the legitimate owner of the domain.

This situation needs to be resolved. We are setting a precedent here. We cannot allow this.

Yeah, it is a complex situation.

If this domain is on a payment plan, incompetence by another party lead to this outcome.
Epik set-up this "exotic" deal that appears to have deviated from the norms.

The bottom line is that another party was responsible for this, and I don't believe that is Braden.
It was a different party that was responsible for the renewal.

Epik should resolve this situation either by -

1.) Settling what happened with me.
2.) Settling what happened with Braden, and returning the domain to me.

The domain was only removed without permission because Epik had access to remove it.
After it was done they made the decision to not notify me or explain the situation.

Brad

 

[Keith]

Has @jberryhill chimed in yet?

 

[theinvestor]

Yeah, it is a complex situation.

If this domain is on a payment plan, incompetence by another party lead to this outcome.
Epik set-up this "exotic" deal that appears to have deviated from the norms.

The bottom line is the another party was responsible for this, and the actual party that was responsible for renewal refuses to take responsibility for this outcome.

Epik should resolve this situation either by -

1.) Settling what happened with me
2.) Settling what happened with Braden, and returning the domain to me.

The domain was only removed without permission because Epik had access to remove it.
After it was done they made the decision to not notify me or explain the situation.

Brad

Exactly this is an abuse of Epik’s power as a registrar. Simply just making a mistake and thinking they can make it right by taking it out of your account “because they can”. That’s not how the world works.

I will NEVER put any domain with Epik and I know many who are in the same boat. The fact this thread has gone on this long is very alarming.

 

[Daniel Owens]

Why would you say he can’t get it back? He’s the rightful owner. Epik used their power to take the domain from him and continue on with a sale when domain expired. I hope ICANN steps in and gives the domain back.

Because you can't take a domain from someone without permission. So that would be like if you buy a house and the previous owner sold drugs and got busted, you couldn't just take the house back from the new owner. I think they should give him the sale proceeds but that's really up to epik or where it's sold.

 

[theinvestor]

Because you can't take a domain from someone without permission. So that would be like if you buy a house and the previous owner sold drugs and got busted, you couldn't just take the house back from the new owner. I think they should give him the sale proceeds but that's really up to epik or where it's sold.

You do realize that @bmugford had the domain BEFORE the owner who paid 12K for it.

What world do you live in? If I buy a stolen car do I get to keep the car if it gets recovered????

 

[bmugford]

Because you can't take a domain from someone without permission.

Why not? That is exactly what Epik did.

Brad

 

[Daniel Owens]

You do realize that @bmugford had the domain BEFORE the owner who paid 12K for it.

What world do you live in? If I buy a stolen car do I get to keep the car if it gets recovered????

Since the domain is not stolen the issue does not apply, my reference made more sense. If this was a stolen domain case (which if you read past owners post saying it was not), he would have already had the domain back.

 

[theinvestor]

Why not? That is exactly what Epik did.

Brad

No one wants to say it. But I will. Epik stole this domain from you. I guess that’s OKAY if you’re a registrar and have the power to do it.

 

[Daniel Owens]

Why not? That is exactly what Epik did.

Brad

They would risk getting sued by people. They can't do it. What I am wondering is if their system screwed up and opted you into automatic ownership transfer upon sale, so one guy paid got it, then if resold sold again.

 

[theinvestor]

Since the domain is not stolen the issue does not apply, my reference made more sense. If this was a stolen domain case (which if you read past owners post saying it was not), he would have already had the domain back.

The domain dropped. Brad paid for it. How is it not stolen? Please explain. So if a registrar takes a domain from your account it’s not considered theft?

 

[bmugford]

No one wants to say it. But I will. Epik stole this domain from you. I guess that’s OKAY if you’re a registrar and have the power to do it.

Again, if you have to fall back on your TOS to justify this behavior that is not much of win.

Sure, we can take your domain without authorization, notification, explanation, or refund until you notice it.

Does it give anyone warm and fuzzy feelings about dealing with a company that takes that stance?

Brad

 

[Daniel Owens]

Again, if you have to fall back on your TOS to justify this behavior that is not much of win.

Sure, we can take the domain without authorization, notification, explanation, or refund until you notice it.

Does it give anyone warm and fuzzy feelings about dealing with a company that takes that stance?

Brad

If you could take them to small claims court and get the money but I doubt your situation would work that way. I just hope epik offers some sort of solution but refund like they did might be all they do. The bad part is if this spreads around epik could lose some customers or potential customers.

 

[bmugford]

The domain dropped. Brad paid for it. How is it not stolen? Please explain. So if a registrar takes a domain from your account it’s not considered theft?

They would risk getting sued by people. They can't do it. What I am wondering is if their system screwed up and opted you into automatic ownership transfer upon sale, so one guy paid got it, then if resold sold again.

As far as I can tell there was some type "exotic" agreement to sell this domain on a payment plan.
If you take what Epik says at face value, someone allowed this domain to expire and it went to NameLiquidate.

That party was either Epik or the payment plan buyer. Either way they are the ones who messed up, let the domain expire. Either way it is their fault.

I legitimately purchased the domain. Their failure to perform is not my responsibility.

Brad

 

[Daniel Owens]

As far as I can tell there was some type "exotic" agreement to sell this domain on a payment plan.
If you take what Epik says at face value, someone allowed this domain to expire and it went to NameLiquidate.

That party was either Epik or the payment plan buyer. Either way they are the ones who messed up, let the domain expire. Either way it is their fault.

I legitimately purchased the domain. Their failure to perform is not my responsibility.

Brad

If, it were expired but since you said in your past post that was not the case and you paid like $900 for it. Then I can understand why your upset. Really, not sure what they will do for you, Rob is good guy you should have just DM'ed him before opening a thread. You could have even said please resolve this for me or I'll open a thread and warn everybody about this. It would have given you more power, now he might just be angry.

 

[theinvestor]

It doesn’t matter which way you spin it. You owned the domain for a period of time which they acknowledge. So how can they take it away without your permission and claim an error? Even if there is an error that’s on them to take care of it. You are still the legitimate owner of the domain.

 

[bmugford]

If, it were expired but since you said in your past post that was not the case and you paid like $900 for it. Then I can understand why your upset. Really, not sure what they will do for you, Rob is good guy you should have just DM'ed him before opening a thread. You could have even said please resolve this for me or I'll open a thread and warn everybody about this. It would have given you more power, now he might just be angry.

The truth is outside the core facts I have provided which have not been disputed by any parties, what exactly happened behind the scenes is unknown.

I brought a serious issue to light. I honestly don't care if someone is angry.

Imagine dealing with a legitimate company, and them not wanting to resolve an issue because they are "angry".

It should have no correlation to them offering an equitable solution for their screw-up.

Brad

 

[bmugford]

It doesn’t matter which way you spin it. You owned the domain for a period of time which they acknowledge. So how can they take it away without your permission and claim an error? Even if there is an error that’s on them to take care of it. You are still the legitimate owner of the domain.

And even with that no notification, explanation, or refund.
It makes what happened look even that much worse.

They were clearly not straightforward with what they claimed happened, in a timely manner.

Brad

 

[theinvestor]

And even with that no notification, explanation, or refund.
It makes what happened look even that much worse.

They were clearly not straightforward with what they claimed happened, in a timely manner.

Brad

They were trying to hide and not be transparent because what they were doing was wrong.

 

[Daniel Owens]

The truth is outside the core facts I have provided which have not been disputed by any parties, what exactly happened behind the scenes is unknown.

I brought a serious issue to light. I honestly don't care if someone is angry.
It should have no correlation to them offering an equitable solution for their screw-up.

Brad

It will have an effect on it, your right it shouldn't though.

 

[bmugford]

It will have an effect on it, your right it shouldn't though.

So, you are saying a company might not be willing to do the right thing because I hurt their feelings?
That is a really poor excuse.

They should be willing to remedy the issue because it was their mistake, not for any other reason.

Brad

 

[theinvestor]

If, it were expired but since you said in your past post that was not the case and you paid like $900 for it. Then I can understand why your upset. Really, not sure what they will do for you, Rob is good guy you should have just DM'ed him before opening a thread. You could have even said please resolve this for me or I'll open a thread and warn everybody about this. It would have given you more power, now he might just be angry.

Not understanding where you’re going with this. Yes he paid $900+. It was an expired reverse auction through their platform. How does that change anything? It does not.

 

[Daniel Owens]

So, you are saying a company might not be willing to do the right thing because I hurt their feelings?
That is a really poor excuse.

They should be willing to remedy the issue because it was their mistake, not for any other reason.

Brad

Let's hope they still do something it's just Rob takes these threads personally, last person they removed a domain from was they offered 50% of the sale proceeds but it was quite a bit of a different case and said they would have given it back if no thread would have been opened. I know that's a different case because the domain was 32 days expired, but it does show they might help you a little or might help you less out of anger

 

[Daniel Owens]

Let me add I think you losing the domain should have rules against it and should not be allowed.