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

 

[MSN-Domains]

@bmugford, for what it's worth. Lick your wounds and move on. As they say, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

At worst, it could've been a $900 loss which isn't even a nosebleed. They've refunded you

It pains me to say your preaching ethics to a group of operators who seem to have none. You're wasting your time.

If I were you, take your refund and your last remaining domain and run, don't look behind you.

 

[Rob Monster]

Greetings from NamesCon in Austin.

As many of you know, we have had an eventful week here, starting with a #BeEpik event on Wednesday where we hosted a group of Epik clients and allies. This video captures the spirit of that event:

Earlier today, we also shared the news that I have stepped down as CEO, making room for Brian Royce who I believe will serve the company very well.

Brian is a technologist first but deeply versed in technology, operations, finance, legal and compliance. He is big on keeping "trains running on time" through technology and process.

As for this incident with Brad, it is truly unfortunate. There was a domain that Braden was doing as an escrow transaction with a payment plan with zero commission. It was a bit of an exotic deal.

To make a long story short, the domain expired during the payment plan and was routed through our liquidation marketplace. It was then re-directed by Brad.

In short, we screwed up. We really regret this outcome. Although we did refund Brad, the communication and process was far from Epik.

As many folks here know, for much of the last 11 years I have been extremely hands-on as a CEO. I love working directly with customers. Many domainers have my personal cell phone, Skype, Telegram, etc.

At some point, my accessible personal approach ceases to scale. We are there. Earlier in the week, we were actively considering making room for Brian Royce to come into the CEO seat.

On Wednesday, on the occasion of our #BeEpik event, we had 2 NamePros members point out our shortcomings. The first was Brad. The second was Dirk.

Perhaps for reasons of lingering pride, I was still debating whether to vacate the CEO slot. Be that as it may, ultimately, I believe this is the guiding word:

I am thankful for the opportunity to have worked closely with so many folks in the industry for the last 11 years. I am excited about the skills that Brian Royce is bringing into the CEO role.

I will continue as Chairman and majority shareholder, but will now be able to devote more time to a number of passion projects including Kingdom Ventures, Orphans.com and Lifeverse.

Thanks in advance for welcoming Brian. Best wishes for a great (holiday) weekend to all!

 

[branding]

Greetings from NamesCon in Austin.

As many of you know, we have had an eventful week here, starting with a #BeEpik event on Wednesday where we hosted a group of Epik clients and allies. This video captures the spirit of that event:

Earlier today, we also shared the news that I have stepped down as CEO, making room for Brian Royce who I believe will serve the company very well.

Brian is a technologist first but deeply versed in technology, operations, finance, legal and compliance. He is big on keeping "trains running on time" through technology and process.

As for this incident with Brad, it is truly unfortunate. There was a domain that Braden was doing as an escrow transaction with a payment plan with zero commission. It was a bit of an exotic deal.

To make a long story short, the domain expired during the payment plan and was routed through our liquidation marketplace. It was then re-directed by Brad.

In short, we screwed up. We really regret this outcome. Although we did refund Brad, the communication and process was far from Epik.

As many folks here know, for much of the last 11 years I have been extremely hands-on as a CEO. I love working directly with customers. Many domainers have my personal cell phone, Skype, Telegram, etc.

At some point, my accessible personal approach ceases to scale. We are there. Earlier in the week, we were actively considering making room for Brian Royce to come into the CEO seat.

On Wednesday, on the occasion of our #BeEpik event, we had 2 NamePros members point out our shortcomings. The first was Brad. The second was Dirk.

Show attachment 222342

Perhaps for reasons of lingering pride, I was still debating whether to vacate the CEO slot. Be that as it may, ultimately, I believe this is the guiding word:

Show attachment 222341

I am thankful for the opportunity to have worked closely with so many folks in the industry for the last 11 years. I am excited about the skills that Brian Royce is bringing into the CEO role.

I will continue as Chairman and majority shareholder, but will now be able to devote more time to a number of passion projects including Kingdom Ventures, Orphans.com and Lifeverse.

Thanks in advance for welcoming Brian. Best wishes for a great (holiday) weekend to all!

As a majority shareholder, you may ask your newly appointed CEO what the fuck is going on and report back here.

Love the update, but unrelated to this thread.

 

[Future Sensors]

Using this thread for personal gain is really the lowest thing you can do. Shame on you, Rob.

 

[bmugford]

Using this thread for personal gain is really the lowest thing you can do. Shame on you, Rob.

I would thank Rob for the response, but it just seems like self-promotion honestly.

Everyone needs to understand the domain was not only removed without permission, it was removed without notification or record of it happening.

The refund was only issued after I stumbled on this, around (2) weeks after it was removed from my account.

So when was Epik planning to notify me? As far as I can tell, never.

So much for that "legendary" customer service.

Brad

 

[Lox]

To make a long story short… Klingon is the official language of the Epik.com

 

[MSN-Domains]

That is a pretty classless, racist tweet.

If it was supposed to be funny, it certainly is not. It is just racist.

The internet does not forget. It is a problem Rob will always have an issue with.
The things he has said and done in the past are there for all to see.

Brad

The irony of Epik using two influential civil rights activists in their promotional video's.

Enough comedy for one night.

 

[karmaco]

When the ex CEO gets on a thread and admits Epik screwed up on every level in this situation but says his compassion ends when people leave Epik bad reviews it is unethical and disingenuous.

You don’t make things right because you like the person you have harmed’s response to it. You do it because YOU SCREWED UP.

So much for Christian values and being domainer friendly. Those tenants only seem to apply if you are good friends of RM.

 

[novasyd]

Greetings from this topic,

As many of you probably didn't know, but we have had an shameful week here, starting with a #BeRobbed event where we hosted a client of Epik. This video captures the spirit of that event:

Some CEO bullshit talkings...

Best wishesh.

 

[Lox]

No comment

 

[Digital Nomad]

Using this thread for personal gain is really the lowest thing you can do. Shame on you, Rob.

Nothing new, he has always done that, taking advantage of the situation for self promo, why wouldn't he if his account will never be banned for that.

 

[bmugford]

When the ex CEO gets on a thread and admits Epik screwed up on every level in this situation but says his compassion ends when people leave Epik bad reviews it is unethical and disingenuous.

You don’t make things right because you like the person you have harmed’s response to it. You do it because YOU SCREWED UP.

So much for Christian values and being domainer friendly. Those tenants only seem to apply if you are good friends of RM.

It appears Epik takes limited responsibility for their "mistake", certainly not enough to try to make it right in some way.

You have a post where about 10% is related to the issue at hand, an issue that has spawned a thread with almost 200 posts and 5,000+ views. The other 90% is related to irrelevant self-promotion.

At this point it seems like the real "mistake" is me giving Epik a chance, and to have any expectations that they would do the right thing to fix THEIR "mistake".

Brad

 

[tonyk2000]

the domain expired during the payment plan

The key. The domain expired. In other words, somebody did not renew it. So what the issue is? @bmugford elected to purchase it on nameliquidate. Which is what nameliquidate exists for. Nothing wrong here. Brad is a new owner. No questions. Refund, if any, should have been issued to the buyer, with a careful calculation - if he paid full monthly quote for June, but was able to use the domain lets say between 06/01 and 06/15, as it expired on 06/16, so 15 days (1/2) should be refunded and recurring billing stopped. Imo...
Am I missing anything here?

 

[bmugford]

The key. The domain expired. In other words, somebody did not renew it. So what the issue is? @bmugford elected to purchase it on nameliquidate. Which is what nameliquidate exists for. Nothing wrong here. Brad is a new owner. No questions. Refund, if any, should have been issued to the buyer, with a careful calculation - if he paid full monthly quote for June, but was able to use the domain lets say between 06/01 and 06/15, as it expired on 06/16, so 15 days (1/2) should be refunded and recurring billing stopped. Imo...

That's a valid point. If the domain was not renewed, that is not really my problem.
It happens daily.

If Epik failed to renew it. That is not my problem.
If Braden failed to renew it. That is not my problem.
If the person on a payment plan failed to renew it. That is not my problem.

The bottom line is I purchased it legitimately via a venue where @Rob Monster said - "all sales are final."

Brad

 

[topdom]

I had warned them that their new greed and disrespect and nonaccountability could lead to contradictions (bugs, screw ups, lost domains etc) (by using different words). They didn't get their lesson. They seem to think, if we change this part this way we make a lot more profit out of nothing. Wrong.

 

[Start]

If Braden failed to renew it. That is not my problem.

Yeah, it was up to him... I was considering a payment plan a while back, and saw that the domain owner is the one responsible for covering renewals.

I had a similar issue at SnapNames years ago, although it was only a matter of days, not weeks... but I saw their Terms and Conditions did allow them to cancel a purchase in some cases.

And I see now that the Epik Terms also do give them discretion to cancel:

"We reserve the right to reject or cancel your After Market Domain Name registration for any reason including, but not limited to, any pricing errors. In the event your After Market Domain Name registration is rejected or cancelled by us, for any reason, we will refund in full the amount of the purchase price for the After Market Domain Name as your sole remedy."


Like DomainBanana also said about his Dynadot case, sometimes that's just the way it goes. It could also happen in the case of a stolen domain.

Epik staff should have communicated with you though, when moving the domain. But the end result would have been the same.

But like I said, I don't think there was malicious intent here... just a screw-up. In detective / whodunnit stories, there's the question of motive... and it doesn't seem like Epik really benefited from the domain move, so there wasn't much motive that way.

But it does highlight a flaw in the system, about how changes/moves for a domain in your account don't always get emailed, and they should fix that.

 

[Digital Nomad]

And I see now that the Epik Terms also do give them discretion to cancel:

"We reserve the right to reject or cancel your After Market Domain Name registration for any reason including, but not limited to, any pricing errors. In the event your After Market Domain Name registration is rejected or cancelled by us, for any reason, we will refund in full the amount of the purchase price for the After Market Domain Name as your sole remedy."

If this is true then there is nothing that can be done indeed, but Epik should show some respect and not take advantage to promote themselves when that is clearly not allowed in this thread. Seems like they really don't care.

 

[bmugford]

Yeah, it was up to him... I was considering a payment plan a while back, and saw that the domain owner is the one responsible for covering renewals.

And I see now that the Epik Terms also do give them discretion to cancel:

"We reserve the right to reject or cancel your After Market Domain Name registration for any reason including, but not limited to, any pricing errors. In the event your After Market Domain Name registration is rejected or cancelled by us, for any reason, we will refund in full the amount of the purchase price for the After Market Domain Name as your sole remedy."

Well, the question has to be asked...

In a normal situation, would a normal person be given the same opportunity to renew the domain much later, thereby reversing an "all sales are final" sale because of their own "mistake"?

AKA would everyone be given the same treatment in the same situation, or would they be told tough luck?

Domains expire daily due to any number of reasons, including poor management. Where does personal responsibility come into play?

Brad

 

[Rob Monster]

It appears Epik takes limited responsibility for their "mistake", certainly not enough to try to make it right in some way.

You have a post where about 10% is related to the issue at hand, an issue that has spawned a thread with almost 200 posts and 5,000+ views. The other 90% is related to irrelevant self-promotion.

At this point it seems like the real "mistake" is me giving Epik a chance, and to have any expectations that they would do the right thing to fix THEIR "mistake".

Brad

Thanks Brad.

As a good faith gesture, I did just now go ahead and add $500 in Epik credit to your account.

All,

As for why nobody from Epik engaged with Brad's thread earlier in the week, some context is needed:

The timing of Brad's public post plus general brigading of negative energy, was unnaturally coincident with our marketing event at NamesCon. While I acknowledge Epik's error, Brad's approach was believed as not in good faith and was arguably defamatory and weaponized. This is consistent with his general approach to Epik at NP.

If he had allowed us an opportunity to amicably resolve the matter without a bunch of fan-fare, I am sure we could have arranged for some compensation for his inconvenience. I have no issue with taking responsibility for failures. However, since Brad opted to grandstand instead, the options for compensation are pretty limited.

So, we invoked our very straight forward Terms of Service along with our home court jurisdiction in resolving the very matter. In the unlikely event of a civil action, there is ample Errors and Omissions insurance coverage which we have never used but is ample for a case. Brad would already have discerned that.

As for my earlier post, I do have a general policy of making lemons into lemonade. NamePros has been a lemon tree for a long time for Epik, starting all the way back to 2019 when a legendary lemon thread was created, and where we ended up having a whole lot of fun with endless banter among NP members.

So, keep smiling at the world because the world eventually smiles back. May God bless you all.

 

[bmugford]

The timing of Brad's public post plus general brigading of negative energy, was unnaturally coincident with our marketing event at NamesCon. While I acknowledge Epik's error, Brad's approach was believed as not in good faith and was arguably defamatory and weaponized. This is consistent with his general approach to Epik at NP.

Please. The "error" or "mistake" was on your end.

You removed it from my account without permission.
You did not notify me.
There is no record of the transfer in my account.

Did you want to go ahead and refute any of those claims before you throw around baseless accusations of "defamation"?

There is nothing I did in bad faith. I reported a factual accounting of what happened, to the best of my knowledge. If you didn't like that, tough.

If is not like I can control the timing of when I found out about you removing the domain without my authorization.

It is clear who is in the wrong here, and it is not me. I did nothing but buy the domain on your venue, paid for it, and received it.

Brad

 

[bmugford]

Thanks Brad.

As a good faith gesture, I did just now go ahead and add $500 in Epik credit to your account.

The timing of Brad's public post plus general brigading of negative energy, was unnaturally coincident with our marketing event at NamesCon. While I acknowledge Epik's error, Brad's approach was believed as not in good faith and was arguably defamatory and weaponized. This is consistent with his general approach to Epik at NP.

Don't bother. Donate it to charity.

It is clearly not actually a "good faith" gesture.

I will never use Epik again after this happened. It is not just about the issue itself, it is about your pathetic response.

As far as the timing goes, maybe if you notified me when you removed the domain from my account earlier this would have been resolved earlier. You can only blame yourself for that failure.

Brad

 

[Lox]

there’s no record of redirect bf 18/08.
$500 is for shut up (translation)

Change your profile info. You’re not anymore CEO, so let the new CEO figure out how to make it easier to find a way to keep the business out of the system error.

Regards

 

[wwwweb]

According to namescon website, previous registrant is one of the speakers, so, indeed, he must be extremely busy now. Hope he will show up later and enlighten us what happened and how.

Show attachment 222224

He was previously on the board of directors at Epik, his mother in law is famed celeb attorney Gloria Allred
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Allred

 

[tonyk2000]

This -

I was considering a payment plan a while back, and saw that the domain owner is the one responsible for covering renewals.

And this -

there is ample Errors and Omissions insurance coverage which we have never used but is ample for a case

Braden failed to renew the domain? OK, no errors and no wrongdoing on Epiks part so far. So, what is the first error to potentially apply the "Errors and Omissions insurance"? Did Rob just confirm that it was an error to reverse the nameliquidate purchase?

 

[Braden Pollock]

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

@Rob Monster
@Braden Pollock

I have no idea what went on here, but the fact I purchased this domain via Name Liquidate on 7/20 and it was removed from my account much later is not in dispute.

You really need to figure out what happened here, because it sure doesn't look too good that a domain is removed and transferred from my account without authorization after it is "sold" to another party.

How was it removed from my account?
Why was it removed from my account?
Why was there no notification?
Why is there no record of it?

I will reserve judgement, but at this point it seems like something stinks to high heaven.

Brad

What a mess.
I sold this name back in May so it was no longer in my acct nor in my control.