GoDaddy lost my domain names, where do I go from here?

[throwedoff]

Edit: This may be resolved, check this post for an update.



A while back, during the Registerfly > godaddy merge, all of my domains from registerfly were switched to godaddy. I logged in the other day to find those domains gone from my godaddy account, and the whois information changed back to registerfly's whois info, but the registrar is still GoDaddy.

I contacted godaddy, they told me to submit a change of ownership request... I did so, and they denied it saying that 'Registerfly.com is the legal owner of these domain names.' That's bullshit, because these domains were always in my posession up until the point where GoDaddy basically "lost" them.

Obviously, RegisterFly wouldn't own domain names which were registered at GoDaddy... especially with the registerfly fiasco that's been going on.

So, where do I go from here? GoDaddy is insisting that Registerfly owns these domains, they are still pointed to my nameservers, but I have no control over them. These domains produce tens of thousands of dollars a year in revenue, and are my only source of revenue. Now, godaddy is basically telling me that I'm ****ed and there's nothing I can do about it besides suing registerfly.

Any advice?

 

[WebTech]

Take a look at:

http://www.internic.net/

 

[throwedoff]

GoDaddy is telling me the only way to get the domains back is to get in touch with RegisterFly and get them to admit these domains are mine... fat ****in chance. I know no valid numbers for registerfly or anything...

My only option at this point is to wait till they drop and try to grab them up again (and hope someone else doesn't get them), which will probably end up costing me a good $500 for all of these domains.... What would be the best drop catching service to use to guarantee that I get them?

 

[diederik]

If you do a whois, which registrar is shown?

 

[throwedoff]

If you do a whois, which registrar is shown?

GoDaddy, and GoDaddy says they have the domains, but they tell me that they can't return them to be cause their info says RegisterFly is the owner of these domains.

I got all the way up to GoDaddy's 'presedential office' and spoke with a guy there, and he said that my 2 options were to get registerfly to relenquish the domains to me, or to sue them... and these domaisn expire in 2 months.

 

[verbster]

Did you reg them new, or are they perhaps part of a history trail that might prove your ownership?

Do you have the confirmation of sale e-mails or any other documentation?

 

[throwedoff]

Did you reg them new, or are they perhaps part of a history trail that might prove your ownership?

Do you have the confirmation of sale e-mails or any other documentation?

I am the original person to register these domains, they were registered with registerfly about 2 years ago.

I don't have any confirmation emails, etc that I know of... but they do still show in my registerfly account, so I guess I could use that as proof somewhat. I'm also signing up for domain-tools and will print out all of the whois history for these domains.


I called ICANN and was told to call back tomorrow, they may be able to help

 

[verbster]

Get screenshots of everything.

 

[Spade]

Its a pretty pathetic situation. I would recommend getting in touch with the Office of the President - I believe you can reach them by emailing [email protected] or [email protected]. They are the highest level of support that Godaddy offers, some good people should help you.

 

[konipro]

That's not right Godaddy!

This is quite scary to me! I just had a slight problem as paid $12,000.00 for a domain and it was from a registry in Singapore. Some fly-by-night company. I wouldn't release the money from escrow till it got transferred to Godaddy and the seller wasn't happy! We finally got it done but now do we all have to worry about Godaddy protecting our lease on domain names???

If so, that will be a real problem! Are you listening Godaddy? Get him his domain names back! Fight for him! He is your customer! Geesh!

You will probably have a problem getting them back when/if they expire if they have traffic as people will bid on them.

Let us know how it turns out.

I am the original person to register these domains, they were registered with registerfly about 2 years ago.

I don't have any confirmation emails, etc that I know of... but they do still show in my registerfly account, so I guess I could use that as proof somewhat. I'm also signing up for domain-tools and will print out all of the whois history for these domains.


I called ICANN and was told to call back tomorrow, they may be able to help

 

[Spade]

In my experience here and with Godaddy, I can honestly say this is probably an issue that occured with the registerfly transfers. The situation was already bad, and is getting better, regardless of some issues.

I am confident this issue will be resolved, the people at Godaddy are capable of resolving it. You need to approach the problem from the right angle, dealing with customer service is not the right department to handle an issue like this.

Justin

 

[DomainBELL]

money trail....

how did you pay ??
it should show on your statement...

match dates on statement and to RegFly
with dates of original Reg. in whois history trail...

I've been with GoDaddy for year and years and never had a problem...
but I was not in the RegFly fiasco... so no advice there...

Good Luck...

~DomainBELL (Patricia)

 

[bidawinner]

A while back, during the Registerfly > godaddy merge, all of my domains from registerfly were switched to godaddy. I logged in the other day to find those domains gone from my godaddy account, and the whois information changed back to registerfly's whois info, but the registrar is still GoDaddy.

There is no way that registerfly took names from your godaddy account UNLESS they were listed as admin or registrant from the git-go when you had them at regfly..simple as that

If the names were transfered to Godaddy with YOUR contact info as Registrant and Admin..then the ONLY way for regly to be listed as registrant/admin is that they broke into your account..

If on the other hand you had regfly listed as registrant and or Admin ..then you are SOL .. because in that situation you gave them legal control over the domain..

Try initiating a transfer of the names..maybe you'll get lucky

 

[accent]

You say the domains expire in two months. I was part of a forum where the name expired while the owner was away on personal business. The registrar allowed another forum member to renew the domain, without affecting ownership. So it may be possible to pay to renew them to prevent the domains from dropping while you work out the ownership, although if you were to lose your ownership claim you would probably lose the renewal costs.

If you let them drop you might not get them back.

 

[Kate]

The issue here is quite common: the domain had whois info that was completely screwed up in the first place, like many registerfly domains.

I have seen a lot of domains including a few of mine where the whois info had reverted to the 'default' registerfly profile (one bug among others).
Now it has been transfered to godaddy 'as-is'. So only the person named in the whois (rf) can gain access to the domain using the admin E-mail address listed.

I don't believe you are going to get your domains back without cooperation from registerfly. I think you need to hire a lawyer right now.
In the meantime take screenshots, gather as much evidence as you can in order to rebuild the ownership trail. If you would like I can look up domain history at domaintools for you, then PM me the name.

The problem with a registrar-centric model like .com is that the registrars are responsible for maintaining whois data. If they are negligent or dishonest then you are screwed.
As a result of the rf fiasco Icann is working on some kind of data escrow.

For the same reason I do not advise using whois privacy on valuable domains.

 

[Spade]

You say the domains expire in two months. I was part of a forum where the name expired while the owner was away on personal business. The registrar allowed another forum member to renew the domain, without affecting ownership. So it may be possible to pay to renew them to prevent the domains from dropping while you work out the ownership, although if you were to lose your ownership claim you would probably lose the renewal costs.

If you let them drop you might not get them back.

As a former Godaddy Employee - I assure you they will not allow this. There were many issues we would not allow payment from a non-account holder, and the bottom line is due to Godaddys verification process, payment is used as a means to gain access to accounts. It saves them a lot of grief, I promise.

 

[PowerUp]

throwedoff, when you were with registerfly, did you register these domains for privacy? If yes, then the whois information would have shown Registerfly as registrant. And so when the transfer to Godaddy occurred, the whois registrant is Registerfly. (P/S: Someone please correct me if I'm wrong because I've never used a privacy before).

 

[throwedoff]

throwedoff, when you were with registerfly, did you register these domains for privacy? If yes, then the whois information would have shown Registerfly as registrant. And so when the transfer to Godaddy occurred, the whois registrant is Registerfly. (P/S: Someone please correct me if I'm wrong because I've never used a privacy before).

Yes, they were whois protected. This is where the problem came from.

Speaking with the office of the president at GoDaddy, I was basically told that this could have caused the problem, but was basically told that I'm ****ed because this was not a "widespread problem".

 

[onewordonly]

I had some names at Registerfly and Godaddy sent out a few emails when they changed hands, if you can find those then you can use them as proof. I would try ICANN, send a letter to them, then try BBB.

 

[Dotmainer]

... thats the reason why i never use privacy