My Webhost registered my domain name in their name

[funkyat]

Hi guys,

Wonder if anyone can help me here.
Naively we set up a web hosting package and our web hosts 'registered' and is now hosting our domain for us.

We had no idea that they had 'registered' our domain name in their own company name instead of our personal details.

I want the ownership changed in the Whois records but my webhosts are being very evasive and saying that I cannot change the ownership details because it is a .co.uk domain.

As far as I am concerned these guys can easily change the ownership over to myself in the Whois but they simply don't want to.

Am I right ?

Any comments and ideas appreciated on this.

Thanks - The Funky Cat

 

[-NC-]

As far as I am concerned these guys can easily change the ownership over to myself in the Whois but they simply don't want to.

that's exactly right, there is nothing stopping them from transferring the domain to you, except greed. this is the old "free domain for life!" trick.

i don't have any personal experience with this, but as it is co.uk, you could try submitting a complaint to nominet http://www.nominet.org.uk/disputes/drs/complainant/complaint/, however I doubt you will be successful as your host will probably be able to produce terms and conditions which you agreed to, and which state that they will own the domain.

the most practical solution might be to register a new domain, find a new host, migrate your entire site over, and then put up a "we've moved" style page on your old site. once all your regular visitors know about the change, and you've changed as many of your backlinks as possible, cancel the old hosting account. odds are if the old domain does not get significant traffic, it will be dropped and you might be able to register it again...

 

[raredn.com]

This is disonest, if the whois shows the regsiter, then the domain belongs to the register not you, they have been not very nice to you doing that, I have have heard of blackmail, when people try to change hosts

_________

 

[AdoptableDomains]

A little late now, but I've always given this advice.

Never buy a domain from your web host; Never buy hosting from your registrar.

Doing so, puts all your eggs in one basket and opens the possibility you could lose both your domain AND your web content in one disaster. I've heard too many stories of a domain held hostage over a web designer dispute. I've also heard of hosting shut down due to a domain dispute. Separating the two at least gives you options and bargaining power.

 

[copper]

I want the ownership changed in the Whois records but my webhosts are being very evasive and saying that I cannot change the ownership details because it is a .co.uk domain.

Where are you located?