RegisterFly DOES NOT ALLOW me to renew my domains!

[webcom]

I have an important domain that has expired five days ago. Three days ago, I have attempted to renew the domain. It failed without reason. I have submitted a support ticket. NO ONE has answered it. I believe RegisterFly deliberately prevents customers from renewing the domains they have interest for! Beware!


ICANN, wake up! Your tolerance towards abusive registrars is unacceptable!

 

[Fewski]

Did you try calling RegisterFly? There seems to be more and more horrow from them with domains being stolen and stuff like this.

Hope you can get it resolved.

 

[webcom]

Update: I am unable to renew ANY domain from my account. I have domains that are about to expire in a couple of days and they CANNOT be renewed!!! My support ticket is 5 days old and updated 3 times already by myself. I have attempted to call them. I am being put on hold by the machine and NO one takes my phone call after 30 minutes of waiting (this is an international phone call for me, btw).

They are STEALING my domains! I can't believe this is happenning. I have hundreds of domains there and I cannot renew!!

I've attempted to use the LIVE CHAT function because they appear to be ONLINE but I receive an error email message from LivePerson, the company they use:

Unable to deliver message.
Error message: 550 sorry, no mailbox here by that name. (#5.7.17)

This is a domain name owner's worst nightmare and nothing can be done?!

 

[scrsteven]

Same thing happened to me. Search around the forum and you'll hear it has happened to many.

 

[webcom]

And how did you renew your domains, please?

 

[webcom]

Help?

 

[dgridley]

Have you tried PMing Paul (Regfly) here? He has helped me in the past tho I know he was recently recovering from surgery.

 

[dmodegirl]

I feel your pain, I'm in the same situation with them, I renewed my domain twice now since the first didn't go through and now it's been expired for 7 days! I did the whole support ticket routine, no reply, I called support several times and was hung up on after they asked my username. I did get through to a David who works at night but he was limited and his words turned into further lies as well, he stated domain would be fine in 24hrs and I would see a credit. I can't get the live support to even work, that used to be the only way I could get results.

If you have any luck please let me know what you did because I'm at my whits end...

 

[omnia]

There is hope people. I had a domain go through the whole expiry bit, had paid for the renewal, it went "into processing". Had to raise a support ticket (long story there), but the domain is now updated in my account as being renewed. Check of the whois shows it as renewed. So its looking good. This is one of the enom reseller type domains, still at enom, so it would appear they may have reverted to renewing rather than trying to transfer them out to themselves. It was in "processing" for something like 6+ days, which looks like they might be doing them by hand ...aaargh....

All I can say people is be persistent, lodge support tickets, get onto chat, onto the phone. If the domain is important to you dont just let it slip away....

 

[domainacrobat]

There is hope people. I had a domain go through the whole expiry bit, had paid for the renewal, it went "into processing". Had to raise a support ticket (long story there), but the domain is now updated in my account as being renewed. Check of the whois shows it as renewed. So its looking good. This is one of the enom reseller type domains, still at enom, so it would appear they may have reverted to renewing rather than trying to transfer them out to themselves. It was in "processing" for something like 6+ days, which looks like they might be doing them by hand ...aaargh....

All I can say people is be persistent, lodge support tickets, get onto chat, onto the phone. If the domain is important to you dont just let it slip away....

WOW I am glad I dont have to go through this! I have never heard of such a thing, it would make my heart drop and my stomach cramp!!! I have never had any such problems, what if you consolidated all your renewal dates- and this happened while your names were expiring!!! I know many poeple disagree with Godaddy, but in all reality if you have hundreds of names, you more than likely can become a retention customer - you will get your own personal account manager - direct line 24 hours a day no waiting. They pretty much will bend over backwards to keep you making fresh registrations and renewing. I get discounted rates beyond bulk or coupon price - of course, to get the rates I have to call them, which is not that bad it you don't have to wait. I am sure every Registrar has its fair share of problems but that would scare the crap out of me!

 

[webcom]

UPDATE: More than 2 weeks have passed since I have first attempted to renew my domain name without success. What those bastards have done is this:

1. They have prevented ME from renewing the domain
2. They have renewed the domain THEMSELVES, changed WHOIS info and NAMESERVERS to their own. They have, in other words, STOLEN the domain name!

Created On:02-Dec-2004 00:42:13 UTC
Last Updated On:02-Dec-2006 17:00:03 UTC
Expiration Date:02-Dec-2007 00:42:13 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:eNom, Inc. (R126-LRMS)
Status:OK
Registrant ID:C635403-LRMS
Registrant Name:Responsible Party
Registrant Organization:Registerfly.com
Registrant Street1:404 Main Street
Registrant Street2:Suite 401 (Fourth Floor)
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Boonton
Registrant State/Province:NJ
Registrant Postal Code:07005
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.9734048430
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:[email protected]

And NO, this is NOT a simple domain. This was a WEBSITE generating REVENUE. I don't know how legally incorporated companies such as this one can exist without anyone bothering to check out their practices and take action. And they have STOLEN it exactly because it receives traffic!

 

[tetrapak]

Jesus Christ, i cant believe such thing is existing in this business. Sue them, NOW!

 

[webcom]

The only thing they have stated in a support ticket is:

"We have updated the formerly real-time renewal process to be a batch driven process for closer monitoring. We process the batch of expired names once every 48 hours. You will receive e-mail confirmation once the domain name is renewed. In the event the renewal fails we will also notify you via email and also return any funds in ON HOLD status.
Please limit your attempt to once within a 48 hour period. Please note THIS ONLY APPLIES TO NAMES THAT STILL SHOW ENOM.COM AS THE REGISTRAR.
Sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience."

My comments below:

1. My domain name has never been processed from their "batch" because I didn't receive an email to inform me the renewal has failed or that it was a success. Thus, I've never been refunded either. I've paid two times for the renewal of this domain already.

2. I don't understand why the process may require multiple attempts ("Please limit your attempt to once within a 48 hour period."). Possibly to make you pay several times for the same thing without refunding you?

3. "We have updated the formerly real-time renewal process to be a batch driven process for closer monitoring." for me translates into "We now manually decide which of your domains you get to keep and which of your domains WE get to keep. Any questions?"

 

[Dave_Z]

I have an important domain that has expired five days ago. Three days ago, I have attempted to renew the domain.

How come you weren't able to renew the domain name on time back then?

Unfortunately you might have to expect the worst, although you can hope for
the best. What to do afterwards, only you can possibly decide.

Good luck getting your problems resolved.

 

[omnia]

How come you weren't able to renew the domain name on time back then?

Unfortunately you might have to expect the worst, although you can hope for
the best. What to do afterwards, only you can possibly decide.

Good luck getting your problems resolved.

Because RegFly tried to transfer all enom registered names to themselves as part of the renewal process which invariably failed.

 

[Mike]

the age old game applies: if you can prove your attempts of renewal, emails, certified letters, etc. i would involve an attorney and ICANN as well as i'd post on every forum i can possibly think of and make it my mission to stop this from happening again. the only problem is whether the attorney fees are going to exceed the value and revenue that your domain is bringing in. in addition, if your domain has been a developed one, i would assume you can prove traffic stats, that in combination with your attempts of renewal should be irrefutable proof that you are legally in good shape. however, flipside of the story, they can drive any legal proceeding and attorney costs through the roof simply by stalling you.
it's a difficult situation, not because the law isn't clear, but because their pockets are deep and the opportunities to rape you off what you worked hard for are next to limitless. eNom and their associated mafia has been causing more negative forum entries than positive remedies of late,...maybe that's a sign to not register through them. however, this is just my opinion, as i know that there are plenty of folks that stand to and swear on eNom and Co.

bottom line: evaluate how much money the site brought you and how much it would cost to get the domain back. whichever exceeds the other is going to point the way. granted, this is not making the wrong right, but in a cold business sense, you may just save yourself some cash and what you were able to pull off once, you will probably be able to do again. just with a different domain and most certainly with a different registrar. - Best of luck

 

[verbster]

If you must go to litigation, your attorney should be able to tell you if you've a strong case. If so, you should be able to include attorney fees in the damages.

While RegFly has its share of problems, yours in particular seem compounded by their previous link to Enom. Even though you were a couple of days past expiry, the grace period should be active and allow TFRs. Unfortunately, if you got dogged around, you are out of that and into the pay-to-reclaim time (though not your fault, it appears). Keep after RF; if they are at fault, they can still redeem the domains until they drop to the public.

Out of curiosity, have you tried renewing any other domains since these just to test the system...preferably domains originally registered through RegFly?

 

[alex_d]

Never ever had domain name with them. THank God !!

All I ever seem to read about them is problem after problem.

Good luck. I think this sort of action really needs to be stamped out - it is just beyond belief.


Alex

 

[floatingworld]

The lesson I would draw from regfly is not to leave renewals until the last minute and certainly not past the expiry date. There have been so many postings re problems with regfly over the last 12 months that np domainers cannot say that they haven't been warned. Using an attorney is a very expensive process and is probably beyond the pockets of many domainers and also not worth it unless the name/s are worth significant value. Once a name has expired its half-way down the plug-hole anyway!

 

[Dave_Z]

The lesson I would draw from regfly is not to leave renewals until the last minute and certainly not past the expiry date.

That applies with any registrar.

Viewer discretion is advised for what I'm about to post next.

The moment the domain name expires, you're considered to have abandoned
your rights to it. They're not "your" domain names any longer.

Folks, what rights we have are limited only by any applicable ICANN policy and
your registrar's registration agreement. Anything not mentioned by either one
are just in the realms of our deepest darkest desires.

Now the registrar can be "kind" enough to give you a grace period to renew it.
But they're not required to provide such, not even by ICANN.

ICANN does allow one other right for domain registrants towards the expired
domain names: to transfer it to another registrar. But in the real world, that's
very very risky.

This is why it's all the more important to renew your domain names before
they expire, not after. As some of you have seen, trying to renew an expired
domain name can create unwanted problems.

Should you think Registerfly is "obligated" to renew, note these excerpts:

http://registerfly.com/info/terms.php

11. Limitation of Liability:

YOU AGREE THAT REGISTERFLY.COM WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY (1) SUSPENSION OR LOSS OF THE DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION IN YOUR NAME, (2) USE OF YOUR DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION, (3) INTERRUPTION OF BUSINESS, (4) ACCESS DELAYS OR ACCESS INTERRUPTIONS TO OUR SITE OR THE WEB SITE(S) OR SERVICES YOU ACCESS BY THE DOMAIN NAME REGISTERED IN YOUR NAME; (5) LOSS OR LIABILITY RESULTING FROM ACTS OF GOD (6) DATA NON-DELIVERY, MIS-DELIVERY, CORRUPTION, DESTRUCTION OR OTHER MODIFICATION; (7) EVENTS BEYOND REGISTERFLY.COM'S CONTROL; (8) THE PROCESSING OF THIS APPLICATION; (9) LOSS OR LIABILITY RESULTING FROM THE UNAUTHORIZED USE OR MISUSE OF YOUR ACCOUNT IDENTIFIER OR PASSWORD; OR (10) APPLICATION OF THE DISPUTE POLICY. REGISTERFLY.COM ALSO WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND (INCLUDING LOST PROFITS) REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF ACTION WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF REGISTERFLY.COM HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IN NO EVENT SHALL REGISTERFLY.COM'S MAXIMUM AGGREGATE LIABILITY EXCEED THE TOTAL AMOUNT PAID BY YOU FOR REGISTRATION OF THE DOMAIN NAME, BUT IN NO EVENT GREATER THAN ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS ($100.00). BECAUSE SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, IN SUCH STATES, OUR LIABILITY IS LIMITED TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

Look at the other registrars' legal fine prints. You'll find a similar provision.

No registrar can guarantee anything 100%, including being able to renew your
domain names in a timely manner. But they will try.

If it's unsuccessful, the least they can do is refund your money. But they are
not always automated or sometimes technical glitches occur, so sometimes a
phone call is needed.

You guys can beg to differ depending on how you feel about it. But let's get
real: registrars have more rights towards domain names than we do because
they're paying the costs to offer them.

Omnia, I asked you earlier why you didn't renew before they expired. Was it
because you forgot, you were busy with something that time, etc.?

It's sometimes frustrating and unacceptable, yes. But that's why you ought to
do everything you can to prevent those problems from happening in the first
place.

If you're considering legal action, then good luck. But I'm not optimistic.