Recovering Domains from Negligent Registrars?

Mousit asks: "I am curious on how fellow Slashdot readers have dealt with negligent and unresponsive registrars. For a few years or so now, I've been using Jump Domain as my registrar for the domains I own and maintain. This was originally by choice, but for the last year or two it has been by force. I lost a domain to them early last year when I attempted to renew it and the automated process failed, putting it into a 'pending' status in wait for 'manual intervention' as the message told me. This intervention never happened, support tickets about it were never answered, and on top of it my money was never refunded. The domain simply lapsed, expired, and nothing was done about it. Have others experienced similar problems with Jump Domain or any other registrar, and what did they do to recover their domains? Is it even possible? Short of getting a lawyer, the options seem rather slim when a registrar decides to simply ignore you and eat your domains (and your money)." "Attempts to transfer my domains to other registrars failed for nebulous reasons which were always attributed to Jump Domain's fault and never satisfactorily explained, at least for the .com domains. Since I can't get JD to answer their support tickets, I have never been able to obtain the EPP codes needed for transfering .org domains. I am effectively trapped in Jump Domain's service, and I am losing domains one by one. The story is currently in repetition, with two more domains now stuck in "pending" status. Support tickets are again unanswered, and this time I even have a couple telephone numbers. One simply rings endlessly, while the other answers with a machine for Jump Domain Hosting support. My messages there have gone unanswered. One domain has already lapsed into expiration as of Saturday, the other will go this Thursday.

It's worth noting that Jump Domain used to be a reseller for TUCOWS, but they appear to have been dropped. They are now reselling for the sometimes infamous eNom instead. Considering even TUCOWS couldn't get a response out of JD during the previous lost domain episode, I'm not surprised they had to change. I have contacted eNom but was summarily told I need to deal with Jump Domain, and was given no further help from them."

Comments

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Re:File a complaint, maybe?

[EmagGeek]

Why has this not yet been modded +5: Funny?

Re:What I'd do

[nocomment]

hrmm it'd be funny to re-register jumpdomain.com with another registrar wouldn't it? :-P

Re:The Three Point Plan

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot Parse Error, Paragraph 1: Option #3 of business plan not literal "Profit!". Re-enter.

Re:The Three Point Plan

[Otter]

4) Mend fences with them by submitting a new story about how they made things right with you.

5) Hemos posts a dupe of your original complaint.

Re:File a complaint, maybe?

[Lendrick]

Yeah, 'cause ICANN definitely gives a fuck about the little guy.

Re:Call the DA

[tomhudson]

This on next week's episode of "Law and Order: Domain Registrar"

Nah - The episode will be titled: "Law and Order: Jump Domain Jumped My Domain"

The answer to problems such as these?

[CarnivoreMan]

Go TP their HQ, and drain the oil from their cars.

Re:The Three Point Plan

[yiantsbro]

"In print it's liable..." ...uh, yeah....liable to be considered libel.

This is the correct answer

[Mustang Matt]

I would hope that Icann would jump in and help out even if he is a little guy. I mean that's what they exist for right?

Extortion?

[Douglas Simmons]

As a Valentine's day gift I bought my now-ex girlfriend her name dot com and threw up a little vanity site for her. Anyway, now that we're not together, she wants me to transfer the domain to her. I'm not sure why, but I refused, and she said that if I don't give it to her, even though (I think) I am safely the legal owner of the domain despite its being her first and last name, she'd "sick my dad's lawyers on you anyway."

I've heard about more than one incident of people handing over a domain at the threat of litigation even when they know they're in the right simply because it would be necessary to hire lawyers either way and a cost-benefit analysis yields that they should just bend over and give up. The 2600 guys have had plenty of experience down this path. Have there been cases where people have counter-sued for being, I don't know the word -- extored, blackmailed, whatever -- in a situation where someone with a lot of cash muscles the other side into folding simply because they know the other side has neither the money nor, in other cases, the political capital to defend themselves?

Parenthetically, I like the UK's system in which the plaintiff has to pay the defendant's legal bills if the suit loses. We should do that.

Re:Extortion?

[Cobblepop]

You made her a site for Valentine's day? No wonder she's an ex...

Re:Extortion?

[Lehk228]

are you sure you wouldn't just beat your chest on the internet untill mom made you do your homework and go to bed?

Re:Extortion?

[Lehk228]

give the domain back to her, but only after transferring the registrar to Jump domain *BFEG*

Re:Extortion?

[ediron2]

Duh... just transfer your domain registration to Jump Domain (or google for negative reviews of incredibly-bad, incredibly-expensive registrars), then hand her the keys in return for a cashiers check for the transfer fee.

I've got this Dell Inkjet 720 piece-of-shit whose refill cartridges are even MORE proprietary and spendy than Lexmark's (the printer's maker, uncoincidentally). Don't blame me, it came free with a cheap PC my mom bought. After weeks of plotting a way to kill it (catapult? Charcoal and liquid oxygen? Tommy Gun?... hmmm) I found a better resolution:

I'm about to give to a frightful local charter school that is apparently run by Jackbooted-Thugs-R-Us. Enforced parade marches, no talking except at lunch or if asked a question, etc. Win-win: two evils get mutual antagonism and I get a clear conscience. Oh, and I even get a tax write-off!

One solution

[nizo]

You could see if they will let you register jumpdomainsucks.com; perhaps that will encourage them to fix the problem?

You decide...

[Daytona89]

Because the moderators are either:

+5, Optimistic

or

-5, Naive

You're missing the point

[ErikTheRed]

As a Valentine's day gift I bought my now-ex girlfriend her name dot com and threw up a little vanity site for her. Anyway, now that we're not together, she wants me to transfer the domain to her. I'm not sure why, but I refused, and she said that if I don't give it to her, even though (I think) I am safely the legal owner of the domain despite its being her first and last name, she'd "sick my dad's lawyers on you anyway."

Give her the domain - it was a gift, dude; even if she was a bitch, you're still being a dick by not giving it to her. Anyway, give it to her, then post this sob story again and again on Slashdot, along with the URL. Watch her bandwidth bills skyrocket or her site get shut down for exceeding quota. Have a nice day.