We are currently working with two different clients whose websites are down due to their not owning their own domain. Both clients used hosting services – one a local website “boutique” and another using Lycos and both of them got the domain as a package with the hosting service, so it was the hosting service that registered the domain, not them.
The Boutique website is down because the person maintaining the website took it down for maintenance and never put it back up again – several months ago! Because this is a charity site, we offered to host it for them for free, using a wordpress site that they can maintain for themselves. The problem is that the person responsible is not responding to requests to transfer the domain to their new domain account. Because the client doesn’t control the domain, they can’t make changes to the domain so that it points to the new hosting server. They’re dead in the water on that particular domain, unless either a. the boutique cooperates with the domain transfer, or b. the boutique allows the domain to lapse by neglecting to pay the annual registration fee. The domain is up for renewal in December, and it’s not a name that is likely to be snapped up by someone else, so they could simply wait until the domain lapses and pick it up then. But if the boutique has the domain on auto-renew, and allows it to auto-renew this December, then it could be yet another year before the domain would lapse and become available. The same thing could happen next year, and so forth. It could be a Very Long Time before they got their domain back.
The other client – the one with Lycos – has a different situation, but it ends up being the same. Lycos says they didn’t pay, even though Lycos’ own records show that the client DID pay. They had a valid credit card, and the domain was set to auto-pay, so it isn’t the fault of the client. Lycos just messed up. And, to make matters worse, the only way to contact them is through submitting a support request online, which takes Lycos 2 days to respond. Imagine having an e-commerce website that was a major source of income, and the hosting provider takes 2 days to respond to a support request when the website is down because of their issues? Further, having a hosting service that takes the website offline with NO notice that there’s potentially a payment issue? This is absolutely unacceptable behavior. Compound that with the fact that Lycos is based in India. Try taking THEM to court! Once again, the only solution is to try to get them to transfer the domain to a new account. By the laws of the internet, they’re supposed to do that on demand, we’ll see how compliant they are – otherwise we take it up with ICANN, the internet domain naming authority. And quite possibly, we may have to wait until the domain expires and pick it up at that point. Once again, it is fortunate that the domain name is not one that would be in demand so it’s unlikely that someone else will pick it up.
There’s a really simple solution to all this: never, and I mean NEVER EVER allow your hosting service to own your domain or register your domain for you. Quite frankly, if your hosting service owns your domain, they own it. You don’t. If you get crossways with them, as both of the above clients have, you have no recourse. You will very likely lose your domain! You must own your own domains!
Instead, pick a low-cost domain registrar, create your own account and register your domain under your own account so that YOU own your domain, NOT your hosting service. That way if your hosting service goes crossways, you can simply drop them and go on to someone else. Team Veritas uses Godaddy.com for a domain registrar (but not hosting!), but there are other low-cost registrars on the ‘net. Basic domain registration, without all the frills they try to sell you, should be $15 or less per year. Beware of the registrars that want to charge $20 or more for domain registration, and beware of getting notices from someone other than your registrar warning that your domains are about to expire and renew via the form they emailed or postal mailed you – with a form that looks like an invoice to the unsuspecting.
Got questions or need help with your domains or hosting? Contact us, we’d be glad to help!