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Mark Anthony

Mark Anthony

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Hi all,

Not sure if this will make sense as i'm not incredibly clued up on this side of things.

Five years ago i paid a web design company to sort out my domain name and pop email.

Everything been working fine since but had nothing really to do with this company for a while.

Next month, the domain name is due for renewal, last night my web address and email stopped working, well it stopped receiving email, it still sends.

I'm thinking, the host, 1and1 has emailed the webdesign co saying its renewal time soon, and as ive had no dealings with them for a few years, they've pulled the plug.

The webdesign co has merged into another, moved premises etc and its very difficult to get reliable info as to why my site and email is suddeny dead.

Anyway, to the point, is it possible for me to, as the obvious owner of the company in the domain name, get the host to transfer ownership to me, i'm guessing no, but as most of my work comes from, and orders come in through, and client galleries etc, are online, i basically haven't got a business until i get it sorted.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Mark.
 
Whats the domain name? Do you know who the domain was registered to?

Try and get in touch with 1and1 to see if they have any advice. If its your name and address as the registered owner, then it should be no problem in getting it renewed.
 
If it expires in a month the why have things stopped working already?!

On a different note, if it's expired then you should be able to re-register it yourself?
 
Nope he needs to renew it (or you will be able to re register yourself if he doesn't)..... Why did you let someone else register it?
 
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Its stopped working because it has no nameservers attached to it. It was last updated yesterday (9th March). There's also no registrar for the domain either.

I cant find out who updated it though, and what they updated. I would guess, it was 1and1 that updated it. Perhaps because the registrants details have expired?

Try getting in touch with 1and1 and tell them the (true) story.
 
EOS_JD said:
Why did you let someone else register it?
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Because at the time i knew absolutely nothing about getting a website up and running, this company used to do some graphic design for me (previous business) and i thought it would be the simplest option at the time.

incapete said:
If it expires in a month the why have things stopped working already?!
Click to expand...

That's why i'm kind of thinking they've emailed him a renewal email and he's said just turn it off, as we've had no contact for probably close to 2 years.
 
surrealillusions said:
Its stopped working because it has no nameservers attached to it. It was last updated yesterday (9th March). There's also no registrar for the domain either.

I cant find out who updated it though, and what they updated. I would guess, it was 1and1 that updated it. Perhaps because the registrants details have expired?

Try getting in touch with 1and1 and tell them the (true) story.
Click to expand...

I'll definitely try speaking to 1and1 in the morning, it's been off for 24hrs now and i feel like i've had an arm amputated lol.

How did you find that info though, i went on to 123-reg and checked to see if it was available and the whois stuff still lists this other guy as the registrar?
 
its a pain in the arse when design companys register the site in their name and not their customers. had one recently where someone asked us to do some work on their site but the guy who designed it (and as it turns out registered it) had died.. was a complete ball ache.
 
Bit of an update but still no result..

Spoke to 1and1, no help whatsoever.. even had the cheek to say have a nice day at the end of the call. Yeah nice.

Spoke to Nominet then, who basically said it looks to them like 1and1 have removed all the info from the settings, why god only knows, maybe chap that registered it asked them too, unclear.

Basically said i need to either...

1. Track down the guy that registered it and get him to contact Nominet and transfer it to my name.

2. Wait 4 months then i can grab the domain as soon as it comes up again (30 days left to run, then 90 days until it's available again).

3. Seek legal advice ref obtaining a court order requesting Nominet to transfer it over to me and bypassing the current guy.

In the meantime i've bought the .com and an info@ email addy to tide me over.

Thanks everyone that's helped.

Mark.
 
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The domain does have a registrant a guy called

Registrant: Paul Boote


Sadly the address is now a cleaning services.


Have you got any idea what his company name was it may be able to trace who now owns it, or if it actually exists any more.
 
Pete Allen said:
Mark,
Sending pm.
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Many thanks Pete.

ChrisH said:
Have you got any idea what his company name was it may be able to trace who now owns it, or if it actually exists any more.
Click to expand...

I know the new company and have spoken to them, they're pleasant enough but not being very forthcoming with info/help though, i'm just getting nowhere, Paul Boote the owner is apparently out of the country too.

Technically i'm still a customer aren't i, even though i don't do any other business with them any more, i've paid them for the domain and email and it's dead a month before it should be.
 
Technically its their domain and you can't do anything about that apart from with them. No one else will help.

Ask them to change the registrant to you and your details as you purchased the domain. I would get this done before anything else.

Once it is in your name, you can do anything you want.
 
Unless they transfer the domain to you you're pretty stuffed. Nominet won't transfer it no matter how good your story, and, unfortunately, being the business owner makes no difference.

I'd just keep calling the design company on a daily basis until the owner gets back to you. Even though you haven't directly used them for a while they should have still contacted you when the domain came up for renewal (you get a 3 month, 1 month, 2 week, 1 week, 3 day, 1 day reminder after all...)
 
I've got the domain, basically got email from nominet yesterday afternoon asking to accept the transfer, so put it on 123-reg as my other domains are on there, changed dns records and ip address so it points to where my site used to be and....... nothing grrrr.

Have got my email working again though so half the battle.

I can't work out why my .com address is working but my .co.uk isn't when the dns settings and ip address they point to are identical.

Half the battle won anyway. Thanks all who have helped anyway.

Mark.
 
Where have you changed dns records? If you are not using your own personal DNS server, it will take 24-48 hours to propagate to the worldwide DNS servers.

What does ping to the .co.uk and .com say is the IP address it's trying to reach?
 
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