How to transfer a domain away from a registrar that doesn't want to?

January 11, 2007 3:09 PM

A client has a domain registered through a registrar that is (at best) unresponsive. We need to transfer it away from this registrar, but cannot get authorization. What now?

The domain is registered via registerfly.com, a quick google reveals that they aren't held in high esteem.
A new client needs to update his website.
- The web developer is gone and the site appears to be hosted on godaddy.com servers (at least, I think that's who owns the IP block), but no one has the username or password (and even if he did, well, this just needs fixing).

- The domain contact information is registered to "FraudRecovery" with a contact email address of "[e-mail]". Emailing that address has no response, and in fact other websites show that it's a known black hole. This information doesn't match anything my client has. Calling customer service results in 30 minute (or longer) wait times, sometimes ending in a hangup.
- We have tried to transfer the domain, but the transfer fails because registerfly doesn't respond with an authorization code (and the new registrar needs that code to proceed).

My plan was to (a) transfer the domain to a reputable registrar, (b) pick a new web hosting company (c) Rip the existing content from the existing site (d) update the site and provide the client with a properly registered, hosted, and documented site. However, step (a) is killing me.

What recourse does my client have? I know there may be a process at ICANN (I looked but nothing appeared to cover this possibility) - does anyone have experience with this situation?

A kicker is that the domain name is heavily publicized (it's a restaurant chain) so abandoning it is not a good option.
Any suggestions are welcome and thanks in advance.

posted by disclaimer to Computers & Internet (11 answers total)

RegisterFly.com, Inc.
404 Main Street
4th Floor
Boonton, NJ 07005

United States
973-404-8430
[e-mail]
posted by phaedon at 3:21 PM on January 11, 2007

Icann's udrp may not apply directly to your situation, but their goal with this policy is to deal with 'bad faith registration'. (id consider this a last resort.)
posted by phaedon at 3:25 PM on January 11, 2007

i reread your question, and by registrar initially i thought you meant a registrar like godaddy or enom, etc... now i think when you say 'registrar' you mean the 'person to whom the website is registered to' (which technically i think the word is 'registrant'). in which case you dont really need to switch companies, per se... it seems that you just dont know the login/password to change the dns settings so that you can change web hosts.... is this a fair assessment of your problem?
posted by phaedon at 3:31 PM on January 11, 2007

The official contact information for RegisterFly can be found here on ICANN's InterNIC site. Try calling the number listed their. If that doesn't work, send a written request overnight to that address. If you still don't get a response, you could try ICANN's Registrar Problem Report form, but frankly I don't think may not help much.

If these suggestions don't work, consider having a lawyer send a demand letter on his or her law firm's letterhead.
posted by RichardP at 3:36 PM on January 11, 2007

Argh... "their" -> "there".
posted by RichardP at 3:36 PM on January 11, 2007

Best answer: You tried the phone and fax number listed on the reg. What about the fax #? If the restaurant has a lawyer, I'd suggest writing a short demand letter and asking the attorney to fax it on their letterhead. Cost should be minimal, and many slovenly companies become magically responsive once a lawyer gets involved.

If you can wait, it may be easiest to put in a "backorder" for the domain through your preferred registrar and then wait for the current reg to expire next Sept. It usually doesn't get released for another month or three after, but hopefully your backorder will automatically snap it up when it does get released. Of course, there is that small risk that it won't be you... *cough* you'll want Jessamyn or Matthowie to remove that link with the domain's name

Is there really no way to track down someone who had the login? They don't even need to remember the password. As long as they know the username and have access to the same email account, a "lost password" feature should be enough to get you access. The domain was registered in Sept '02. A review of accounting records may show whose credit card paid for it. That's the person to talk to.
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 4:25 PM on January 11, 2007

When you say "no one has the username or password" are you referring to the host or the registrar? You can ignore the host completely at this point; once you transfer the domain you will effectively have complete control over its contents and so it doesn't matter whether the current host co-operates or not. What you need is the login credentials to the registrar's site. You need to log on to the account, set the "contact email" to a real address that you actually control, and then initiate the transfer. They will send the transfer code to the registered email. (In some cases you can get the transfer code directly from the registrar's site but it sounds like this is not one of them.)

If you don't have the login details to the registrar, then you need to contact them directly and find out what sort of proof they need to establish ownership. They could require various sorts of identification and paperwork. It could be a real pain, but it's your best bet. (The next best bet is to just wait until it expires and re-register it, but that will fail if A) this needs to get done before then or B) it's set to auto-renew on somebody's credit card.)
posted by Rhomboid at 6:22 PM on January 11, 2007

I have a few domains with Registerfly, and it is possible to "unlock" the domain to move it. Does your customer have a user name and password to Registerfly? If so, they can go to "manage domains", then there's a link on the right side of the screen that says "domain lock". Once you click that you will see "Registry Lock Status" which is most likely checked. Uncheck this and you are free to move the domain.
posted by SteveInMaine at 6:59 PM on January 11, 2007

Ah, I missed the "no one has the password" bit, sorry. Registerfly has a password recovery feature, but you need to know the email address that was used to set up the account. If the original developer is the one who had this, it's going to be tough going unless he's a decent enough person to help you out. Who gets the notices for domain renewal?
posted by SteveInMaine at 7:04 PM on January 11, 2007

Response by poster: Hey all,

Thanks for your answers - y'all are great. The key here is that we don't have the userid or password for the domain. The original web developer for the domain had an account with enom.com or a reseller (we think) and because the user id and password were for a number of domain names, he never gave it to my client. He has disappeared and can't be contacted - nobody knows where he is and his phone numbers don't work. Anyway, as far as we can tell, in '02, registerfly was a reseller for enom.com, who handled all domain registrations. When registerfly.com became a certified registrar, they mass-replaced all the admin and technical contact data for the domains they resold from enom with "fraudRecovery" as the name, and "[e-mail]" as the address.
Without the appropriate user ID, customer support refuses to deal with you. They want you to send an email to the contact email address on file - which is the "risk" one that doesn't go anywhere.

I hadn't thought about a demand letter. That's a great idea. I'm going to make two recommendations, first to my client that he have his lawyer send a demand letter to registerfly, and second that SteveInMaine transfer his domains away from registerfly, because there is a growing pile of evidence that they will be de-certified as a registrar within the year.

Thanks everyone - you guys are awesome!
posted by disclaimer at 7:10 PM on January 11, 2007

Have you tried creating a new account and then submitting a ticket from that account to transfer control over to it? OscarsOnline has an address on the defunct website so if you fax them a request indicating that the old account details are lost and the stored email is non-existant you can include a copy of the business license.

There's also a contact mail here - have you tried sending a push request there?

If that fails then https://registerfly.com/info/civi.php has an address and fax number for subpoenas and the like. You could try sending requests there and see if you get any more traction.
posted by phearlez at 9:07 AM on January 12, 2007