Preordered domain hijacked by registrar!

[jberryhill]

Hmm, the OP hasn't provided more details

Isn't that irritating? It's like pulling the fire alarm and then wandering off.

[davids]

I don't believe there is a 60 day wait period to transfer a .mobi like other tlds.

Yes they do.

Isn't that irritating? It's like pulling the fire alarm and then wandering off.

Sorry, I stopped getting follow-up notifications for some reason.

On May 30, 2006, Dotster announces they are taking preorders for .mobi domains.

On May 31, 2006, I enter my preorder for my .mobi domain.

On the morning of September 26th, 2006, I call Dotster to get status. I am told by customer service that someone else is ahead of me and if something goes wrong with the order I am next in line.

I maintain contact with customer service over the next few days and learn that the order has been completed. I also learn the name of the company that has acquired it is RevenueDirect.

I contact RevenueDirect directly with the intention of coming to some arrangement, they want $10,000, they later went as high as 30,000!

I try to negotiate over the next few days without success. However, while leaving a voice mail I decide to hit '0' for an operator and find myself in the Dotster voice mail system!

I was desperate for this domain, I have been planning for some time and I am in the mobile internet business. So after some more negotiation I end up paying $7000 for the domain, after all, legal remedies to extract it from them would be much more expensive, would not guarantee success, and could take a long time.

They had access and used confidential and personal information, ie my ownership of the .com domain and my preorder of the .mobi domain.

They took unfair action to acquire the domain before I did, although they were supposedly working on my behalf to acquire it for me.

We need to be able to trust registrars to acquire domains honestly and impartially on our behalf!

I'm not sure I follow that. You can't "fake" the registrar responsible for a domain. Noting that the domain name is presently registered through alldomains.com, I'm curious when it was moved from Dotster to Alldomains.

Here's a hot new twist - the main contact for the registrar Alldomains is the CEO of Dotster:
http://www.secstate.wa.gov/corps/sea...&ubi=602580415

[jberryhill]

Ahh.... now that's what I call a followup.

Sleazy - yep.

Illegal - doubt it.

It could be two different business units such that if it had been picked up on Dotster's cred, then they would have transferred it to you. But the absence of a practical way to tell leaves considerable doubt about the ethics here.

[Keyword Factory]

RevenueDirect uses the same PO Box as Dotster.

RevenueDirect is on this board under username RevenueDirect. You can leave feedback for your transaction. They also have their own discussion section here under "Industry Leaders" http://www.dnforum.com/f277/

[davids]

RevenueDirect uses the same PO Box as Dotster.

RevenueDirect is on this board under username RevenueDirect. You can leave feedback for your transaction. They also have their own discussion section here under "Industry Leaders" http://www.dnforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=277

Thanks for the tip. Although I can assure you, they know very well who I am and they know very well how I feel about the transaction, especially after reading this thread.

It ocurred to me that you were suggesting that I leave feedback for others. I will probably do that at some point, but for now I think I'll stick to sharing my story and invetigating my options.

[JMJ]

That is pretty sneaky I must say. But there's been alot of people crying foul regarding alot of things registrars/registries are able to pull off and the very organization which is suppose to work in our interest and can do anything about it is just as sleazy as them.

[labrocca]

This is extortion. Registrars shouldn't be using inside information to gain money from it's members. If he didn't call them and show strong interest they may never had bothered to register this domain name. I have always been very against registrars being able to register or taste names even if through a third party shell company which is what appears to have happened here. Why are they using a shell company if it's legitimate? This is very much anti-trust. It's a type of shill-bidding and extortion. Try to get the feds involved if you can.

[davids]

This is extortion. Registrars shouldn't be using inside information to gain money from it's members. If he didn't call them and show strong interest they may never had bothered to register this domain name. I have always been very against registrars being able to register or taste names even if through a third party shell company which is what appears to have happened here. Why are they using a shell company if it's legitimate? This is very much anti-trust. It's a type of shill-bidding and extortion. Try to get the feds involved if you can.

Thanks for your moral support. I'll certainly be doing everything I can to see that justice is served, not just for my case but for everyone I can document had similar experiences. I'm actively contacting lawyers and state Attorney's General right now. At some point, I hope to set up a mailing list for people who want to be included in a class action suit. Feel free to leave me a PM if you have a specific story to share and I'll be sure and let you know if/when I am making progress.

In my opinion this is a privacy issue more than anything. I think consumers have a right to expect a certain level of privacy, and this is not only not being served but is being used against us. I've been trying to find something in ICANN policy, but so far I have not been able to find any language to protect consumer privacy. Hopefully, with help from folks like you, we can force the issue and make registrars a safer place for everyone to do business.

[namewaiter]

Thanks for your moral support. I'll certainly be doing everything I can to see that justice is served, not just for my case but for everyone I can document had similar experiences. I'm actively contacting lawyers and state Attorney's General right now. At some point, I hope to set up a mailing list for people who want to be included in a class action suit. Feel free to leave me a PM if you have a specific story to share and I'll be sure and let you know if/when I am making progress.

In my opinion this is a privacy issue more than anything. I think consumers have a right to expect a certain level of privacy, and this is not only not being served but is being used against us. I've been trying to find something in ICANN policy, but so far I have not been able to find any language to protect consumer privacy. Hopefully, with help from folks like you, we can force the issue and make registrars a safer place for everyone to do business.

well i too had issues with dotster on sept 26 ... after posting here and on other boards, wasn't surprised to hear i was not first 'to preorder' so i wouldn't be getting the domains. the wierd thing is all of the domains i pre ordered still don't show any whois info (it's all confidential through dotster). i'm sure others have experienced this as well.

as far as the privacy issue, not sure you'd have much to stand on ... according to agreements, whois is a public record, unless of corse you pay to block such info.

[Onward]

Registrars are not regulated. They pretty much can do what ever they want to do and get away with it.

Sleazy, unethical, dirty, unfair...(keep the names coming which describe today's registrars...) But Illegal? I don't think so.

I have written my congressmen and senators for the past two years on this topic along with many other ICANN related issues...I always get the response that they know there is a problem...they never seem to care to do anything though.

I predict in a few years after Verisign takes all the .com and .net names up to about $50 a pop per year...the playing field will only be with the big boys...