moniker Moniker Obstructing Domain Transfers

[EffectiveNames.com]

I buy a lot of domains via Snapnames and I always hate it when they force me to manage the domain via their sister company Moniker. It's usually not a big deal because I just have to wait 60 days before I am entitled to move my domains to a better registrar.

Now, however, for the first time, my worst fears have come true and Moniker are breaking ICANN rules by obstructing a transfer away by providing me with a non-working AUTH code. I have double-checked everything and am not making a mistake: the domain is unlocked, the special Moniker transfer window is open, I have given the AUTH code to my preferred registrar exactly as it has been emailed to me (half a dozen times now) by Moniker.

My preferred registrar's support has been great and have explained that Moniker's system simply will not accept the AUTH code - I even forwarded them the Moniker emails so that they could verify that the rejected AUTH code was, indeed, the one sent by Moniker.

Moniker support, on the other hand, has been dire: they have not bothered to even respond to any of my support tickets, despite the fact that I pour thousands of dollars into their sister company every year. As I write this, the Oversee support site, which covers Moniker, Snapnames and DomainSponsor, is actually down - what a joke! When I was choosing a registrar at which to consolidate my portfolio a couple of years ago, the quote I got from Moniker for several thousand domains was the most expensive of any registrar but, supposedly, the extra expense was justified by better service. I'm relieved that I went elsewhere.

So, does anyone have any suggestions? Has ICANN provided any mechanism to stop registrars from hanging onto domains in this way?

It is a pretty bad sign when a company starts resorting to retention tactics like this, anyone using Moniker as their primary registrar should seriously reconsider whether they can be trusted - what happens if you have a major problem that requires support but the support does not materialize? What happens if, as a result, you decide to move your portfolio elsewhere but discover that you cannot because of this scammy little "technical problem"?

 

[silentg]

Try e-mailing: Michele Van Tilborg [email protected]

 

[INFORG]

I'm not a Moniker fan just to be clear, but...there were some changes to the authorization code system in the recent past that have caused me this exact issue at more than one registrar. I think the last one was enom. They increased the security and some of the old codes with simple text strings no longer work. They need to reset the auth code and generate a new compliant one.

Now, if they aren't answering support queries on what is really a simple fix, that is another issue, but I wouldn't assume bad faith just on the auth code issue.

 

[urlurl]

i transfered one name a month or so ago with no issues

 

[Poker]

Not to ignore your frustration EN but many times these situations turn out to be not so dire and not the conspiracy domainers think.

 

[ksinclair]

Conspiracy is much rarer than corporate incompetence. The larger the company, or the more constrained its budget,
the more likely to have incompetence and bugs and slow repair.

Best thing is this: when you win a domain at Moniker, put it to some other DNS; so then if you need changes, you dont depend on moniker.
Transfer out after 60 days and you are done.

For DNS I like DomainManger.com, its free, and never goes down (unlike Moniker).

I like godaddy the best as a registrar but their DNS is not very good. Its the slowest I have seen. And ocassionally it just stops working; and you get no notice, your domain simply stops forwarding, and you cannot fix it - you have to get help from support to do something with the Zone file. It has happened to me at least 5 times at Godaddy. Enom has a major bug where incoming domains from auction have non-working DNS right from arrival; but you can fix it by changing the dns to anything, and then changing it back. Enom does not seem to be taking any action to fix this, they just advice to change the dns - now, that is weird that they dont fix such a specific bug.

Kevin


Kevin

 

[John Mauriello]

EF- has this issue been resolved for you yet?...can you send me the Ticket# so I can track down and resolve . I have not heard of this issue happening before but I know they only reason we would ever hold back a transfer is if we suspect a possible Hijacking or believe your email may have been hacked ..please email me directly at [email protected]

 

[EffectiveNames.com]

content repeated in subsequent post

---------- Post added at 01:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:17 PM ----------

EF- has this issue been resolved for you yet?...

Thanks John, I received a newly-generated AUTH code from Jonathan Stanfill and it worked just fine.


I would not usually post publicly about such an issue - I've been a lifetime member on DNForum for almost ten years and the only other time I have ever complained publicly here was when I began to realize that Halvarez was a Snapnames insider. In this case, the reason for my frustration was that I had submitted a ticket to Moniker support on the 14th and then another a full 24hrs later but received no response until Jonathan's email today, the 17th. I very much appreciate the fact that your offer to help was even earlier, yesterday, the 16th, thank you for that.




*** Thanks to everyone for your input ***

Try e-mailing: Michele Van Tilborg [email protected]

Thanks silent.

I'm not a Moniker fan just to be clear, but...there were some changes to the authorization code system in the recent past that have caused me this exact issue at more than one registrar. I think the last one was enom. They increased the security and some of the old codes with simple text strings no longer work. They need to reset the auth code and generate a new compliant one.


Now, if they aren't answering support queries on what is really a simple fix, that is another issue, but I wouldn't assume bad faith just on the auth code issue.

Thanks INFORG, yes, it would appear that it was a malformed AUTH code, the newly-generated one they sent me worked just fine.


I guess the root of my frustration and ensuing suspicion was that, in my experience, domains tend to be relatively trouble-free and, when problems do arise, they tend to affect a massive amount of customers in an identical manner, for which an identical solution can be applied. In this case, the problem with AUTH codes must be hitting thousands of people every day, so, if you don't have enough support staff to answer support tickets within 48hrs, surely it is all the more vital to prepare a stock response that is emailed out automatically whenever a support ticket contains a keyword such as "auth" or "transfer"? A new AUTH code, sent out automatically to the authorized email address, would have solved my problem within a few minutes.


When such an obvious solution is not applied, I do find myself wondering why and the fact is that a substantial number of people will give up on transfers rather than chasing down support over several days. Inertia is predictable and making it more troublesome to transfer away would help any registrar's bottom line if applied over millions of transactions over time.

i transfered one name a month or so ago with no issues

Yes, I transfer at least a few domains every day and have only had one or two issues over the years, always solved quickly via the registrar's support system. The lack of any response to my support tickets was what spooked me in this case.

Not to ignore your frustration EN but many times these situations turn out to be not so dire and not the conspiracy domainers think.

Thanks Poker. True, not everything is a conspiracy, I guess I was just annoyed that I had to waste time and take it beyond the normal support ticket system. I would maintain, however, that the only real job that a registrar has to perform is support on the extremely rare occasions when something goes wrong, so, the failure to provide support within 48hrs is worrying and we should pay attention to make sure that this does not become a common method of cutting costs.

Conspiracy is much rarer than corporate incompetence. The larger the company, or the more constrained its budget,
the more likely to have incompetence and bugs and slow repair.


Best thing is this: when you win a domain at Moniker, put it to some other DNS; so then if you need changes, you dont depend on moniker.
Transfer out after 60 days and you are done.


For DNS I like DomainManger.com, its free, and never goes down (unlike Moniker).


I like godaddy the best as a registrar but their DNS is not very good. Its the slowest I have seen. And ocassionally it just stops working; and you get no notice, your domain simply stops forwarding, and you cannot fix it - you have to get help from support to do something with the Zone file. It has happened to me at least 5 times at Godaddy. Enom has a major bug where incoming domains from auction have non-working DNS right from arrival; but you can fix it by changing the dns to anything, and then changing it back. Enom does not seem to be taking any action to fix this, they just advice to change the dns - now, that is weird that they dont fix such a specific bug.


Kevin

I do the same 60-day thing, that was actually the problem in this case, I was not able to get a working AUTH code to get the Hell away and there didn't seem to be a way to get Moniker Support to look at it.


Luckily, it has all been resolved, although I do hope that they find a quicker - possibly even automated - way to deal with what must be a very common problem.

 

[ecomindia]

I buy a lot of domains via Snapnames and I always hate it when they force me to manage the domain via their sister company Moniker. It's usually not a big deal because I just have to wait 60 days before I am entitled to move my domains to a better registrar.

Now, however, for the first time, my worst fears have come true and Moniker are breaking ICANN rules by obstructing a transfer away by providing me with a non-working AUTH code. I have double-checked everything and am not making a mistake: the domain is unlocked, the special Moniker transfer window is open, I have given the AUTH code to my preferred registrar exactly as it has been emailed to me (half a dozen times now) by Moniker.

My preferred registrar's support has been great and have explained that Moniker's system simply will not accept the AUTH code - I even forwarded them the Moniker emails so that they could verify that the rejected AUTH code was, indeed, the one sent by Moniker.

Moniker support, on the other hand, has been dire: they have not bothered to even respond to any of my support tickets, despite the fact that I pour thousands of dollars into their sister company every year. As I write this, the Oversee support site, which covers Moniker, Snapnames and DomainSponsor, is actually down - what a joke! When I was choosing a registrar at which to consolidate my portfolio a couple of years ago, the quote I got from Moniker for several thousand domains was the most expensive of any registrar but, supposedly, the extra expense was justified by better service. I'm relieved that I went elsewhere.

So, does anyone have any suggestions? Has ICANN provided any mechanism to stop registrars from hanging onto domains in this way?

It is a pretty bad sign when a company starts resorting to retention tactics like this, anyone using Moniker as their primary registrar should seriously reconsider whether they can be trusted - what happens if you have a major problem that requires support but the support does not materialize? What happens if, as a result, you decide to move your portfolio elsewhere but discover that you cannot because of this scammy little "technical problem"?

i don't know if this will help but same has been happening with me but with enom. i bought a domain via snapnames, they got it into my enom account. i have tried twice for transferring but to no avail!!! i double checked the code , but it does not work!

i think the problem lies everywhere.. i am just trying to find what to do... 30$+for renewal kills me!!

 

[silentg]

i don't know if this will help but same has been happening with me but with enom. i bought a domain via snapnames, they got it into my enom account. i have tried twice for transferring but to no avail!!! i double checked the code , but it does not work!

i think the problem lies everywhere.. i am just trying to find what to do... 30$+for renewal kills me!!

If it was a recent purchase then it could have the 45 day auction lock. Once you log-in to your account and click on your domain. You'll see a message in red

	Currently in "Auction Lock

Or check if you had listed the domain as Premium on Afternic. You can remove it under your account: Domains > Premium Domanis > Manage Domains For Sale

 

[David G]

IMO, Moniker is actually better than GD in some important ways, including the cleanest looking and most easy to use nicely functional interface (without all the ongoing time wasting and annoying upselling) which control panel is overall light years better vs GD (but I agree Moniker support can be improved).

 

[ecomindia]

i tried in 2 years after the 60 days lockin period.
thank you for afternic info (was not aware).... no, not listed in afternic either.

so, is it something to do with snapname transfer process ?

 

[silentg]

I am guessing it's a bug. I transferred all my domains from eNom right before the expiry without any problems. Any luck with their support?

 

[ecomindia]

IMO, Moniker is actually better than GD in some important ways, including the cleanest looking and most easy to use nicely functional interface (without all the ongoing time wasting and annoying upselling) which control panel is overall light years better vs GD (but I agree Moniker support can be improved).

although i am very happy with GD, but yes, moniker too is easy and no complexity and yes, no jazzy stuff... i have sold few domains and transferred few domains from moniker to other registrars with no issue till date.

I am guessing it's a bug. I transferred all my domains from eNom right before the expiry without any problems. Any luck with their support?

even i think so... challenge is... will i be able to get it addressed befre dec when i can renew in GD for $9 as to $30+ there . will try my luck this week with their support.

scammy little "technical problem"?

... agree..

 

[katherine]

i don't know if this will help but same has been happening with me but with enom.

EPP codes are sometimes out of synch, with Enom it seems to be a common issue.
You might be able to generate a new auth code like this: set then unset the registrar-lock on the domain.

 

[ecomindia]

thank you ,,, will try !!

 

[John Mauriello]

Sometimes the EPP code expires during the 60 day grace period, and you need to request a new one. Every registrar is a little different. I will report this issue to the Manager of customer Service to see a) Why this ticket was not handled within 24 hours b) if there is a way can be proactive in identifying which moniker/snapnames registrars we need to work with and or if a solution is in works. I know we are training some new support staff this week so perhaps the over 24 hours has something to to with that.

 

[David G]

Keep up the good work John and also see of you can lengthen the timeout more. Even though your timeout looks to be longer than the annoying very short GD timeout it still should be made even longer. In fact, I see no need for it at all if on a home/home office computer as most of us are. It's really only needed is access is from someone elses or public computer.

 

[John Mauriello]

David G-

How long is the time out taking for you?
How long do you think it should be ?

DO you tend to use same IP address?

 

[ksinclair]

Can someone give me some advice about Moniker. I cannot find my domain list. Please do this: login. Then type this url:

www.Moniker.com

Now tell me what to click on, to see a list of my domains? For example, there is a headline "Manage Your Domains" but no actual link TO your domains.
This is a seriously bad user interface.