IP: Network Solutions Blocking Transfers

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Sun, 01 Jul 2001 09:47:40 -0400
> To: David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
> From: "K.Ellis" <guavaberry () earthlink net>
> Subject: Network Solutions Blocking Transfers
>
> Network Solutions Blocking Transfers
>
>
> This is a post from one of my lists, dated Thursday 6/28... if anyone is
> doing work with domain transfers, this sounds significant:
> _____________________________________
>
> Network Solutions Blocking Transfers
>
>
> From: David Work
>
> I may have missed this discussion, but I thought everyone might like to know
> what Network Solutions is doing to discourage domain transfers.
>
> In the good ol' days, you could request a transfer from NSI to another
> registrar. The new registrar would make the request, the admin contact would
> approve the request, and the "losing registrar" couldn't block the request
> unless the domain owner owed money or the registration had expired.
>
> According to NSI, they used to send confirmations to the admin contact too
> (a needless redundancy, but harmless). If the confirmation was NOT responded
> to, NSI considered the transfer request to be accepted, and would make the
> transfer.
>
> About 20 days ago, NSI changed the process. If the confirmation was not
> responded to, NSI considered the transfer request NOT accepted, and would
> let the transfer time out. That is, NSI blocked the transfer if *their*
> confirmation was not responded to, regardless of the fact that the customer
> is the one who requested the transfer in the first place and had already
> confirmed the transfer with the "winning registrar".
>
> In my case, I have never (ever) received an administrative contact Tracking
> Number for domain transfers, so ... as of 20 days ago ... my domain
> transfers started timing out. Without notice. Until today, not a single
> support rep could tell me what was going on.
>
> Its actually worse than that. According to the rep, NSI's transfer system
> has been broken for weeks and transfers away from NSI aren't working very
> well, if at all!
>
> I believe that NSI hid this problem from its employees in an effort to put
> the screws to domain transfers. After all, if the domain expires, then you
> *have* to renew the domain registration with them. If you get confused,
> impatient or irritated, you'll probably just keep your domain registered
> with Network Solutions because its an incredible headache to deal with them
> and their ludicrous and complicated procedures.
>
> If this breakdown was a result of a problem with a new release/upgrade of
> their software, as the customer service rep suggested, NSI should have done
> what any competent provider would have done - roll back to the most recent
> version that still worked. I have to believe that they *are* competent, so
> the only conclusion is that the "problems" they've been having for the last
> three weeks have been deliberate.
>
> Here's the good news. According to the person I spoke with today, NSI will
> not charge for domains that can't be transferred and have to be renewed
> through them because their system is broken. All you have to do is call them
> (get put on hold for an hour, but we all have headsets and other things to
> do, right?) and request a credit. Time and effort will tell.
>
> My registrar is Tucows. This is what they have to say about this recent
> change: http://www.dnso.org/clubpublic/registrars/Arc01/msg00706.html
>
> ----end---
>
>
> I can attest to this, having experienced this very problem in June.  I
> began a domain transfer process, and NSI let the request time out despite
> the hours I spent on the phone (on hold) and emails to their customer
> support staff.  By the time the request timed out and we started the
> procedure all over again, the domain expiration date was looming, and in an
> attempt to protect my client's interest, I went ahead and paid the fee to
> NSI.  I received a confirmation email from NSI that the transfer has been
> approved, but I'm not convinced that the problem has been solved.
>
> Has anyone on this list experienced the same problem?  How can we, as
> (former) customers get restitution for this?  I never got to speak to a
> human being at NSI about the issue.
>
> Andrea Meyers <arm0110 () yahoo com>
>
>
> <>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>
> Karen Ellis
> The Educational CyberPlayGround
> http://www.cyberpg.com/
>
> Diversity University Collaboratory Mailing List ISSN:1529-7861
> http://www.cyberpg.com/diversity.html
> Cul De Sac Online Curriculum Mailing List ISSN: 1531-7196
> http://www.cyberpg.com/culdesac/Home_culdesac.html
> Hot Site Awards New York Times, USA Today , MSNBC, Earthlink
> USA Today Best Bets For Educators, Macworld Top Fifty
> Philadelphia Inquirer http://education.philly.com/
> <>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>



For archives see: http://www.interesting-people.org/