Bought my domain from a now defunct Australian company, along with hosting. I desperately need to move both the hosting, but more importantly, the domain - to a new provider. The registrar in Australia does not respond to any emails, phone calls, snail mails, etc. My site is now down and the domain name is not available because they apparently didn't release it. Help! Does ICANN get involved in these kind of situations? Anyone else? Can I sue him to force him to release my domain? No money issues, I just think they are out of business.
The problem you have is if they are out of business then they will have closed up - so no staff to reply to emails, answer phones etc. If they are out of business then there isnt anything you can sue them for, as they will probably have already gone in to administration. Check the whois on your domain and see who the actual registrar is - is it actually them or were they just a reseller for another company. If they are a reseller then you can contact the company they were reselling for and as long as you can prove you own the domain then they should assist you. Also, how long ago did the company go bust? If it was just a few days ago then hold on for a bit and you might get a reply from them or they may well sell the accounts to another company to try and recoup some of their losses. Best of luck.
Thanks dayvo! I have just assumed (incorrectly?) that they are out of business since they have been unresponsive for 6 weeks. Will check whois and might get lucky. In most business matters there is recourse and methods to force actions, but maybe in this case there's not. Seems to be a giant shortcoming in how the domains are administered since for many companies (including mine!), the value of your domain equals the value of your business. I can copyright my words, trademark my logo, register my corporate name - all with legal protection, but I can't control my domain.
Yes its frustrating especially as the domain name is the front door to your business.. the rest is pointless if the domain goes. (to a degree) Good luck sorting this, i really hope for your sake that the company you initially used was just a reseller for a larger more reputable company. Im guessing this means you're site has been offline for 6 weeks now, with no emails or web access? If so, re read their terms and conditions etc, you may be able to claim for loss of earnings - but like i said in the other post if they are already in administration (and not just sh|t at responding to customers) then its unlikely that you will see anything. Fingers crossed!
dayvo, just want to thank you for the great advice! Our guys were just resellers for ENOM so hopefully we can get everything resolved directly through them. Owe you a drink next time you're in Florida!