NAMECHEAP.COM - STOLE MY DOMAIN, I can't believe it.

Well I had booked a controversial awesome domain on NameCheap.com for a duration of two years ending in 2009. Now all of a sudden the domain has been removed from my account and there is no history about it in my account.

When i contacted their support they nicely told me my domain expired earlier this year, even though i booked it for 2 years now their system reflects it was booked for just one year.

The domain whois still reflect the domain was booked for two years ending in 2009. But these motherfuckers want me to pay 200 dollars to get my own domain back.

Why the fuck dont I see any domain history? Why dont I see any transaction details? Is domain whois lying?

WTF???


Below is my discussion with NAMECHEAP support (THEY ARE NAME THIEVES)

Hi There,

I registered the domain XXX-Domain.com on Feb'27'2007 over there for a duration of two years. This domain is now not reflecting in my domain list, but however when i check on domain whois, it still shows the domain registered from Feb'27'2007 - Feb'27'2009.

Where is my domain? Why isn't it listed in my domain list? This is very very urgent.


Regards,
xxx


--------------------------------------------------


Lena P.
Posted On: 24 May 2008 11:39 PM
Dear XXXX,

According to your order you registered the domain XXX-Domain.com for 1 year. It expired 02/28/2008. After domain expires we allow 27 days of grace period in which you can renew (i.e. reactivate) domain from the expiration date.

After the 27 days the domain is placed into auction for a week, if not sold (rarely do the domains get sold at auction), then it is placed into redemption by the registry. Once in redemption, then there is an additional fee of $200 for reactivation. So its total $200 + the renewal cost for the domain.
If the domain is still not renewed then after 80-85 days in the status of redemption it's made available for everyone again.

So now there are two ways for you how to get your domain back:
1) You can renew it right now for $209.29 (please let us know if you agree to pay and we'll walk you through the procedure)
2) You can wait about 100 days from the date indicated above and re-register it once more when it becomes available again.

If you have any further questions please feel free to contact us again.
--------------------
Regards,

Lena P.
Customer Support
NameCheap.com

-----------------------------------------------


XXXX Last Name
Posted On: 25 May 2008 12:23 PM
Dear Lean,

I know how many years I booked my domain for. I booked it for two years and the same was also reflected in domain whois.. the same is also reflected now. You can also check domain history on Domain Tools and it will show you the initial registration data that the domain was booked initially for TWO YEARS.

Secondly, domain is not reflecting in my domain or transaction history. Final note, domain was booked for two years when i booked it in the first place, as I never book a domain for one year EVER. And I activated whois guard on my domain when I booked it, and all this data is STILL REFLECTED in domain whois and it also still shows domain was booked for 2 years. And ofcourse, domain history whois will ALSO show the same.

In short, the domain has been stolen from my account. Will await your revert on the matter.


Attaching:

Screenshot of domain whois as PROOF of registration and also INITIAL registration duration.

Regards,
XXXX


-------------------------------------------------------


Arunas N - NameCheap.com
Posted On: 25 May 2008 12:28 PM
Hello,

Our records indicate that XXX-Domain.com has been registered for 1 (one) year only, back in Febr. 27th 2007 and expired on Febr. 27th 2008. We have received a registration fee for one year only - USD7.95. You can check your records for order reference 775080.

If you have any different information, please kindly copy and paste it to this ticket, so we'll be able to investigate it.

Thank you.


--
Arunas
NameCheap.com

------------------------------------


XXXX Last Name
Posted On: 25 May 2008 12:32 PM
So are you telling me domain whois lying? that the domain records on namecheap whois are wrong? My account now has a balance of $8 which should not be there.. as I never had a balance on my namecheap account. I just booked a domain for two years.. now for whatever reasons its gone from my account..

The whois records still show the registration as two years, so are you telling me that whois records are wrong? when the whois in the first place is generated by the registrar?

I want an explaination. This is plain theft of the worst kind. My domain is stolen, records are altered and you are telling me domain whois is lying.

 

Sad dude.. Was it a real good domain name?

 

It has over 3.4 million results for it in the search engine...

 

man yesterday I had 8$ in namecheap and today I have 0.36$ which was my previus balnace! Namecheap stole my money they are mother fuckers!

 

Do you have copy of payment or bill. If so send it to them

 

report them to the police

 

And so you shall have.

According to NameCheap's reply, the domain name was actually registered for
only one year up to 2008. After a .com domain name expires, the Registry will
autorenew it for one year and bill the sponsoring registrar accordingly:

http://registrar.verisign-grs.com/whois/faq.html

That can explain why WHOIS shows the domain name might've been registered
for two years, but it's actually for one. You can check your payment provider
for that if need be, as the last agent suggested.

Now, no one said anything about WHOIS "lying". The rep replied that they can
investigate it further if you reply with something to help verify your claim.

Sometimes there is a plausible explanation for everything, without necessarily
going emotionally overboard about it. What happened is unfortunate, but you
at least have an option how to possibly resolve it.

And no, it's not necessarily NameCheap's fault, even if you feel otherwise.

Really? And have you asked them what happened before emotionally accusing
them of possible wrongdoing?

Sometimes unintended mistakes happen. But they can be resolved if they are
brought to someone's attention right away and verified to be so.

 

woops.. i almost register under namecheap. luckily i found this thread. thx.

 

Absolutely right Dave,

This person registered the domain for one year but the grace period we front(i.e. pay for) extends it for another year and that is why it shows as 2009. Otherwise, the domain would have been deleted as soon as it expired.

This person forgot to renew their domain plain and simple and they are trying to blame us even though we gave them an extra 30 days AFTER expiration to renew at the normal price.

 

This(Your) account is locked due to a paypal chargeback.

Now, do you have anything else to say?

 

Dave, I'd like to be like you.

Now, what's going on about the MAYFLOWERS coupon not working anymore for transfers? I tried to transfer a domain from Godaddy and it didn't work. Even though it shows that the coupon didn't fail, it shows no discount in the final amount.

Thanks.

 

I register all my domains with them and have had great luck, I even sold a domain through them once and didn't get paid, I was rather miffed and called them and they verified that the domain sold and they asked if I was SURE I wanted to sell it..they didn't think it was a good idea. I told them yes, they promptly sent me my money and to this day I wish I would have never let that domain go. They TRIED to help..my bad. Thanks Namecheap, I wish I would have listened to you. live and learn, take care.

 

No Name Cheap for me either!

 

Do you have the reciept still for the purchase to prove you got it for that long?

 

Puh...It is not only for namecheap. Domainsite stoled my domain last year.
Currently they sell my domain (in Moniker) you can check archive info for my stolen LLL.org

Unfortunately you cannot anything !
Internic and Icann does not interest...

Drink a lemonate

 

That's why I only ever register a domain for one year each time... so there is no messups along the road.

 

I chose Namecheap for my recent transfers, and I must say I was pretty happy...especially as my partner cancelled instead of confirming and taking us through the entire process again. I had to pay the coupon for those two domains, but apart from that, the service was excellent, support helpful and refund provided.
Of course, I'd be unhappy, too, if this happened...but the explanation is logical, and unless the OP has a transaction record showing payment for two years, I'm going to say that it sounds like this is his mistake.
The whois data is not where you look for the duration of your registration. If you didn't pay for two years, why should you be registered for that term?
If you do have transaction details showing you did pay for two years on that date, then I suggest you submit that info to support. I suspect they have better records than you, though. The Transaction ID message was in your account messages, either party should be able to settle this by looking at that.

 

I have never had any issues with NameCheap. In fact, I like their services quite a lot. If there is any way you can prove to them that you in fact purchased that domain for 2 years, and can even find on your bill/statement for your CC or Paypal that corresponds with the date of purchase with the amount of 2 domains, that may also help. If you truly did purchase the domain, you can always try threatening them with a lawyer or something if the domain was quite valuable. If it's just some crummy domain, then I wouldn't bother. But, if you were making quite a bit of revenue from it, etc., then I personally would try to do something.

Best of luck, and always stay calm and polite in the emails you write them. That also can help.

 

ENETWORK If it was a mistake on the users part like you saying..
Then why dosent his account show the domain history?

Either way, No matter whos at fault I hope you get it worked out man

 

Maybe the OP is looking in the wrong place. When a domain expires NC takes the name out of the main domain list and moves it to a Reactive Domain list found by clicking "Reactivate Domains" in the control panel. I panicked yesterday when I let a domain expire and then couldn't find it in my domain list. Helpful Lena showed me where to find it & I could then renew.