Reseller account cancelled - domain registrar won't release customers domains

[Tabiteck]

Folks, a bit of a long story here and hope you bear with me but don't know what to do or who to contact.
I was a reseller for Uberglobal only for several months. Then they made errors within my bank account. Deposit $400 once and take out 3 times. They did that 3 times in totally overdrawing the bank account. The only way they could stop this unauthorised transfers was to cancel the payments totally. They cancelled the payment trannsactions but i kept getting notices to pay overdue amounts.(they didn't know why it was happening) For 3 months. In the meantime my domain store was suspended, a side issue of their mistake. So after 3 month, 30 emails and not much being done on their part, I asked to take my domain elsewhere instead of it having 'store suspended' across the site. But I would still get notifications to pay the outstanding accounts and every now and then, they would null the amounts and let it build again. I was never refunded the amounts they took incorrectly nor the transaction fees. They never found out why it happened.
So then i asked them to cancel my account as it was the only way to stop receiving these letters of demand.
They finally cancelled my store.
AND they also cancelled my clients sites and hosting. (I am a designer) I have several sites down and about 8 domains I am trying to get back for my clients. Domains registered in clients names with me as technical contact. Not to mention people I don't know about who registered their domains too.

So how do I get the domains back so I can transfer them out to rebuild the sites from scratch?
They not reply to my emails anymore (Upper management) and not worth ringing the telco at the bottom of the rung as they do not have authority to help me but will take my name for someone to call me. But they don't.
I know it will cost me to rebuild clients sites but I just need the domains back. Can I ask Auda and Icann to assist?

I had a reseller store under GoDaddy once and they just transferred clients back to themselves. Never heard of cancelling clients accounts too.

As MelbourneIT now own Uberglobal, Netregistry and TPP, I only use offshore for hosting.

Appreciate any advice please.
Esther

 

[findtim]

rule 1, backup before agueing !
30 emails ! i would have gone to the phone earlier.

first, do a balance sheet of every transaction and come to the EXACT figure they owe you, details, details, details, FACTS.
this won't just help you get your money back but might assist you in getting access to the domains to transfer out.
list all email correspondence in and out, and timestamps.
you'll need that if they claim you owe them money.

"So how do I get the domains back so I can transfer them out " so they are registered as well through them? , you got to get on the phone, how long has it been since they closed you, will they still have a backup? normally 7 days only.
be NICE on the phone, until you have established you found the correct location of your problem. then ask their advice, be SUPER nice and they might just come back on the phone with it sorted.

do you have new hosting ready? remember you can build on an IP address so start now while you can't phone. you could have them all with a landing page waiting for delegation in the morning
--------
rebuild sites, i'd get a landing page first for every client with their contact details, so you have some breathing space.
if they are wordpress use a maintainence plugin, there are heaps, i use this https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-maintenance-mode/
do you have an old backup? even if its design but not content.
checkout whats archived, https://archive.org/web/

keep us up to date
tim

 

[Tabiteck]

I said 30 emails plus and about 15 phone calls but their service is super slow so you would always wait an hour before speaking to offshore, they would say someone would phone me back as they would pass it up the line. First couple of times I believed them and waited but in the end I know Cory the accounts guy wouldn't speak to me. Even on the phone the indian apologised that no one was ringing me back and admitted he couldn't do anything.
The point is it is like speaking to a brick wall - no reply to emails and no come back on the phone. Also no luck on their FB page (I would private message not public slanging)
Have always been super nice as you never get your own way with ranting. Yes we have started building offsite and getting that ready.

Just wondered if there was a higher power?
But I will try phoning again tomorrow Tim.
appreciate the support.

 

[findtim]

i'm now using netvirtue here in melb and syd and finding them competitive and great to deal with.
--------------
RARELY anyone changes the "key" of a domain, do you have that in an email somewhere? if so you can grab the domain unless they have looked it?
if they come at you then you can say " you're quick at tthat but not at fixing my problem ! "
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there is a difference between slagging and just telling whats going on, keep it brief and then continue to FB if no answer. is the FB active with other stuff from admin?

tim

 

[Joel]

As MelbourneIT now own Uberglobal, Netregistry and TPP, I only use offshore for hosting

There are plenty of other Australian hosts who are not related to MelbourneIT.
You should be able to get your domains (if they are .au) by using AusRegistry's password recovery tool. You don't need Uber to approve them, only the registrant.

 

[findtim]

AusRegistry's password recovery tool

as long as it doesn't get sent to the held domain !
tim

 

[helloworld]

Melbourne IT buying Uber who bought Aussie HQ has been nothing short of a nightmare. They never answer the billing questions, they have no idea themselves. The same thing happened to me with them taking money out automatically.

Last week I noticed they were sending out emails from an uber email address signed by Melbourne IT. To me that is not on, so I requested they transfer my .coms back to Enom where i had originally pushed them from when they were aussie hq. Thast use to be fine, now the person I am dealing with has no idea. I'm going to have to get on the phone.

As for original question, i think in their terms and conditions they can actually shut your account and aquire your customers. Pretty horrible tbh. I wish another wholesaler would step up because there are a lot of out there who need this service, before we throw in the towel and get our own auda accreditations. Which is also do able according to the AUDA website and another way to get all your domains back.

 

[findtim]

I wish another wholesaler would step up because there are a lot of out there who need this service

not sure what you mean? a domain name reseller account you can get in many places, as well as hosting reseller acounts

tim

 

[Tabiteck]

I wish they did acquire my clients - it means that they wouldn't have pulled down the sites.
I am now wth Siteground and splitting mail, hosting and registration. I will try and get on to Ausregistry and see how I can do this. (thanks Joel)

 

[johno69]

I will try and get on to Ausregistry and see how I can do this. (thanks Joel)

http://whois.ausregistry.net.au/password_recovery/recover_password.jsp

 

[Tabiteck]

So that is working for the sites that are .com.au and have my email as contact. Got 3 of those back.
Who do I ask for password for .com sites please?
and the ones that had email accounts under their hosting, I am in a battle for. (slight glimmer at the end of the tunnel)

 

[helloworld]

Tim, list the domain resellers for me ?

OP, You are going to need to talk to Uber again regarding the .coms and other international TLDs. They will need to push them to YOUR account at Enom (presuming you have one). However, as per my above post, this does no longer seem to be an easy process as Melbourne IT has multiple levels of management etc etc while once upon a time you were just dealing with another small business.

 

[findtim]

crazy has reseller domains, $100 startup, $20.10 , i haven't had to look anywhere else but i have seen others mentioned on dnt recently

netvirtue.com.au has reseller hosting
ventraip reseller hosting

 

[helloworld]

Off the top of my head the only domain resellers are

Crazy domains - bad rep mostly, could have changed. No idea on Cor
Uber/Aussie Hq - bought by Melbourne IT. Old system no longer updated on worked on. Could be a problem in future. Not responsive or mobile version. Cor is $150 processed manually. Previous attempt took over 2 weeks and several live chat sessions
Synergy wholesale - not transparent on pricing pre set up fee. Pricing is OK, Cor is cheap in comparison. Related to VentraIP
TPP - formerly another name distribute it ? Who got hacked it's many users leaving. Now owned by Melbourne IT. Platform has nice interface, domains more expensive though. Has several other features like cloud hosting/VPS presumably to compete with Synergy

International Enom. I haven't tried anyone else. Lots of companies offer sub reseller accounts that avoid $3k set up fee (approx) with Enom direct. Sells new tlds, offers other features, like ssl though can only be 1 off items and not renewable.

Name cheap - had a quick look. Requires min deposit, ssl can be sold without a r seller account. Have not been able to get ssl Api to work thus far. Fees based on membership age and annual spend. I.e. Tired levels

There are plenty of other international told options but that is it as far as domain wholesalers are concerned for Aus market. Are there any others ?

I'd potentially move to drop if they offered the service. Their support has been good in the past. Domain shield another potential wholesaler but so far appears to be focused on end users and maybe a few domainers.

Don't care about hosting resellers they're a dime a dozen

 

[findtim]

i've been with crazyD since @ 2010 and back then it was horrible, on hold for 1 hour with bad music and then the line goes dead, helena use to know never to talk to me if she heard tht on hold music LOL.
thankfully i rarely had to ring.
in the last 2 years its just been getting better and BETTER, this year almost to bloody good !!! the phone is answered quickly, service is fantastic with pleasent overseas operators 90% with good/great english, and they make SURE any issue is solved or upgrade you, then they do followup phone calls within 7 days asking if you are happy and everything is sorted, if not they go at it again for you.
start a ticket for you and follow up, i had to change my address on all my domains and they helped me do a bulk edit.
i'd suggest you try them again, it is $100 for the account.

i wouldn't use them for COR, i think its @ $100 + requires paper, it sounds like a pain but i just make sure everything goes into my accounts correct first, so i take purchased domains via drop or ventraip and do the cor first then transfer to crazyD , same goes on exit of a domain.

tim

 

[johno69]

I think synergy dropped the setup fee some time ago.