My site's domain name was registered through DiscountASP

My site's domain name was registered through DiscountASP (who I know is a reseller for Tucows). It was due for renewal on 3/28/08. I am in the process of transferring the site to to a LINUX-based server and during the communication process, DiscountASP remarked, via the support line, that while they could still remain as the registra, but itt would be easier for me if I changed registras. I agreed. The next thing I knew I received this email message:
--------------
"In order to guarantee ownership of your domain name, YourDomain.com, our registrar has renewed your domain name 30-days before its actual expiration. This process cannot be reversed. If you would like to retain ownership of the domain, you must reply to this email and authorize us to charge the $15.00 domain registration fee to the credit card on file for your account.
Once we receive your acknowledgment, we will proceed to unlock and
release your domain to you and you will be able to update your DNS settings as well as transfer your domain to another registrar."
--------------
Wouldn't this be considered as a form of hijacking? I've been in the industry since 1998 and have administered to dozens of sites. I have never been told that I have to pay a backend fee to release a domain.

Can I fight this?

Post Edited By Moderator (mjp [DASP]) : 3/24/2008 11:16:07 PM GMT

 

I believe this is common practice if the domain name is about to expire.

 

The renewal was not until March 20, 2008! No one requested that you do this and you did not state that you were going to charge me this extra fee, you just did it! It was an abuse of my credit card number which you had free access to.

 

It is not "hijacking" and it is notan "extra fee," it is the domain renewal fee,and the early renewal practice is clearly stated in our policy.

The Terms and Conditions agreed to upon opening an account with DiscountASP.NET state that any domain registered through us will be automatically renewed to avoid service interruption, and that if the hosting account is canceled within 30 days of the domain expiration, an additional year's registration is due (see the link below for the specific policy page).

The automatic domain renewal occurs 30 days prior to the domain's expiration, so the fee we are collecting is merely the standard registration renewal fee that would normally be deferred until the account renewal date. But 30 days before expiration, the registrar (Tucows/OpenSRS) charges us the renewal fee. We are merely passing along the renewal fee. If the registrar did not require the 30 day lead time on automatic renewals, this would not be an issue, but they do, so we have to have this policy in place.

When you transfer the domain to another registrar any existing time remaining on the registration is added to the new registrar's minimum registration period. So the exact time will vary from registrar to registrar, but you do not lose any of the domain registration period you have paid for. It is carried over to the new registrar.

http://www.discountasp.net/userpolicy_tc.aspx

You agreed to those terms, and you aren't losing anything - you still get all the domain registration time you paid for.

--

Our alternative to this is to stop doing auto-renewals and send out email warnings (which are usually ignored)andlet the domains expire. I can tell you from painful personal experience at other hosts, this is not agood or popularmethod to use. It causes interruptions in site availability, and generally makes a whole lot ofpeople very angry.




mjp
---
DiscountASP.NET

 

(thread hijack in progress)

how does someone renew their registration through discountasp.net after they have already updated to a new hosting company?

my domain expired today (orcaswim.org) and now I am in limbo trying to get in contact with someone at discountasp.net....

I am ready and willing to pay for renewal.... should I be trying to transfer instead? what is the proper process?
-john

 

I recently attempted the same thing as Tony_S above. I got the same bullshit about the domain's renewal. However, my domain wasn't set to expire for another year. I asked for you guys to release it for transfer, but once Brian in billing found out I would be closing the hosting account as well, I got that notice.

Am I missing something, here? Did Brian assist me with unlocking my domain? I'm trying to be reasonable, here, and lay out the facts. What you guys are doing here feels very dishonest, and I feel taken advantage of. I already have to pay a fee at my other registrar for the transfer itself, I'm NOT paying this one.

Thanks for any help you can offer...

rtlong

 

Hey, moderators... you know what would be great? If my post would remain unaltered...

 

We have certain policies, and one of them is not posting support email threads in the forum.

Read my response in this thread from 3/24. If you feel it's dishonest, I'm sorry about that, but we cannot release the domain until we are reimbursed for the renewal fee.