What Wild West Domains (WildWestDomains.com), a Godaddy reseller, is doing makes no sense at all and is clearly infringing the rules and regulations set by the ICANN. Just imagine the following situation:
You register a domain whatever.com a few months ago. Obviously you enter all your data including your present address and whatever else is required to complete your correct WhoIs entry. Some time later you decide to move and you really take care (most people don't) that you update your contact data for your domains . Now here comes Wild West Domains and obliges you to accept their nonsense, that you can not move the domain out (transfer) for the next 60 days.
Now obviously, knowing domain business, you don't really take this very seriously. But now comes the case: This domain has been sold and the buyer wants to transfer the domain to a different registry. You unlock the domain, get hold of the authorization code and send it to the buyer for him to start the transfer as usual. Well done, everything is completed.
No, not with Wild West Domains!!!
The buyer just receives a system message from his own registry stating "Transfer Rejected" and just contacts you to ask what happened. Now what, you don't even know what happened,on your side everything is fine. Hey buyer, something must be wrong on your side, please try again. Try again, same thing happens. OK, latest now you get in touch with Wild West Domains support and ask what is going on (You just aren't aware, that your change of address would be causing this).
Here you can now read all the correspondence to and frow:
Wild West Domains ICANN Violatios
You would think, anyone with a minimum of common sense would say OK and release the domain.
But no, not Wild West Domains, they prefer to stick to their own TOS knowing that they are infringing ICANN regulations and that they are doing the worst thing you can do to a customer.
Why am I writing this?
I am the buyer, wanting to transfer this domain to a Registry I trust and not to a Reseller that will not respect my wishes and not even my rights.
One thing is sure, Wild West Domains has lost at least one customer with this move.
[…] Original post by Domain Blog â?¢ Domainhandel â?¢ Domain News â?¢ Domain Smalltalk […]
I am experiancing all the same problems with Host Utopia and Wild West Domains. It seems that it is impossible to change over to a new reistrar. Can anyone offer advice that has successfully moved over?
Transfered two domains thru Wild West with no problems. Yes you DO have to wait 60 days although, one I will admit, I pushed over after about 40. I had never done this before so I called up their customer service and they guided me thru everything! My advice is; realize that it is a process that needs to be verified on both sides for YOUR safety. Be patient and call customer service and they will guide you thru everything. Also keep in mind, once your transaction is approved it still takes about 1 week to finalize.
Sorry, but this bullshit has nothing to do with safety for anyone. Why should someone like Wild West Domains have the right to stop me from doing what I want to do with my Domain?
If you stop to consider, even the 60 days after an account change (within the same registrar) is just a measure to tie customers, but to block a domain just because you have updated your home address is more than ridiculous.
It’s about time for paying customers to start defending their rights instead letting themselves be scammed by this kind of companies.
Be creative and do something with your domain instead of selling it. or does that require to much brain power for ya.
On the contrary, this case was I was the buyer! The old owner had the domain at Wild West Domains for a long time and I wanted to directly transfer it to my usual registry. Why should I want to have domain accounts at other registries?
I was thinking of changing to Wild West Domains because Yahoo just went from $9.95 per year to $35 per year. Thank you for your comments. It’s probably not worth the time to change.
I would say it makes sense to change, but you should look at the market and make sure you find your best choice.
Hi there,
I’ve a similar problem using Wild west domains. I use the proxy server provider domainsbyproxy and this company (I hear they are a subsidiary company of wildwestdomains) wont allow me to access my account, by effectively blocking my ability to login – by not allowing me to reset my password on the site (accessed from the wildwestdomains login page).
I’ve called then several times and even sent them a passport photo and all my details to prove I am the site owner of the sites concerned. No Joy though.
I’m just going to let these domain lapse now and find some new names to register elsewhere. So by trying to force me to keep these accounts they’ve just lost another customer!
Yes I wont be using either of these companies again. Please pass the message on. Customer service like this you just don’t need!
Keep up the good work on this site (which I found by pure chance). I can’t believe there’s no ombudsman to control people (or companies) who are ‚trying it on‘ like this. If enough of us shift provider maybe they’ll just go out of business.
J.
what can be done to these hijacking bastards?
Is there an authority or something that if enough people appeal to that they can do something to these unethical slimy scumbags?
I was registered with Jumpline that has Twocows for the registar. I am switching to Cheap-domainregistration.com and Wild West Domains wants me to aprove or disaprove the transfer. Their name does not show up anywhere in the Cheap-domainregrstration.com records that I can find. How did they get involved in the first place. I was told with Jumpline and with Cheap-domains that all I have to do is nothing and wait from this point on after I talked with them on the phone. Seems to me if I respond to Wild West, my coach will be ambushed. I plan to wait the last 5 days I was told to wait. I already did the security switch from Jumpline to Cheap-domains. Why do I have to do it again with this company?
I came across this site while seaching to see who the Wild people are. Glad I did. Now if someone knows something that I am missing, please let me know.
Thanks
Wild West are scam artists and should be brought
to justice. They are violating DMCA rules as well
with copyrighted information and blocking sites
the way they do and not allowing transfers.
A class action suit should be brought against
them and any of their so called dummy Retailers
that are just as scummy as they are. By the
way, did some research and it would appear
that Wild West is a division of Go Daddy.
Has anyone checked up on this.
Registrars like Wild West and other need to start using some common sense rather than just blindly sticking to an arbitrary set of rules.
I thought that GoDaddy is a reseller for Wild West, not the other way around??
Wild West domains seem to be entangled with various other entities. Whois searches on the below domains seem to point back and forth to each other. WebSite on Demand is currently engaged in a telemarketing/cramming scheme whereby they bill your phone provider for hosting service that you (at least I didn’t) request. There is or was a lawsuit relating to Website on Demand with the NYPUC. I think it must be great to be able to register multiple entities then hide behind while milking unsuspecting customers through their phone company. Of course they won’t step up and bill you directly then you could see them… where is the Rico act charges in this mess?
Admin notice
Whois Data omitted for legal reasons.
Check following domains to get the point:
Domain Name: DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Domain Name: SOLUTIONDOMAINS.COM
Domain Name: WEBSITEONDEMAND.COM
Domain name: rackspace.com
Hey Guys,
yes wildwest domains is a part of go-daddy & go-daddy for those who do not know, are the biggest registrar in the world today! Now lets put this 60 day hold into perspective, if you sold a house, does it happen immediately..? No of course it does not ! Now imagine that instead of just shuffling domain names around here & there to earn a quick buck or two, you actually have a domain name that is pulling in 6 figures per month income..?(they do exist) Now would you gripe about a security measure that prevents moving this domain for 60 days (2 months) No of course you would not.
The fact of the matter is there are many people that bitch & whine about stuff they know very little about. At the end of the day your domain could be registered on the moon & as long as your website is accessible here on earth, then who gives a flying ?. You should be far more concerned about rogue hosting companies that actually lock your website & prevent you moving it to a new host. This can have a far greater effect than a 60 day hold on registration details.
I have just moved 2 of my websites to this company because my old hosting company could not or would not do anything to prevent hacking into their servers. I did everything possible to secure my sites at my end, but if their server has an open door, then it is all futile.
Try not to get registration & hosting confused, where a domain is registered does not matter at all & if someone was really keen to buy your website / domain, then I don’t see 60 days as a major issue, especially as you can have a legal document drawn up as a promisary note explaining that trasfer will proceed when the 60 day hold is lifted.
The charge for registering a .com with this company is a mere $8.17 per annum, which is way below what many other companies charge.
I have became a reseller for them about 5 years ago because I had so many problems with other hosters. Yes the wait is long but I think it gives you time to work out any problems in a sale of the domain.
Totally agree. Wild West Domains is awful. I've spent my entire holiday season trying to GET OUT. They make the process horrible and then say "it's for your protection". BS. It's to make it too hard to get out.
Call support? It's a toll call and you'll be lucky if they answer within 30 minutes. AVOID this company.
Chris Reich
TeachU.com
Go to the web site of the AZ Secretary of State and you will find Robert R. Parsons, Neil Warner, and 2 or 3 other people. They are the perpetrators of this scam. They are the ones that hide behind those corporations. All the following corporations/domain names are theirs: "Go Daddy Group Inc.", "Go Daddy.com, Inc.", "Domains By Proxy", "Wild West Domains", and "Domain875.com".
They operate from mail boxes (PMBs), so that physically they cannot be found. For example the address of "15111 N.Hayden Road, Ste. 160, Box 353, Scottsdale, AZ 85260" is just a mailbox in a "UPS Store", formerly known as "Mailboxes, Etc."
They're scam artists. And they're awful. I spent most of 2009 trying to get my domains out of their hands. They made the process horrible and then said "it's for your protection". Which was just a flimsy excuse. The truth is, it is to make it too hard to get my domains out of their hands!
5. As to one of my domains, which had a good, catchy name, they scammed even more aggressively. They "confiscated" it, and then said "it was for your protection". Which was just a flimsy excuse. The truth was, they extracted domain from me, for their benefit, so that they could keep it, for their benefit, or to resell it later, for big bucks!
To call their support? I did that many-many times. And it's a toll call and you will be lucky if they answer within 30 minutes. All of us, all the public, should avoid them!
Yes, I agree, they are scam artists and should be brought to justice. Day after day they are blocking sites and not allowing transfers. A class action suit should be brought against them and any of their so called dummy retailers that are just as unscrupulous as they are.
To log in to my account at domain875.com? They won't allow me to access my account, by effectively blocking my ability to login. By not allowing me to reset my password on the site, accessed from the domain875.com login page. I’ve called them several times and even sent them a copy of my drivers license and all my details to prove I am the site owner of the sites I had written about. No solution. And dealing with them is like pulling teeth.
Learn from my bad experience!
Avoid them!
Or bring them to justice!
Funny I should stumble upon this website.
I have been trying for the last four hours to find where my domain name is registered and rest assured it is not where I believed it to be and low and behold have discovered it to be registered with wild west domains.
Is this even legal to transfer my domain name without my consent?
Domain Name: http://www.websiteondemand.com
This website sent me a notice that I had signed up for their services and then would be billed through my phone bill. I never requested this information. When I called to cancel, they gave me a cancel # and told me I was contacted on 1/13/10 by a solicitor. Then I realized that the solicitor was offering me a free online yellowpage ad for 30 days not internet access or a website. They even went as far to say that it will cancel on its own unless I decided to continue the service. AND I would have to contact them direct to start the free trial to begin with. I'm still skeptical to believe that they actually canceled my account that I did not authorize them to setup.
I'm new to the Internet, but I think they want folks to let the domains just sit until they expire. The less service, hidden help telephone numbers and failure to do anything to assist. I don't get it, but it's big bucks. The Wild West folks (just on that name alone) own nearly 4% of all the domain offerings and that number is going up weekly. I think they buy abandoned names from other companies (or claim them) and put up bogus content for Google ads. I don't quite understand it, but it's something like the dot.com thing. On the surface, the product doesn't make any money, but investors want some of the action. Kind of like making gold from water. Guess that is what happens when people have more money than brains….. or when paper money becomes so cheap that it has no value.
Would you like to see what happens when the domains expire?
The Go Daddy Group which includes Wild West Domains have a system where the Real Rip Off starts when the domain lapses.
Take a look at this web site http:www.ecosolarheating.net
The content is not about Solar but exposes the "Insider Trading" and "Conflicts of Interest" within the Go Daddy Group and Wild West Domains.
It Could Happen to You !
This scam is even worse than you imagine. I just searched my own name to register it for a domain. I happen to have a GoDaaddy account for another site so used their search engine. When I saw that my name was registered, but there was nothing at the site to indicate it was being used or under construction – and I was asked if I wanted to buy the site from the owner. I did a search to see who it was registered to – and discovered it was registered to a GoDaddy subsidiary – and it was originally registered around the time I set up my original GoDaddy account! Plus, it just expired and was renewed last month – the same time as I renewed my regular GoDaddy accounts!
So clearly GoDaddy is behind this and has probably registered everyone's name whose accounts they hold. Shouldn't this be illegal????
Wild West domains never notified me that my domain name was about to expire, within 2 weeks they had sold the name and it is now registered under domains by proxy. Wild West will not allow me access my account and are not telling me that the credit I used to renew my domain name does not match the one on file.
This is a company not to do business with. They will disallow you from accessing your account to make changes
cclaiming you are not the registrant when you are, rendering your credit card to be charged without your agreement or control.
You think that's bad? Listen to this. I have a few customers and am a reseller. When one then another decided to consolidate their domains and consolidate with godaddy, the parent company…guess what? You just lost a customer, even though technically you are a part of godaddy. This should be against the law, and I am sure on a lot of fronts it is. When I contacted them about this they said "Well you can't deny us the opportunity to make money can you"! WHAT???? WTH. You are denying me of making money with customers I have had for years now. THEY SUCK.
DAMN I wish I would have Googled Wild West Domains before I initiated a transfer for a client of mine! I am having trouble transferring a website TO GoDaddy. Even had OnlineNic involved which reset the current host's authorization code TWICE. Hopefully, I can get out of the transfer and get my client's money back. GoDaddy has become so huge they obviously think they can do whatever, and take whatever they want! The government gets involved in regulation of everything else, where are they on this???
Been with Wild West for 9 years, not a single problem, if you mob think you have domain hell, you have no idea what domain hell is until you have to deal with network (NON)solutions
The people having problems do not understand the ICANN and domain transfer process. They're upset with procedures put in place to thwart the unauthorized transfer of domains. That is all there is to it. I have been with a variety of registrars since 1991 (NS, enom, DirectNIC, GD, WWD just to name a few) and they all have strict transfer procedures now. I am convinced, pure ignorance is responsible for most of the negative reviews on the Internet. Sure, people will lie about their years and years of experience, saying they know what they're doing, but it is pure bull. The people whining are just not paying attention.
Wild West Domains and their affiliates (I use nabadot.com) haven't caused me any trouble, and their products are as advertised.
First off, I would just like to say that the 'whiners' like myself are complaining because we have already PAID for our transfers and if not, it is for the simple fact that we have PAID for our domain names to be self hosted at a different registrar.
In my case, my domain name was registered with WordPress.com (I had no idea about these Wild West folks until I was ready to transfer to Hostgator). I have paid to register AND host this domain name at Hostgator, but my old free wp.com blog is conflicting with the new wp.org blog and there is nothing Hostgator can do about it. I'm not very internet or tech savvy, but I do find it strange that you can pay for a domain name to one company and not know that another company controls that name.
Even so, the control should be in the hands of who bought and is paying for the domain. Hostgator gives you a free transfer upon registration and wild west is literally holding my domain name hostage although I have changed name servers, etc….no one is whining…we're just a tad pissed.
Norm you're an idiot. The ICANN Website clearly states Domain Registars cannot deny transfer of a website domain soley based on WHOIS information being updated. It clearly states it! RIGHT HERE: https://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/advisory-03apr08-en.htm
Wild West Domains and/or Go Daddy „aquired“ the domain for my primary email account that I had for 14 years. They sold it to someone in Belarus (how do YOU spell Russian Mafia?), who is holding it hostage from my email provider. I am left with 13 years of email addresses to change.
Can’t find your password? We’ll send a reminder to your registered email.
OH, WAIT!!! That email is defunct (and may be going to a pirate organiation) because my email provider lost the domain to what appears to be very unscrupled persons.
NOW WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?