My Domain is Being Sold! What Can I Do?
I’ve had a wrangle with Hostgator about the renewal of my abundantgarden domain name’s registration. There’s been a series of emails back and forth then finally one from Hostgator saying they had successfully renewed it. I had paid for the renewal several weeks before the registration was due to expire.
Today I received an email from someone called Jim Hovarth representing World Name Domains asking me if I was interested in buying my domain.
I contacted Hostgator. Then I did a Google search to see if the World Name Domains existed. It did but some entries suggested it was involved in scams. I checked pcnames.com, which gave me the answer I dreaded. My domain was available for purchase!
What can I do now? I’m unlikely to get a reply from Hostgator until tomorrow. What if someone buys the name in the meantime? I have several years’ work on that site. I won’t write what I think of Hostgator because it’s not the sort of language that’s used on WA (and Hostgator might pursue me with a libel suit).
I know this problem is outside the normal WA range but does anyone have any idea of what else I can do? I desperately need help! I don’t live in USA, which makes this more difficult for me.
Please help if you can.
Margaret
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Thanks for that, Marion. So Hostgator have got off their butts. It's a great relief but I'll be looking for a new web host.
I have difficulty finding my way around the Hostgator site. However, what I dislike most is the difficulty getting support. I've had email support that was completely useless.
I've used Live Chat lots of times and they sort things out very quickly. I've only ever had to wait 30 minutes to get to talk with someone day or night. Never used email with them.
I didn't know about that. That would be so much better. Email support is hopeless. Thanks for that information, Marion. I'll hang in there for now and keep that in mind. Moving looks to be such a hassle.
OMG. What a mess. I hope you find out good news soon.
I will be interested to know how this turns out. Never heard of anyone's domain being sold out from under them, especially if you renewed it.
Pleae share how the end result goes.
Sharon
Thanks Sharon. What I think is that Hostgator didn't renew the name when I made the payment because I had several reminders and then an email to say payment was overdue. That's gross negligence. However, the payments has now been made as can be seen on the screen shot that Marion sent. So I still own the domain.
Margaret, that email you got was a spam email. I have had a few of them selling me my own do,in name. Which is funny as I have ownership of it. Go into your cpanel and you will see your domain is ther is you have hosting. Other wise use wa to get your domain name in here, and change the Dns server to wa
Yes, I suspected spam but got scared when pcnames.com showed that it was for sale. All's well but I had a dreadful fright. I now need a change of web host.
Margaret you can host on wa, to start with. It doesn't cost anything and the security features are awesome. You can always move to your own hosting later on. Just a thought.
Thank you for the suggestion. I'm still undecided and I'll look into the possibility of shifting my website here if that's possible.
Margaret, I looked it up on SiteDomains here and it appears that it is not available. Same with HostGator.
Yes, thanks Deb. It seems that I got spammed and the only place I knew to check was pcnames.com. It must be slow updating.
Hostgator has a support chat where you can talk to them anytime. I have used it before and they are usually very good.
Have you checked your HostGator back office to see if it is listed there?
Good luck
Cheers Kev
I'm not sure what Hostgator back office is, Kev. However, the problem appears to be sorted. I'm glad you have found Hostgator helpful.
I just went to both hostgator and pcnames and it shows your domain under the .com is taken - you may be mistaken and you may have successfully renewed things - hostgator has 24-7 live chat - contact them right now and conform your registration renewal
Well Margaret, all I can tell you is to chalk this up as a learning experience. Sometime when we try to purchase our domain's from other sources, trying to save money, we get screwed!
If you purchase a domain name thru WA, you will not have any problems.
I wish I could help you with your problem, and hope it gets resolved to your benefit. I think the wise thing to do while you fight this is make sure you have copies of as much as you can.
I would look into creating a mirror site.
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I am glad this has worked out for you I know how stressing this would be...
Thanks, Michael. It was scary. but as long as I can keep my website, I can get over a fright.