Two .info domains withdrawn

[kajan]

Hi Namecheap,
Some week ago I registered a bunch of domains. A few days later I got two suspicous email telling that two of those domains was moved away from my Namecheap accpunt.
- Namecheap support pointed me to the Afilias registry for more information.
- The Afilias registry told me to contact the domain registrar.
- Namecheap support now opened a support ticket with Enom (why not to the Afilias registry?)
- A few days later the Afilias registry replied back to me that some domains during the weekend was released by mistake, they should be returned back to the previous owners again and that's why they "took them back". They would send a list of the domains to the domain registrars so they could refund the buyers.

- That is of course ok, but when I raise the question "Who is going to compensate me for my custom web graphics, templates and implemenations for those domains" I got the answere "The sponsoring registrar would be able to answer your queries. Please get in touch with them"

I have now emailed both parties, both asking me to contact the other part.

So, I am asking the seller (Namecheap):
- Who is going to compensate me?

Regards,
Kajan

[RichardK]

Hello Kajan,

The .info registry took this action on their own and above our protests. We were given absolutely no choice in the matter and since they control the registry and records, there is nothing we could do. If they are trying to deflect the blame to us, it is completely incorrect. They acted 100% on there own and without consultation. Here's an article on their mistake:

http://domainnamewire.com/2008/10/01/af ... -from-rgp/

We will of course be issuing a 100% refund on those few domains that were affected and registered with us. We do apologize for the inconvenience this caused you.

[tribulatio]

Yes, I can confirm that, I was affected too (lost one domain... which I had already put online!!), and Namecheap has no responsability. On the other hand, while the technical mistake is very unfortunate, I feel that Afilias acted responsibly - none of us would like to lose one's domains because they are dropped prematurely.

However, due to the fact that all those domains were already in the Redemption Grace Period (RGP), it is highly likely that 95% of the previous owners will want to give them up.

I wrote to Afilias that, if this is the case, the domains should then automatically be attributed to those who registered them in good faith, believing they were already back on the market.

Let's see... My feeling is that Namecheap is - rightly - waiting to see if this can be done: for this reason, I assume, we have not yet been refunded. I will myself gladly wait for a month or more before being refunded, in case there is a chance I will finally get nevertheless the domain I had registered (not a top domain, but a topic of interest to me).

By the way, once Namecheap goes to the next step of its development (something we have all been expecting for months now), it would be nice if it could also provide at some point in the future a service for snapping dropping names. I understand this is not a priority, but it could be a good idea - and could attract more domainers to Namecheap. Just a suggestion...

[wbbf2]

Me too.. My domain thewebworld.info was also taken back. This is kinda weird.. I got my Money back tho... But I got to re-code all my script .
I have a question ; We can't get back the domain, can we?