Keep An Eye On Hosting and Domain Renewal

[Rose]

[Mike Merz]

Tell me about it, Rose ...

Not too long ago ... I lost ... ME!

MikeMerz.com.

Somebody scoffed it up the same day it expired ... and I never even knew it.

And get this ... I offered them $100 to send it back my way.

... they refused it.

Regards,

Mike "I'd kick myself ... if I still had the right to. " Merz

[StephenR.]

Wow that stinks Mike. Want me to send Vinny over to get this taken care of? Us New Jerseyians got to stick together! I'm sorry to hear about that Rose that really stinks!

[Domain Name Guy]

[LuckyMommy]

WOW! Both stories stink! I hope nothing like that happens to me. YIKES!

[PattyGale]

Oh wow... Mike, Rose, I'm so sorry to hear this news.

I know when someone here first posted about locking domains, I did immediately go and lock all of mine.

But, with renewals, sometimes it is hard to keep track and I hope you both get your names back!

Edited to add: yes, I'm going to my domain registrar right now to check for any upcoming expirations of mine!


Patty

[Phil Tanny]

[theuniek1]

[Dean Phillips]

Hello Rose:

Sorry to hear about your domain problem. However, your situation simply illustrates how important it is to do your homework when it comes to choosing a domain registrar and/or hosting company.

I'm not suggesting you didn't do your homework. Not at all. I'm merely trying to point out the importance of doing so. Sometimes, we make an important decision based solely on price, and end up regretting that decision later on--when it would be best to bite the bullet and spend the extra money initially and go with the market leader.

I've personally used Network Solutions for the last several years, and I've never had a single problem. They constantly communicate with you about your account(s), and they have excellent customer service that's available 7 days a week.

http://www.netsol.com

[Hock Ng]

Hi everyone...

This thread is a good reminder to make a list of all your domains and expiry dates and post the list on the wall next to your computer. It doesn't take a lot of time and should save us a lot of grief!

I'll have to do this myself. Another thought is to use one of those nifty software that pops up a window to remind you of an event.

There are probably people who use automated programs to troll for expiring domain names and grab them when they see a good one expired.

I use GoDaddy for most of my domains and they have been very good at sending reminders about domain expiration.

Regards,
Hock

[myrdhinn]

Hi Everyone,
like Hock I use Go Daddy and must admit have not looked back since signing up with them..reminders auto stuff the whole bag is all there...

Also I use a diary pop up on my desktop to pop up messages etc problem with that can be if you forget to place one reminder in there.. Who said that computers were infallible... (wasn't me I know)

As for the list on the wall...that could work haven't tried it yet myself except for my weekly eZine (I keep track of monthly articles to post)

Hmmm... don't think my wall would be big enough to hold all the stuff I want to be reminded of...

Oh well I guess with using several different methods I will be ok...

(famous last words) Nahhh it's cool....

Ray Cooney

[Lynn Terry]

[fast-pack.com]

[Domain Name Guy]

[Rose]

Some good advice in here and yes, I am now making sure I use Godaddy.com or other site to register domains, and a separate host.

Here's an update. I did finally get everything straightened out and the site back up and running in 8 days. However, this was before I realized I should move the domain name from them, so when I renewed hosting, I indicated that they renew my domain as well (which they had done for 2 years previous). What I didn't know (and they didn't inform me of it) is that there was now a site set up for me to manage and renew my own domain ...my friend told me this later because she was with them as well ....but has since moved her hosting).

Anyway, everything was okay for about 4 weeks. I was checking it deligently the first couple of weeks....then of course December came along and I slacked off (holidays, family, etc. etc.) So I log into an affiliate site to check sales (which come directly from this particular website). Here it is, December 12th and 0 sales. Hmmmm....

So I type in my URL and big surprise (well not really LOL)....no website, no domain, nothing. At that point I said screw it, cancelled hosting with them, requested a refund and started a new similar site under a different domain name (and the domain is with Godaddy). The hosting is with Webhostingbuzz.com which I found recommended here on these forums.

So all is good with the world again. Better site design and I'm much happier. The site got indexed quickly and several keywords are already bringing up pages on the first page of a Google search.

Anyway, all-in-all it turned out to be a good lesson for me and hopefully will help anyone else setting up a business website.