Melbourne IT...What's your experience with them?

[thenicevoice]

Hi Guys!

You may remember me from last week. You know, the chick who was ROBBED by a scammer web designer. Well, the plot thickens...Their host, Melbourne IT refuses to transfer MY domain name to my new host. (probably at the suggestion of the scam artists)

Anyone have any experiences you'd like to share? (while I desperately look for a number to contact them here in the US) What time is it in Australia anyway?

Thanks in advance!

[tubedogg]

Unless you are listed as the administrative (and billing too I think) contact on the domain, there's nothing you can do.

[thewitt]

Transferring domains away from them is very, very difficult.

You have to follow their instructions to the letter, and this requires only contacting them through certified mail, and making transfer requests in exactly the format that they specify.

We have several customers in the process of transferring several hundred domains from M.IT to us, and each domain must be transferred with it's own, individual request.

I cannot contact them on behalf of my customers for any reason or they reset the clock. If you threaten them with any sort of legal action, they reset the clock. You cannot transfer within a certain number of days of registration, or within a certain number of days of renewal... Your window is small, and the hoops you have to jump through are even smaller.

One customer has been at this now for nearly two straight years.

-t

[thenicevoice]

Transferring domains away from them is very, very difficult.

Ok....I am LIVID right about now. My former web designer has made my life a living hell.

As always, I am EXTREMELY appreciative of your feedback. Thanks a bunch.

[Joshua Clinard]

This company is almost as bad as verisign.

[merk]

I have been having problems with MelbourneIT too.

I work for a company whos compeditor registered our business name as a domain name in both .com.au and .com space.

We dont know if we will be getting .com back (US$1500 for a dispute resolution), but we're sure we will successfully get .com.au back. (Similar pricing, but auDA policies are much tighter than in the .com space)

Good luck!

[thenicevoice]

This company is almost as bad as verisign.

**in my best Charlie Brown voice**

UGHHHHHHHH!

[merk]

PS- The current time in Australia at this moment is 11:30 AM.

We are GMT+11 (The east coast anyway).

[thewitt]

This company is almost as bad as verisign.

Actually they are much worse than Verisign if you can believe that.

-t

[Aaron Freed]

I've been trying to get my domain transferred from them for three months. No luck. I'm seriously considering just registering a new domain name - it'd probably be less trouble than trying to get it transferred from them. If worst comes to worst, I'll let the damned thing expire and then register it with someone else. Anyone else.

I'd be very happy if they were shut down, to be honest. They're a terribly incompetent registrar.

[thewitt]

If worst comes to worst, I'll let the damned thing expire and then register it with someone else.

If the doman has any traffic at all, it may not even drop if you let it expire.

There are domain grabbers that automatically grab any domain as it drops - within seconds - if it had traffic on it when it was live.

We see this every couple of months when we can't reach a customer because they have changed their contact information, and their domain expires and finally drops. It gets picked up by these guys and is lost forever - unless you want to pay a healthy "ransom" to get it back.

I have the process if you want to transfer away - though it's convoluted.

We are steadily transferring about 300 domains away from them working with a number of different customers.

-t

[merk]

Have you guys tried complaining about MelbourneIT to auDA?

[dynamite]

Holy crap!!! I just looked at their rates!!! No offense thewitt (not trying to direct business away from you), but I pay $7.95 through GoDaddy. Heck, NetworkSolutions is cheaper than Melbourne IT and I thought they were a rip!!!

[Erwin]

Holy crap!!! I just looked at their rates!!! No offense thewitt (not trying to direct business away from you), but I pay $7.95 through GoDaddy. Heck, NetworkSolutions is cheaper than Melbourne IT and I thought they were a rip!!!

Exactly.

[DWZ]

Have you guys tried complaining about MelbourneIT to auDA?

I don't think they have done much in the past :\