Domains4Less requesting renewal of domain that was moved away from them

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jarledb

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#279976 19-Nov-2020 22:29

Got an email from Domains4less. They stated

"Your domain name [removed] has been suspended"

And further

"If payment is made within the next 30 days your domain name can be reactivated without incurring any additional fees. If you wish to renew this domain name after the 30 day suspension period, additional fees to restore the domain from Redemption Period will apply. "

Since I had moved the domain, I thought maybe they sent me the message in error, so I responded

"Hi there, please let me know how the domain can be suspended when it has been moved to another registrar?!"

Their response:

"The domain [removed] is still being hosted by Domains4Less and it is due for renewal. To restore service immediately, you may process a credit card payment through the Express Renewal link here: [link removed] or through your Domains4Less account by logging in here: [link removed]"

I am sure it is just a problem with their systems, but the whole thing felt so scammy I thought I should share it with you here.

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OzoneNZ

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#2607267 19-Nov-2020 22:45

Unsurprising as their billing system isn't great, they didn't send me an expiry/renewal reminder for nearly 2 years past my domain expiring, but they also didn't suspend my domain either 😂

freitasm

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#2607270 19-Nov-2020 22:54

jarledb:

"The domain [removed] is still being hosted by Domains4Less and it is due for renewal. To restore service immediately, you may process a credit card payment through the Express Renewal link here: [link removed] or through your Domains4Less account by logging in here: [link removed]"

You don't have anything with them? You moved the domain - is the hosting with a different company too?

jarledb

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#2607272 20-Nov-2020 00:36

freitasm:

You don't have anything with them? You moved the domain - is the hosting with a different company too?

Have no services with them. Have moved all domains I had there before, including the domain in question. And it wasn't recently either.

Dynamic

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#2607286 20-Nov-2020 07:56

That's really odd....

Just be very sure that you have moved the nameservers as well. We have had a client in the past move a domain to a new registrar, but leave the nameservers with the old registrar/host.

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BlakJak

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#2607287 20-Nov-2020 08:00

jarledb:
Got an email from Domains4less. They stated

"Your domain name [removed] has been suspended"

And further

"If payment is made within the next 30 days your domain name can be reactivated without incurring any additional fees. If you wish to renew this domain name after the 30 day suspension period, additional fees to restore the domain from Redemption Period will apply. "

Since I had moved the domain, I thought maybe they sent me the message in error, so I responded

"Hi there, please let me know how the domain can be suspended when it has been moved to another registrar?!"

Their response:

"The domain [removed] is still being hosted by Domains4Less and it is due for renewal. To restore service immediately, you may process a credit card payment through the Express Renewal link here: [link removed] or through your Domains4Less account by logging in here: [link removed]"

I am sure it is just a problem with their systems, but the whole thing felt so scammy I thought I should share it with you here.

Thanks for sharing; I have found a couple of registrars don't actually understand DNS or how it works, a great reason to avoid them.
The registry will show the date the domain was last updated, assuming you haven't otherwise tweaked that information the evidence of when you transferred out will be clear.

Years ago the likes of Xtra differentiated between the registry and the presence of DNS records when it came to billing, so hopefully you have them their requisite notice that their services were no longer required to cover that base as well.

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tdgeek

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#2607320 20-Nov-2020 09:19

Seems they dont have a Transfer Away process, or this one got missed, but odd that after the OP's reply, they didn't even check DNC to confirm what the OP said and would have seen that it was transferred away to the new Registrar, and the Zonefile is with the new Registrar and the NS were re delegated.

Training issue or as is the case these days, a "learnings opportunity" :-)

jarledb

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#2607876 20-Nov-2020 23:13

Dynamic:

That's really odd....

Just be very sure that you have moved the nameservers as well. We have had a client in the past move a domain to a new registrar, but leave the nameservers with the old registrar/host.

Nameservers are with the new registrar.

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BlakJak

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#2608091 21-Nov-2020 20:10

jarledb:
Dynamic:

That's really odd....

Just be very sure that you have moved the nameservers as well. We have had a client in the past move a domain to a new registrar, but leave the nameservers with the old registrar/host.

Nameservers are with the new registrar.

... and have they purged their legacy authoritive zones? (Query the servers directly and see whether they claim authority or not)

If not, then there's literally no service to charge for.

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jarledb

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#2608610 22-Nov-2020 18:45

BlakJak:
jarledb:

... and have they purged their legacy authoritive zones? (Query the servers directly and see whether they claim authority or not) If not, then there's literally no service to charge for.

Checked their nameservers and they think they are authoritive, yes. So I am guessing that makes their system think the domain is with them.

Would think that it would be pretty easy to check such things when a domain is moved to a new registrar. It has been 6 years since their nameservers were used for the domain.

Never purchased that service, just the domain registry service.

BlakJak

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#2608619 22-Nov-2020 18:55

jarledb:

Checked their nameservers and they think they are authoritive, yes. So I am guessing that makes their system think the domain is with them.

Would think that it would be pretty easy to check such things when a domain is moved to a new registrar. It has been 6 years since their nameservers were used for the domain.

Never purchased that service, just the domain registry service.

is it possible you're looking at six year old stale DNS? (soa record, serial for Zone might be a clue if they use the YYYYMMDDXX standard.)

Anycase if registry clearly shows they shouldnt be authoritive, they should be purging those records.

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wazzageek

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#2608697 22-Nov-2020 23:10

BlakJak: is it possible you're looking at six year old stale DNS? (soa record, serial for Zone might be a clue if they use the YYYYMMDDXX standard.) Anycase if registry clearly shows they shouldnt be authoritive, they should be purging those records.

18(?) years ago, I did encounter some ISP's were not purging the authoritative records after a migration - and did require a manual notification, that and sometimes automated systems fail to complete.

BlakJak

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#2608720 23-Nov-2020 07:16

wazzageek:
BlakJak: is it possible you're looking at six year old stale DNS? (soa record, serial for Zone might be a clue if they use the YYYYMMDDXX standard.) Anycase if registry clearly shows they shouldnt be authoritive, they should be purging those records.

18(?) years ago, I did encounter some ISP's were not purging the authoritative records after a migration - and did require a manual notification, that and sometimes automated systems fail to complete.

.you can put Xtra on that list, this is precisely how they operated. Their argument was that until they were told to discontinue by the customer, they were still providing the service for which they'd been engaged. It didn't matter what the registry said.
Manual processes were still in place in the mid 00's at least.

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