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View Full Version : Site being held by another web design guy



hs4u
01-30-2010, 04:37 PM
My client decided I was too busy to help her. (I had just gotten a full time job so she wasn't happy to have to wait for the weekends for me). She went with a guy she knew to build a new site. It has become a nightmare for her.

She asked me to transfer her domain name away from GoDaddy and he put it into a private registration at Dreamhost. He did not tell her that he had no site ready yet, that he was hiring a designer to begin work, so all of the Thanksgiving/Christmas season she had NO site up when she could have been doing business with the old site. She was led to believe the site would only be down for about a week. The new guy has had every excuse as to why he did this (heartattack, out of town, me not giving him the old files even tho once he made the transfer I was kept out of the loop, design guy sick - mad - holding him up, you know this type of person I am sure).

Finally, after Christmas she had had enough. She asked Zac to stop all working and give her access to her domain name. He had produced nothing but excuses. All of a sudden he said he had the site working and posted it out of the blue a couple days later. She was never given a chance to review it at all! It just went live. The designer he had used and fired was furious as he was never paid and had not given permission for the site to be used. Zac had gone in the backend of his development server and taken the design and programming!

Anyway, bottom line, the site has had to come down, Zac will not take privacy off the domain name at Dreamhost so we can transfer it back to GoDaddy or anywhere else! He keeps sending emails like he is cooperating, but the emails go to domainsbyproxy@domain.com which is not monitored. Dreamhost is acting like they will stay out of it even tho they took down the site when the designer threatened Zac and Dreamhost to sue if it stayed up. My client has shown business licenses, records that show the domain name had been hers, emails from Zac showing that he gave us a transfer auth number, yet they will do nothing.

Any suggestions? This has become a nightmare. My client has learned from this. It is a shame as she is the nicest person and makes the most wonderful cakes that she sells. She has almost lost her business over this. She has gotten a similar domain name, but has had the old site for over 11 years and now most of the clients believe she has gone out of business, especially since most are going down in this economy.

mjtaylor
01-30-2010, 04:49 PM
If the registrar will not help and has no provision for the rightful owner of the domain to take control, then I believe the only recourse is through the law.

hs4u
02-01-2010, 04:56 PM
Thanks very much. I guess this will go on the long list for the lawyer.

goldsteinmedia
02-01-2010, 07:51 PM
Sadly, this has happened to me before. Not to this extent.

First off, you'll probably need a lawyer. Where are you located. If you're in Pennsylvania, I know a great business lawyer who can get it done for you. If not I would do your research to make sure you find the right lawyer who comes with a proven track record of results.

As far as this guy, she should really go after him legally for all the chaos and money he's caused her.

Best of luck

jewin
02-02-2010, 01:28 AM
How important is the domain? If she was still in development of the website, and offline for a couple months, perhaps the least expensive course of action is to leave a flaming pile on Zac's doorstep and buy a new domain. If the domain was offline for a couple months, she's probably not getting much if any traffic to it now. If the domain is a money domain (i.e. buy.com, productname.com, etc), then it might make sense to fight it; otherwise, she's just throwing good money after bad.

prakask
02-02-2010, 05:55 AM
The domain name is 11years old.Obviously it had many followers.To take another domain and start from beginning would take a lot of effort.

dharrison
02-02-2010, 07:40 AM
Hi hs4u

I'm probably shooting a few fish here, but here goes:

Who is listed as owning the domain on who.is? You Zac or your client?

Also, did your client sign anything with this Zac character? If so, does she have a copy of it to read? That would be a good place to start. If its laid out in basic terms then he could be in breach of his own contract.

Also (and I'm assuming the name is a .com) What does icann.org suggest for disputes like this? In the Uk we have Nominet that can take over when the domain name registrar plays up.

If not, then she should try writing a strong worded letter first. Before going down the legal route (which will be time-consuming & costly).

HTH