Pool.com Dropped the ball

KD-Enterprises · Dec 8, 2009

I have been using Pool.com for years I believe since they started out. And actually had several accounts there at one time. In my current account I have won 39 names. Early on they had some issues with providing the proper name and access the registrar where the winning name ended up but in the past they were always good about fixing things up when I brought it to their attention. But this time they are really pissing me off. They have partnered with some registrar called PSI-USA that is totally out of control.

Here is what happened. I back ordered a name on Pool.com their partner PSI-USA grabbed it. They (Pool.com) billed me for it. I PAID FOR IT. But my information was never forwarded or entered into the whois at this PSI-USA therefore I could not control the domain name. Now the registration has expired and this PSI-USA has no built in grace period so the name goes right from registered to redemption. Now they want $200. Plus to regain control of it. If you can't trust them to handle it with $60 how can I justify paying another $200.

In my opinion Pool.com is spiraling out of control...Can you trust pool.com?

So Richard when you read this give me a call!
Kevin O'Donnell
KD-Enterprises

JuniperPark · Dec 8, 2009

Something is missing from this story... a newly registered name doesn't expire for an entire year. That should be plenty of time to transfer out to your own registrar.

stock_post · Dec 8, 2009

Do you mean to say, you were working with pool.com for a year to get control of the name?
And lost it? or did you forget the domain as well?

draggar · Dec 8, 2009

I've seen it with some of these registrars it requires an act of god to get your login and password information from any drop catch company.

It's not Pool, though, it's the registrars they partner with. I've seen some act rather fishy - one didn't even have an English version, imagine how fun it was to transfer the name out of there!

KD-Enterprises · Dec 8, 2009

stock_post said:
Do you mean to say, you were working with pool.com for a year to get control of the name?
And lost it? or did you forget the domain as well?

Yes, this was a year long exchange so to speak... As you well know for the first 60 days you can not transfer the domain out. So for the first two months it was left alone. After that several calls and emails transpired... no big rush everyone is busy. I'm a patient man. I finally dropped the hammer on them to do something as the expiration date was coming up. Finally the day before it expires Pool.com gets the new registrar to update the whois...but it was too late.

Remember this. We pay and entrust Pool.com to get the new registrar to enter our contact information into the whois file. This is where they failed. My information was never updated into the domain names whois. I literally never had any rights to that domain name. At least not until the last two days before expiration and redemption in this case because this registrar has absolutely NO grace period for expirations.

So for the whole year of trying to get this domain into my control the traffic is going somewhere...certainly not to me! That is one of the reasons why these things happen.

I currently have over 500 domains and manage them all with a few simple tools and never have any fall thru the cracks I guess I was just too nice in being patient with Pool.com

Pool.com · Dec 9, 2009

I don't normally try to air out these issues in public but I think a response is warranted since there are some missing facts that should be pointed out. This issue is still being investigated by me and my team but here are a couple of facts I know so far:

1. KD, you acquired the domain through Pool in Nov 2008

2. The whois information was given to the registrar (PSI-USA) on Dec 2, after payment was processed.

3. Public WHOIS records show KD as the registrant as early as Dec 4 2008 through Nov 26, 2009. I don't have a public record for Dec 3, 2008 and the earliest public whois record after Nov 26, 2009 is Nov 30, 2009 and on that date whois is no longer being served.

4. PSI-USA have confirmed they sent KD multiple expiry notices well in advance of the expiration date. We have asked them to provide documentation of that fact.

So, I don't know where the claims of updating the whois the day before it expires comes from given public records show otherwise. I can only suggest that perhaps this whole issue got caught in email spam somehow, independent of the fact the domain was properly registered and served whois correctly.

KD, you could have transferred this domain at any time, I really don't understand what the problem was.

In future, I would encourage anyone in this kind of circumstance to contact me directly because there was absolutely no reason that this domain should have ever gone into RGP.