Yahoo Domains and Domain Hijacking
I want to describe the situation that arose with me in mid-June and came to its logical end just now, the beginning of August. The problem arose with the Yahoo Domains service, if anyone uses this service - be more vigilant, this may affect you in particular.
I have several content projects on several dozen domains. Everything revolves by itself, requires a couple of hours of time a week, income in the area of ​​self-sufficiency. The projects were about two years old, I was interested in the indexing side of the search engines, search technologies, etc. The content is white, no dill. There was 4-6 months left until the end of the domain extension, I started thinking about extending it in advance, because other cases were outlined for that period. Initially, domains were registered on GoDaddy.
I accidentally found out about the current offer from Yahoo Domains for new customers - now they offer significant discounts when transferring domains to them. Well, I thought, you can save a couple of thousand dollars at this stage, and in a year you will see how to proceed. Moved the first .com domain for verification:
Service Ordered
Plan purchased: Domains
Domain name: domain.com
Purchase Date: June 15, 2011
Order number: 1709317xx
Term: 1 year
Key features:
• Bonus starter web page
• Email forwarding to your Yahoo! Mail address
• Full DNS management capabilities
')
$ 3.95 total
I paid via Paypal, the domain was quickly transferred, everything is fine. In the domains.yahoo.com panel indicated their NS, the domain is resolved, expiration date +1 year. After 1-2 days, I made a transfer to check 3 more domains, everything also went smoothly, all domains appeared in the control panel of Yahoo.
I must say that the Yahoo Domains service is provided as a reseller, the Australian MelbourneIT is the partner registrar. But for me it did not matter, because everything was fine, and I saw MelbourneIT only in WHOIS for domains in the Registrar field, everything else was available via my yahoo id.
In general, the Yahoo interface is rather inconvenient, GoDaddy is much more practical, especially with its Bulk transfer / register capabilities and multiple parameter changes for domains (for example, NS). Well, okay, around June 19, I began to transfer several dozen domains from GoDaddy to Yahoo Domains, everything went well, about 50 domains a day. Moreover, the subsequent domains went for $ 1.99 (which is .com, which is .info) for the first year.
Around the 4th day, I notice that some of my domains started to fall off. I look in WHOIS and see
Status: PENDING DELETE RESTORABLE
Status: HOLD
Status: TRANSFER PROHIBITED
domains, naturally, cease to be resolved. I immediately write a letter to the support of Yahoo. On the second or third day, the domains continue to quietly receive HOLD status. In the control panel, they are all visible, but if I choose such a domain, I get an error
Sorry! We've encountered a problem.
We seem to have hit a snag. Our system may have become temporarily unavailable, or there was a problem with your request. Please try again later.
Ambush! The email support is generally inadequate, I’m answered “Your domains are registered with MelbourneIT, if you want to use them through Yahoo, you need to transfer them to us” (i.e., the support doesn’t know that they are resellers). That I receive in general robotized formal replies, answer in 1-1,5 days on average. So it will not work, I take Skype, I start to call Small Business support +18003180790.
I get into the caliper on Toby, with him the first conversation lasted about an hour. He initially tried to gently push me off, put the blame on the MelbourneIT registrar, and tried to send me to them, but I was persistent. I paid you money, used your Yahoo ID and service, please sort it out with your registrar. So he called me at MelbourneIT a couple of times, tried to find out something, finally took my number and promised to call back, I sent him a list of problem domains by mail. Toby called back after a couple of hours, said that the error was found out, the guys from MelbourneIT will fix it within 24 or 48 hours. I went to sleep happy.
A few days passed, nothing changed, only all domains received HOLD status, except for the first 4. They worked and were accessible through the control panel, Yahoo had an internal error on all other domains. I began to call, each time explaining the essence of the problem to the new representative of the caliper, I heard only general phrases and that the problem should be solved, the guys from MelbourneIT solve it.
I decided to call MelbourneIT directly +61386242300. It was difficult to get through to them, you had to listen to music for euro cents for 10 minutes. I phoned, described the essence of the problem, heard - “your problem will be solved within 24 hours”. Okay. Days passed, nothing changed. He called, every time he heard, “will be solved within 24/48 hours”. I called the support phone listed on the site for more: + 611300654677. They picked up the phone faster
- Oh, is that that Yahoo guy who has domain problems? We have sent your list, we are working with him.
Ok, I thought. Let's wait, but faith was getting smaller.
Days passed, nothing changed, every 2-3 days I called, they told me that the problem would be solved within 24/48 hours. I was already nervously laughing about this.
- Why so long?
- Your list is processed manually (“in manual mode”), so for a long time, but as soon as we have an “update” about you, we'll let you know.
To my claims, that 10 times I left my contact number and email and did not receive anything, I was assured every time that this time everything would be different. In parallel, he wrote on different emails that told me:
resellerclients@melbourneit.com.au,
customersolutions@melbourneit.com.au
other. No one answered.
Finally, I called MelbourneIT and said that I would complain to ICANN. I was transferred to a supervisor caliper or technician of another level, called Rony. He said that he would deal with the problem, asked to send a list of domains. I gave him my email, he sent me a letter with the subject “Domain list CRM: 02330098xx” - to which I responded with a list of domains, he immediately received it and began to sort it out by taking my phone. I called back, said that we are solving your problem. Said Yahoo also solves your problem. I asked - what should I do? He says, we decide together with Yahoo, but it will be good for you to call Yahoo and find out how things are going. Ok, so be it, I thought.
Further, I almost realized that the situation was hopeless, and I was only interested in how to improve the experience and conversational English language. The only thing I did not fit in my head - How can a Yahoo company can do this to customers? MelbourneIT - it seems like the 5th registrar is a large registrar, and also suffers with deceitful sweet promises and in fact disgusting treatment of a client. I was deeply mistaken, I thought, this is possible only in Russia. In parallel, I left on the ICANN website 5-10 complaints about problems with the transfer, a brief description of the situation (one complaint per domain).
I went to PayPal - I saw that all my transactions (except the first successful ones) were in Pending status.
Rony no longer answered and ignored me. I started calling Yahoo again. On July 4, my application was finally transferred to the Yahoo escalation team. Then I called, pointing out my reference number of the problem, wrote to the caliper in parallel - I only heard that the ticket was open, the problem was being solved, I can’t help you with anything. I clarified by phone - a technical problem? I was assured that yes. Everything will be decided, everything will be fixed.
Examples of support response by email:
Please accept our apologies for the domain transfer you
have experienced with your Yahoo! Small Business account.
Working to resolve it
but we currently do not have a timeframe available for resolution.
If you want to contact us, please refer to
case number: 46577xx.
- My name is Rakhee, I will try my best to assist you. I understand you
are still experiencing issues with the domain transfer process, and
expecting a refund for the same reason. Please accept our apologies for
you have experienced your Yahoo! Small business
account.
I appreciate your patience while this is being worked on.
Our engineering team is Yahoo! Small
Business currently do not have a timeframe available for resolution.
If you want to contact us, please refer to
case number: 46577xx.
- I understand you are having your domain transfer. I would
be happy to assist you.
As per review, our engineering team is working out
earliest. We will keep you posted about any updates.
Please do not hesitate to reply if you need further assistance.
Regards,
Deena
-
We understand your decision about delay in getting this issue fixed.
We are trying our partner registrar MelbourneIT to
get this issue taken care of as soon as possible. We will keep you
you are informed about them.
We appreciate your patience while this being being worked on.
Please do not hesitate to reply if you need further assistance.
Regards,
Yamu
I must say, no one from Yahoo and MelbourneIT informed me about what was going on, neither they wrote, nor they called, while I myself did not.
Fact: after filing a complaint, after a week about 4-5 of these domains changed their status to OK, they became resolved, but they were also unavailable in the Yahoo control panel and when they were selected an internal error appeared. Those. the domains are alive, they are at the registrar, but I cannot change the NS, nor can I find out the authorization code to transfer to another registrar. I don’t know if this is due to a complaint through ICANN. Until now, these domains are resolved, but it is not known who owns it besides the registrar.
Further, by some miracle, I went to the guy with the Escalation team, who dealt with the problem. He called me 4-5 times for all the time, said that as soon as he had an “update”, he would inform me immediately, and while they are waiting for information from MelbourneIT and the ticket is open, they regret the delays and problems. Nothing specific! It has been 30 days since the moment of payment, the maximum period of Pending status in Paypal, the money began to return to the card. I reported this to the guy from the escalation team and asked what would happen next, he was surprised, thanked for the information and said that they would take this into account. This guy, what is called “chewing snot” all the time during conversations, he was talking uncertainly.
In the meantime, I am receiving a response from ICANN.
Dear <i>:
ICANN-accredited registrar of Melbourne IT.
ICANN was advised by me (see: smallbusiness.yahoo.com/tos/tos ). If you’ve got it, it’s not a question. ICANN doesn’t have authority to address disputes arising from service agreement and their customers. If you have any questions, please let me know.
If you’re watching it?
Kind regards
ICANN Services
Ticket Details
Ticket ID: IDJ-164328
Department: Reseller Provider
Priority: Medium
Status: Closed
Shock! I am told that the domains are deactivated for violations of the terms of service, and my account is closed. But I was assured before that the problem is of a technical nature, and my account in fact is alive and well, like the first 4 registered domains on it! ICANN ignored my further responses.
It turns out that any registrar can deactivate domains by referring to TOS violations and no one will help you return them?
Calling to Yahoo, please call that guy back. He calls back, wonders, knows nothing, thanks for the information, says that they are still waiting for an “update” from MelbourneIT.
All this lasts a long time, I can not do anything except how to make Skype calls and write letters, which are bolted.
Somewhere around the 25th I received a call from a guy from the escalation team, who said that he had an “update”. He says that the problem is still being solved, but it is already clear to him that his call will be soon and he will tell me the good news about the solution of the problem, assured me that everything is fine. Well, ok, I thought.
Last night I received, apparently, the last call from Yahoo.
The girl is calling. Apparently, the guy from the escalation team, with whom I spoke before, and who assured me that everything would be resolved soon, the gut was thin.
Has informed, that she has an update. Within 2 days, my domains will be released in public, and I can re-register them. I asked why? This decision is. I asked - why in public? I will lose domains!
"Alas...". I asked, can you tell me exactly the reason why the domains were canceled, the answer is “You broke TOS”, I asked which TOS item I broke, I was told that I cannot tell you this, this is confidential information. I asked - do you think this is normal? Why are the first domains alive and well, and you have deleted the following? I can not answer you this question.
Today I looked, a third of my domains have already been stolen, moreover last week. This is the situation. It would be interesting to listen to the comments.
I have several content projects on several dozen domains. Everything revolves by itself, requires a couple of hours of time a week, income in the area of ​​self-sufficiency. The projects were about two years old, I was interested in the indexing side of the search engines, search technologies, etc. The content is white, no dill. There was 4-6 months left until the end of the domain extension, I started thinking about extending it in advance, because other cases were outlined for that period. Initially, domains were registered on GoDaddy.
I accidentally found out about the current offer from Yahoo Domains for new customers - now they offer significant discounts when transferring domains to them. Well, I thought, you can save a couple of thousand dollars at this stage, and in a year you will see how to proceed. Moved the first .com domain for verification:
Service Ordered
Plan purchased: Domains
Domain name: domain.com
Purchase Date: June 15, 2011
Order number: 1709317xx
Term: 1 year
Key features:
• Bonus starter web page
• Email forwarding to your Yahoo! Mail address
• Full DNS management capabilities
')
$ 3.95 total
I paid via Paypal, the domain was quickly transferred, everything is fine. In the domains.yahoo.com panel indicated their NS, the domain is resolved, expiration date +1 year. After 1-2 days, I made a transfer to check 3 more domains, everything also went smoothly, all domains appeared in the control panel of Yahoo.
I must say that the Yahoo Domains service is provided as a reseller, the Australian MelbourneIT is the partner registrar. But for me it did not matter, because everything was fine, and I saw MelbourneIT only in WHOIS for domains in the Registrar field, everything else was available via my yahoo id.
In general, the Yahoo interface is rather inconvenient, GoDaddy is much more practical, especially with its Bulk transfer / register capabilities and multiple parameter changes for domains (for example, NS). Well, okay, around June 19, I began to transfer several dozen domains from GoDaddy to Yahoo Domains, everything went well, about 50 domains a day. Moreover, the subsequent domains went for $ 1.99 (which is .com, which is .info) for the first year.
Around the 4th day, I notice that some of my domains started to fall off. I look in WHOIS and see
Status: PENDING DELETE RESTORABLE
Status: HOLD
Status: TRANSFER PROHIBITED
domains, naturally, cease to be resolved. I immediately write a letter to the support of Yahoo. On the second or third day, the domains continue to quietly receive HOLD status. In the control panel, they are all visible, but if I choose such a domain, I get an error
Sorry! We've encountered a problem.
We seem to have hit a snag. Our system may have become temporarily unavailable, or there was a problem with your request. Please try again later.
Ambush! The email support is generally inadequate, I’m answered “Your domains are registered with MelbourneIT, if you want to use them through Yahoo, you need to transfer them to us” (i.e., the support doesn’t know that they are resellers). That I receive in general robotized formal replies, answer in 1-1,5 days on average. So it will not work, I take Skype, I start to call Small Business support +18003180790.
I get into the caliper on Toby, with him the first conversation lasted about an hour. He initially tried to gently push me off, put the blame on the MelbourneIT registrar, and tried to send me to them, but I was persistent. I paid you money, used your Yahoo ID and service, please sort it out with your registrar. So he called me at MelbourneIT a couple of times, tried to find out something, finally took my number and promised to call back, I sent him a list of problem domains by mail. Toby called back after a couple of hours, said that the error was found out, the guys from MelbourneIT will fix it within 24 or 48 hours. I went to sleep happy.
A few days passed, nothing changed, only all domains received HOLD status, except for the first 4. They worked and were accessible through the control panel, Yahoo had an internal error on all other domains. I began to call, each time explaining the essence of the problem to the new representative of the caliper, I heard only general phrases and that the problem should be solved, the guys from MelbourneIT solve it.
I decided to call MelbourneIT directly +61386242300. It was difficult to get through to them, you had to listen to music for euro cents for 10 minutes. I phoned, described the essence of the problem, heard - “your problem will be solved within 24 hours”. Okay. Days passed, nothing changed. He called, every time he heard, “will be solved within 24/48 hours”. I called the support phone listed on the site for more: + 611300654677. They picked up the phone faster
- Oh, is that that Yahoo guy who has domain problems? We have sent your list, we are working with him.
Ok, I thought. Let's wait, but faith was getting smaller.
Days passed, nothing changed, every 2-3 days I called, they told me that the problem would be solved within 24/48 hours. I was already nervously laughing about this.
- Why so long?
- Your list is processed manually (“in manual mode”), so for a long time, but as soon as we have an “update” about you, we'll let you know.
To my claims, that 10 times I left my contact number and email and did not receive anything, I was assured every time that this time everything would be different. In parallel, he wrote on different emails that told me:
resellerclients@melbourneit.com.au,
customersolutions@melbourneit.com.au
other. No one answered.
Finally, I called MelbourneIT and said that I would complain to ICANN. I was transferred to a supervisor caliper or technician of another level, called Rony. He said that he would deal with the problem, asked to send a list of domains. I gave him my email, he sent me a letter with the subject “Domain list CRM: 02330098xx” - to which I responded with a list of domains, he immediately received it and began to sort it out by taking my phone. I called back, said that we are solving your problem. Said Yahoo also solves your problem. I asked - what should I do? He says, we decide together with Yahoo, but it will be good for you to call Yahoo and find out how things are going. Ok, so be it, I thought.
Further, I almost realized that the situation was hopeless, and I was only interested in how to improve the experience and conversational English language. The only thing I did not fit in my head - How can a Yahoo company can do this to customers? MelbourneIT - it seems like the 5th registrar is a large registrar, and also suffers with deceitful sweet promises and in fact disgusting treatment of a client. I was deeply mistaken, I thought, this is possible only in Russia. In parallel, I left on the ICANN website 5-10 complaints about problems with the transfer, a brief description of the situation (one complaint per domain).
I went to PayPal - I saw that all my transactions (except the first successful ones) were in Pending status.
Rony no longer answered and ignored me. I started calling Yahoo again. On July 4, my application was finally transferred to the Yahoo escalation team. Then I called, pointing out my reference number of the problem, wrote to the caliper in parallel - I only heard that the ticket was open, the problem was being solved, I can’t help you with anything. I clarified by phone - a technical problem? I was assured that yes. Everything will be decided, everything will be fixed.
Examples of support response by email:
Please accept our apologies for the domain transfer you
have experienced with your Yahoo! Small Business account.
Working to resolve it
but we currently do not have a timeframe available for resolution.
If you want to contact us, please refer to
case number: 46577xx.
- My name is Rakhee, I will try my best to assist you. I understand you
are still experiencing issues with the domain transfer process, and
expecting a refund for the same reason. Please accept our apologies for
you have experienced your Yahoo! Small business
account.
I appreciate your patience while this is being worked on.
Our engineering team is Yahoo! Small
Business currently do not have a timeframe available for resolution.
If you want to contact us, please refer to
case number: 46577xx.
- I understand you are having your domain transfer. I would
be happy to assist you.
As per review, our engineering team is working out
earliest. We will keep you posted about any updates.
Please do not hesitate to reply if you need further assistance.
Regards,
Deena
-
We understand your decision about delay in getting this issue fixed.
We are trying our partner registrar MelbourneIT to
get this issue taken care of as soon as possible. We will keep you
you are informed about them.
We appreciate your patience while this being being worked on.
Please do not hesitate to reply if you need further assistance.
Regards,
Yamu
I must say, no one from Yahoo and MelbourneIT informed me about what was going on, neither they wrote, nor they called, while I myself did not.
Fact: after filing a complaint, after a week about 4-5 of these domains changed their status to OK, they became resolved, but they were also unavailable in the Yahoo control panel and when they were selected an internal error appeared. Those. the domains are alive, they are at the registrar, but I cannot change the NS, nor can I find out the authorization code to transfer to another registrar. I don’t know if this is due to a complaint through ICANN. Until now, these domains are resolved, but it is not known who owns it besides the registrar.
Further, by some miracle, I went to the guy with the Escalation team, who dealt with the problem. He called me 4-5 times for all the time, said that as soon as he had an “update”, he would inform me immediately, and while they are waiting for information from MelbourneIT and the ticket is open, they regret the delays and problems. Nothing specific! It has been 30 days since the moment of payment, the maximum period of Pending status in Paypal, the money began to return to the card. I reported this to the guy from the escalation team and asked what would happen next, he was surprised, thanked for the information and said that they would take this into account. This guy, what is called “chewing snot” all the time during conversations, he was talking uncertainly.
In the meantime, I am receiving a response from ICANN.
Dear <i>:
ICANN-accredited registrar of Melbourne IT.
ICANN was advised by me (see: smallbusiness.yahoo.com/tos/tos ). If you’ve got it, it’s not a question. ICANN doesn’t have authority to address disputes arising from service agreement and their customers. If you have any questions, please let me know.
If you’re watching it?
Kind regards
ICANN Services
Ticket Details
Ticket ID: IDJ-164328
Department: Reseller Provider
Priority: Medium
Status: Closed
Shock! I am told that the domains are deactivated for violations of the terms of service, and my account is closed. But I was assured before that the problem is of a technical nature, and my account in fact is alive and well, like the first 4 registered domains on it! ICANN ignored my further responses.
It turns out that any registrar can deactivate domains by referring to TOS violations and no one will help you return them?
Calling to Yahoo, please call that guy back. He calls back, wonders, knows nothing, thanks for the information, says that they are still waiting for an “update” from MelbourneIT.
All this lasts a long time, I can not do anything except how to make Skype calls and write letters, which are bolted.
Somewhere around the 25th I received a call from a guy from the escalation team, who said that he had an “update”. He says that the problem is still being solved, but it is already clear to him that his call will be soon and he will tell me the good news about the solution of the problem, assured me that everything is fine. Well, ok, I thought.
Last night I received, apparently, the last call from Yahoo.
The girl is calling. Apparently, the guy from the escalation team, with whom I spoke before, and who assured me that everything would be resolved soon, the gut was thin.
Has informed, that she has an update. Within 2 days, my domains will be released in public, and I can re-register them. I asked why? This decision is. I asked - why in public? I will lose domains!
"Alas...". I asked, can you tell me exactly the reason why the domains were canceled, the answer is “You broke TOS”, I asked which TOS item I broke, I was told that I cannot tell you this, this is confidential information. I asked - do you think this is normal? Why are the first domains alive and well, and you have deleted the following? I can not answer you this question.
Today I looked, a third of my domains have already been stolen, moreover last week. This is the situation. It would be interesting to listen to the comments.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/125704/
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