Changing a Domain Registrant
 

I've been thrust into the position of "IT guy" at our church following several years of neglect of the entire system, so there's lots to fix. To make a long story short, our domain was registered by a person who no longer attends our church and who will not respond to requests for the login and password information for the domain. The domain status of Whois shows up as: Domain Status:client Transfer Prohibited which I believe further complicates the problem.

Does anybody have any advice about how to go about trying to force a change in the registrant from the previous individual to myself? I figured I would call or email the registrar (eNom), explain the situation and ask them to change the registrant information or at least give me a temporary login so we can do it ourselves.

Thanks for any help anyone can provide.

Was the domain registered to the person or to the church? If the church, a letter on letterhead to the registrar should be sufficient.

If it's registered to the person, I'd first look on the registrar's website to see if they have a process for this situation. If not, I suspect you'd require a court order.

Or wait until the registration expires--and hope said-person doesn't renew.

And that nobody else "hijacks" the domain after it expired.

I think the best first course is to figure out who the registrar is (it might not be eNom, but they have a link on their website you can use to determine the registrar) and then call the registrar and ask them what they need.

Thanks, everybody -- much appreciated! I looked at the Whois entry and found:

1. The church is listed as the registrant in the Whois data (WHEW!), so perhaps a letter would do the trick. The individual who left the church is listed as the admin and technical point of contact.
2. I checked the data and the registration expires on February 9th, so if we have to wait until that date, at least it's not too far into the future.
3. eNom has a 24/7 help number on their site. I'll call them when I get home tonight.

One further question, there's a "Registry Registrant ID number consisting of a bunch of letters and numbers. Does that number factor into anything?

Thanks again!

It probably does mean something and they may ask for it when you call. If you can handle it before the domain expires that would be ideal to ensure someone else who is waiting to register it doesn't take it from you.

I just changed my contact info on my domain. You just have to unlock the domain first (a lock button in my account) and then an email gets sent to the new email address, which you have to accept. The previous email address is notified as a courtesy. Then relock it. Make sure you check the box that prevents transfers for the next 60 days following the changes.

This all assumes, of course, that you can sign into the account where your domain name is held.

...which he's said he can't. :)

I would not wait until it expires. There is usually a waiting period after it expires and IF someone else gets it you are just in a load of hurt. I have dealt many many times with registrars and usually they are accommodating if you explain what is going on and do not give in. Keep pushing them gently. They will want you to prove who you are.

Letterhead might do it. Maybe email from the domain or calling the main line of the church. Also, if you know how it got paid for in the first place and have a receipt (expense report?) ready to send to them if needed.

Good luck with regaining control!

Thanks -- I decided not to call them tonight. I figured I would wait until Sunday when I am at church and can call them from the church's phone number which is listed on Whois. Assuming they have Caller ID, I'm thinking calling from a number registered with them will help.

We are closer to a porn site than I had ever imagined. It turns out that an "adult" business has our exact domain name except for ".org" (us) versus ".com" (them). The plot sickens...

I will let everyone know how it goes on Sunday.

Never ever let a domain you want to keep expire, someone will very likely snatch it up using automated robots. You may not be able to get it back even if you would be willing to pay a high price for it.

If the domain expiry date is soon, pay now to renew it for one more year just to make sure it stays active while you work on the domain issues. Most domain registrars allow you to pay for domain fees without logging in, so you don't need the login information to pay for the domain to keep it active.

When you get access to the domain, remember to register it with the organisation name and contact information, not you as the IT person. This will make things easier later.

Also consider doing an old school backup, write down various accounts and passwords on paper and put it in the organisation's safe ;-)

Additional hint: Grab some domains around your domain name if they are still free. E.g. if the matching .net domain is still free, or if there is a common mistyping of the name and that .com/.org/.net is free, grab those up as well so they're yours. You can make these domains just redirect to the real site home page, for example.

Great advice! The domain expires in early February, so I will renew it right after Christmas & New Years. I checked Whois and both .net and .us are available. I can register both for less than $20.00. I'll take care of that as soon as I get done wrapping presents! I will make sure both are registered to the church.