Help please Ive lost my domain name

**Waigy** · August 24th, 2006, 03:08 PM

Hey man

Way way back in march this year I emailed yahoo to ask if I could register my domain name with them as it was much cheaper than my current registrar.
I followed the instructions I was given from yahoo customer support and now I have lost my domain name.
I sent an email on the 8th of august to billing@yohoo-inc.com saying that I think it was their fault and I want them to get it back for me.
I also sent the same email to reportabuse@yahoo-inc.com and experience@yahoo-inc.com
Over 2 weeks later I still haven't had a response from any of these 3 emails.
Is there any free online service that handles disputes like this, or can I sue them, take them to court e.t.c.?

Here are basic details of the instructions I was given:

Yahoo told me to let my current registration expire, then to wait till my domain name is made available to the public.
They also said once it has expired I could ask my registrar to release it early.
I phoned them and they said I could only transfer it if I re-registered with them which would cost £62
As I was going through this whole ordeal to save money, I had to wait 80 days for my name to become available.
As soon as it was available, another company snapped it up.
I now have to pay $69 just to put a bid in for my name.
This has been very frustrating and annoying and has cost me about £70 on phonecalls from Scotland to USA on my mobile, all of which were a complete waste of time and money.

Any suggestions?

Cheers man

Waigy

**sr71000** · August 24th, 2006, 03:14 PM

while you got poor advice from them, I don't think there is much for you to take them to court about. You let the domain name expire and someone else bought it. You're only option at this point is to buy that domain name from who ever owns it now.

**EXreaction** · August 24th, 2006, 03:15 PM

Nothing you can do about it other than try and pay the guys that bought it to get it back.

Yahoo shouldn't be telling people just to let their domains expire(you should be able to have them transfer it without anyone in the public having a chance to buy it).

To tell you the truth it wasn't anyones fault but your own.

**Waigy** · August 26th, 2006, 06:24 AM

Originally Posted by EXreaction

Yahoo shouldn't be telling people just to let their domains expire

Thats my point.
I could have easily found out a bit more about how domain transfers work, but in this case I was relying on and trusting in yahoo's instructions.
I asked them how to move my domain name over to them and they told me how to do it.
I don't think this is any different from me going to a bank and asking for their instructions to change my account to themselves.
As I asked in my original post, does anyone know of any free online service that deals with situations like these?

**paul9** · August 26th, 2006, 08:33 AM

You received and acted upon a bad suggestion, but as they never charged, I doubt there is much you could pin on them. Don't feel too bad about your lack of knowledge on the process though. Even Microsoft has had the Hotmail domain bought out from under them when they failed to pay the registration fees. Admittedly that wasn't by one of these vulture companies you have run into, but next time you will know better and not get stung.