Domain registration help sought

[FenigDurak]

I somewhat recently (about a week ago) registered a domain name with a site that offered free hosting. Not 12 hours later I discovered that my university has a similar service for free for current students.

So I contacted the service I had registered with and asked that my account be cancelled. They cancelled it as requested but didn't tell me they had cancelled it. They just sent an email saying "There is a comment added to your ticket. Log in to view it." Well, being cancelled, I couldn't log in. I contacted them again last night and was told it had been taken care of. I have since replied asking about a refund for the registration. I just read the reply saying that I cannot get a refund.

But I also cannot use what I have paid for now. Is it possible to unregister a domain name? I'm trying hard not to be sucky with these people, but I think the way they do things is a little silly.

Thanks!

[Rapscallion]

I've never tried to unregister a domain name, but they usually expire after a couple of years as a minimum (YMMV).

Do you want the university to host the domain name you registered? Fact is, if you registered the domain, you should be able to administer it and cancelling your account means you won't be able to point it to the relevant IP address. It would have been possible to have it pointed at the university's servers.

It depends on the contract you signed - I've never seen one where the purchaser can request a refund after a small amount of time. One problem is that some spammers will buy domains and expect to have them shut down very quickly, but they would be able to request a refund.

Try contacting the support line on the phone for the company and ask what you can do. If you've paid, you should be able to get your account back. The name could be pointed at the IP of the university servers, but I wouldn't expect to get your money back from what I understand.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Rapscallion

[digilight]

Most likely you will not be able to get your money back as the charge was for the Domain Registration, the hosting was just a freebie (FYI you never want to do one of these deals because they are usually harder to get your domain released from them when you want to switch hosts).

You need to contact the host/registrar and have them release/unlock the domain to you. And then you can modify it/transfer it to a different registrar if needed.

[Arm]

They probably don't want to give the money back because they probably paid someone else to handle the registration.

Also, do you not want the domain name any more? It sounds like you're just moving your website from one host to another. If you want to keep the domain name, then you *do* still want it registered in your name, you just want to change which host it points to.

I generally go with a domain name registration service like DotSter to handle my domain name registration. That way I can point it at whatever ISP I want.

Other than that, yeah. Digilight has the right of it.