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Unethical Registrar

What do you do when your competition doesn't play by the rules? The ISP-Tech list discusses an ISP that registers clients' sites in its own name, and prevents customers from leaving by holding the domain name hostage.

[May 25, 2000]

On the ISP-Tech list in May, BB posted a question about dealing with complications arising from a competing ISPs business practices:

"I have a small ISP in a small town where there is one other ISP. We are having a problem with the other ISP. When she registers domains, she registers the domain in her name and bills the customer for the NIC fee. One of her former customers wants me to host his domain and Web site and I'm having a hard time getting the site released by her. What can I do about this?"

[JP wrote] "Get a copy of the customer's contract, have an attorney review it and give you a definitive understanding of who owns the name. If it's the customer, then have the attorney write the standard 'nasty-gram' with 30 days to comply. This shouldn't cost a great deal, and it will save you both months of aggravation."

Another respondent pointed out that if the registration is held by the other ISP, BB may have no recourse:

[JM opined] "If she is doing the registration, paying the bill and is listed as all 3 contacts for that domain, then you will have to get the client to take action based on whatever agreement they had regarding registering a domain name on their behalf. Frankly, its a very good marketing idea to hold customers."

One respondent took issue with the concept, likening it to holding a domain name "hostage":

[JM argued "If the ISP listed themselves as the registrant, that's not standard operating procedure. And if the ISP registered the customer's domain for themselves, that can be argued as fraudulent."

Which gave rise to a conversation concerning the ethics of such a practice:

[JL asserted] "The customer who doesn't do his or her homework is ripe pickin's for an unethical ISP such as you describe. Customers must always insist upon being registered as the administrative contact. We also insist that the subscriber also be registered as the billing contact. We're the technical contact because that's all we deal with."

[RL disagreed] "The client comes to the service provider because they need our services. Being ethical, the service provider should not deceive the client because they may be ignorant."

A number of respondents suggested "outing" the competing ISP:

[MS wrote] "First thing to do is to make sure that the businesses around town know that that's not the way most do it. My competitor does this also and he's lost lots of customers when they find out that he owns their online business, not them!"

[JG suggested peer pressure] "Have you informed your competitor that her unethical business practices are being discussed online by a forum of ISP professionals? What's her business/domain name? I'll gladly carbon her a copy of this thread ... sometimes peer censure works wonders."

JL suggested registering a complaint with the Better Business Bureau:

"Try BBB Online and see if they can help you."

[Editor's note: BBB Online offers dispute resolution, among other services.]

[LS offered another option] "Check out Fraud.Org."

[Editor's Note: The National Consumers League, which runs www.fraud.org, represents consumers on issues of concern including telecommunications.]

Another respondent offered this view:

[JL wrote] "My advice about what to do about the unscrupulous ISP would be to do nothing at all. Any ISP that has to resort to claiming ownership of subscribers' domain names just to keep them from fleeing to better services isn't going to be around long."

J decided to play devil's advocate in the discussion:

"I agree with most of the points made, but say an ISP registers a domain and builds the site. They put 10-20k into the process and then the customer wants to take the domain and site to a 'cheaper' place and withhold payment."

[JL replied] "You mean to tell me you'd build a $20,000 Web site for a new customer 'on spec' — without checking his credit references and payment history (and without an iron-clad contract)? Or are you talking about holding the customer's domain name 'hostage' for payment? Either looks to me like very shaky business management."

—End