Pretty on the outside, cesspool on the inside.
A couple of days ago we posted the announcement by Pool.com that they are pulling out of the drop-catching business, ending the lifespan of their proxy registrars.
This move wasn’t well-planned, apparently.
Pool.com might be moving into the gTLD market, but who would really want to do business with a company that left its customers in the deep end of the waters?
Instead of mitigating current domains, which were caught by Pool less than 60 days ago and are thus ineligible for transfer, Pool passed the buck onto ICANN. The latter will now be needed to step in and allocate an interim registrar – most likely, Network Solutions – to take in the “orphaned” domains held by Pool’s proxy registrars.
There is no precise timeframe for this. In effect, past January 10th, your domains will be in limbo and you won’t be able to manage them in any way.
What Pool.com should have done:
- They should have announced their intention to pull out of the drop-catching business to their active customers.
- Anyone who was allocated domains that fall into the 60-day non transfer period, should have been given at least 10 days past this 60 day period to move out their domains to a different registrar.
- Only then would Pool.com shut down the holding registrars.
We aren’t sure of the exact number of domains that are affected, but what Pool.com is asking for right now, is lawsuits; at the very least, they should expect chargebacks for those domains that are less than 60 days old and are ineligible for transfer. After all, Pool.com does not stand by its promised service, so why should account holders pay the piper?
Two of the proxy registrars that Pool.com is shutting down, are Quark.ca and Wisdomain.com – both resellers of NameScout.
The move by Pool.com to screw its paying customers is highly unethical and it reflects badly on the company’s legacy. Richard Schreier, CEO of Pool.com, is the person that stands behind this catastrophic decision.
This post is 100% true!
“screw its paying customers”
That the playbook from our Congress….screw the taxpayers
I just wanted to respond to the suggestion that “In effect, past January 10th, your domains will be in limbo and you won’t be able to manage them in any way.” This has proven out to be totally incorrect as I prediicted in other blog postings. NamesBeyond is the selected registrar (Not Network Solutions) and they started reaching out to registrants by email and by phone shortly after the bulk transfer was initiated by VeriSign. Is it possible that some domains were not manageable for a day or two? Yes, depending on how quickly NamesBeyoind was able to contact specific registrants, however, from the actual experience so far, I have seen NamesBeyond being very responsive to any requests received by registrants affected by the move. The predictions of doom gloom and domains in limbo simply did not happen.
Richard Schreier, CEO Pool.com