I made more than four attempts to cancel my domain name registration with Verisign
after renewing it in April, 2001.I went to the Website on several occassions to
try to cancel the registration. Unfortunately, Verisign uses a very difficult Mail-To
procedure in order to have changes made to a domain name.
Verisign also attempts
to extort exhorbitant fees under the guise of expediting service. I noticed this
potential problem when moving my domain name between different name servers.
As
an e-commerce company, my domain name is my business. To have competition in the
hosting service industry, and to capitalize on opportunities in selecting a commercial
carrier of my choice, my company needs to have full access to its domain name.
I
believe the company has misrepresented itself as a domain name registrant when in
fact it attempts to exercise custody and control over the names which third parties
choose to register. In this capacity, it hurts competition among Website commercial
service providers, restrains free choice of movement from host to host, and generally
hurts the free exercise of commerce across the Web.
While companies that pay these
exhorbitant fees may in fact receive timely transfer of domain names, it's unfortunate
that Verisign has chosen to attempt to generate revenue from the willful delay and
inadequate servicing of domain name accounts. I believe the consideration paid Verisign
entitles the consumer to a reasonable level of service in supporting those accounts.
Undoubtedly changing domain name server locations is a basic and fundamental right
of a domain name registrant. Restriciting those rights in any way constitutes misrepresentation.
In
my many communications with Verisign, I was told that the domain name could be cancelled.
While this would put the domain name in public domain for a period, I believed this
risk was justified as Verisign had failed to facilitate the timely transfer of my
company's domain name from one CSP to another.
As a result, my business has suffered
damage from business stoppage. As an e-commerce concern, this has meant that my previous
customers are unable to find me at my site.
In conclusion, I believe this attempted
extortion and failure to cancel the domain name constitute willful neglect and blatent
disregard from the rights of the domain name registrant to exercise due rights of
control over the domain name. I believe that if the domain name registration
process is to constitute a complete subrogation of rights of ownership, that not
only are my company's property rights violated, but so are those of any registrant
of a domain name with Veirsign.
While I hope that Verisign would make cancelling
domain name registration at its company possible in my particular case, damage has
occurred and is ongoing in the form of lost revenue from an existing customer base.
I can only wonder what other e-commerce companies have suffered as a result of Verisign's
unwillingness to proper service of names registered there.
Cancellation of the
Verisign registration would have allowed the company to utilize another registrant
who would be more responsive to our changing needs. Much to our detriment, Verisign
failed to allow cancellation despite four telephone calls and over 3 e-mail requests.
By
making the cancellation process inadequate and failing to process cancellation requests,
Verisign has made customers captive. This is undoubtedly an attempt to keep their
customers theirs. It's unfortunate they've chosen to use deceptive practices and
deceitful service to retain their customers domain names and thereby reduce competitive
threats posed by other domain name registrants.
Cancellation of the Verisign registration
would have allowed the company to utilize another registrant who would be more responsive
to our changing needs.
John Peebles
Founder & CEO
JBP,
INC.