I just had a nasty surprise. I have a variety of internet domain names I manage, some are my own used for amongst other things “futureproofing” emails. i.e. you email and andy@somedomain.com and it forwards to my ISP email accounts. When my ISP decides it doesn’t want to do email any more,I get a new email provider and I only change where andy@somedomain.com forwards to, all the people who email me use the same address still. You get the idea and many of you do likewise.
So the clocks changed in Europe this weekend and I was thinking normally I get some outrageous domain renewal bill when the clocks are changing why have I received nothing? I did some digging with “whois” to find my main domain was about to expire in 15hrs time I would have lost access to a number of servers and email services
Of course I couldn’t log in to my account with the registrar. Resolved after some panic. Then I found I had no services registered with them! Actually they were bought out and run 2 websites and there was a link to the other site and there were my services. Phew! So domain renewed for another year. Of course, logging in, updating the registrant details, paying with a credit card all required multiple 2FA checks some by SMS and some to email (that was about to stop working) and I found my phone had 1% battery left.
So having renewed and checked it was showing an October 2024 date I looked into why I got no email about this. It turns out when the registrar was bought they dumped a lot of the free email services you got with a domain registration, you had to pay. I spotted a sudden dearth of emails at that time and had been in and fixed things and added domain keys etc. What I failed to notice is the mail about the domain goes to webmaster@somedomain.com and that was no longer being forwarded. Grr! That was my fat fingers last Easter. Forwarder updated.
Now you can set auto renewal, you can do this at most registrars. So why was mine no longer auto-renew? Well I thought this registrar was rather pish in their customer service and I turned it off as I was going to move the domain to another registrar who is much better and £5/year cheaper. However, things interrupted this and I forgot I was going to move. Also having opened my Sporran and paid for a year I wanted to maximise that cost before moving to a new registrar and paying for another year. Penny pinching again!
So the purpose of all this waffle is to just remind people who do have their own domains to go and
put it on auto-renew
check the payment info is accurate and up to date
check the contact details etc. are correct
put a calendar reminder in your phone 30 days before your domain expires
This was a nasty start to the day and it’s only 9am and I could really do with a strong drink having seen how close I was to loosing access.
I think I had an email off them saying they were changing something about catch all email forwarders but I’ve kicked the can down the road because if it stops working I can live without it.
WELL DONE ANDY. You have great abilities with computers and how things work. I have little or none. When I learned to write it was with chalk on a slate, whilst dodging the bombing. I am most impressed that you have sorted ALL the “problems” out.
Probably no real help, but I have I moved a couple of domains over to Krystal hosting (if I refer someone, I get discount on my renewal and I think the person I refer also gets discount)
So far zero issues with Krystal and cracking customer services from the chaps who do things like moving wordpress from one host to another)
Well it’s nice for you to say that but really I should not have got distracted on the migration tasks and should not have really allowed things to get so far. So it’s “Andy nul points” as Katie Boyle would say. However, I’m not the first person to nearly loose a domain registration and not as bad as some major corporations including
22nd largest bank in the United States, Regions Bank
Dallas Cowboys Football team
Microsoft: passport.com and hotmail.co.uk
Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank
and many, many others who lost their domains and had some costly issues to recover things.
I had a hosting change some years ago and had no issues at all, indeed it was seamless. I was notified by email before and after the event. If I’d missed the emails, I’d never have been the wiser until they wanted more funds. I’m sure they’d have been in touch… as they have when I’ve run down my fund pot.
Some months ago I realised I was getting issues with gmail email addresses and it turned out to be Google requiring extra security. I am not savvy with such things, but after posting a request for help to my host, they basically talked me through it and the situation was quickly resolved. I’ve had to use their services several times over the past few years over certain issues, but each time they’ve been absolutely brilliant.,. which is very pleasing as my hosting is their most basic plan at £42 per annum, the same price as my garden wheelie bin service costs.
I was chased by one of the SOTA domain server companies while I was on holiday - numerous emails, talking to their “Helpline”, getting called while taking a narrowboat through a lock (anybody who has done that will know of the risk from the gate cill) - and I told them I would pay the money when I got home the following week.
All this for £1.52 !!!
So, you turned off auto-renew. Happens to the best of us…
A friend of mine, who lives north of the border, tells me one needs to be 5th-generation born and bred Scot, before one has earned the right to wear a Sporran. Perhaps they have them at Aldi or Pound Shop these days?
nightmare … 
I have individual email addresses forwarded and for reasons I can’t explain the one for the domain wasn’t forwarded any more.