hiya

my friend had a website set up for her (shes a music artist so is for her fans to visit) by a guy who charged her quite a bit and is now not updating the site etc. She wants to be able to take over the website from him - what information does she need to get from him so that she can get someone else to take over the work. She paid for the domain name etc and so wants to keep the same one rather than just setting up a new one.

dont know if ive worded this very well, but basically, does she need a username, password etc to be able to access the site in order to make changes?

Thanks

Is the site in her name or his name?

i think its in his name (or his businesses' name). He said that otherwise it would have her home address posted on the internet. Dont know how accurate that is!

Most hosting companies will contact the current host and make arrangment to transfer. There are solutions to hide your name and address from the public. If she is in buiness the simplest way would be to put it in the companies name and rent a PO box.

So (stupid question) but what exactly (information-wise) would she need to ask for from the guy? Hes dragging his heels a bit as hes upset shes going elsewhere, even though its because hes been ripping her off and not returning calls etc!!!!

I recommend going to this place Internic and typing in her web site. Leave off the www. and enter hersite.com or whatever suffix she uses. See if they list her as the site owner. If they do all she needs to do is contact the new hosting company. They will do the rest. If she does not still contact the new hosting company and see if they can suggest how to wrestle she site back from the current hosting company.
If the price is fair, he just won't update her site you may want to check with the local high school or VoTech (Trade School) to see if they will update the site as a part of real world training for their students. You know, like auto mechanics in high school.
Lastly (and the most involved) you could file a dispute with ICANN . In this link near the bottom of the page look for this,"Someone else has registered my company's name as a domain name. What is the process for resolving my complaint?".
Let us know how it is going every few days.

Oh yeah. If the domain is in her name he has no choice. She can switch without his permission.

Domain Name: SUMANB.COM
Registrar: COMPUTER SERVICES LANGENBACH GMBH DBA JOKER.COM
Whois Server: whois.joker.com
Referral URL: http://www.joker.com
Name Server: NS.ADDR.COM
Name Server: NS2.ADDR.COM
Status: REGISTRAR-LOCK
Updated Date: 01-jun-2005
Creation Date: 27-may-2005
Expiration Date: 27-may-2007


ok, this is the information it gave me, so it looks like the domain name is not in her name. What is 'registrar-lock'?

sorry to be such a pain with this Acklan, i really appreciate your help

You are not a pain. I am glad I can help. It looks like he put it in his name. I would find someone I wanted to host it and let them try to aquire it from him. Her next step would be to submit a complaint to ICANN and attempt to prove it is her domain. In the end she may have to pick a new domain.

hiya, he has said he will swap the domain name into hers. here is a copy of an email he sent - is there anything else she needs?

Im afraid we must do this on your behalf this standard procedure for editing the ownership details for Generic Top Level Domains such as .com
Please look at the following link which verifies this http://www.lcn.biz/faq/faqc2q22.html
Also please note that paper based Certificates are no longer issued i have attached the PDF of the certificate generated by the registrar.

We cannot give you our username and password for the domain name as this is our main account in which all our domains are held not just yours.

Also there is a £10 + VAT fee for this transfer




thanks again

If he says so. I have had as many as four active domains at one time and each had it's own user name and password.
You will be rid of him soon enough so just grin and bare it.
I hope I was of some help.

thanks for all your time and help

Please let us know how it comes out.