Hi,

A few months ago myself and 3 other people (1 of which "Lee" owned a hosting company "lmhosting") all rented a server to use, I got 2 domain names from lee to use... After a few months I told him I was giving up with the server: which he wasn't too happy about...

He said if I quit then they would not be able to keep the server because they didn't have enough money, So I said "I'm busy with work, but if I get the time I would try and pay a months server rental to help you guys out until you find another person to help you out"

Lee said ok to this, a few weeks went pasted and each time I finished work and logged on to the net I got IM's saying he wanted the cash paid in to his account... But because I work about 10 miles from the town with the bank and have no transport and worked 6 days a week I couldn’t pay the money in.

Then he sent me an email saying if I didn’t pay he was going to take me to court, so I just told him to try it…. Anyway, nothing happened after that but when I sent him an email a few days ago asking for him to release my domains I paid for he said no, he said I would have to pay the outstanding amount owed for the server before he would release the domain names.

I never said I “would” pay the months hosting, I said I would “try” to pay it just to help them out, and also we never had a contract for the server to say we had to pay so as far as I can see I’m not in the wrong.

Can anyone offer me some advice on what to do, I really need the domain names for my business, and I want to leave court action as a last resort.


Thanks
Joseph

from what I understand these domain names are not your property but were just "given" to you.
Did you talk to him about buying the domains?

If you did not register the domain names and your friend did, then you do not own them and there's really nothing you can do. If you really need them then you'll probably have to give him some money.

A bit of good news, he has no legal case against you, so you are fine.

It doesnt really help your situation you are already in, but thats why I avoid situations like that where a group of friends go in on a high priced purchase together.. I have yet to see one that didn't end like yours...

If your domain names are worth the cost of 1 months hosting...

I paid him for the domain names and he said they were mine (he was going to transfer them too me before all this happend)

He wants about $80 for the hosting, the domains cost about $15.

Well, I suppose the only 3 options are to persue legal action, or to give him the money, or explain your predicament in hopes that he'll give them back.

If you have any sort of printed or emailed confirmation that you had paid for the domains and they were yours then you should be fine. Show him this and tell him to transfer the domains. If he won't, then you can speak to your registrar or lawyer about getting them back as you can prove they are yours.

If not, or you don't want to go down that route, just pay him to get the domains. If they're really vital to your business then $80 is worth it just to get it sorted. If I were you I'd write a little contract basically saying that he agrees to release the domains upon payment of $80. Then both sign it and demand a receipt for the $80 when you pay it. Then if he still refuses to give you the domains you have enough legal standing to get them back.

Hi,

I am the terror in question, I own L&M Hosting. For the record, I'd like to point out that we all had an agreement and as we all know, IM's can be used as contracts. I followed the advice of my business advisor which was suspend any service that we provide since the agreement of a 30 day period before pulling out wasn't given written or verbal (over IM).

This means I had to pay for this persons share of the server equalling the amount more or less to the doamins we hosted. Obviously we were cautious and saught legal advice from our business advisor first (whom used to be a charter accountant and knows all about what you can do when someone fails to meet payment terms) and he said suspend the lot.

You'll all know yourself, online is a bit problematic for agreements because you can't sign an email by hand, which is where I told my client that the email and IM's are as good as his signature. He fails to believe this, but no matter what he says, he was offered the opportunity to unsuspend the domains by simply paying his bill.

What do you guys do when someone doesn't pay their bill?

As David the moderator says, pay your bill, and I'll do everything I can to get your domains in your own account with your own password at any domain site you want, as long as you also pay for any transfer fee's that the site charges. I cann't be any fairer than that I'm affraid.