In recent months we have come across a small number of clients who have transferred their .NZ domains into our automated NZ Domain Manager system from a third party domain provider, and discovered some serious problems with their NZ domain names.

The first problem that some new domain name clients have informed us about, is that the full domain registration term that they paid for with their previous domain provider, was not transferred across with the domain name. So they are wanting to know from us, what has happened to the remaining registration period, and if it has been lost during the transfer process. In many cases there was less then a month remaining before their transferred domain was due to expire, yet they had paid their previous domain provider for at least a year. In some cases they had paid for multiple years, but that credit was not applied to the domain name registration period with the NZ Registry.

When we were first alerted to this type of problem, we did check with the NZ Domain Name Commissioner who overseas NZ Domain Names, as we were concerned that there was a problem with the NZ Registry, that prevented the credit being transferred with the domain. However they confirmed that if all the credit had been applied with the NZ Registry by the previous domain provider, all of the credit would transferred with the domain name.  It appears in these cases, that the previous domain provider never registered/renewed the domain for the full term, despite receiving full payment from the client for that term. Instead,  it appears they registered the domain for a much shorter term, and were rolling the domain renewal over on a monthly basis when it needed renewing.

We have asked the Domain Name Commissioner for clarification on this practice, and they have told us “Under the .nz policies Registrars must apply the full term that is paid to the registration.” This means that the domain provider should be applying the full domain registration term with the NZ registry, when full payment is received. In our 12 + years of providing NZ domain registration, this is really the first time we have come across this type of practice.   If you have encountered these type of problems with a .NZ domain provider, we suggest contacting the NZ Domain Name Commissioner, along with details on the affected domain,  as they will want to know.

NZ Domain registrants can easily check the domain term their NZ domain name is registered for at any time, via our NZ Whois Lookup Tool at www.loungenetwork.co.nz/whois/. Alternatively, if you are a Lounge Network client, you can check out the expiry date from inside your Domain Manager account.

The other problem we regularly encounter, is when the domain name is registered in the name of the web designer or web hosting company who registers the domain, instead of the actual end user that paid for the domain. This ultimately means that the legal registrant / owner of the domain is actually the web designer / web host, and not by the end user of the domain. Any domain must always be registered in the name of the end user. Otherwise your domain name can potentially be held hostage, and you may end up losing that domain name if it is in the name of another party, as you will have no legal rights over it. It can be a very messy and expensive process in getting these types of domain ownership problems resolved. Anyone can find out the registrant of a domain name at any time by using our NZ Whois Lookup Tool.

With the Lounge Network, you can be assured that we will always apply your full payment to the NZ Domain Registration / Domain Renewal as soon as your payment is received and cleared. So if you register a domain for 10 years, we will apply the full 10 years to your domain registration with the NZ registry. We will also always register your domain in the name of the person who registered it. We will never register the domain in our companies name. All of our clients are also in full control of their Domain Name management at all times via our automated Domain Manager System at www.domains.loungenetwork.co.nz .

If you are interested in switching your Domain Name or Web Hosting, to our premium NZ Domain and Web Hosting services, please email us. You can also transfer you NZ Domain automatically 247, via our Automated Domain Manager system, by setting up a free NZ Domain Manager account. To transfer a NZ Domain Name, all you need is your UDAI code, which you can get from your existing domain provider at any time upon request.