Recently, I had to confirm whether a particular, UK-based registrar is ICANN-accredited.
Transferring domains to non-accredited domain registrars is important to know; one must be aware of which ICANN-accredited registrar they resell for.
The registrar identified itself as a reseller of OpenSRS/Tucows. But I had to confirm it, so I contacted Tucows.
My communication with their department was rather frustrating. They asked me to look up the domain at their system to determine the reseller it’s managed by.
Only problem was, that’s not what I asked. The domain is not under the control of that other registrar – yet.
Eventually, and after repeated explanations, I was told that the registrar was indeed a reseller of Tucows for “gTLDs.”
I did not find that answer satisfactory, and asked specifically if they also managed .com domains on their reseller’s behalf.
The representative refused to confirm that, citing company policies.
I find that response ridiculous and quite possibly in violation of ICANN regulations, that requires disclosure of a reseller’s provider. If the Tucows policy is to not provide basic information on associate domain resellers, one has to wonder what is the logic behind this. It certainly is counter-productive.
Having wasted the better part of half an hour arguing over the legitimacy of my request, I gave up. I contacted the registrar directly, and in a matter of minutes they explicitly confirmed that they resell .com domains on behalf of OpenSRS/Tucows.
The latter, needs to improve on its customer service, especially now that that they acquired the eNom brand.
Speak Your Mind