Lycos Ceasing Webhosting

TheDink

Lycos will be ceasing their domain registration and webhosting business in the first quarter of next year. I currently have 3 domains registered through them, though the hosting is elsewhere. Lycos have done a deal with Strato to semi-automate the transfer of domains currently with Lycos to Strato. However, I don't want to use this provider and am trying to transfer to another registrar.

Has anyone any experience of getting Lycos to change the registration tag on a domain name? I've tried following the instructions they give for transferring out, but have only succeeded in unlocking the domain, and the new registrar says the IPS Tag has not been changed. I've tried to contact Lycos, but have not had a response.

Has anyone had any experience of Lycos customer service in the past, and know of the best way to deal with them? The only contact number is an 0870 (with no alternatives on SayNoTo0870).

Thanks!!

rodhull

Oh dear. I have a number of domains with Lycos and also don't want to use Strato (rip-off). I haven't started the transfer process yet, but am now not looking forward to it!

Out of interest, who are you transferring to? I was thinking about 1and1.co.uk but only because I've used them in the past.

chunter

I use 123-reg for registration and domain forwarding and find it to be an excellent and flexible online service. I've have used FastHosts also and they have a very simliiar flexible service too.
Never had to contact either's customer service.

LozzaB

I'd be very interested in this too as I went with Lycos originally for the £1 for the year webhosting and domain registration so don't fancy paying a minimum of £1.99 per month with Strato when my site is just a tool to make my little business seem more professional.

rodhull

Does anyone know what will happen when we transfer the domains away from Lycos?

Presumably Lycos will have to refund us for the portion of the year (or two years) unused with each domain on a pro rata basis? Is this the case?

TheDink

I'm moving the domains to 123reg. My hosting is already with 3ix.

From what I understand, when the domain is transferred, we get the remainder of the term we paid for with Lycos carried over to the new registrar, and possibly also get a 1 year extension free of charge!

I have now received a response from Lycos, stating that my request to transfer the domain has been passed to the relevant department, but I'll not be waiting with baited breath for a quick response from them.

Emby_2

Hi there,

a quick way to get away from Lycos is to call Nominet on Telephone: +44(0)1865 332244 and give them the domain name you want to transfer out. The then send an email to you with details of how to log into nominet to do the transfer.

All you need is the 'Registrar tag' of the people you want to transfer to and its simple.

Saves a LOT of hassle trying to get through to Lycos + Nominet have received THOUSANDS of calls complaining about Lycos in regards to this and Strato.

Only thing is it costs £10 + VAT to change over. Definitely worth it in my mind!

eMBy

TheDink

My domains have now been moved. It took Lycos a couple of days to change the registration key, and I was then able to make the switch myself. I had planned on calling Nominet, but wanted to avoid having to pay!!

psionmark

Ah, I'm glad I'm not the only one!

Who did you contact to get Lycos to pull their finger out? I've emailed them 5 times now requesting an "Auth Code" so I can do the transfer of my 3 domains and haven't had one reply.

Like many of you, I don't want to use Strato. My sites are hosted at Media Temple, so I only want to move the domains to a new registrar and then get them pointed to MT.

As they're ceasing hosting on 28th Feb, I'm worried that if it's not done by then, I'll be stuck.

Cheers,

Mark

TheDink

I used the contact form that's available once you've logged into your Lycos account to contact them, and asked to have the IPS Tag changed, and gave them the new registrar's code. They did actually process it without me having to chase them, which really surprised me!

KellyB

I've had nothing but problems with Lycos recently. You can't change nameservers, even though the functionality is there, my webpointing won't work, etc etc etc.

I don't want to go with Strato so I've now decided to transfer my domain to 123-Reg. Best of all, it was 100% free! They didn't need payment details or anything.

But....

I've unlocked the domain so that I can transfer out but I've been waiting 2 weeks for the IPS Tag to be changed. I've contacted Customer Support at least 6 times with the only reply being the standard "we are dealing with your request".

I can't go through Nominet as I don't have a debit/credit card and I refuse to pay when the service should be adminstrated by Lycos for free!

Hopefully something will happen soon!