Solved: Re: MANAGING AN OLD (2006) BT DOMAIN - Page 2

marshallcolman · ‎04-10-2018

Can anyone advise on the management of an old BT domain?

I bought a domain from BT in 2006 but BT has since changed the way it manages domains of that vintage and it is difficult to get any help from them. I want to change my web host and to get my address marshallcolman.com to point to marshall-colman-ceramics.myshopify.com, which I believe requires changes in the nameserver/DNS/IP address. I’m not entirely clear about this as I’m not an IT/web/telephony specialist, but I understand is that I must ask the domain owner/registrar to do it for me. But how?

A WHOIS search reveals that, although I still renew my domain with BT, they do not own it any longer and have sold it to REGISTER.COM, but they still retain control over it. Register.com have advised me that hence they are not able to make any changes to the domain and that only BT can do it. It is extremely difficult find out who I contact BT about this. I can get to the old BT Domains page at https://www.btdomainsaccount.com/search.aspx?=1

but it is no longer fully operational. It’s possible to LOGIN, CONTACT and to renew the domain from this page, but other tabs lead to dead links. For example, the DOMAINS HOME tab yields: “www.btbroadbandoffice.com took too long to respond.” I had the same problem when I changed my webhost in 2014. Then I was advised to contact support@btdomains.account.com. But when I tried that today, my email bounced and seems that this address is no longer operational.

This is totally unsatisfactory. BT has sold the domain, retains control of it and the customer cannot managing it. It seems that I can’t even transfer the domain to a more helpful business because, as the the WHOIS? lookup tells me, “Client transfer prohibited”. What should I do? Any advice gratefully received.

Marshall Colman

marshallcolman · ‎12-10-2018

It seems that BT Domains is not a part of BT at all and has nothing to do with it. As if the name "BT Domains" is not confusing enough, the page for managing a BT domain still looks like this:

It has the BT logo and still links to BT websites. But after a correspondence with BT Connect <general_enquiries_dns@btconnect.com> they finally realised that I was not a BT customer and referred me to btdomainssupport@register.com.

Why BT do not make it clear that they have sold these domains to another company, and why they keep their logo on the domain mangement front page is beyond me. Confusing and unhelpful.

Marshall

Bobby · ‎12-10-2018

Hey marshallcolmon,

It's not that the domains have been sold to another company, but it entirely depends on how the domain was registered. There are a few teams within BT and sometimes, depending on the registration date and method, not all teams will be able to assist. For example with Getting British Business Online (GBBO) registered domains, I understand that correspondence needs to go through a dedicated email address. Confusing, I know, but they're still maintained by BT.

Thanks, Bobby

jtanna · ‎12-10-2018

I sent an eMail earlier to day (btdomainssupport@register.com) but nobody has replied nor acknowledged so I wonder if the eMail address is genuine or not.

It's all getting confusing by the day. It looks like BT must be getting lots of complaints that they can't handle so they have decided to randomly trash some complaints without acknowledgement.

marshallcolman · ‎12-10-2018

@jtanna wrote:
I sent an eMail earlier to day (btdomainssupport@register.com) but nobody has replied nor acknowledged so I wonder if the eMail address is genuine or not.

It's all getting confusing by the day. It looks like BT must be getting lots of complaints that they can't handle so they have decided to randomly trash some complaints without acknowledgement.

Yes, Jtanna, it's genuine. I have been in correspondence with btdomainssupport@register.com and they have changed the DNS settings on my domain to point to my new web host, and they have sorted out my email as well. Took time, but they were helpful. There were communication problems: several emails bounced, but I then sent from another email address and got through.

Thanks for the heads up Bobby.

- Marshall

jtanna · ‎13-10-2018

OK i have now heard from them and they say this:

Your domain name has been registered through BT. BT support can be reached at +44.0845-607-1942 or via email at admin@btnames.com

So it is all getting confusing.

Ian1974 · ‎15-10-2018

Hi All,

I am very sorry to hear of these issues with managing your domains.

BT.com/domains was initially set up for those who did not have a BT Business account.

If you wish to access your domains cntrol panel for bt.com/domains, please use the following URL.

https://www.btdomainsaccount.com/

You can also get support via the "Contact us" form on the same page.

If you wish please send myself a pvt message via this forum and I will pass your details onto bt.com/domains and ask them to contact you as soon as possible.

Kind Regards,

Ian Ferrier

BT Business Domains

marshallcolman · ‎17-10-2018

It now transpires that BT Domains have managed to point my domain to my website hosted by Shopify but that they cannot redirect my email to Plusnet. This is what they say:

"The MX record that is associated with marshallcolman.com is the same format that is used for any of our domains that are using our email forwarding service mx.yourdomain.cust.a.hostedemail.com. As this is not a webmail service there is no mailbox to log into and no other records such as CNames are used. We do apologize, we do not have any other alternative MX records to use."

I other words, the emails sent to my business just disappear into the ether and BT Domains haven't the faintest idea what to do about it. Their inability to get my emails into my Plusnet inbox is all the more bizarre, given that BT owns Plusnet!

Anyway, I now intend to move away from BT, who are not able to help me run my business, and I am seeking ways of transferring my domain to Plusnet.

Marshall

jtanna · ‎18-10-2018

@Ian1974 wrote:
Hi All,

I am very sorry to hear of these issues with managing your domains.

BT.com/domains was initially set up for those who did not have a BT Business account.

If you wish to access your domains cntrol panel for bt.com/domains, please use the following URL.

https://www.btdomainsaccount.com/

You can also get support via the "Contact us" form on the same page.

They only tell you to send an eMail:

Thank you for contacting BT.com Support.

For assistance with <domain name deleted>, support can be reached at +44.0845-607-1942 or via email at admin@btnames.com

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further questions or require additional assistance.

I was aware of that website but it didn't look like a proper business site to me so I didn't post the link here.

My account has now limited access so I'll have to try again. It looks like BT are doing some work that bizarrely they don't want people to know about.

jtanna · ‎18-10-2018

@marshallcolman wrote:

Anyway, I now intend to move away from BT, who are not able to help me run my business, and I am seeking ways of transferring my domain to Plusnet.

Marshall

If you want to transfer your domain then move it to godaddy as they allow you to make changes yourself unlike Register.com which requires you to send an eMail and they do it for you.

I like to have control over changes I am making rather then asking them to do something which takes 48 or 72 hours depending on weekdays or weekends.

marshallcolman · ‎18-10-2018

As BT Domains couldn't provide the service I require I have started the process of transferring my domain to another host. BT doesn't specialise in this and so the service they offer is minimal. You have to pay a specialist but they offer the full range of domain management, webhosting and webmail, and you can manage your own domain settings. You get what you pay for. Don't know why I didn't realize it sooner. I paid BT Domains nothing, I got nothing.

Marshall