EstDomains is or was one of America’s largest domain registrars. Their main office is located in Wilmington, Delware, USA. Whether it’s good or bad, the company is known to have ties with a Russian or Ukrainian group of programmers.
EstDomains’ Managed DNS cost only 49 cents per domain. It allows the user to modify DNS records such as A Record and MX Record. It’s a very useful feature for those who want to shorten a long URL and to come up with a branding one. For example, if I have a long URL like
http://seo.mhvt.net/blog/wordpress/wordpress_plugin/wp_relative_time/version_11/
wp_relative_time_example_02.jpg (A continuous URL is broken into two lines)
I could shorten it into http://www.mhvt7.com on the assumptions that I own the domain of mhvt7.com and that Managed DNS is enabled.
 Screenshot 01 – Source: MacHouse |
 Screenshot 02 – Source: MacHouse |
 Screenshot 03 – Source: EstDomains |
If you use EstDomains’ Managed DNS, you may have received an e-mail message with the subject line of IMP: Temporary URL. (See Screenshot 01.) It says that their website is temporarily inaccessible due to technical issues with no mentioning of Managed DNS. We are one of those who ignored this message, assuming that it was a temporary problem. So it didn’t come to our attention till a few weeks ago that our website with Managed DNS enabled is inaccessible. (See Screenshot 02.) In fact, if I access the control panel for the domain in question at EstDomain’s website and try to change DNS records, I get an error message saying that Managed DNS Service Currently Under Maintenance. Furthermore, if you click on the Managed DNS tab at their website, you will see an error message that says This product is currently not available. Please check again later. (See Screenshot 04.)
 Screenshot 04 – Source: EstDomains |
 Screenshot 05 – Source: EstDomains |
We contacted EstDomains about 10 days ago, and they admitted that Managed-DNS-enabled websites might be inaccessible for quite some time with sincere apology. Managed DNS users at EstDomains have been left with little information, though, as to what happened when and when the function will be restored. Looking at website’s news page, the company offers no mere explanation. (See Screenshot 05.)
We also asked the company several days ago if affected domains will get extra months of registration extension after the Managed DNS problem is fixed. However, we never received a straight answer. How about lost sales due to the failure of this function? So far, EstDomains is quiet and doesn’t appear to answer the question.
This is a great disappointment for us. A few months ago, we brought to EstDomains a couple of domains registered through a suspicious Go Daddy reseller called WEBSITESPOT.COM or CHEAP-DOMAINNAMES.COM. We also purchased a couple of new domains subsequently after domain transfers. Let’s see if there are other EstDomain clients affected by the Managed DNS trouble and lost business. A class action lawsuit is certainly possible in the future.
