Renewal notice glitch fixed: TPP Internet

Domain registrar TPP Internet has lashed out at a statement issued by .au Domain Administration (auDA) which alleged the registrar had sent out inaccurate and misleading renewal advice emails to domain name registrants.

In a statement, TPP Internet's managing director, Peter Shilling, said the problem cited by auDA affected a very small number of domain names. "We remedied the technical issue that had incorrectly sent emails to these domain name owners, within the timeframe set out in auDA's original request."

Among the reasons Shilling said it was "alarmed" by auDA's media release on the issue, was that the renewal notices sent were the result of a technical glitch in its system.

"There was no intention to mislead domain name owners," Shilling said in his statement. "Each one of the domain name owners affected has received an email notifying them of the mistake."

In the media release auDA released late last week, the organisation said that it had found TPP Internet had acted in breach of the .au Domain Name Suppliers' Code of Practice by sending inaccurate and misleading renewal advice emails to domain name registrants.

"During April-July 2004, TPP Internet sent emails to a number of its former customers advising them that their domain names were about to expire, or had already expired, when in fact the customer had already transferred or renewed their domain name through another accredited registrar," the auDA statement said.

In its statement, auDA said that at its request TPP Internet had: sent a corrective email to all recipients of the renewal advice emails; posted a corrective notice on its website; and conducted a full review of its systems and trained relevant staff to ensure compliance with the code.

When contacted by CRN, auDA CEO Chris Disspain said that he couldn't comment further about media releases issued about breaches of the organisation's codes of practice.