Complaints

We’re committed to treating everyone who registers with Nominet with respect and courtesy. We will do all we can to make sure you’re satisfied with the guidance and support we offer.

We’re here to help

Sometimes, you may feel that we, one of our registrars, or one of our services, have let you down. If this is the case, please let us know so we can try to fix things. Rest assured, we’ll make sure your complaint is fully investigated.

We have slightly different complaints processes depending on the target of your complaint.

  1. If your complaint is with us, and you feel our Customer Service Team has been unable to resolve your issue or you’re unhappy with our service, please follow the Nominet complaint process.
  2. If your complaint is about a member or your registrar rather than directly about us, please follow our registrar complaint process.
  3. If you wish to complain about data in our domain lookup tool, please follow our domain lookup tool data complaint process.
  4. If you wish to complain about the content of a website, please follow our objecting to website content process.
  5. If you think a domain name is being used in connection with criminal activity, please follow our domain names used in connection with criminal activity process.

Nominet complaint process

When you have a complaint about Nominet, your first point of contact should be our Customer Service Team. You can contact them on +44 (0) 330 236 9470 or [email protected]. If you don’t feel they’ve resolved the issue, take your complaint to the Head of Service Delivery by emailing [email protected].

If you’d rather post us your complaint, the address is:

Head of Service Delivery
Nominet
Minerva House
Edmund Halley Road
Oxford Science Park
Oxford
OX4 4DQ

Our next steps

We’ll acknowledge your complaint within two working days of receiving it. We’ll then look into the issue and aim to respond within 5 working days. If it requires a longer investigation, we’ll get in touch within those 5 working days to let you know when you can expect us to respond.

Where a complaint is in relation to the Nominet Board’s decisions or related to Nominet’s corporate governance then we will write to you to acknowledge receipt and to explain that we consider your complaint to be related to Nominet’s corporate governance and accordingly it may take longer to investigate and respond than a service related complaint.

If we don’t hear from you again within 20 days of our response, we’ll consider the matter resolved. We keep all complaints on file to help us monitor the number and types of complaints we receive and, where needed, we make changes to our systems and services in response to your feedback.

Taking your complaint further

You might feel that the response you received from our Head of Service Delivery didn’t resolve your complaint, in which case you should escalate your complaint.

When making an escalated complaint, please include full details of your complaint, including the reasons why you aren’t happy with how we’ve dealt with it so far. Escalated complaints will be managed by the most relevant person within the Senior Leadership team. All complaints should be made in writing via [email protected]. They should include the following information:

  • Your name and contact details and tag/account information if appropriate
  • The domain name(s) concerned (if appropriate)
  • A clear description of your concern or complaint
  • What steps you would like us to take to resolve the issue

Please remember to write ‘Complaint’ clearly in the subject line of your email. We’ll acknowledge your complaint within two working days, and come back to you with our final response within 5 working days. If we think it will take longer than this to look into it properly, we’ll get in touch within these 5 working days to let you know when you’ll get our final response.

Our commitment to our staff

We’re dedicated to providing our customers with the best service possible, but we’re also committed to providing our staff with a safe and appropriate working environment. Our people have the right to be treated with respect and courtesy. We will not accept instances of verbal, written or physical harassment or abuse of our staff.

If our staff are subjected to unacceptable actions or communications, we reserve the right to restrict or refuse access to our services (e.g. we may ask you to only correspond with us in writing or via a specific contact).

Have a suggestion or comment, rather than a complaint?

We always welcome feedback on any aspect of our policy, procedures or services – it helps us to see where we could do things differently. Please send any comments or suggestions to [email protected]. These will be passed on to the department or project team as soon as possible.

Registrar complaint process

Registrars across the .UK market use a whole range of different operating models. In many cases, if you aren’t happy with how your registrar works, the simplest thing to do is find one who is better suited to you. However, all registrars are required to comply with our Registry-Registrar Agreement. If you believe your registrar has broken these terms, it’s important to let us know.

About our Registry-Registrar Agreement (RRA)

The Registry-Registrar Agreement was written specifically to counter common subjects of complaint we received from registrants and registrars alike. These include:

  • Registrars not transferring domain names when requested
  • Registrars not making service and transfer charges clear on their websites or contract documents
  • Service timescales not being stated clearly
  • Registrars registering domain names in their own name without the explicit permission of the registrant
  • Resellers not providing the same level of service as the registrar to which they are contracted
  • Registrars not making registrants aware of our terms and conditions and how they impact on our relationship with both parties

If you’ve experienced any of the problems above, or have been made aware that a Nominet registrar isn’t complying with the Registry-Registrar Agreement, we will investigate the complaint and take steps to remedy the situation. Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Contact the registrar direct and ask them to resolve the issue.
  2. If the registrar doesn’t give you a satisfactory response, you can take the complaint to our Customer Services Team. Either call them on +44 (0) 330 236 9470 or email to [email protected]. If you’re happy for us to pass on the information you supplied in your complaint to the registrar in question, we will investigate the issue and get back to you with our findings. We may ask you to sign a declaration that the information you supplied is accurate.
  3. If you’re not happy with how our Customer Services Team handle your complaint, please pass it on to the Head of Service Delivery at [email protected]. You can find out more about the Nominet complaints process, including how to take your complaint further.

Complaints not related to the Registry-Registrar Agreement

If your complaint is not about a breach of our Registry-Registrar Agreement, you should take it directly to the company you’re complaining about. If you don’t feel they resolve your complaint, one of the following authorities might be able to help you further:

Domain lookup tool data complaint process

Our domain lookup tool is a valuable source of information about .UK domains. However, the domain lookup tool will not display the registrant’s name or address, unless they have given permission to do so.

If the registrant has given permission for the registrant name and/or address to be displayed in the domain lookup tool:

  • It must not be deceptive, and must clearly identify registrants
  • It must list a registrant name that, in legal terms, corresponds exactly with a legal entity with whom we have a contract.

If you believe the result from the domain lookup tool search that displays the registrant name and/or address doesn’t meet these criteria for a specific domain, please send your complaint to [email protected]. Remember to include the domain name, the reason for the complaint and the fields of data you believe are incorrect, along with any further information you think will help us consider the matter.

Objecting to website content process

If you’re concerned about the content or use of a website, you should:

Contact the registrar. The domain lookup tool should list the contact details for the registrar of a particular domain name, or direct you to their website. If the search result on the domain lookup tool doesn’t list their contact details, take a look at our list of registrars. The registrar will often be the website host too or may have alternative means of contacting the registrant.

If you’re not satisfied with the response you get from the website owner or host, one of the following authorities may be able to help you more (unless the owner or host is based outside the UK):

Domain names used in connection with criminal activity process

At this current time Nominet doesn’t have the authority to delete or suspend a .UK domain name except where specified in our registration terms and conditions. This agreement does expressly prohibit any .UK domains being used for any unlawful purpose. If you believe that you have discovered a .UK domain that is being used for an unlawful purpose, we recommend that you take one of these steps:

  1. Contact the registrar associated with the domain. You can find the registrar for .UK domains by performing a search using our domain lookup tool.
  2. Contact the police. If you believe that the activities on the domain are so serious that it is urgent to get it shut down, you should contact the police. We can suspend a domain name when alerted to its use for criminal activity by the police or other law enforcement agencies. You should report the domain to Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud and internet crime reporting centre at http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/. You may at the same time consider whether to inform the domain name holder that you have contacted the police.
  3. Interim court order. If it is very urgent to get the domain name shut down, it is possible to get an interim court order. This is a legal action which is used to avoid damages or inconvenience until a legally binding court decision is made, something that usually takes a long time. If the website is operating illegally, we strongly recommend that you also contact the police.

If you have any other questions or need further advice please email [email protected].

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