The Domain Game

I am now working two jobs: Running what's left of my own (very small) empire and working for a minority-owned business. "Claire", the woman who owns it, is just amazingly cool and doesn't like to micromanage anyone. That's great for me, as I thrive when I'm let loose.

Being a former website designer, I immediately asked why her main site is still parked with a GoDaddy sign on it. She told me that her website designer was still working on it. After several months.

Uh huh. This is what you get for a mere $4000 - $5000.

I called him for a status update and found out that he hadn't even started it yet. At that point, the owner agreed to letting me put up a site so that we can get this party started. So, I logged onto GoDaddy and asked Claire for the password.

She looked blankly at me.

The woman she had just fired that morning was the only one who had the passwords to all of Claire's domains.

So Claire called Miss Thang and asked for all her passwords. Miss Thang informed her that she felt that she was entitled to a big settlement check and once it cleared, she would let Claire have her information.

Oh no. I wasn't going to let it go down that way. So, I called GoDaddy.

One complication is that Miss Thang had originally signed up for the domains under her own name and paid for them with her own credit card. Even though Claire had reimbursed her (and had the documentation to show it), GoDaddy was now in an awkward position.

We ended up compromising.

I sent in reams and reams of documentation proving domain ownership, and even then it will take a couple of business days to reassign the domains to Claire's corporation. And Claire had reimbursed Miss Thang an additional $500 for some additional GoDaddy services that couldn't transfer, so Claire will have to pay for them again.

But, we know that we will soon be in posession of those domains, and it allows us to tell Miss Thang to kiss off.

I also told Claire to put together a bill to Miss Thang for reimbursement of this loss. When Miss Thang pays Claire, Claire can in turn pay Miss Thang for any services that remain unpaid.

Claire=1
Miss Thang=0

For now.

And the moral of the story?

Don't reimburse anyone for something you may have to prove ownership of later. It's OK to allow employees to be reimbursed for meals or mileage, but all major purchases need to be paid directly by the corporation itself.