Hermes Digital held our domain to ransom
Hermes Digital registered the domain for our organisation (St Catharine's College Alumni Association, a charity) in their own name rather than ours during our time as a client.
In early March 2026, without any notice, they unilaterally moved the domain as part of an internal restructuring. This broke our website, which pointed to an invalid IP address as a result. We were not informed this would happen.
After raising the issue repeatedly over 11 days with no resolution, we contacted them directly. Their team cooperated initially - requesting our Cloudflare account ID, sharing screenshots of their own DNS configuration, and asking us to add the domain on our end. We complied immediately. The transfer appeared to be underway.
At that point, without any change in circumstances, they reversed their position entirely. In an email, they asserted for the first time that they owned the domains outright on the basis that they had paid the registration fees. They then stated that their "goodwill had been materially changed" and that they would not action anything further unless they received a personal apology from us first - using our charity's domain as leverage in a personal dispute over tone.
Our website remained broken for over two weeks in total. The domain was only transferred after we were about to issue formal written notice of our intention to file with Nominet under the Domain Resolution Service, citing the charity's registered status and their lack of any legitimate interest in the name.
If you are considering using Hermes Digital, I would strongly recommend ensuring any domain they register on your behalf is registered in your name or transferred to your control immediately. Do not assume goodwill will persist if the relationship deteriorates.
Reply from Hermes Digital
Clearly, recollections vary. You failed to action the domain transfer when requested in 2025 during the handover. Despite that, we renewed the domains at our own cost, maintained them without charge, and continued to cover associated services, including email. You have not reimbursed us for this. Also, as a client, you were only ever charged at cost; our time was gratis.
Regarding your recollection of recent events, we offered interim solutions to restore functionality, including repointing the domain, while coordinating transfer—at points where you were not prepared to proceed. There was no agreement requiring transfer, and no entitlement to the domains—despite what is now being implied. You owned a domain provisioned by the university.
The claim that this amounted to “holding a domain to ransom” is baseless - as ransom implies we had something to gain or had a demand (we are materially out of pocket; unless you are referring to my demands for good manners for we will never apologise for).
This is a poorly constructed narrative intended to obfuscate. We do not respond to empty threats, nor do we engage with revisionist accounts of events.
This situation was prolonged by poor judgement and unnecessary posturing, not by any failure on our side.
One would expect a higher standard of conduct from alumni of such a prestigious institution.
