After talking with several JUTA Negril members, it is only fair that you know their position.
As is too common here, the previous JUTA Negril website was, for lack of a better term, being "held hostage" by the former website designer. As the designer, they also registered the domain name for JUTA Negril. That is not unusual, and a domain name is about $20 a year.
A dispute occurred and the designer/owner of the domain name wanted much more than $20 a year to release the domain name to JUTA Negril.
Unfortunately, this happens all the time here. Foreigners come in with incredible promises and offer to help a business with their websites. Then they take advantage of the situation. I have even been falsely accused of this practice by other Negril site/page owners. I contacted them and had their libelous lies removed.
This problem gives me and all other honest web developers a bad reputation. Over the years, I have helped many businesses regain control of their sites, and when that was impossible without paying an exorbitant fee, to change the domain name slightly to get the business back online.
The present JUTA Negril website is new, and they will no doubt be getting a domain name.
This is an unfortunate reality with any business that allows the developer to hold all the cards. There are many developers you can trust to do the right thing even with a dispute. But there are some "cyber squatters" that take advantage of those that don't know. This can happen anywhere in any country. The international law is currently on the side of the person who registered the domain name, but there are arbitration rulings changing the current system everyday.
Hopefully this situation can be resovled amicably. This is not the first time we have had to deal with this same issue with the same developer. I am helping another business having the same problem with a different developer.
Needless to say, this is a very important and aggravating topic for me. Sorry to vent, but this is really disheartening. If any of you know of any friends or businesses having this or similar problems, please have them contact me at 423-5479 or rob@negril.com.
