Domain Registrars: The Jekyll & Hydes of the Internet
Category: Internet...
Posted Thursday, November 13, 2003 at 01:32 PM [GMT-6]

What is it about domain registrars that causes them to be your best friends while enticing you to use their services, then immediately turning into sociopathic creeps once they have your business? Is this really a viable model for long-term success?

I give you Exhibit A: Register.com. I currently have 31 domain names registered with them, on behalf of various clients or for my own use. It should be 32, and therein lies a story of intrigue and woe.

I was notified late last week by a client that their email no longer worked and their website was gone. Some quick investigation revealed that their domain name had expired in September (don't ask me why they were just now letting me know of their problems...that's a different story entirely). I never received a notice from Register.com, because the registration record still carried an old address.

How odd this was, considering that the registrar had managed to update the other 31 domains with the new address I provided more than a year ago. In any event, it looked like a simple matter...they had not yet released the domain name, so it should be easy to have them simply reactivate it, right? I mean, right there on their website is this entry in the FAQ regarding expired domains:

What could be more simple? So I try to put this process into motion. I gave up trying to reach anyone by phone; they don't return phone calls. It took them four days to reply to my message submitted via their online help desk (and then only after I submitted a rather testy follow-up 'why are you ignoring me?' message).

Their response? "Sure, we'll reactivate your domain name...for $235.00 ($200.00 to presumably change the "i" in their database to "a" and $35.00 for a year's extension...never mind that their usual extension fee is $20.00)."

I politely point out to them that their own website says the reactivation fee is $20.00; they reply, "you'll need to take that up with the main office." Which puts me back in the apparently endless cycle of unanswered phone calls and ignored emails, because, after all, who really wants to deal with a customer who is pointing out a significant discrepancy between your printed policy and the one you're trying to enforce?

Long story shortened...we're paying the $235, because the client needs to get back online, and can't afford the time to fight for the principle involved. So be it; Register.com has won the battle, and I wish them well.

However, I will never again send them new business (GoDaddy.com has, thus far, been a really swell registrar), nor will I have anything good to say about them in public (hence this post).

You may have wonderful dealings with Register.com; if so, rejoice. But you might want to double-check your account settings on every domain just to make sure you don't find yourself dealing with Mr. Hyde.