Yet another ignorant questions brought to you by Exbabylon

What's the most efficient method of requesting the change of name servers for a client? As in Network Solutions (aka Verisign), it's simple, go to manage account, enter info, send them an email, they respond, it's changed. We all know the rat drill. But now we have all these wonderful registrars out there....

What do I do when a client sends in an order, requests the domain to be transferred to my name servers, and their domain isn't in Verisign? I've worked with the PaRaVa.Net infrastructure before, and it worked out ok... but I think I'm just getting lucky.

So how do you all do it when the client had an employee register their domain name two years ago, fired the employee last year ago when said employee skipped to the virgin island, and now said company now wants a website, you've been chosen as honored host, and you've got to get the change of the name servers rolling? (Short Sentence, no?)

Thanks all for your insightful and helpful answers.

For us, changing nameserver information on a hosted domain is up to the client unless they register with us, in which case I do it as a courtesy.

I only offer to do it if the client seems really lost. I doubt many clients want to give you their passwords, anyway.

We usually see who their domain is registered with and send them step by step instructions for that registrar, if we have them. If not, we see if we can get step by step instructions.

We have a huge collection now.

Originally posted by bitserve
We usually see who their domain is registered with and send them step by step instructions for that registrar, if we have them. If not, we see if we can get step by step instructions.

We have a huge collection now.

That's actually a great idea, mind sharing them :)

Thanks for the replies. And a ZIP of those documents would be REALLY helpful to young competitors like me :D

Actually I'm just providing hosting to my current clients, I do web design so that's why I asked.

The short story is to send them back to the support mechanism for their domain registrar. You might have to tell them who that is, but it's better to send them back than to mislead them.

We recently had one customer ask us why he could not change nameserver information, while telling us he was following "the instructions."

This customer contually asked us for the form he needed to fill in and fax to us to change his DNS information. We kept telling him there was no form, it was a transaction in his Domain Manager control panel - and he could do the entire transaction himself without our assistance, in real time. His nameservers would show up in the root zone files the next day.

He insisted we were stalling him, or misleading him, or otherwise mistreating him, and that he was going to transfer his domain away from us as soon as his 60 day window was over if we did not immediately give him the link to the form he was to fax in - and immediately change his nameservers when we received his form.

We ended up walking him through the screens on the phone in order to modify his nameservers in real time, and THEN we had him PRINT the page with his new nameserver information on it and fax it to us. I'm still not sure he understands that the fax part did nothing and was not required.

We still thank his hosting company - silently of course - and believe he will transfer his domain away at some point because of our poor service.

Sometimes you can't win.

-t