Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Domain Names : Alternative to NetSol for basic domain registrar?

[neilgunton]

Hi all, I have been with Network Solutions for well over 10 years now. I have a number of domains which I run using my own servers and services for everything, including my own DNS. I am now looking for a different registrar after a recent phone experience with their "VIP Gold" customer service. They seem to have outsourced their VIP call center to India, I was on hold for 30 minutes before I got anyone on the line, and when I did they told me that my rate had gone up (I didn't get any notification of this) and moreover I would have to register the new domain for 3 years in order to get this rate. I wasn't happy and asked to speak to a supervisor, who just parroted the same thing. I replied that if they weren't interested in making me happy as a customer then we didn't have anything to talk about, and they would lose me as a customer - simple as that. They sputtered a bit, but this obviously wasn't in their script so they had nothing to say except "Sorry, this is the policy and I can't change it". It's not the $0.50 increase that irks me, it's the fact that they now require me to buy 3 years instead of 1 (as I have in the past), and moreover they obviously don't give a damn about me as a customer any more. So screw them.

So I am in the market for a new registrar. I just need the very basics:

No extra services - I do it all myself, including running my own email, DNS and web server. I just need the most bare-bones place to have my domains registered.

No BS or sleazy customer service. I don't want to feel like the company I'm dealing with is constantly trying to put one over on me.

In fact, I am willing to pay a little more even than bargain basement for a company that I can feel good about being with. I don't want to be on hold for half an hour to speak to someone in India who won't help me. I don't want to have to click through seven screens of ads when I log in before I can get to my account (No, I do not want privacy guard... No I do not want email service... No I do not want to renew all my domains right this second... NO I do not want to register these variations on my existing domains etc etc ad nauseam)...

So - any ideas? Recommendations? Companies to steer clear of completely? Thanks!

Neil

[WII-Aaron]

Wow. People still use NetSol?

Enom, GoDaddy, 1and1... there are lots to choose from.

[neilgunton]

Yes, there are lots to choose from - that's why I'm asking for advice on which people think might be best for my requirements, and why. Or why not. I keep hearing things about GoDaddy, for example, as in "don't use them", but I don't know if that is accurate or out of date etc.

Reasons would be useful.

Thanks!

Neil

[david3]

I like Internet.bs. I posted my review a few weeks ago:

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=970130

[stub]

I'd stay 1000 miles away from 1and1. I think eNom will treat you much like Netsol did, although I quite like their Control Panel. I'd recommend Name.com or NameCheap.com. I personally like the simplicity of Name.com. Of course you are going to get many suggestions, on this topic. Although my main registrar is GoDaddy, I wouldn't recommend them for you because their checkout sucks big time. Their Control Panel is the best out there if you have many domains. Which is why I use them. Also, GoDaddy can be a tad trigger happy if they receive any complaints of spam or wrong whois info. Overall, I'd say Name.com would suit you well. They have telephone support too, which I think NameCheap.com don't have.

[neilgunton]

Stub, thanks for the name.com recommendation. Yesterday I tried calling them, but gave up after being on hold for five minutes. So then I sent them an email describing what I wanted to do, and asking if they thought they would be a good choice for me. At the end of the day I got back a reply, from a real person, who talked to me like a real person and actually addressed my questions, so that was encouraging. It wasn't just "corporate speak" that you get from some "customer service" people following a script, the guy was obviously trying to be helpful, and admitted when he didn't know something, and referred me to someone else who would know. So that's cool. I will get the pricing info from the person he was pointing me to, and if everything looks good then I'll try a test transfer with one of my lesser-used domains to see how it goes.

Also, the name.com "about us" page looks encouragingly human-like, at least it talks the talk. We'll see how it goes.

Thanks again,

Neil

[neilgunton]

I actually got a phone call just now from Caroline at name.com, she was very helpful and explained how the pricing and control panel would work - she even gave me an account credit to go register a test domain to see how their site works with domain management (they will delete the domain in a few days, it's just to play around with). I asked a few questions about the company direction, and she said that they are definitely trying to grow organically in their own right, rather than get bought by a larger company like GoDaddy. Apparently they have a bunch of plans in the works for web hosting etc. So far I'm really liking what I hear - they seem friendly and human, and they are based in the USA, not outsourcing their customer service to India. Nothing against India per se, it's just that I've always found that talking to people over there is a much less direct and useful experience than talking to the actual people who are doing the actual work over here. In India they work off a script, whereas everybody at name.com is right there in Denver CO. I liked that on their "about us" page, they say:

"Unlike the other guys, all of our employees are empowered (and in fact commanded) to use their own personalized understanding of domain needs to solve any and all of our customers' domain name related issues and questions."

Promising... thanks again for the tip, I'm sold.

Neil

[neilgunton]

Sorry for the multiple posts, but I just wanted to post a quick update on my name.com experience: I logged in, and they had in fact already added the $10 credit for my test domain. So I registered neilstestdomain.com, and it took only a minute. I was then able to edit the name servers to point to my own server. After I edited my bind config on my server, I tried pinging my new domain, and it worked. All took just a few minutes. Very nice, so far based on my customer experience with these guys, I am happy to recommend name.com. I get the impression that if something does need addressing, then there will be real people there to help me with it. And the pricing is very similar to what I was getting with NetSol's VIP Gold ($9.99 per year), but I don't have to jump through hoops to get that pricing (NetSol required me to call them on the phone to get it for some bizarre reason), and they don't force me to do 3 years either.

And even as I write this, it strikes me that some people might get a little suspicious that I am some kind of shill - no, I have no connection with name.com at all. You can check me out online easily enough, my username is also my real name, and my home domain.

Thanks again,

Neil

[stub]

It's always good to get feedback on one's posts. Thank you Neil. I've always found Caroline helpful. I hope it all works out well for you.

[patrick101]

Thanks for the info regarding name.com

I'm also in the market for a new Registrar. My advice would be stay clear of MyDomain.com - their support seems to have vanished... and worse... 'Request Auth Code' doesn't currently work either!! Scary.

[neilgunton]

Originally Posted by patrick101

Thanks for the info regarding name.com

I'm also in the market for a new Registrar. My advice would be stay clear of MyDomain.com - their support seems to have vanished... and worse... 'Request Auth Code' doesn't currently work either!! Scary.

My approach was to just email name.com with some "test" questions about what I wanted to do, just to see how they would respond. This will tell you something about how they will probably respond to actual issues you may encounter down the road if you go with them. As far as I'm concerned, they came through with flying colors - I got the first response the same day, then a personal phone call from Caroline the next morning (i.e. the guy said he forwarded the email and he actually did, and the other person actually read it and then proactively called me - quite stunning in today's world of non-customer-service). And then, on the phone, when I was asking about how their control panel would work once I actually had a domain in their system, Caroline volunteered to give me a $10 credit so that I could try registering a test domain, just so I could see their system in action. So I did that, and it all went smoothly, so that was enough for me - I just went ahead and transfered all my domains over. I'm now waiting for NetSol to finish their stupid 3 day wait period (I got email from them saying that if I didn't click on their email link by the 24th then it would go ahead... why not just do it now, like I requested, sheesh).

Take a look at the "about us" page on name.com - the way they talk about empowering their employees to actually fix customers' problems seems to match up with what I actually experienced. They are trying, and I think they should be rewarded in the marketplace for this. I honestly don't care if they are the absolute cheapest - I don't have that many domains, and I'm perfectly willing to spend another few dollars per year to get this kind of customer service from real people who are here in the US, not in some call center in India. And even then, I don't think name.com is any more expensive than the others - $9.99 for .com seems about par for the course, at least within a dollar or two. I'm honestly just so sick of the soul destroying experience of trying to deal with big companies that it really brightens my day to find a company like name.com that is run by real people, who are apparently keen to treat me like a real person.

Oh, and their interface didn't make me jump through multiple screens of trying to upsell me on other services before I could do the simple thing I wanted to do (register a domain).

Highly recommended so far.

Neil

[patrick101]

Excellent. Thanks Neil. I think I'm going to take your recommendation and give them a try.

Now... these AUTH codes...!

[neilgunton]

All my domain transfers completed successfully and on time, and there was no downtime during the transfer either. Additionally, name.com did add on the extra year to the end of the pre-existing expiration times as promised (I don't know if that was a special deal, or ongoing). All in all, I'm happy as a clam.

Neil