webmasterbeta
New Member
Now, I've done a lot of different things in my life. I've touched on a lot of different industries at one time or another. And, the one thing they all seem to have in common - no matter how legitimate (or illegitimate) the industry - is that they never cease to suprise me with just how crooked they really are.
But, nothing prepared me for the domain business!!! I've been a heavy internet user for more than a decade now - so I'm used to bad customer service! But - holy cow!
I've purchased a couple hundred domain names over the last few months - and let's see what I've come across...
* I had a domain name registered out from under me (some 'tasting' company likely stole the whois data on my name search) and registered it right before I did.
* Registerfly managed to charge me twice for the above domain (that, obviously, I didn't get - and, of course, they didn't correct their 'mistake' or refund my money).
* Another registrar (cc-TLD) managed to charge my credit card twice for the same transaction (and, of course, never corrected their mistake either).
* One whole country-code top-level-domain makes you agree to their own specific terms & conditions - but of course there's a dead link to their terms (so you can't actually read what you are agreeing to). I informed them of this, and about a month later they finally respond saying that the terms page is working fine (of course, there's two different terms & conditions pages and they only checked the working one and not the dead one)...
* I also purchased a couple domains from a different country-code TLD - one with certain restrictions about residency, business affiliation, etc... Knowing that it was arguable as to whether they would accept my domain name registration or not, I asked them first. They asked me to send them paperwork (receipts, contracts and such), which I provided (and they approved). They say everything's good and to go ahead and register the domains. I do - yet they never seem to come online. I finally find out it's because the registry decided to go back on their word - and now (after they've gotten my money) say I didn't provide them with adequate enough paperwork (they never bothered to inform me that they had declined my registration either - and they also tried to keep my money!)...
* Then, of course, there was the parking company here that bait-and-switched me (and everyone else).
* Oh yeah, then there was the other massive European registrar who made me send in the exact same document three different times (and fill out a web-form saying I'd sent in the document each and every time - before promptly ignoring both the forms AND the documents themselves)...
* I found bugs and errors in two different (major) domain registrars web sites that prevented me from updating the nameservers on a few of my domains - and just try and explain that to anyone from support!!! At least, you often get a nice, polite form letter back explaining how the problem is really yours, not theirs (and showing that they really didn't even read your email in the first place).
* I tried to purchase a dozen domains from a certain cc-TLD (I even went so far as to send the registrar an 'I'm buying all these domain names, please send me the bill/order-form/whatever...' email), but that was almost three months ago and they haven't bothered to reply yet. I'm beginning to think they may never...
* Heck, even my hosting company is in on it. They promise 99.9% up-time - only to deliver almost 90 or 95% uptime during the summer.
And GEEZ, that was just off the top of my head. I'm sure there's others! I can't even count how many times I've been outright lied to by some company's Support Department (usually over something that's clearly their fault - but wouldn't look like it to a newbie).
When are internet companies ever going to realize that poor customer-service (and other things such as - I don't know - fraud and theft) aren't going to help their businesses?
Maybe one day...
But, nothing prepared me for the domain business!!! I've been a heavy internet user for more than a decade now - so I'm used to bad customer service! But - holy cow!
I've purchased a couple hundred domain names over the last few months - and let's see what I've come across...
* I had a domain name registered out from under me (some 'tasting' company likely stole the whois data on my name search) and registered it right before I did.
* Registerfly managed to charge me twice for the above domain (that, obviously, I didn't get - and, of course, they didn't correct their 'mistake' or refund my money).
* Another registrar (cc-TLD) managed to charge my credit card twice for the same transaction (and, of course, never corrected their mistake either).
* One whole country-code top-level-domain makes you agree to their own specific terms & conditions - but of course there's a dead link to their terms (so you can't actually read what you are agreeing to). I informed them of this, and about a month later they finally respond saying that the terms page is working fine (of course, there's two different terms & conditions pages and they only checked the working one and not the dead one)...
* I also purchased a couple domains from a different country-code TLD - one with certain restrictions about residency, business affiliation, etc... Knowing that it was arguable as to whether they would accept my domain name registration or not, I asked them first. They asked me to send them paperwork (receipts, contracts and such), which I provided (and they approved). They say everything's good and to go ahead and register the domains. I do - yet they never seem to come online. I finally find out it's because the registry decided to go back on their word - and now (after they've gotten my money) say I didn't provide them with adequate enough paperwork (they never bothered to inform me that they had declined my registration either - and they also tried to keep my money!)...
* Then, of course, there was the parking company here that bait-and-switched me (and everyone else).
* Oh yeah, then there was the other massive European registrar who made me send in the exact same document three different times (and fill out a web-form saying I'd sent in the document each and every time - before promptly ignoring both the forms AND the documents themselves)...
* I found bugs and errors in two different (major) domain registrars web sites that prevented me from updating the nameservers on a few of my domains - and just try and explain that to anyone from support!!! At least, you often get a nice, polite form letter back explaining how the problem is really yours, not theirs (and showing that they really didn't even read your email in the first place).
* I tried to purchase a dozen domains from a certain cc-TLD (I even went so far as to send the registrar an 'I'm buying all these domain names, please send me the bill/order-form/whatever...' email), but that was almost three months ago and they haven't bothered to reply yet. I'm beginning to think they may never...
* Heck, even my hosting company is in on it. They promise 99.9% up-time - only to deliver almost 90 or 95% uptime during the summer.
And GEEZ, that was just off the top of my head. I'm sure there's others! I can't even count how many times I've been outright lied to by some company's Support Department (usually over something that's clearly their fault - but wouldn't look like it to a newbie).
When are internet companies ever going to realize that poor customer-service (and other things such as - I don't know - fraud and theft) aren't going to help their businesses?
Maybe one day...