Registrars: The Good, The Bad, The Confused?

In my weekend role as Rainbow Cinemas' resident geek, I have to handle domain name registration and renewals at various points of the year, for 13 different domain names, currently spread across 5 registrars (for a number of historical reasons).

In trying to consolidate domains and minimize the overhead, I recently has this exchange with the folks at name.net:

I'm trying to transfer my three .org domains held with budgetnames.ca to you, yet I keep being told "transfer of this domain is not supported". I unlocked the domains via their management interface on 09/09, and the DNS records now reflect that fact (as does their interface). Yet I still can't transfer the domains, even with the Auth codes.

Can you explain what I'm doing wrong? Could there be something still locked at their end? I've never dealt with .org domains before, so I don't know what process there might that's different from .ca, .com, or .net.

The domains are:

rainbowcinemas.org
magiclanterntheatres.org
magiclanterntheaters.org

Thanks in advance,

Hello,

At this time, we do not accept .ORG transfers to or from our registrar. I apologize if this has caused you any inconvenience.

If you have any additional questions or concerns, please feel free to let us know.

Thank you,

Name.net
support@name.net

Name.net,

Do you mind if I call you "Name?"

Name, your website says you do. Any reason for this discrepancy? When do you plan to support .org domain transfers in?

Cheers,

Dear Nick,

Thank you for your question. Name.net is .org accredited, however we are still integrating this tld into our transfer system. This service should be available with in the following 2 months. If you have further questions or concerns, please let us know. We would be happy to provide further assistance.

Thank you,

Name.net

Dear Name,

Well, as my .org's are up for renew in the next month, I guess I'll have to stay with my current registrar for now. Thanks for the information.

FWIW, if I was running your website, I'd revise the copy on https://www.name.net/bath-transfer/ to state that your support for .org is coming soon, not available right now for $6.99. It would avoid support questions like "Why can't I transfer my .org to you?" ;-)

Cheers,

Nick, usability geek
http://divbyzero.com

Dear Nick,

We certainly understand your point. This issue has been resolved, and you should be able to transfer your .org domains to Name.net at this time. You will certainly want to keep a close eye on these transfers in order to make certain they transfer before they expire at their current registrar. Please let us know how we can be of further assistance.

Thank you,

Name.net

Dear Name,

Ok, now I'm confused. First you say "This service should be available with in the following 2 months.", then you say "This issue has been resolved, and you should be able to transfer your .org domains to Name.net at this time."

I've initiated the transfer and it looks like it's going through, though as usual you reject my credit cards and I have to use Paypal instead. (Not a big deal, just FYI.)

I'm baffled how you shaved 2 months of development/integration/paperwork/whatever off the plan just because I said I'll have to renew w/ my current registrar instead of transferring to you. That's quite the impressive developer overclocking just to make $21 in revenue -- from 2 months down to 2 hours! My compliments to your dev team! ;-)

Cheers,

Nick

Dear Nick,

We are very pleased to have been able to resolve the issue in well under our estimated time frame. Transfer confirmation emails will be sent to mlt-rc@divbyzero.com for the domains in transfer ID 88 in the very near future. If you have further questions or concerns, just let us know. We would be happy to provide further assistance.

Thank you,

Scott (yes, finally, a first name!!)
Name.net

Meanwhile, I tried to get an explanation from another registrar as to why they'd overbilled me -- early -- when the domain account was NOT set to auto-renew, and had this conversation:

The domain rainbowcinemas.sk.ca is not set to expire for another month (2007/10/11), and the domain, according to your site, is not set to renew automatically.

Yet despite this, I just got an invoice for $31.79 for a single year's renewal, when last year it was only $16.95.

Why has the cost nearly doubled? Why did a non-renewing domain auto-renew? And why did it do so a month early?

Thanks in advance,

Nick Boldt
Webmaster, Rainbow Cinemas

Hello,

For .ca renewal it is 19.99 + GST 1.20
Total cost is 21.19

Since you had paid $31.79

I have updated your account and added credit of $10.60 to your account. Next renewal you will be paying $21.19 for 1 year renewal.

If you have questions or concerns please do not hesitate to ask us.

Regards,
Wilson

WebServe Canada
www.webserve.ca "the power to serve"

Wilson:

Thanks for the price explanation (though I might question why the price has gone up 17% since last year). That said, however, the domain, according to your site, is not set to renew automatically. Why did it renew a month early, and why did it renew automatically (at the wrong price, too)? Is there something amiss with your renewal system?

Thanks in advance,

Nick Boldt
Webmaster, Rainbow Cinemas

Hello Nick,

We apologize for our billing error, I have corrected and you will not be overcharged or billed extra. Even thou it is not set to renew automatically, our billing system renews the domain one month in advance. If you have questions or concerns please do not hesitate to ask us.

Regards,
Wilson

WebServe Canada
www.webserve.ca "the power to serve"

At this point I gave up arguing the point since he didn't seem to care, and the 17% price increase was clearly not in order to hire people for tech support.

Anyway, the point here is that not all registrars are created equal, and cheap-as-free does not necessarily mean crappy service. In fact, it can be quite the opposite. If only everyone was so responsive to usability (and therefore marketing) issues!