most reliable long-term customer-service-oriented registrar?

[besonen]

hi all,

i've been using eyeondomain.com (tucows) and dotyou.com (enom) for registrations for a few years. these companies are one in the same. a small outfit in california.

anyway, i've stuck with them due to their excellent customer service. lately though i've been having a difficult time getting them on the phone. i'm starting to worry about their long-term viability.

based on posts in this forum i gather that enom.com is a pretty good customer-service-oriented registrar. their size also seems to be a good indicator of their staying power.

can anyone offer any first-hand experience with what they would consider to be the best customer-service-oriented registrar?

i'm not looking for the cheapest registrar. i expect to pay for good reliable long-term customer service. please don't post telling me who the best cheapest registrars are.

i'd also like it to be an OpenSRS registrar because i'm under the impression that this is somehow more desirable although i don't know why i think this. could someone please set me straight on this detail?

thanks,

david

[bakedjake]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld!

I use Network Solutions. I like them. Guess what? They're the most expensive.

But, their customer service is always good for me. They give me a special number to call because I have so many domains with them, and I'm never on hold more than 3 minutes. Their large-account domain management system is very, very good.

And I don't have to worry if they'll be there tomorrow or not. And they offer me all kinds of nice deals like airline miles, and discounts on multiples.

I mean it. I love them. I don't care that they are the big bad monopoly.

[besonen]

bakedjake,

thanks for the welcome and quick reply.

like many folks Network Solutions was my first registrar. after experiencing poor customer service i switched registrars.

since that time i've witnessed Network Solutions engage in business practices that i don't agree with.

so Network Solutions is one registrar i won't pay an annual fee to.

david

[bakedjake]

Well, David, that's why competition exists. :)

GoDaddy is known for their service as well. You might want to give them a look. I dislike their administrative interface, however.

[robho]

If you have a good few domain names (say 50+), it might be worth becoming a Tucows/OpenSRS reseller yourself, just for your own domains. There's a bit of technical setup involved, but then you are the registrar and can do most things online without needing any support.

If you like to keep everything under your direct control and cut the number of third parties involved I think it's worth it. There are slightly cheaper options now, but $10/.com/year is OK for me (I've been with OpenSRS since it started).

I've only needed OpenSRS phone support once, a few years ago when a couple of domains got cancelled without warning when Netsol changed the way the expiry was calculated (after transfers) without telling the other registrars. Even though the domains had already been grabbed by others, they got them back for me at no charge - this would have been much harder if an extra level of reseller had been involved.

BTW, the reason some people suggest using an OpenSRS reseller: if one of the resellers goes out of business, you can still control your domains from the generic control panels at OpenSRS.