I am dealing with two such companies for web hosting and domain names, one domestic, one Euro multi-national. Each is a familar name to anyone who reads computer rags, so I start out willing to trust what either one says and have not been displeased with the actual service of either (although the American one does push the edge for me with some of its bait and switch pricing).
Now I am wondering how much hooey is in what the CSR at the American company told me today and how much of the other Net scuttle I've picked up since is worth being concerned about.
The topic is domain ownership and how likely is it a big-name registrar can/will be misleading in who owns and can do what with it, and if so, what traps to watch out for in the TOS or elsewhere.
I suspect the American CSR gave me a load of hooey today on several points, outlined below, but I need to confirm with people who have more perspective than I do. She tried to scare me off of changing registrars with all of the following:
a) Badmouthing the competion
The American CSR at "Company A" told me (when I called regarding silence on a transfer request) that I really shouldn't transfer to "Company B" (the Euro) because I would "never get away" from them later if I wanted to leave. Ignoring what poor form it is for anyone to badmouth their own competition that baldly, I simply told her that did not comport with my experience. So she turned up the heat, proceeding to (b) and (c):
b) "You won't own your domain"
"You relinquish ownership to your domain" if you register with Company B, she said flat out. Huh? I think to self; I don't have the TOS in front of me, but all the things on the control panel sure suggest that I am the only one with keys to any car I park at Company B. So to speak. I didn't see how that could be possible. (I have privacy attached to all my domains at both companies so I can't double-check the Admin-C unless I turn that off to see.) "It's just like AOL" the CSR continued blithely. "It looks like you own your own domain, but you really don't."
c) "After they hold you hostage, they will keep raising rates."
When the CSR said that, I thought to self wryly "are you speaking as the pot or the kettle when you say that?" If anyone has done the old bait and switcheroo, it is Company A. It's the central reason why I want to start migrating off of there as renewals start to loom. Company B, on the other hand, offered great deals to get in, and has had no downstream surprises on what it costs to keep it all going, and has given great (toll free) support 24/7 in the interim. Once again, I simply told her that had not been my experience. So she turns up the dial once more, proceeding to (d)
(d) More badmouthing, i.e. "They turned me over to a collection agency when I refused to pay."
The CSR then tries to ice the cake with a story of the time she, personally, had a domain at Company B, they wouldn't let her cancel or leave, and turned her over to collection.
The irony is how this woman did not have a clue how fast she was nailing her own coffin shut with all of this. But my first concern is that I not go from bad to worse unwittingly.
Do you have any awareness of big-name registrars today playing games with Admin records and such to hold a customer hostage? And how much do you believe the conventional wisdom out there that one should keep domain names and web hosting separate, precisely to avoid a captive effect? (I have had both for several domains at Company B. for years, no hassle, but Company A currently holds the bulk of my several dozen names, so I need a better sense of whether all eggs in one basket is, or is not, likely to be tres unwise.)
Thanks for reading this far if you have -- and all comments/thoughts welcome!
I cannot comment on your expereinces but it does sound rather like you were wanting to transfer both registration and webhosting to the other company. Those overt comments from the old company probably have a lot of basis in fact. We've seen many such complaints about webhosts making domain transfers difficult or even impossible to the extent that they change the registrant/admin contacts and lock the domains. They cannot do this if they don't have control of the registration. The rights and wrongs of these actions is not the discussion. The webhost feels they have the right to do it for some, or whatever reason. It's a fait accompli. You're screwed.
ALWAYS get your registrations from a registrar and your webhosting from an (independant of the registrar) webhosting company.
