What is Network Solutions afraid of?

Many years ago I dealt with Network Solutions for registering domains and the experience was not a happy one. Subsequently I avoided them, until recently, when a client had a domain registered there. I would have been happy to let sleeping dogs lie, but wanted to use an advanced domain related feature offered by another registrar. It was time to deal with Network Solutions again.

Starting at networksolutions.com I tried to find instructions for moving the domain registration to another registrar. No can do. If the instructions are there, I couldn't find them. On the home page Domains menu, the Transfer Domain Name link takes you to a page with instructions about transferring to, but not from, Network Solutions. You can't find the procedure by searching the web site either - there is no site search. So I emailed [e-mail] asking how to transfer a domain away from them. Network Solutions responded with:

"We are committed to creating the best customer experience possible. One of the first ways we can demonstrate our commitment to this goal is to quickly and efficiently respond to your recent e-mail. Please provide us with the domain name involved, so we could advise you accordingly."

If they really wanted to provide the best customer experience, instructions for transferring domain registration away from them would be easy to find. At this point, I'm thankful that I avoided Network Solutions all these years. After responding with the domain name in question, they came back with this:

"We are committed to creating the best customer experience possible. One of the first ways we can demonstrate our commitment to this goal is to quickly and efficiently handle your recent request. We have received and reviewed your e-mail. Please know that we genuinely want to help you in this matter.

We received your recent request regarding a domain name registration. However, on the account you are not listed as either the Account Holder or as a contact (e.g., Account Administrative or Account Technical contact). Our contracts do not allow us to exchange information with any individual who is not listed as an Account Holder or Account Contact."

Is it just me, or does any company that says how much they want to help you, never actually follow through? For example, if you call LL Bean someone answers the phone quickly and helps you. They don't say how much they want to help you or how committed they are to helping you, they just do it.

The fact that Network Solutions does not want people to know the procedure for leaving them, should tell you all need to know about using them as a registrar. Shades of AOL. All registrars do not do business this way.

One registrar that I like, directNIC, makes it easy to find instructions for transferring a domain away from them. Clicking the Domain Transfers link on their home page takes to you a page with a link to the domain transfers section of their FAQ. One of the questions there is "How do I transfer a domain from directNIC to another registrar?" That wasn't too hard to find.

At Register.com the path is even more direct. On their home page, click on Domains and then Domain Help. This brings up a list of questions including this one "How do I transfer my domain name to another Registrar?"

Register.com and directNIC are not afraid to tell the world how to stop using their services. Good for them. Remember this the next time you go to register a domain name.

[tenc21]

Not the bottom line...

Your comments on transferring from a registrar are on a superficial level. You classify networksolutions as a registrar you wouldn't do business with because it doesn't easily tell customers how to transfer their domains from them. You commend a couple of other registrars merely because they make it easy to find the instructions for transferring out. The bottom line is how easy is it to actually transfer out, not just finding out how to. It seems reasonable that info not be given just to anyone requesting it as networksolutions did in your transfer out attempt on behalf of a customer. But that aside, it is little consolation for a customer who wants to transfer out to easily locate the transfer out instructions, if these directions do not actually work. The bottom line comparison is how easy is it to transfer out--not how easy is it to find transfer out instructions. Many businesses says a lot of things...little of which may be accurate or functional. Before you recommend or not recommend, you might have gotten more data on how well your test registrars functioned in actual transfer out situations. That is, after all, what the customer is really concerned about.

[hoggydog]

tenc21 you miss the point. I happened across this post as I'm trying to figure out (for a customer) how to transfer from Netsol to another registrar so that they can consolidate all of their domains into one place. Thankfully they only have one domain with Netsol. tenc21, if you can't find the instructions, how how easy can it be to make the transfer? Are you saying that maybe if you somehow found out how to make the tranfer from Netsol to another, that the process maybe more simple than the others? Maybe if I sat down and read the complete tax code it would make it a lot easier to do my taxes instead of taking it to my CPA.

[maddogbravo]

Both Hoggydog and Horowitz are nuts - it's more typical that registrars will NOT supply the instructions for transferring a domain AWAY from their business. For one, that would be a stupid business model. Secondly, most (or all) registrars DO supply instructions for transferring a domain IN. So, even my cat knows it just makes sense to initiate the transfer from the registrar you are moving the domain into.

Work smart, not hard! :-)