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In case anyone noticed and cares. My domains were switched from register.com to godaddy overnight and dns was re-routed. Oh well, allgood now.
In case anyone noticed and cares. My domains were switched from register.com to godaddy overnight and dns was re-routed. Oh well, allgood now.
About a month ago, after discovering my ancient Comcast-owned cable modem is so old and rickety it's causing disconnects after the newest speed upgrade (8mb down, baby!) I decided to buy my own. It just seemed easier than trying to convince Comcast that (a) there is a problem (b) the problem is the modem and (c) they should give me a newer one. Too much hassle, not worth the $60 a new modem costs and that would mean an end to the $3 monthly "modem rental" charge as well. Double benefit, really.
I hooked up my new modem, provisioned it and returned the old one to my friendly, neighborhood Comcast office.
Fast forward a few weeks. I open my bill from Comcast and there's a $99 "equpiment charge" on the bill for next month. Armed with my modem-return receipt I called the customer disservice center.
Apparently, it's standard billing practice... the conversation went something like this (although likely not exact words, I didn't tape it).
me: I have this $99 equpiment charge on my bill, can you explain what it is for?
chirpy-service-rep: Oh yes, that's because you provisioned your own cable modem and we charged you for the cost of the original modem.
me: But I returned the original modem, I have the receipt in my hand.
csr: When did you return it?
me: <quoting the exact date and receipt number for good measure>
csr: Ah, I see, it takes approximately 30 days to credit returned equipment.
me: So why was I charged for a modem I returned, again?
csr: It's standard procedure, once the return gets credited you will see a credit.
me: Okay, then I'll just not pay the $99.
csr: then your service will be disconnected for not payment.
me: Uhm, let me do the math. After paying a $3 monthly charge for several years for a seriously outdated modem, you charge me about four times its worth even though I have returned it and if I refuse to pay this I will have a service disconnect?
csr: cheerfully: That's correct!
me: <banging head on desk>
Comcast must really hate their customers! Too bad my only alternative is crappy-ass dsl at around 300kb speed (or that's what it was last time I went down that road).
Nice, Comcast, very nice.
Back in the long-ago-time of only a couple registrars, register.com was a pretty good deal. $35 a year when internic was selling domains for $70 and no other options yet existed. That's when I registered a domain I've had with them ever since. January 2000. Not long after I used them to register a couple more domains, one of which operates this website and another my main email address (hint: it sounds like just my last name, makes for a cute, easy email address firstname@lastname.com).
I haven't really used that first domain in a long time but it was still being used by a bunch of friends of mine. Really, the domain was for our group, a kind of a club, if you will. Yesterday it stopped working. This morning, it showed up registered to someone else.
At first thought, I thought someone hijacked the domain. That's what the clues pointed too.. after all I had all my register.com domains on auto-renewal for years now and I could have sworn this one would not expire until next year. Turns out I was wrong, but another piece of information made me suspect the validity of the new registration.. mainly:
Created On:07-Jan-2000 20:11:09 UTC
Last Updated On:15-Feb-2006 01:11:11 UTC
Expiration Date:07-Jan-2007 20:11:09 UTC
Don't domains normally show a new create date when someone else picks it up? That's how it always worked me..
I called register.com this morning only to be told that yes, the domain expired, the renewal did not go through because they couldn't charge my card and someone else picked it up. I remembered that my visa card number was changed last year due some data stolen somewhere or another and the charge not going through excuse was quite plausible. And it does appear that they kept the domain around for a month after the expiration.. but..
1. Nobody notified me of any problem. My email address on the record was accurate and they had my billing information, including address and telephone number, that were also valid.
2. The "redemption" period normally includes removing the domain out of the zone. That makes people notice there's a problem. Otherwise things look as if nothing happened.
So due to those two things it seems pretty obvious register.com does not want my business and my other two domains remaining with them are now in the process of being transferred to godaddy. It's cheaper too. I suppose the record creation date is due to the registrar still being register.com but it makes one wonder just how they make their money these days.. it's obvious they're not particularly aggressive about pursuing renewals and one has to like spending more to register with them when other registrars provide the same services for a much lower price.
Long story short, register.com sucks and apparently could not care less about customers. I'm taking my business elsewhere and suggest any other customer of theirs do as well.