I started the domain transfer process with more than sufficient time to complete it before the expiration date.

1) The domain was locked against transfer. I have no recollection of receiving notice of this, nor can I find any evidence of it anywhere in my email logs, which go back 2 years or more. (I’m kinda anal about things like that.) I do have evidence that the registrar I’m transferring it to asked me, and left the decision to lock the domains up to me. That’s one of the reasons I’m transferring all my domains to it. It’s about service, not about the less than $10 annual price difference. I’ll spend the extra $10 if I get the service.

2) I went in to unlock it, but only the registrant email address could do that, and it didn’t work anymore. I’d updated the admin contact, but not the account address. (Note for those curious: I didn’t open this particular account. It was opened by the hosting company I started the domain with back in the day. I had updated my email address with my hosting firm, and it never occurred to me to update it at the registrar as well; all my previous transfers from other registrars had gone fine with only using the admin contact, which was correct and up to date.)

3) It took some days to get that particular mess straightened out. So, eventually, I unlocked the domain.

4) It took about 24 hours for the unlock to actually take effect. I reinitiated the transfer at about 18 hours (basically, I unlocked it in the afternoon and reinitiated it the next morning) and it was denied, again. Another email exchange with their tech support, who assured me the unlock only took a few hours. I noted it had been considerably more than a few, and they responded it was unlocked now. (And it was, at this time slightly more than 24 hours had passed.)

5) I re-initiated the transfer (for the fourth time, now) and it was going along, but it was going to run close to the expiration date.

6) Two days into this part of the process I received the first of three email messages which again raised my blood pressure. They were generated by the registrar and sent to me via my hosting service:

1. The domain was going to expire and if it did they would “redeem” it for me, but it would cost me an extra $100.
2. They were going to hold on to the domain for the maximum amount of time allowed before transferring it, and would not go through with the transfer until one day after the domain would expire.
3. For a limited time only, I could renew through them for a special low rate.

Note the sequence: first, we’re gonna charge you extra if it expires, second, we’re gonna make sure it expires before you can transfer it, and third, pay us some money and we won’t let that happen. The cynic in me saw a large gent in dark glasses walking into a china shop with a baseball bat. Perhaps the sequence was unintentional, but it couldn’t have been better designed to produce that impression. (And, just to add another insult to it, the special offer link they emailed me wouldn’t work. It was rejected with a “bad ID” message.)

Through it all, they steadfastly maintained that everything was my fault. I won’t deny some of it was, but I can’t accept all of the blame.

Now, here’s what happened with the hosting company throughout this whole affair.

1. Ten minutes after I left the first email complaining about my treatment by the registrar they selected for me, my phone rang. They wanted to know what I wanted them to do to help.
2. I told them I simply wanted to know if now, after everything that had happened, I needed to renew the domain before transferring it. They didn’t know, but they volunteered to call the registrar and then call me back with the info.
3. 24 hours later, I’m told that the registrar is not returning their calls. So their advice was I should just go ahead and renew at the inflated rate the registrar was charging, and they would credit my account with them for the renewal price. They volunteered, without my demanding or even asking, to refund money I wasn’t even paying to them!

I will note that during this process I never once threatened the hosting company with anything; I didn’t even suggest I was going to leave them over this. (I’m small potatoes, so it wouldn’t be much of a threat in the first place, but I never do that, anyway. Once you threaten, you have no more options. You either make good on the threat or you look like a petulant child.)

The storal of my mory is this, children. Guess which company keeps my business? Customer loyalty is for sale, but the price tag doesn’t come with a currency symbol. You rent customers with money; you buy them with attitude.