I've lost 2 domains due to the ineptness of NetSol.
The first domain name stolen from me was webspin.com. It was stolen by an overseas registrar and is currently listed as for sale. Yes, you too can own a stolen domain name. They've recently reduced the asking price from $15k to a mere $11k. Very nice. Network Solutions didn't care. They didn't understand how their amazing security could be violated so if it was transferred it must have been authorized. That was it. They weren't interested in pursuing the matter. As I didn't have a major use for the domain name anymore (although I had contemplated either using it to promote web stuff or even selling it myself) I gritted my teeth and dropped it. At least I wasn't going to have to pay good ol' NetSol for the renewal.
Not that much later I had wyrld.com stolen from me. The 'new' wyrld.com still has the same bland label on the front page it has had since it was originally stolen from me. Another foreign registrar, of course.
At this point I began to realize that NetSol wasn't going to help me. They, of course, went right back into their denial act. Enough was enough. I started the long search for a reasonable registrar that gave a damn. The registrar I went with for my first couple domains was a front for the registrar I'm still with today. They were less than a third the price of NetSol and much easier to use. Today its even cheaper. See the Techie: Hall of Fame page for details on that very smart move.
This led to the third (and final) NetSol incident. As NetSol began bleeding off the customers who hadn't been outright stolen from them, they instituted the authorization code and went to great extremes to try to prevent you from knowing what it was. I was moving not only my own personal domains away from NetSol, but also my workplace's domains. During that time they managed to stop me from transferring one of my domains long enough for it to hit the 30 day "no transfer" period. The transfer was held up just long enough to fall into the final 30 days of life and the transfer was refused. At this point I was told I would have to renew through NetSol then wait another 60 days before I could redo the transfer.
I sent the $35 to NetSol along with a very to the point letter congratulating them on extorting a final $35 from my company. I made sure they knew that I knew exactly what date the domain would be free on and to know that although they had blocked the transfer once they would be unable to do so. I told them to enjoy that $35 because it was the last $35 they would ever see from me or any company I was associated with. 2 days later the domain transferred to my new registrar without my even asking for it.
All it took to get some service out of NetSol was telling them that they were going to get rid of me apparently. Deal.
Network Solutions is still the registrar that charges the most for the least. Its absolutely amazing to me they have as many domains registered through them as they do. It speaks volumes of the inertia in corporations. They don't know or care. $35 means nothing to them. I know I sure had to do some heavy justification to transfer domain registrars, but we've successfully removed ourselves entirely from their control now that EDUcause manages emory.edu. NetSol did allow that one to get stolen too before they gave up control of the EDU TLD. Even better, since it happened on a Friday and NetSol serviced EDU domains for free as a 'service' to the Internet community they refused to address it for free on the weekend. They actually forced us to wait for regular business hours to start on the next Monday before they would even open up a ticket. What great service.
In recent history NetSol has been bought, sold, and dumped enough times that
they may very well be a totally different company. Doesn't matter. They're
still the company that charges the most for the least. No thanks. I'm very
happy with my current registrar.
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