Blog O Stu

This is the tale of how I screwed up a domain transfer and gained the opportunity to experience the excellent support provided by Register.com.

My first mistake was missing the email containing the domain transfer spells–Transaction ID and Security code–from GoDaddy.com transfers.  The person to whom I am transferring told me that his account showed the transfer still “awaiting approval.”

So, I logged on to Register.com to see what I could see.  This lead to my second mistake and much frustration on my part:

Poking around the domain information, I see: “Transfer of registrant feature is locked for your account. Please see our FAQs or contact Customer Support for more information.”

OK, so I read the FAQ.  It instructs me to download a form, fill it out and fax it back.  So, I did.  I waited an hour and called Register.com tech support to find out how long this will take.  I spoke to a very nice gentleman who took the time to see if the fax had been received. It had, but the poor quality of the fax made it impossible for them to process.

By this point, I’m getting upset.  Why on Earth should I have to fax a photo ID and fill out a form just to transfer a domain. (I didn’t: that was my second mistake! I’ll get to that in a minute.)

The tech support person offered to help expedite the transfer of registrant.  If I would send a readable version of the fax, he would walk it through.  I expressed my frustration as the complexity of this transaction. He remained calm and helpful.

I scanned my drivers’ license at extremely high quality and inserted it into the PDF. I completed the rest of the form, printed it, and faxed it to Regsiter.com. That was enough for one day, so I went on to other things, taking the opportunity to complain to our student workers how difficult they were making a process that I believe should be quite simple.

The following morning, I received an email from Register.com saying that the second fax did not prove that I was the legal entity to whom the domain was registered. I also received an invitation to take a survey about my experience with Register.com support. Oh, goody!

I filled out the survey, answering truthfully that the support person was nice, knowledgeable, and helpful.  Then, under the whatever else you wanna say portion of the survey, I blasted Register.com for making the transfer process so complicated and vowing to tell everyone that would listen to “avoid them like the plague!”

I started work on the third version of the fax, in an attempt to prove to them that I was really me.  Before I could finish scanning and inserting a second photo ID, my phone range. It was Regsiter.com support.

A very nice and helpful woman explained to me that the domain was originally registered to an organization and that I needed to prove that I was a duly appointed representative of that organization. I did not yell.  I attempted to explain how frustrated I was and that the organization to whom the domain was registered was a grant project, and not a legal entity by whom I could be duly authorized. I told her I had registered this domain and it shouldn’t be so complicated to transfer it to another person. She remained cheerful, supportive, and helpful.

After a short while and some excellent questions on her part, she realized that I was trying to change the registrar and not the registrant. Yes, I got confused about the terms and was working on entirely the wrong process! (At this point, you’ll want to imagine me turning red and apologizing profusely.)

She offered to expedite the process once the person to whom I registered the domain finished his end of the transfer.  She waited patiently on the phone while I located the email I had missed the previous day. I thanked her profusely, apologized again, and set about taking responsibility for my confused and rather harsh actions.

The first step was to tell the folks to whom I complained about Register.com that the mistake was mine.  I told them all–all three, that is–as soon as I saw them.

The final step is to write this blog entry, explaining that Register.com has great tech support: they really do! Their support is a toll-free call (at least for my location in the United States).