If 1&1 is so terrible, why use them at all? The price?

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Matt Nordhoff (aka Peng on IRC)

Agreed. I'm also trying Google Domains with one of my domains. What I worry about with Google is what will it be like should I ever need support. With GoDaddy eventually I can get my point across and get help and they respond fast, not sure it will be that way with Google. The switching experience was flawless so I can say that.

Most of mine are under a resale account under Godaddy. No real issues over the years. Support is there if you get the right person but seldom needed. Have a few with Google to play with and I manage a number of company ones via CSCInfo which is expensive but business like. Don't host and register by domains with the same co though.

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Kevin a.k.a. Dweeber

I'm using namecheap.

I use to use godaddy but NEVER AGAIN.

Some of the issues I experienced with godaddy:

A) I was out of town and needed to renew a domain, and I forgot my gadaddy password. Tried resetting it through their web interface, but whatever mime they send their confirmation e-mails in wasn't working in my e-mail client (webmail) that I needed to use. I had to waste time on the phone to reset it.

B) I had purchased a SSL certificate from them. I am damn sure I did not set it up for auto-renew because my need for signed SSL with this domain was very short term. A year later, I got charged a renew fee, and getting refunded on it was like pulling teeth.

C) Recently I had a support issue, but I could not find an interface to a support ticket system on their web site. I know they use to have one, and maybe they still do but I can't find it, all I could find is a phone number. I knew this was a complex issue and would not be a fast answer, and it would have been easier for me to type it out - but I could not find where to fill out a damn ticket request.

So I called, wasted my time on hold listening to their dumb sales pitches, and then when talking to the person, had to waste time while 3 times during the call he had to go ask someone else, as I knew would happen because it was a complex issue.

Namecheap still has a form where I can explain my problem, and not have my time wasted on hold getting to a person or while they have to ask someone else.

D) Domains by Proxy - I made the mistake of using domains by proxy with godaddy, and 5 years later had forgotten which e-mail account i had used when I signed up with it, obviously one I no longer had access to, and trying to get domains by proxy to reset my e-mail address was a nightmare of ignored requests. And godaddy support was of no help. Finally I just let the domain expire and re-registered it Namecheap uses whois guard - and I've never had a problem with whois guard.

Your fault you can't manage passwords to important accounts? Consider a secure wallet perhaps? I have all info for all accounts, domains, website support, configuration information at my fingertips at home, work, out of town where ever..


SSL Certs via GoDaddy default to auto-renew. You have to manually change that. They also send you notifications of renewals at an almost annoying rate. Do you look at them?


So you couldn't ask the first human you reached on the phone what is the website link to their support ticket system was?


I personally have no issues with Namecheap and use them for SSL certs myself.... Just think your reasons for switching had more to do with your lack of maintaining documentation of information you should have just like... Response to NameCheap tickets vary depending on when and what you are asking. I've had them take 5-6 hours to get a response.


How is it anyone else s fault if you don't document how you setup the account?

Not a big fan of hiding registration. Makes contacting a company that has a network or service issue a problem as many of the "special" email addresses are useless if say their email is down and they don't know it. Happens much more often than you would expect.

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Kevin a.k.a. Dweeber

Dweeber - with domains by proxy, it doesn't work if you can't access the original e-mail address.

When I lost that e-mail address, I updated everywhere I remembered to - including godaddy. I did not remember at the time that domains by proxy was a separate service that required a separate e-mail update.

I finally got them to change it but it was like pulling teeth, they kept rejecting my scanned identification and they never told me why.

When I finally did get them to accept it and update my e-mail address, I discovered that after disabling it, I have to wait 60 days to move the domain - so now that is 60 days of waiting with my whois information exposed.

Thus - domains by proxy holds you hostage to godaddy unless you want your info exposed for two months, defeating the whole purpose of it.

I can not wait to be rid of that company.

And as far as hiding registration, I work from home in a rather conservative town. I don't want people to know what domains I have registered, it's really not any of their damn business.

Namecheap on the other hand has a system for hiding personal information that works much better, it's tied to the namecheap account - not a separate product, and it is simple to change the e-mail address associated with it - no need for a photo identification.

I just register my domains with "modified" names, street addresses, and phone numbers. Only the email addresses are "unmodified".

Re the unreadable reset pw emails -- I'd just view source, hit ctrl+f and find the https (or http) links containing godaddy.com
Though that scenario will never happen to me because I have a file with all bits of information. Even logins for (probably defunct) sites I last visited in 1999.

GoDaddy auto-renewed an SSL for me too, and I called maybe 6 months later. After a quick threat by me, they immediately gave me store credit for the full amount, as long as I used it that same day. They tried to give me their usual rip me off rates on that, too, but of course I immediately forced them to use the latest coupons. I just told them Amex is gonna reverse this charge even if it's 10 years old just because they know I *will* leave them if they don't, same as you guys.

I like Namecheap better than GoDaddy.

Regarding "modified" names, addresses, etc. - I don't like falsifying information because if there ever is a legal dispute involving one of my domains, I don't want falsified records on my part to be used to reduce my credibility.

But I still prefer them to be private, I get a lot of spam when they are not hidden - including snail mail spam.