Yesterday started off badly, with one client pulling a project, and, with less than 24 hours left before the capecoder.com domain expired, my registrar being unreachable.
The whole operation of domain renewal by Tucows is an exercise in the absurd. They’ve locked the process so that the actual owner of the domain – you know, the one who pays the bills – cannot access their own account or get someone on the phone if the registrar is unresponsive.
In fact, their website smugly boasts that they don’t (harumph, ptui) deal with lowly domain owners directly, only with their own resellers.
You can transfer registrars, sure, but it takes up to five days.
What a shuck.
Meanwhile, around 10:30 yesterday morning, my registrar finally did email me, saying that they renewed my domain, but claimed (correctly) that the payment information I sent last week via their secure webform never made it to them. I tried a second time – again, failure. I asked if I could just give them the info on the phone, haven’t yet received an answer.
I will give my registrar points for coming through in the clutch, and wish I could say the same for one of the hosting companies I deal with, which shall remain nameless.
I phoned them for help with my domain renewal, and got the typical, self-righteous c*p from someone in their sales department about how they couldn’t do anything for me except shrug.
Adding temerity to injury, the salesperson asked if I’d be willing to fill out a customer service survey. I said he really wouldn’t want to read what I had to say about his non-service. He was dumbstruck with arrogant disbelief.
If this wasn’t bad enough, he then tried to sell me an extension of my hosting plan which, by the way, doesn’t expire until March.
Talk about unclear on the concept.
Fortunately, I’ve had dealings recently with another hosting company, Crystal Tech, which seems to provide better service than survey boy’s ineffectual firm, so I may switch all of my sites to them.
And I changed registrars.
The day continued strangely, with my wireless network deciding, once again, to have fits, and the usually reliable ATM machine at the local shopping center being out of service.
Things picked up when I was able to retrieve and deliver an basket of cute beanie baby dolls which my granddaughter won in a raffle over the weekend.
Things continued to improve after a positive, decisive meeting with some teachers and the head of one of the Mashpee town departments about starting technology workshops in late January.
Then, at four o’clock, I was “stood up” by someone who’d made an appointment to sell me advertising space in a local publication.
A fitting end to the day, indeed.