Digging Deeper
Before I begin: My heart goes out to those in London. Had I qualified for the Pro Tour happening this week, I may very well have been near the sites attacked.
We now return you to today?s scheduled post?
Today I took the time to transfer this domain from Network Solutions to GoDaddy. Why? Simple: Price. I don?t know about you, but paying $24.99 a year vs. paying about $9 is big difference to me. I?ve had this domain now for five years now (five years!), and while I?ve used Network Solutions for those entire 5 years, my ties to brand loyalty are as thin as spiderwebs (by contrast, I could?ve also said they were unbreakable, but that really screws my point, doesn?t it?).
So I go through the motions for getting the domain ready for transfer from NetSol to GoDaddy. Then I hit a snag: The domain is locked (ie, anyone reading this can?t just say ?Hey, let?s steal the misterorange.com domain!? and run with it). This means I need to go into the control panel for Network Solutions and unlock it.
Except?there isn?t an unlock option. I can change other things, such as DNS settings (which points to my web hoster, IMHosted), but I couldn?t unlock the domain. Hrmph.
So I did what any net savvy guy does: I fill out the webform.
And I wait.
And wait. About two, three hours.
And my patience wears thin. So I call up Network Solutions. When I explain what I want, and verify I am who I say I am, he asks me why I?m switching. Here comes the usual marking push, and I mentally prepare myself for it.
?Why are you choosing a competitor instead of Network Solutions?? He asks me.
?Well, they?re cheap,? I said.
?Ah. Mr. Erwin, I?m prepared to offer you as many years as you would like for $8.75 per year.? (FYI: This is $.05 more than GoDaddy?s rate)
I swallow. What? This is the company that normally sells a year worth of domain registration/upkeep for $25 and now they want about 1/3rd of that same price? As the operator speaks, I get a little angry at the fact that I could have just given them $15 more than I had to, had I not called.
This is the part where I?m supposed to rage against the corporate machine, and complain about big business and all things regarding domain registrations. But you know what? As I type this out, I can?t say I?m pissed at them too much. They didn?t want to lose a customer and they made the deal happen. Of course it was shady to ?hide? the price they could offer, but this happens more often than you think.
Want an example? Call your cable company. Tell them you?re paying too much and want to cancel the service. They?ll roll over and give you a new price, I guarantee. How do I know this? My sister did this exact same thing. ?I just can?t afford $100 a month,? she told them. ?Okay,? they said, and now she pays somewhere around $60 for the exact same service.
Why don?t people do this more often? Well, for one, they may not offer a deal and call your bluff. Then, of course, you can either go through with your account cancellation or turn tail and apologize (or hang up immediately, heh). But as today has shown me, ?deals? may be just a phone call or a request away.
Many people talk of simply asking credit card companies to reduce interest rates for no reason at all?just because they asked. And it works. It didn?t work for me, but you never know if you never try right? I guess bills and dating are closer than I once thought.
Maybe the next time you don?t want to pay that hefty fee for whatever service you?re tied to (car insurance, cable, phone, etc), simply explain to the Anonymous Clerk (mine was named Derek) that you found something cheaper. Most importantly, try to name their biggest competitor in the area as the reason. I think you?ll be surprised at the results. I sure was, and Network Solutions kept a customer because of it.
Remember, in their eyes, $9/year is better than $0/year, no matter how you slice it.
In the end we almost made it
At the point of no return
2 Comments:
Good for you! I have also learned ove the years that many things are negotiable that you would think are not. Lana is constantly surprised when I ask people for things that she would never think to do. She is even more surprised when I'm successful. It (usually) never hurts to ask. All they can say is "no."
Out of curiosity, is this price just for your domain registration? Who do you use to actually host your site now? How much do they charge?
Very cool. We were actually about to do the same thing. We have the church site registered with NS but it is about up and I was going to renew with GoDaddy. I'll see if I can get the same deal.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home