Better Business Bureau Records Spotty — Domain Registrars’
Analysis of Better Business Bureau complaints alarming yet inconclusive.
Reglike surveyed the Better Business Bureau records of the seven largest domain registrars with considerable North American consumer operations. Registrars ranged from 2 complaints on the low end (over the past 36 months) to 321 on the high end.
Consumers can register complaints with the Better Business Bureau when they are unsatisfied with how a firm responds to their client complaints. Most consumers don’t go through the hassle of filing complaints, but many people who feel they are unable to resolve issues with a firm will file a note.
Reglike’s analysis showed alarming numbers of complaints for certain registrars, although caveats abound:
1. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is a fragmented organization with local bureaus. These bureaus may handle complaints and presentation of complaint information differently.
2. The BBB notes reviewed for this article included outdated information. For example, Register.com showed that it also did business as Afternic.com. Still, Register.com sold Afternic in 2002. This may have resulted in complaints erroneously credited to Register.com.
3. Larger registrars ought to be expected to receive the greatest number of complaints.
4. Registrars that deal with unsavvy clients are more likely to receive complaints. GoDaddy’s Super Bowl commercials have attracted lots of clients, counting many who don’t know much regarding domain registration.
5. Registrars offer a number of services in addition to domain registration. Registrars that focus on webhosting may receive more complaints compared to those that focus on domain registration. GoDaddy is the United States’ largest shared hosting provider.
6. Registrars often use different firm names, which may affect the correct allocation of complaints.
So how did the registrars fare? Below are the details on the top 7 registrars. Click on the registrar name to see the note.
Moniker – Moniker joined the BBB in 2004 and is a member of both the ‘offline’ and ‘online’ versions of the BBB. In the past 36 months it has received only 2 complaints. Although Moniker has fewer domains under management than the other registrars in this list (source: RegistrarStats), having only 2 complaints gives the firm top honors.
GoDaddy – GoDaddy is the world’s largest registrar with over 16M domains registered. It also has the most BBB complaints (321) as stated by the analysis. The firm appears to respond to and resolve complaints.
Wild West Domains – WWD is the reseller arm of GoDaddy. The firm received 22 complaints in the past 36 months. It is unclear if these were from resellers or resellers’ clients.
eNom – eNom, the world’s second largest domain name registrar, received only 21 BBB complaints in the past 36 months. The firm joined the BBB in 2002.
Network Solutions – Since it was the first registrar, Network Solutions deals with a lot of complicated issues from domains registered over a decade ago and has many unsophisticated clients. It received 130 complaints in the past 36 months.
Tucows – Canadian registrar Tucows received 28 complaints for NetIdentity, Tucows, and a couple other firm names. Tucows isn’t a member of the BBB, so it doesn’t respond to complaints.
Register.com – Register.com received 68 complaints over the past 36 months. 48 of these have been resolved, 18 have resulted in responses from Register.com that the consumer did not consider satisfactory, and the firm hasn’t responded to 2 complaints. Register.com is not a member of the BBB and has an ‘unsatisfactory record’ as stated by BBB.
A number of readers will find these results, given the caveats, in line with personal experiences.
