July 29, 2007 Network Solutions has lost my business 
I’ve been a Network Solutions customer since 1998. I sort of take pride in the fact that my username is a 5-digit number, starting with 16. That among the millions of people who have since acquired domain names, I was among the first 16000. I’ve paid $35 per domain, per year since then, owning up to 15 domains at a given time. Sometimes I’ve paid less if I’ve renewed for multiple years. There’s been a bit of peace of mind with Network Solutions that a GoDaddy can’t provide.
In May 2007 I let a domain name lapse that I had acquired one year earlier. I wasn’t using it. I’ve a renewed interest in securing it, though, and now 2 months after it expired, I’m told its status is Taken. When I do a WHOIS query on the domain, I see it’s not owned by anyone; it’s registered to Network Solutions, and pending delete:
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.
Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com
Referral URL: http://www.networksolutions.com
Name Server: NS1.PENDINGRENEWALDELETION.COM
Name Server: NS2.PENDINGRENEWALDELETION.COM
Status: pendingDelete
I log into my Gold VIP account and contact support. “What’s up here?” I ask. I let this domain name lapse and it’s unavailable for me to renew and unavailable for me to purchase. How do we straighten this out and let me renew this?
I receive the following:
According to our records, the domain name registration is in a Redemption period status. This means that the domain name registration has been deleted from our database and is in the process of being returned to the market where it will be available for registration by anyone.
During the redemption period we can attempt to recover this domain name registration for you. (There is a $150.00 charge for this service.) If you would like us to do that for you, please contact Customer Service at 1-888-642-9675 to provide your credit card information. If you are calling from outside the U.S. or Canada, please call 1-570-708-8788. As a Network Solutions customer, you are entitled to unlimited access, day or night, to technically skilled customer service representatives who are dedicated to delivering any level of support you may need.
Once the domain name registration has been recovered, it will be re-activated in your original account. Allow 3-5 business days for this process to be competed. We hope this information has been helpful.
$150 to recover a domain name that cost $35. No mention of how long it will continue to be in the purgatory they call “the process of being returned to the market where it will be available for registration by anyone.”
Give me a break. That process is called blackmail. Network Solutions is profiting by turning what might be a clerical error, letting ownership lapse without renewing, into a method of squeezing more money out of customers. At least domain squatting, or acquiring valid domain names to set up advertising-rife search portals, is an independent money grab. This is just a way of screwing over customers.
With each domain that comes up for renewal in my account, Network Solutions will lose another piece of my business.
