A poor hosting/domain name registrar can follow you way, way down the road.
Here is one company to avoid: MelbourneIT.
I ran into many, many roadblocks when a client came to me with MelbourneIT as their registrar.
Melbourne IT is based in Melbourne Australia, and when I tried to contact their phone support (from Chicago) several times on different days, the phone reception was so poor, I couldn’t understand what they were saying. Eventually I gave up trying.
Several attempts at submitting trouble tickets were also ignored. Eventually, I did get the answers I needed, but only after several failed attempts, and I still had to bill the client for the colossal waste of time.
I’ve dealt with many domain name registrars, and MelbourneIT was by far the worst.
Companies I do recommend:
Godaddy’s phone support has been excellent (for the most part). Dreamhost does not offer phone support as part of their regular package, however, their response time and rate have consistently been dependable. They do offer guaranteed callback support, but the cost for this is extra. (Both Godaddy and Dreamhost have had outages — Dreamhost more than Godaddy — but these are rare.)
Your choice of which hosting/domain name registrar DOES matter. It’s never a good idea to skimp on these — a bad choice can follow you way, way down the road; and it may be time consuming, if not difficult, to change to another registrar (it’s not a matter of just a few click to make the move).
Send your comments to Chicago Web Designer Christopher Merrill.
Christopher Merrill is a Chicago freelance website designer, doing business since 1999. Specializing in website design for small- to mid- sized businesses and individuals, Christopher Merrill works closely with his clients to provide high-quality website design at an affordable price. Mr. Merrill has designed over 200 websites for his clients in Chicago and nationwide during the past decade. Christopher Merrill prides himself on providing an honest, hands-on approach with each individual client, in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere. Turnaround and response time are kept to a strict minimum, and Christopher Merrill is always ready to respond to all of your questions, whether you are looking for a Web design solution, or working closely with him to update your already-existing site.
I agree Melbourne IT are also terrible at hosting, along with Crazy Domain, Net Registry.
I usually avoid using small-time domain resellers for registering domains.
Me too. They can go out of business and leave you stranded.