Everything was fine in the digital world, there was peace all along and domain name registrars maintained the peace. Then, one day I wanted to buy my own domain name so that I could set up my own private mail/web infrastructure on the public server I rented. As a proud and stingy person, I looked for the cheapest alternative around and hit upon Net4. They provided a .in domain for 199 INR (around 20 DKK). I wanted to buy the domain for multiple years but their multiple year prices were too high. I asked about the pricing policy, whether the renewal charges will increase. I was told it would be reasonable and consistent with customer expectation. The following year I was asked to pay 449 INR as renewal charge for a year. I was unhappy about it but I was busy in other stuff so I just quietly paid up. This year I was asked to pay 617 INR as renewal charges. What was weirder was buying a new domain with .IN extension cost 225 INR for a year and for multi-year period the maximum cost was 476 INR per year. The renewal charges for a year were substantially higher. This was just too much, the pricing policies were not reasonable and not consistent with customer expectation. When I brought this up before the customer care folks, they said the charges are determined taking various factors into account and are fair and non-negotiable. I had never heard such a self-contradictory sentence before. So, I have decided to move my domain to Gandi. I have heard well about them from friends. I am keeping my fingers crossed here. The entire episode has left a bad taste about the whole pricing situation with domain name registrars and IMHO we need some sort of uniformity here.
bonii's musings 