Stargate raises rates

[Theo]

Dear Valued Stargate Customer,

We want to thank you for your business.

Due to recent budget increases by ICANN (www.icann.org), to the Registrant, Stargate is required to adjust your bulk rate in order to collect all ICANN fees.

Effective August 1st, 2005, bulk rates below $6.95 will be adjusted to $6.95.

We understand that this will have an effect on your business and we hope you understand that this change is necessary and will allow us to continue to provide you with the best service in Registration business. Please feel free to contact us with any questions.

+++

I only have a handful of domains left there, due to dropcatching. Not worth keeping them there aymore, especially since they changed to the latest horrible management system.

 

[Jeffreyw]

bulk rates below $6.95 will be adjusted to $6.95.

Is Stargate a Directi reseller?

 

[basscaster]

The new Stargate system is truly atrocious - I get the feeling that no customer input was considered in the new design.

 

[Theo]

Stargate is an ICANN accredited registrar. Used to be my favorite in the early 2000's but unfortunately they focus more on hosting nowadays.

 

[StockDoctor]

Stinking ICANN. They do absolutely nothin (0) nada to earn these increased fees passed down to us lowly domainers. Whenever they decide they need more $ to pay for their trips around the world, they'll be back for another tax. (Call it what it is, taxation without representation)

 

[stuff]

Stargate is an ICANN accredited registrar. Used to be my favorite in the early 2000's but unfortunately they focus more on hosting nowadays.

Mine too
But haven`t used them for a long time now.

 

[Jeffreyw]

Why is the interface is similar to that of Directi's reseller sites?

 

[Theo]

They use the same interface.

 

[QuantumBeam]

Stargate is an ICANN accredited registrar. Used to be my favorite in the early 2000's but unfortunately they focus more on hosting nowadays.

:disappoin
Mine to, but after being with them for many years and recently not being able to explain why some of my domains renewal dates had been mysteriously changed from expiring in 2006 to now expiring in 2005 ? After spending lots of time on this issue it was finally resolved and support blamed it on the new "migration" of the new interface which is terrible to use. If you have domains there check your expiration dates carefully. Luckily, I had a domain report in my bulk acct printed out and laying on my desk prior to the migration or may never have even caught it. Really poor business practice after not only many years of doing business, but purchasing hundreds of domains from them. Most all of my domains are being transfered out.

:angry:

 

[Theo]

DC, you are correct. I moved out most of my domains to Enom prior to the migration. I had about 20 left with Stargate and all the expirations were messed up. They updated them after I complained over the course of 10 days. A couple were gone as they were in transfer to Enom - but they gave me credits for those. Still, it's sad to see a company with potential fall like this. I now have 99% of my domains with Enom.

 

[starg8]

:disappoin
Mine to, but after being with them for many years and recently not being able to explain why some of my domains renewal dates had been mysteriously changed from expiring in 2006 to now expiring in 2005 ? After spending lots of time on this issue it was finally resolved and support blamed it on the new "migration" of the new interface which is terrible to use. If you have domains there check your expiration dates carefully. Luckily, I had a domain report in my bulk acct printed out and laying on my desk prior to the migration or may never have even caught it. Really poor business practice after not only many years of doing business, but purchasing hundreds of domains from them. Most all of my domains are being transfered out.

:angry:

I'm curious to determine why the interface is so terrible. The new interface has added all the features that bulk customers were upset were missing before. Bulk transfers, bulk mods, bulk registry lock and unlock, increased search capabilities, API's, customer locks, etc...

Yes, during the migration we ran into a few snags. But everyone has stated the the problems were resolved through support.

So, if we increased the features and resolved your support request(s) I would be interested in knowing what we are doing wrong.

Radistar: You moved domains away from Stargate prior to the migration, prior to the rate increase, quick support response times, and under our legacy system. If we had so much potential under the legacy interface, why were you moving domains to eNom?

Just trying to understand your thinking.

-Tom

 

[Theo]

Tom, that's a good set of questions. In my opinion, Stargate seems to be focusing more on web hosting than domain registrations. The current interface is visually a step back and several in terms of functionality and usability. If you need a paradigm for a registrar back-end, check out NameCheap's. But an interface is not the sole reason for me choosing one or another registrar. Enom seems to be the most popular for domain resellers - with GoDaddy the most popular for end users. The ETP relationship is important and it's like having a rep looking after you. I think Stargate needs to re-discover themselves and decide whether web hosting or domain registration will be the primary focus. Even though the issues I had were eventually resolved, I had to resort to raising my tone to bring attention to my issues. I felt as if the techs were not grasping the importance of my tickets. Frankly, I'm not in the least going to go about bashing Stargate, because I know that you and the others that work there have good intentions and are professionals. But I decided that I no longer want to keep my domains with Stargate (or GoDaddy for that matter) and to use a stable, established registrar like Enom. Stargate needs to find a niche, the way Moniker has done for example (increased domain security). I am not sure why you guys ditched the custom-made backend interface for the current one, but it's not working to your benefit.

 

[QuantumBeam]

I'm curious to determine why the interface is so terrible. The new interface has added all the features that bulk customers were upset were missing before. Bulk transfers, bulk mods, bulk registry lock and unlock, increased search capabilities, API's, customer locks, etc...

With all do respect;
To begin with,
I as a customer was never given any advance notice whatsoever of any new interface about to take place, to give me and my customers time to prepare for any migration period ? Once the interface was in the changing period it was VERY difficult to find all domains located within my account. If you will notice after logging into the new interface, where it says "Domains" I would think that by clicking on that it would take me right to a page where my domains would be viewable and ready to access, but instead, it says "last 10 domains" ? Then in order to view the rest of the domains in my portfolio you have to click thru another page and then yet ANOTHER page after that to gain access ?.......it took me 3 days contacting support just to be able to find all the domains in my portfolio!!...........a very poor interface in my opinion. Surely some altercations can make accessing improved ?
Secondly, having a bulk account for many years it was totally wiped out with no notice or explanation as how it may be obtained.
And yes, support did handle all issues in a timely manner, however, I had to continue opening the same case over and over to receive an explanation as to why some of my domains expiration date mysteriously changed from 2006 to 2005 ? Support continually avoided the question and kept trying to put it aside by saying your domain has been successfully renewed for another year, but, no explanation was given to as WHY the domains expiration date was malfunctioning.
I still have a few domains left at Stargate and will consider staying as the support is very responsive in a timely manner which sets it aside from other Registrar's.
DC

 

[starg8]

With all do respect;
To begin with,
I as a customer was never given any advance notice whatsoever of any new interface about to take place, to give me and my customers time to prepare for any migration period ? Once the interface was in the changing period it was VERY difficult to find all domains located within my account. If you will notice after logging into the new interface, where it says "Domains" I would think that by clicking on that it would take me right to a page where my domains would be viewable and ready to access, but instead, it says "last 10 domains" ? Then in order to view the rest of the domains in my portfolio you have to click thru another page and then yet ANOTHER page after that to gain access ?.......it took me 3 days contacting support just to be able to find all the domains in my portfolio!!...........a very poor interface in my opinion. Surely some altercations can make accessing improved ?
Secondly, having a bulk account for many years it was totally wiped out with no notice or explanation as how it may be obtained.
And yes, support did handle all issues in a timely manner, however, I had to continue opening the same case over and over to receive an explanation as to why some of my domains expiration date mysteriously changed from 2006 to 2005 ? Support continually avoided the question and kept trying to put it aside by saying your domain has been successfully renewed for another year, but, no explanation was given to as WHY the domains expiration date was malfunctioning.
I still have a few domains left at Stargate and would consider staying if Tom would treat a long term and loyal customer with a nice bulk rate ? DC

This back-end and interface has been tested and functional with Registrars that maintain more than 400,000 domains. The complaints about the interface being sub-par are difficult for me to grasp and I simply do not agree. I understand change can be a difficult thing, but Stargate was at the point that we needed to make a change in order to accomodate additional features and TLD's to better serve our customers.

Stargate posted a message to our customers on our web site for 2 weeks prior to our migration date and tried to make the migration as smooth as possible. The change in renewal date was simply due to an error in migration that we did not expect, nothing more.

Multiple options are available for searching your domains. Clicking "Domains" and then "List last 10" will only display your last 10 domains. Clicking "Domains" and then "Search" would be a more logical step to list all of your domains. Also, by clicking Interface Settings you can specify the number of records you wish to display.

I don't know what your current rate with Stargate is at the moment. Send me a PM.

Tom

Tom, that's a good set of questions. In my opinion, Stargate seems to be focusing more on web hosting than domain registrations. The current interface is visually a step back and several in terms of functionality and usability. If you need a paradigm for a registrar back-end, check out NameCheap's. But an interface is not the sole reason for me choosing one or another registrar. Enom seems to be the most popular for domain resellers - with GoDaddy the most popular for end users. The ETP relationship is important and it's like having a rep looking after you. I think Stargate needs to re-discover themselves and decide whether web hosting or domain registration will be the primary focus. Even though the issues I had were eventually resolved, I had to resort to raising my tone to bring attention to my issues. I felt as if the techs were not grasping the importance of my tickets. Frankly, I'm not in the least going to go about bashing Stargate, because I know that you and the others that work there have good intentions and are professionals. But I decided that I no longer want to keep my domains with Stargate (or GoDaddy for that matter) and to use a stable, established registrar like Enom. Stargate needs to find a niche, the way Moniker has done for example (increased domain security). I am not sure why you guys ditched the custom-made backend interface for the current one, but it's not working to your benefit.

I don't think Stargate's focus is any different than any other Registrar. Domain name registration prices are being driven down by the marketplace and therefore forcing Registrar's to seek other forms of profit (hosting, monetization, drop-catching, etc...).

I cannot think of a single Registrar that does not offer hosting in a dominate place on it's web site. I can use Namecheap, eNom, Godaddy, Directi, Dotster, NetSol and Register.com all as examples. Don't punish Stargate for offering the same services as my competition.

I take exception to your comment about eNom being a "stable, established registrar" and Stargate some how is not. Stargate has been an "established" Registar since 2000, and has provided just as stable and secure environment as any other Registrar, if not more so.

I didn't plan on a debate. I just found your comments to be interesting. I appreciate your thoughts on the subject.

-Tom

 

[QuantumBeam]

I didn't plan on a debate. I just found your comments to be interesting. I appreciate your thoughts on the subject.

No debate here. You asked for comments, and I was just venting on some issues.

I still have a few domains left at Stargate and will consider staying as the support is very responsive in a timely manner which sets it aside from other Registrar's. Keep up the good work!

DC

 

[Theo]

Tom, I didn't plan on a debate either - however, I don't see that Stargate has demonstrated enough growth potential in the past years. For the past year and a half I've been removing my once several hundred domains towards Enom. There is a reason why there are complaints and I've been patient enough to remain a customer since 2001. But I made the decision to change my preferences at this point. I wish you guys best of luck - it sounds harsh but you need to quadruple the effort to make the cut.

 

[basscaster]

I'm sure all the folks at Stargate are nice, but this migration pushed the limits of my patience.

Here were my issues with the migration:

1) No warning
2) My account was unavailable for over a week
3) My user/pass was changed with no warning, and no access
4) Domains were migrated into a new account based on email address, and since I had multiple email addresses, a chunk of my list went into a black hole and did not get added to my account. I am still auditing all of my domain list to determine if additional domains are still missing.
5) Customer support did not respond to multiple email messages and phone calls
6) My bulk rate was automatically raised
7) My existing account funds were wiped out

Tom - You should have tested the interface with other users. Not sure what your full criteria was, but I have accounts with over five registrars, and this is by far the most cumbersome. I have to turn my sound down on my computer to keep from hearing the noisy Flash navigation (every time you hover or click on a link in the nav, it makes a swooshing sound). One other basic interface issue - it takes two clicks from the homepage just to get to the login.

Now it's only a matter of ensuring all my domains are accounted for (and now checking the expiry), and then finding a new registrar. Sorry if I sound harsh, but hopefully after reading the issues above, you will understand that many of us were not treated very well.

 

[QuantumBeam]

Some people can't deal with change. It will work out for the better. Hang in there guys!

 

[starg8]

I'm sure all the folks at Stargate are nice, but this migration pushed the limits of my patience.

Here were my issues with the migration:

1) No warning
2) My account was unavailable for over a week
3) My user/pass was changed with no warning, and no access
4) Domains were migrated into a new account based on email address, and since I had multiple email addresses, a chunk of my list went into a black hole and did not get added to my account. I am still auditing all of my domain list to determine if additional domains are still missing.
5) Customer support did not respond to multiple email messages and phone calls
6) My bulk rate was automatically raised
7) My existing account funds were wiped out

Tom - You should have tested the interface with other users. Not sure what your full criteria was, but I have accounts with over five registrars, and this is by far the most cumbersome. I have to turn my sound down on my computer to keep from hearing the noisy Flash navigation (every time you hover or click on a link in the nav, it makes a swooshing sound). One other basic interface issue - it takes two clicks from the homepage just to get to the login.

Now it's only a matter of ensuring all my domains are accounted for (and now checking the expiry), and then finding a new registrar. Sorry if I sound harsh, but hopefully after reading the issues above, you will understand that many of us were not treated very well.

1) We provided a notice online for 2 weeks prior.

2) The notice stated that accounts would be unavailable during the migration.

3) The notice stated that usernames would be changing to email based.

4) domains were processed based on email. If you had current admin contacts you would have received and email for every domain.

5) Stargate provides Customer Support through a ticket system. Not phone or email.

6-7) provide me with a PM on your account and I can make sure the rates and funds are set correctly.

The interface has been tested with 400,000 plus domain users. Stargate migrated to the Logicboxes platform which is the same backend as Directi.

You can skip our main page and login directly to our login interface at http://domains.stargate.com

Hope this helps.

-Tom

 

[Theo]

Online notice? I didn't see it - was it in the footer or the small print? There was no flashy big bold letters anywhere.

I received an email on 6/23 - a Thursday - that the week of 6/20 (!) changes would take place. Throughout the weekend and for the following week I received emails of migration for each domain that didn't belong to my bulk account - for those, I had to open a ticket. Then, each migrated domain's expiry date was 1 year short. With several domains having anniversary at the end of June, I was shocked to see that the Registry did not reflect the registrations I had already paid for. The techs responded to my ticket that it will be taken care of, miraculously, on the anniversary. One domain actually expired and had to again explain that the migration had caused this.

There was no support during the weekend of the changes. I had no way of finding what was the status of my domains under the bulk account. There was no balance - and still there is not. I had to bump/re-open tickets because the laconic responses of the techs were getting on my nerves.

Sorry but I have no interest in any bulk rate there anymore. I want to be able to sleep at night.