I registered my first domain with GoDaddy about five years ago. They were one of the few companies back then to offer reasonably priced domain registrations, for around $10, while competitors like Network Solutions still charged $40.

I’ve continue to register domains there over the years, and now have about ten personal and twenty for my work. Over time, they’ve added more and more bloat, and it’s taken more and more clicks to actually purchase a domain. Their management interface is overwhelming now, and the page design itself is quite the eyesore.

Still, I didn’t have any complaints strong enough to make me want to transfer registrars. Their prices are still reasonable and their customer support is actually one of the best I’ve dealt with: My calls are answered almost immediately, and usually by a very knowledgeable person.

I had heard about their ad campaigns, mostly because they were often banned from TV and played on their website instead. GoDaddy always made a big deal of this, which I never really understood the point of.

I didn’t actually watch the Superbowl last night, but I did watch some of the ads this morning, including the GoDaddy “Shower” commercial. I won’t bother linking to it, but I would have found it offensive and stupid for a beer company – let alone a domain registration company.

So when GoDaddy reminded me of one of my domains expiring next month, I thanked them and jotted down a note to transfer the domain to another registrar before them. I can’t say a commercial for a company I currently use has ever caused me to abandon them, but that certainly was the case with GoDaddy and their Superbowl ad.

I may end up going with Namecheap, who is taking advantage of commercial and offering a discount transfer code for customers who are “not happy with their current registrat or their advertising methods.”

Tags: technology