Network Solutions made me angry recently. And, they lost a little bit of business.

Now, I realize I’m not a major customer of, well, anybody. Okay, maybe Papa John’s Pizza or Firehouse Subs. But, that’s about it. So, no big loss, right?

But here’s what happened. Naturally, the story begins with something else entirely.

It began with a reissue of a card. You’ve probably had cards reissued from time to time, and for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, it’s because a merchant made an “oopsie” and let your data get compromised. Sometimes, that led to cards being reissued with new numbers.

Now, when that happens, any standing payments you have set up — Netflix, Hulu, iTunes, etc — need to be accessed and changed to reflect the new card number (or a different card, if you want). Otherwise, they’ll attempt to bill you and it gets declined and then you get an email and they think you’re a slacker.

Well, when this particular MasterCard was reissued with a new number, I was proactive and got all the standing payments edited. Except for one: Network Solutions.

Now, I’ve dealt with Network Solutions since the 1990s, when I registered my first domain name. Been using them ever since. Yes, I know other registrars are cheaper. But, Network Solutions is well established, and I just felt comfortable dealing with a company that has been around for a bit. Think of the British Bank scene and song from Mary Poppins.

Renewal time came around for various domain names — I’m currently down to 17 — and I’d simply renew, sometimes for multiple years if the savings enticed me.

Well, I knew a renewal was coming up for one of mine in October. It was August, and I remember seeing an email around 90 days out that a domain was expiring. The email contained one of their typical 23% off (or something like that) deals. Got plenty of time, right?

Actually, no. In August, they billed me for a renewal of a service that expired in October. Only, they failed, because, you guessed it, it was was set up for that reissued MasterCard. So, I got an email telling me my purchase had been declined.

Hmph.

As I often renewed early for multiple years, I hadn’t noticed that Network Solutions had begun billing — no, actually attempting to process the billing — this far in advance. Don’t really know when they started. But I know when they stopped.

As of now, I have no more services with Network Solutions. I began moving domain names away from them that afternoon. Didn’t do them all at once, just started with the next one due, and began the process. I have no more with them. We’re done.

For what it’s worth, I’m using Google to register the domains now. I had a couple with GoDaddy, but their interface is a pain in the ass. Can’t find anything, and some interfaces break very easily. Maybe they should look into hiring some Web programmers. Anyway, GoDaddy was all primed for all my business from Network Solutions, except their interfaces suck. But, Google’s plain jane interface suits me just fine. They have 16 of my domains, and I’m awaiting a hold on my remaining domain to end so I can move it from GoDaddy to Google.

I’m not at all suggesting you not use Network Solutions or GoDaddy. I am suggesting you not put up with anyone’s crap.

[Cheap plug for my blog: comments welcome there, too.]