A Plus Updates

In a surprising "coincidence," a week to the day after an unsatisfactory phone call with A Plus, I got an email indicating that they "noticed that you do not have an account manager" and were assigning me one.  Before I even read the email, I got a call from the person who had been assigned, indicating she was my new account manager and casually asking how things were going. 

I knew exactly why they were calling and repeated my previous complaints, as well as indicated my plan to leave their services.  After listening, my "account manager" apologized profusely for the unprofessional behavior of the previous person I had talked to, and offered to give me the domain service that had prompted my original call for free.

For the price of a phone call, an apology, and a $6 perk (well, it saved me $6; it cost them nothing), they kept a customer who pays them $50-$60 per year.  That's doing business the right way.

A Plus moves to my Do-Not-Buy list

Another company bites the dust.  After buying over a half-dozen domains from A Plus.net, my next domain purchase will be from a different company.  My primary complaints:

1. Terrible security.  They actually require you to give them your password before they'll help with your account.  Verifying who the account belongs to is good; asking a user to give up a password is a huge no-no.  Any security professional can tell you that.  No one but the customer should ever have access to or know their password.

2. Terrible customer support.  When a customer calls with a complaint, immediately responding with a bad attitude is very poor service, especially if the customer is (I thought) polite.  Giving them the run-around about not being able to talk to a manager before putting them permanently on hold is worse.

Goodbye, A plus.net.  You get an F in my book.