Transferring from 123-reg to Heart

[WealdDomains]

[Yes, I know Heart was bought by 123-reg's owner recently.]

How have you got on moving lots of domains from 123-reg to Heart ?

The Nominet transfer of (1300+) domain names from 123-reg to Heart was wonderfully simple.

The second phase transfer into my existing (700+) Heart account has been extremely painful for over 24 hours so far, despite very positive, rapid and enthusiastic support responses from the Heart support team. I am now working through the 1000+ remaining transfers 25 at a time, with occasional blockages, and my long-term liking for Heart is starting to waver.

What are your equivalent experiences ?

David

 

[GreyWing]

You have 2000+ names, you should have your own tag and membership bud. You'd be saving about £1k a year in nom fees.

 

[WealdDomains]

Thanks GreyWing, that's very useful advice. I'm in a slightly odd position, though, since my day job (in a major FTSE 100 company) does not, in general, allow me to become a director of a limited company. So, operating as a sole trader is far more straightfoward for me. However my understanding of becoming a Nominet registrar (even solely for my own use) is that it involves credit/bank references which will be less robust as an unproven self-funding Sole Trader than if I were trading as a bank-funded limited company.

David

 

[GreyWing]

I'm pretty sure it is easier than you think, in fact I haven't heard of anyone being declined membership with them.

They allow sole traders to have membership status, i'm sure others here will confirm one way or another but i'd give nominet a ring and ask them, they are always helpful on the phone.

Having your own tag and membership has major benefits over that of using a third party isp like 123-reg etc.

 

[jimm]

However my understanding of becoming a Nominet registrar (even solely for my own use) is that it involves credit/bank references which will be less robust as an unproven self-funding Sole Trader than if I were trading as a bank-funded limited company.

David

They say that but in reality they dont actually ask for any bank or credit references. Its dead easy to get sorted, even as a sole trader. Just apply, do the test to show you have read the info, job done!
Even if they do ask for credit references, just decline and dont have a credit account and whack a couple of hundred on your account every couple of weeks.

 

[WealdDomains]

Thanks to both GreyWing and jimm for their advice, and others for their PMs.

As for Heart, the problem was resolved earlier today. Throughout, they had communicated well and professionally, even though it took almost three days to resolve the overall problem.

If you transfer more than a handful of domains into Heart, take it slowly and step by step as their online system is not suited to bulk transfers and their automated reporting of apparent progress within a batch of names is inaccurate and inconsistent with their other tools.

David