Yahoo Triples Domain Name Renewal

        I was checking my email reading a renewal notice from Yahoo for a domain name I have registered with them that made my toenails curl: “Please note that the billing center will not reflect the new $34.95 domain-renewal price until July 1. Until that time, you will continue to see the old renewal price next to your plan.” Wow! That is triple what I am paying now! I called Yahoo to see if this is some kind of mistake. I was put on hold for TWO HOURS before I got to talk to a Representative. Basically it wasn’t a mistake the Rep said. “Didn’t you get the email we sent out?” I told him I didn’t. “Well we’ve had a problem with the emails and told everyone to check their spam folder”, he said. “So you emailed everyone to check their spam folder? That doesn’t make much sense”, I said. I asked him why is it that Yahoo is tripling the price. The higher ups told him that the cost was too much for technical help. Now my question to him was what kind of technical help does a person need who just has a domain name parked there? I asked the Rep if he thought it was just a little unethical to triple the price for a domain name? He didn’t comment. Is it unethical that your signup page still reflects the $9.95/year price? The rep then said that it does reflect the new price somewhere on the site. Well I had already checked this out and I couldn’t find it stated anywhere; I even went so far as to go through the process of getting a new domain name on the site all the way to where it asks for your credit card: nothing! So it all boils down to this: you can pay the $34.95, or go somewhere else. And I went elsewhere! My two domain names at Yahoo would have cost me $69.90! Yahoo bills credit cards automatically. Can you imagine the look on some poor soul’s face that has ten domain names or more at Yahoo when they review their credit card statement? Yikes! This isn’t the Yahoo I remember. Welcome to the dark side!