Initially I registered this as my first domain in 2004(?), and got a packaged deal for the domain and hosting from Coast Internet Solutions. It seemed like a good deal at the time, but a couple years later I found a better deal elsewhere and decided to move my domain. The trouble was Coast Internet Solutions did me the favor of registering my domain for me, in their name.
So I fought over and over again to get them to give me the necessary Authorization code, or transfer the domain into my name so I could move it to a different registrar and get hosting elsewhere. For months of emails and trying to contact them I got nowhere. Eventually I was finally able to get them to update the DNS nameservers to point to my new hosting provider, and the domain was renewed for another year.
I figured this was good enough for now, and that I had another year to get them to fix the problem. I don't know if the people over at Coast Internet Solutions just don't care, or if they didn't see any reason to respond to my requests, since they weren't going to see another dime of my money. I never got anywhere that year, and decided to let the name expire.
After expiration, I wasn't able to grab it in and put it in my name once and for all before someone else jumped on it to make a few bucks from ads and such. But after a couple years I checked on the domain again, and put an offer in to buy back the domain. So after all that, I finally got my original domain back.
Two things I would strongly suggest to anyone making a website out there. Never buy hosting and the domain in the same package. Register your domain somewhere and sign up for hosting elsewhere, so you have full control and can move things around if one company sucks. Second, never ever use Coast Internet Solutions, no matter how good the deal is. There support is practically non-existent.
