Business Broadband Option 3 - Extortionate Domain name renewal

[#1]

Charging £52.88 for the renewal of a .org.uk domain name is extortionate to say the least, and borders, in my opinion, on fraudulent!
BBO3 accounts include a number of co.uk names free of change. One of the accounts we manage (for a charity) uses a .org.uk domain name. In August we were told (via a ticket) that the .org.uk domain name associated with the account was included as one the free ones. Now we are being told that it is not as it’s actually a .org.uk domain. As far as we are aware Nominet charge the same for the renewal .co.uk and .org.uk names.
It therefore appears that PlusNet are simply profiteering when .org.uk domains are used with Business Accounts that include free .co.uk domains.
Perhaps someone from within PlusNet Towers can convince us this is not the case, or better still persuade the powers that be that .org.uk domains should be treated the same as .co.uk ones within Business Accounts.

[#2]

Hi,
I'm currently discussing this internally. So whilst I can't give you a full response now I'll get back to you as soon as I've been able to do some digging.

[#3]

Hi there
First of all, I'd like to apologise for any confusion over the domain allowances on this account and whether the included domain allowance includes .co.uk domains or all UK domains. I can see in the history of the account that you were advised that there would be no extra charge for a .org.uk domain on this account but today you've been told that response was incorrect.
To get the good news out of the way first, given the fact that you've been advised that the domain renewal is included for free with the account, and the customer has had the account open with us for quite some time, we will not be making a charge for this.
On a more general note, we're certainly not looking to make excessive charges for domain renewals. The policy surrounding what's included with an account was defined some time ago and we agree this is now somewhat out of date, especially given all the different .uk top level domains that are now available. It will take some time to get the relevant information together on this, and consult all the appropriate parties internally, but I will look into this.
We're reviewing our domain pricing in readiness for our business product refresh. As I hope you can understand, I can't give very many details at all about this at the moment but rest assured that the issue will be given full consideration.
Do let me know if you have any further queries around this.
Kind regards

[#4]

I've always used 1&1 for domain names, as I realised a long time ago Plus Nets domain prices were OTT.
For instance this page shows a .org.uk domain as £52.88 per two years with PN, where as 1&1 are only £5.98 per two years, almost a tenth of the price!
Where I will give PN some praise is that the transfer out fee is free with one exception, other firms I've seen in the past have been quite expensive.
So I suggest that PN take a look at the 1&1 domain price list when reviewing theirs.

[#5]

For PN most customers would accept £5 to £15 for the co.uk domain renewal charge given that its not something that pn sells at volume.
That said the information about the free domain names is vague at best, and its the sole reason why i have not used that on my account. Is the free domain just for 2 years 1 year or continuing ..

[#6]

Thanks for the feedback, taras and Ronski. As we're not a dedicated domain hosting company, we're unlikely to be able to lower our prices by that much but I'll certainly pass this onto one of my colleagues who is dealing with the refresh.