Can't get signed up

#1

Wow. I think Dreamhost is trying to make GoDaddy look good…

Trying to set up a new account to take advantage of the Twitter 80% off deal.

Clicked through from Twitter:
http://dreamhost.com/promo/dreamh100/?utm_source=TwitterIntTime0328&utm_medium=CPC&utm_campaign=TwitterIntTime0328

Clicked “Sign Up Now”

Filled in the form, checked “I already have a domain name registered” and filled in the domain name in the box below.

Clicked “Continue”

Filled in the “Sign Up Form” Register 1234legsgood.com" form.

Clicked Continue.

Red error message says [color=#FF0000]"1234legsgood.com is already registered.[/color]

I’ve run through the sequence four times, always with the same result. I’ve e-mailed Dreamhost twice from their support form.

I even have screen grabs of the whole mess.

Any ideas folks?

#2

If it’s registered already, then don’t try to register it.

#3

The point is it “I already have a domain registered, I just need to host or transfer it.”

When I choose that option, because it’s what we need to do, it jumps to another sign-in form.

#4

Wow. Dreamhost responds. Finally. Please note that because the account hadn’t been set up, you can’t e-mail Technical Support. You first need to set up the account, which I couldn’t do.

Thank you for contacting us. I apologize for the response time for this
as this message was sent to our sales team(our sales team is here
9AM-5PM, Mon-Fri). If you ever need to contact our support team, you can
reach them through your panel under ‘Contact Support’ 24/7. Our support
team is here around the clock to help.

While I am unsure why you are receiving the error on transferring your
domain from start up you would be able to get this taken care of through
your panel. You can sign up for an account, and choose to use a free
sub-domain to start the account. Once the account has been created you go
ahead and transfer your domain. Feel free to take a look at this guide
for a quick walk through on transferring a domain to us.

http://wiki.dreamhost.com/Transfer_your_domain_registration_to_us

If you have any additional questions, feel free to let us know.

Thanks!

Dean

I e-mailed Deano back:

" If you ever need to contact our support team, you can
reach them through your panel under ‘Contact Support’ 24/7. Our support team is here around the clock to help."

Dean - let me try to put this in simple terms:

Your form to request technical support only works if you already have an account set up.

I do not have an account set up because of a technical problem.

Consequently I cannot contact Technical Support.

What you’re telling me is “Please set up a new account to so that you can contact technical support to tell them that you can’t set up a new account.”
[hr]
[hr]
UNBELIEVABLE. Dreamhost’s forms work with Firefox, but not Chrome.
[hr]
UNBELIEVABLE. Dreamhost’s forms work with Firefox, but not Chrome.

#5

As a last resort, Dreamhost just emailed me and said it was my fault for not clearing out my cookies before trying to sign up… Wow. I thought that excuse disappeared with the 1990s…

#6

Our apologies for the hassle this was, Appalbarry. I’d also like to clarify that we are not trying to pass the blame for it to you at all! It isn’t our style. Dean was simply explaining the most common reason for signup issues (as a possibility), which is when our system recognizes you as being attached to another account here (via browser cookies). From my looking around, I do see you were listed as the secondary contact on another active account from 2011, so indeed this may have been the case. I’m glad to see you’re all set up now at least; if there’s anything we can help you with moving forward, please contact support directly from your web panel and we’ll be glad to assist. Thanks for your patience!

#7

OK, while I wait for stuff to propagate I opened an Incognito window in Chrome and restarted the process. It does work, so seems to be tied to cookies.

Still, I’ll argue that it is neither sensible or reasonable to expect people to clear their browser history just to sign up with your service. It is unexpected behaviour and not at all obvious.

In my case, it would drive me quite mad if I had to delete my browser history every time I set up a web site for someone.