names.co.uk Reviews 

Love these guys - we've been a loyal customer for years as their tech support is fantastic. Thoroughly recommended!

I've been with Names.co.uk for a long time, and have always had a very positive experience when I've needed to contact them. I never have to wait ages to speak with one of their representatives, it's not an overseas call centre, and they always know exactly what they are talking about. I had a lot of things I needed to sort out with my domains today, and Kyle couldn't have been more helpful. It was an absolute pleasure dealing with him, and he sorted everything out to my satisfaction.

Shocking. The emails do not work. Long process to set up, can't log in, can't reset password, can't receive emails. NO customer support. Terrible

"Free for one year" was how they put it. Technically that's true but you lost money in the long run in their greedy way to grab your money later! How do they do that?
First, they set your account to auto renew, hoping that you'll forget all about it and they can take next year's money. It's almost £30 a year!!! Domain names are typically £7 a year so you can see what a scam this is!
Secondly, if you are savvy enough to realise what's going on, all you have to do is to stop the auto renewal and then either let the name lapse so you don't pay a penny, or if you really must keep the name, you can transfer it to any other domain registrar. But of course they've thought of that! They counter this in 2 ways. 1) They make it very difficult to find out how to do this. They hope you'll give up and just pay their extortionate rates. 2) If you know what you're doing, their final devious trick is to charge you £12 to transfer your domain away from them (which is more than you would have paid if you hadn't taken the "free" offer.)
They should be made to put a disclaimer in bold text..."Warning... This is free now but we have plans to take lots of your money and you'll regret you ever signed up"
But of course the law allows this type of legal scamming so my advice... Forget the domain name you registered with them and let it lapse. Better to get a new name with a genuine registrar than to pay a penny to these cowboys.

EDIT AFTER REPLY FROM NAMES:
The problem for me is that the first year is not free because (and this is not stated up front) you charge £12 to transfer out. This means if you leave after 1 year you have to pay £12 but if you stay for another year you have to pay triple the going rate. This is not a promotional offer that benefits the customer in any way. Why not say up front how much a customer will pay over a 3 year period compared with other registrars? Because drawing in new business relies on new customers not knowing all the facts! I haven't come across a registrar that charges for transfers out.
Example for a .uk domain:
Names:
Year 1: £0
Year 2: £27
Year 3: £27
TOTAL =£54

Competitor:
Year 1: £9
Year 2: £9
Year 3: £9
TOTAL=£27

Getting out before the free year ends:
Year 1: £12 (transfer out fee)
Year 2: £9 (competitor)
Year 3: £9 (competitor)
TOTAL=£30

Please tell me how any customer can benefit from this "promotion"?

I have never dealt with customer service this bad. Genuinely shocking. My business domain has been offline for a WEEK over a routine verification email.

Why? They keep sending the verification to an address that literally does not exist. AOL rejects it with "552 mailbox not found". I sent them that proof. Their response: refuse every alternative and demand my passport and a utility bill for a "registry requirement" that does not exist. The .com registry has no such rule.

Their support is a hamster wheel. Phone: "leave it with me", then nothing. "Raise a ticket": it sits ignored all day. "Call back in 24 hours": I have, three days straight. One reply a day at best. Nobody takes ownership. My customers pay and log in through this domain. It is all down, losing me revenue daily.

They could fix this in five minutes (tickets TR25016539 / TR25022078). They choose paperwork instead.

Register anywhere else. I wish I had.

Having been a customer for many many years, I have always been utterly satisfied with the professionalism, friendliness and patience shown by the Names.co.uk staff, regardless of which department. This also applies to complex problems! I couldn’t imagine – and still can’t imagine – any better support! Excellent!

Always there for me
Great advice
Great help

Great experience with this service, really helpful and would highly recommend.

Namesco is one of the better domain registration companies I have dealt with. I've had domains through them on and off for around 5 years (give or take) and this particular time around I have really appreciated their services.

They've walked me through the rigors of transferring non UK domains over to their services, and have been really patient with me because of technical issues out with their and mine control.

I've given them 5 stars, not only for their telephone customer service but their support services through the site as well. Both are to date impeccable, and I don't see me moving my services away from them in the near future.

A much better service this time.

Great service from the team. Smooth and very efficient.

Issue was not resolved they answered a completely different question in the reply email they also cut me off after I’d been in a q for 20mins I wouldn’t have put a negative feedback, but they asked me and sent me the link rather than me writing one up for myself

I was in a rush but needed help renewing my domain name. Kyle was very quick and helpful.

ABSOLUTELY TOP DRAWER!! Have used Namesco for years and their technical support is brilliant, can't fault it! Highly recommended.

Got locked out for the account. Sorted very simly and painlessly... Thank you to Lewis 🤗

I would not recommend Names.co.uk.

Their pricing may seem competitive when you first sign up, but the renewal costs are, in my opinion, excessive. Once you’re a customer, the annual renewal fees increase significantly, leaving you paying far more than expected.

What made the experience even more frustrating was that moving my domains away was far more difficult than it should have been. Instead of making the transfer process straightforward, it felt unnecessarily complicated and time-consuming.

There are many domain registrars that offer transparent pricing, reasonable renewal fees, and a much smoother transfer process. Based on my experience, I would choose one of those instead. Once renewal goes through they can't refund because they are a re-seller.