I just jumped through the thousand tiny hoops needed to get one through Comodo (resold by tucows), and more than anything it was just calendar time and busywork

I just jumped through the thousand tiny hoops needed to get one through Comodo (resold by tucows), and more than anything it was just calendar time and busywork rather than any particular difficulty that bothered me about the process. After a week of not hearing back from them, I got in touch by email and they said they were stalled (though they hadn't contacted me to say so) because the email and phone number on the whois for the domain weren't exact matches with the ones on the application. Ok, fair enough. Fixed. But then (days later) we were blocked because they couldn't look up the business license. So I sent them a direct link to the Washington State department of whatever search, with the business license number I'd given them already pre-filled. But then (days later) we were blocked because the phone number and business address weren't to be found in any online phone book services. Can't call you on the number listed on the businesses website or whois. Need phone book. But phone book listings are free. You can add one for any business, fictitious or otherwise, by supplying a name, address and phone number at yp.com. They just take still more calendar time. Add in a few more meaningless steps like that and I was verified (without ever having to mail them that passport scan or anything else that would actually verify me or my business). I guess they need to justify charging all that money. But mostly it's just a giant hassle that makes you glad you bought the longest duration cert possible to avoid having to go through that again any time soon.