GoDaddy stoops to a new low...Phone Spam

TT · Feb 6, 2007

Earlier today I received a phone call from Donald at godaddy he is an executive account rep, As I was on the phone he left a message stating that it was very important that I call him back at 408-505-8885 ext 57311.

I had no idea why i may be receiving this "Important Call" so i returned the call and I waited on hold for 5 minutes. Why did he call.... To advise me that some domain in my godaddy account are up for renewal... I laughed and told him Yes I was aware of this I proceeded to explain to him that sometimes I purchase bulk domains from various secondary market sellers and the seller has the domains all regged at godaddy and if i am only interested in one domain i let the rest drop and the ones I want to keep I Transfer out to namecheap or enom....

After the call was finished I thought to myself, Godaddy takes peoples domains away for a variety of reasons including spam... Wouldnt what they are doing be considered spam on the telephone??

Come on Bob if you can afford Superbowl ad's then come up with something less annoying then telemarketing, Be original BOB...

Spade · Feb 6, 2007

This is not a new tactic from GoDaddy. They have had a department that focuses on calling customers about renewals for atleast a year now (Customer Appreciation Team). Although you think its in poor taste it is actually a useful feature for people who may forget or change their email address that they have domains or items comming up for expiration. Although you are a domainer, and keep constant watching over your portfolio, most people do not. You can ask to be placed on the Do Not Call List - and they will mark your account not to make outbound calls.

However, i think in general, this is a great feature.

Just my 2 Cents,
Justin

DropLister · Feb 6, 2007

i bet a lot more people like that service (non domainers).

fonzie_007 · Feb 6, 2007

Just make sure you transfer them out before hand and hopefully you won't get a call in the future.

This is actually a very good business tactic by GD.

TT · Feb 6, 2007

It may be a great feature as you call it for beginners, However I do not think it is at all good business, I consider this to be an annoyance. Reminds me of that company that sends out mail to domain owners stating that they can renew thier domain for a low 69.99 with them Its bush league.

Spade · Feb 6, 2007

TT said:
It may be a great feature as you call it for beginners, However I do not think it is at all good business, I consider this to be an annoyance. Reminds me of that company that sends out mail to domain owners stating that they can renew thier domain for a low 69.99 with them Its bush league.

"Beginners" make up atleast 90% of customers at GoDaddy. You are also comparing a scam to an honest service. I agree with you that it is annoying to recieve a phone call from GoDaddy, but at the same time you are under the impression that only Domainers buy domains, this is not true. If you owned a business with just 3 domain names for your company, how often would you be checking the status of your domain names? Honestly... you probably wouldnt. Thats exactly why GoDaddy provides this service.

fonzie_007 · Feb 6, 2007

GD is interested in keeping large accounts. This is one of the reasons I believe they have started calling domainers and assigning them exec account reps. GD makes quite a bit of money from TDNAM. TDNAM's future is contingent on GD keeping domains with them. Calling customers is one way to make sure domains stay within GD.

If customers don't want to renew, the domains go to TDNAM. If domainers do want to renew, GD makes money. If domainers are going to transfer out, the account rep will try to pursaude the customer to stay with GD. All in all, this is a solid business strategy from GD.

TT · Feb 6, 2007

Fonz, You make some valid points as do others, But if as stated that TDnam's lifeline is contingent on the fact that domains stay at godaddy then why phone? let the names drop and auction them off.

with regards to most GD clients being beginners with a smaller portfolio why would an executive account rep be needed?

My gd account has well over 1000 domains in it and when we receive our first RENEWAL EMAIL we transfer those we wish to retain rights to another registrar as we have far better pricing and service with namecheap and enom. Thats only our business model and I am not trying to advocate this model to anyone but when is enough notice?

I get emails from GD starting 90 days out and then every 30 days 15 and 7 and 3 and 1 and now I have to receive phone calls.... Thats IMHO bush league

thebutler · Feb 6, 2007

Its called customer service...

Actually its called customer service.

In any real industry calling a customer to make sure that their (insert what you want-business, investment, service) is about to come up for renewal is considered normal.

To call this spam is really not accurate. I'm sure quite a few domainers have forgotten about a few domains and let them slip away. When I reg'd my first name at Godaddy they actually called to see if everything was ok. I'm sure they were trying to up sell me for some hosting but thats normal.

Ok it sucks you had to wait for 5 minutes.

Don't get me wrong I hate TDNAM and some other things at Godaddy but this phone call issue is a now starter. Its good business practices and it might actually be useful for some domainers.

fonzie_007 · Feb 6, 2007

If GD is going to leave a message they should state exactly why they are calling (e.g. to remind you to renew domains, etc.). Saying they have something really "important" to tell you is a poor way of communicating IMO.

netzilla · Feb 6, 2007

I got a call once asking if I was happy with my new domain name LOL. Never this type of call though.

TT · Feb 6, 2007

Bill said:
Is there any option that allows you to not receive this phone spam? :td:

~Bill

Bill at this point I am not sure however I have placed a phone call and left a message to inquire about this and I will update once they have returned my call.

My point is simply this that if GD has to call about renewals after sending out renewal notices and seeing that domains are being transferred out, IMHO this phone tactic is a cheesy way of doing business. Yes I agree if you sign up for phone renewal notification this could be a good service but there methods and practices are very shotty. This is why i used the reference to the mail domain renewal notifications.

Spade · Feb 6, 2007

Bill said:
Is there any option that allows you to not receive this phone spam? :td:

~Bill

Yes, there is. You can simply ask them not to call you in regards to that issue and they will turn a notification on your account off.

Again, I would like to reiderate. If you are just an average customer of GoDaddy, and you buy a domain for your business last year, and since then have changed your email. You would not be recieving any notifications. (Happens all the time!) So they call you and offer to renew. If you dont want any phone calls, let them know, they will turn them off.

S-L-O-W · Feb 6, 2007

Its really not that serious TT. I think you need to take a chill pill on this one. I think it would have been more to you and Godaddy if you just called them up and stated your desire prior to calling a viable service "phone spam" in a public forum. That's just an immature and irresponsible move on your part without considering that this service is beneficial to those who make up the majority of their demographic- and it's not domainers. I pretty much am tired of hearing people complaining on this board and others and calling companies "scammers" or "spammers" without taking any initiative first to see what's really going on prior defaming something- its just stupid.

IAmAllanShore · Feb 6, 2007

While the calls might be annoying, we do agree to be contacted by them when registering, and it is providing a service that isn't an attempt to gain new business, but rather maintain a customer (Sure, you could make an argument as to the terms being used, but there is certainly a difference between this phonecall and the the neverending stream of cialis emails I get.).
Also, "new low"? Nah - I've been getting these phonecalls for at least a year... I just ignore the 480 area code (Or was it 408?) now on my domain phone.
-Allan

tricolorro · Feb 6, 2007

domainspade said:
This is not a new tactic from GoDaddy. They have had a department that focuses on calling customers about renewals for atleast a year now (Customer Appreciation Team). Although you think its in poor taste it is actually a useful feature for people who may forget or change their email address that they have domains or items comming up for expiration. Although you are a domainer, and keep constant watching over your portfolio, most people do not. You can ask to be placed on the Do Not Call List - and they will mark your account not to make outbound calls.

However, i think in general, this is a great feature.

Just my 2 Cents,
Justin

:hi:

domainspade is right that this reminder phone call could be helpful
but I agree with fonzie_007 that the GoDaddy rep should
have stated the purpose for the call on the answering machine.

Then you can listen and delete. That's not really an intrusion.

It became intrusive when TT responded to the "emergency" only to find
it was an "emergency" only in GoDaddy's mind.

I have also received these reminder calls but the Rep always
stated the purpose of the call on my answering machine.

If TT has the Rep's name , he should file a complaint. :imho:

Happy Domaining,
Patrick

Dave_Z · Feb 7, 2007

Folks, this is yet another thing you're going to have to expect from registrars.
Some are doing this, others can catch on, but not all have to do it.

Some of us who worked with one registrar in particular felt bad about this. But
of course, we were eventually voted down.

However, most if not all of them maintain a "Do Not Call" list, especially those
who are US-based. Ask to be placed on such, and take note of who you have
spoken to.

You can complain and lash out at them about this if you want. But they're not
going to do away with this sort of practice.

HeavyDuty · Feb 7, 2007

...meh
I'm sure the majority of people who think this is a bad practice are domainers. To an end user it's pure customer service. At the very least you know a human has actually looked at your account. They might even remind you to lock up those 40+ domains you spaced out and left unlocked for 2 months

htmlindex · Feb 7, 2007

netzilla said:
I got a call once asking if I was happy with my new domain name LOL. Never this type of call though.

Lol...did they offer you to "exchange" it for another one if you weren't happy with your purchase?

floatingworld · Feb 7, 2007

they are damned if they do and damned if they don't.....how many times have domainers complained that their registrars don't care?.....and anyway if you get a phone call it is an opportunity to request changes in any aspect of cust service..................

Shorty · Feb 7, 2007

You would think that it would be in GD's best interest to give customers the option to not receive phone calls. It must be costing them a fortune to make so many calls, especially if they're international too. If its genuinely a service they want to provide to us, they'll be glad to know they dont have to do it, if we dont want it...

ofclean · Feb 7, 2007

Yeah, this isn't bad at all, if other registrars did this people would be talking about their excellent customer service. It's almost as if the more successful and popular GoDaddy gets, the more people love to hate them.

sdtrader · Feb 7, 2007

fonzie_007 said:
All in all, this is a solid business strategy from GD.

I think Fonzie is quite right. "Sales followup" is an effective means of keeping and stirring up business.

Some customers will be delighted in the care they are recieving and others annoyed.Some will percieve this as going the extra step for customer satisfaction and others will see it as pushy salesmanship.

I am not a fan of aggressive marketing but in this day and age hype and fad often win out over old fashioned good service.

In the case of GD I tend to think of them as a marketing success rather than a high quality service.

gdtechindia · Feb 8, 2007

i got a few calls from them regarding one domain whois information and not otherwise for any promotions

UneekTT · Apr 11, 2007

Hate to bring up another issue in an old thread, but what the heck.

I feel as though there are many valid points on both sides. If I were to look at this personally, I agree with TT, I hate getting annoying calls (especially if I am busy with something that is important, and the call is something that literally just wastes my valuable time!) and furthermore, there should be some type of option, or opt out as it may be, whenever you want - as a customer.

On the other hand, if I owned a "godaddy" or some big operation, it really does make sense to attempt to retain as many reg's(customers) as possible. Seriously, that is what they NEED to do to stay in business.

Anyway, just one guys opinion here.

btw, does "TT" own an Audi TT like me?
Or, does it stand for something incredible like "Tiny Tim"?

GoDaddy stoops to a new low...Phone Spam

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