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GoDaddy Scammed Me - Here's PROOF!

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I would like to let everyone know that GoDaddy outright scammed me today and after speaking with Greg Goodrich, manager @ Godaddy, he said there is nothing he can do about it. Please share with everyone, this is terrible way to do business and treat customers.

Here is the PROOF that GoDaddy scammed me:

Notice the 1st screenshot shows I won the auction fair & square, then the 2nd screenshot shows someone else won it 5 minutes later. I found out about this shortly after I won the auction, I logged into my GoDaddy account to see the 2nd screenshot below and I was absolutely shocked because they were saying I didn't win the auction, nor did they even give me the opportunity to win the auction AGAIN after I had already won it.

How corrupt is this? Especially after all their other auction scams that have happened. GoDaddy CANNOT be TRUSTED, they have no morals and do not care about scamming their customers and screwing them over.
Screen Shot 2019-04-25 at 12.33.32 PM.png

Now this is what I see in my account and GoDaddy refuses to honor the fact I won the auction and they could careless about doing anything about this corruption so it just keeps happening.
Screen Shot 2019-04-25 at 12.45.17 PM.png

Thanks GoDaddy for such a wonderful experience! It sure makes me miss NoDaddy.com which was a very popular site that exposed your corrupt company and you bought it to cover all your corruption and sweep it under the rug instead of doing the right thing.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
What time (or at what dollar amount) was the auction originally supposed to end?

e.g. Prior to extended auction time where the clock resets when a bid is placed within 5 minutes.

11:05
 
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Let's walk through this. (note: somebody with more GD experience such as @Ategy.com can probably step in with a more precise play by play)

134419_017fbe802a1c0682f8fa821ffee7f3ee.png


Bidder 30 was probably immediately notified of being outbid? But if for whatever reason the system showed bidder 30 as the high bid, and bidder 30 didn't refresh to show bidder 17 auto outbid, bidder 30 screen may have shown bidder 30 won the domain for $4,433 @ 11:07?

OR (more likely)

Bidder 17 might not have refreshed their screen, and their screen might have displayed the congratulations winning message at a price point of $4,483 @ 11:07.

THEN

4 minutes later @ 11:11, you outbid Bidder 17 and extended the 11:07 time log.
134418_aabfc22bddbf57fe9fdefeeb60ac4db6.png


Point being, a congratulations message could have falsely appear on a bidders screen multiple times prior to the time it appeared on your screen at the $9,000 mark.

So who's to say it should be sold at $9,000 when another bidder may have saw the congratulations message on their screen at a lower amount such as $4,483?
 
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I have been dealing with this all day, I think it's time to hit the sack! Good Night and I am so thankful and appreciative that so many of you have responded are are just as concerned as I am about this abuse of power. Thanks again GoDaddy for wasting my time without even a sliver of empathy for the extreme abuse you put your customers thru, not to mention auction fraud and not honoring a legally binding auction contract, false advertising, misleading info, the list goes on - these are all crimes GoDaddy and I will do everything in my power to ensure you don't get away with them. LEGIT auctions DONT have 2 end times!
 
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Let's walk through this. (note: somebody with more GD experience such as @Ategy.com can probably step in with a more precise play by play)

134419_017fbe802a1c0682f8fa821ffee7f3ee.png


Bidder 30 was probably immediately notified of being outbid? But if for whatever reason the system showed bidder 30 as the high bid, and bidder 30 didn't refresh to show bidder 17 auto outbid, bidder 30 screen may have shown bidder 30 won the domain for $4,433 @ 11:07.

OR (more likely)

Bidder 17 might not have refreshed their screen, and their screen might have displayed the congratulations winning message at a price point of $4,483 @ 11:07.

THEN

4 minutes later @ 11:11, you outbid Bidder 17 and extended the 11:07 time log.
134418_aabfc22bddbf57fe9fdefeeb60ac4db6.png


Point being, a congratulations message could have falsely appear on a bidders screen multiple times prior to the time it appeared on your screen at the $9,000 mark.

So who's to say it should be sold at $9,000 when another bidder may have saw the congratulations message on their screen at a lower amount such as $4,483?


I like to deal in facts & reality, not what ifs! You're basically saying that the "Congratulations! Your bid won" message will show at anytime during the auction as well as the "Auction Ended Timestamp", but I don't think it works that way and if it does, you can't run auction software that doesn't work and not expect to suffer any consequences. No one else from the auction has come forward with any info regarding being scammed like i have.
 
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Both the Buyer (ME) & the Seller GoDaddy are in a legal binding contract. Once a bid is accepted as the winning bid, as my bid was, and I provide Absolute Proof of such, they have absolutely no right to deny me legal rights to the domain. It's GoDaddy's Auction, if they choose to run it irresponsibly, then they must suffer the consequences of the infringing on peoples legal rights and playing games with peoples lives. And I will NEVER FORGOT how poorly Greg Goodrich treated me today, he is heartless.
 
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I like to deal in facts & reality, not what ifs!

The auction is a program. Programs are generally written in if this than that formats. To understand the reality, you have to understand what facts are and are not possible within the code.

You're basically saying that the "Congratulations! Your bid won" message will show at anytime during the auction as well as the "Auction Ended Timestamp"

I'm saying it appears their system is programmed to display the "Congratulations! Your bid won" anytime the screen (for whatever reason) doesn't refresh. Meaning (my understanding), if you are the high bidder, and for instance**, you disable your internet connection for the duration of the auction, by the time the auction ends, the page will display you as the aforementioned "Congratulations! Your bid won." message. Seeing how it didn't connect to see if a new bid was placed, and thereby extend the auction timer.

**before you get up in my grill about dealing with what-ifs, I am simply using this as an example one can replicate to explain the way your computer processes the downloaded page (regardless of current connectivity -- further displaying the lack of secondary confirmation before displaying the "Congratulations! Your bid won." message.)

TL;DR refer to the subject matter expert's post
It happened to me shortly after the auction changes .. I reported the issue as well .. what's worse is that I know how to repeat it 100% of the time all day long if I wanted to.
 
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Let's walk through this. (note: somebody with more GD experience such as @Ategy.com can probably step in with a more precise play by play)

It's really hard to analyse timings of bids when there are "automatic" proxy bids involved. I'd need to see the entire list top to bottom ... but that being said .. you are over-thinking things. As in fact this issue really has nothing to do with this auction .. it's an issue that could theoretically affect almost every bid in 100% of auctions (with multiple bids obviously). That's why I'm not sharing specifics and recommend nobody else does, as it really is in nobody's interest for there to be large number of auctions being pulled into legal debates. (Or maybe I was bidder #17? lol .. to be clear .. I wasn't)


No one else from the auction has come forward with any info regarding being scammed like i have. I don't know of ANY other instances of this exact situation happening nor has the @NamePros community provided me with any similar examples with PROOF!

Hate to break it to you @member-162055 .. but this is not something anything close to unique to you .. it most definitely happens quite often .. in a controlled setting I could duplicate this with 100% accuracy on just about every Windows (possibly other) computer (yes .. even with a refresh). The only difference is that I'm assuming most of the bigger players avoid it or have just been lucky in that they aren't affected by the issue .. which probably makes this case the "biggest" one .. but it most certainly is not unique to you .. it has happened to me multiple times (not recently, since understanding the issue) .. and I definitely reported it at least once quite some time ago (shortly after they moved to these new auction pages .. I honestly can't remember if it was a problem before).

Again though .. I hate to say it .. but there was another bid at 11:24:?? .. so you're going to have a hard time getting the domain from the actual bidder of $9100 .. it really isn't their fault .. but whether you can or can't blame GoDaddy for the glitch that caused you to think the auction was over .. the answer to that is definitely yes .. but whether there is or isn't anything you can do about that I really can't say as I'm not a lawyer.

I've seen worse though .. GoDaddy has actually made me pay $xxx for auctions I never even bid on in the first place .. and that was even after explaining the actual bug that caused my bids on Domains A & B to be placed on Domains Y & Z. (When instead you'd think they'd thank me for reporting a repeatable bug)

Before I was a domainer I used to know a backdoor to see other people's secret proxy bids (I wish I still could today .. lol). I'm sure others knew of this as well and if they had malicious intent could drive up the price on everyone else who placed proxy bids (which is why I try to avoid proxy "automatic" bids as much as possible even today). Even after reporting it, it stayed for quite some time and I think only got fortuitously closed due to a platform overhaul as opposed to them actually closing the back door. This is the type of thing that you definitely could be legitimately outraged at, as if even a few people exploited it, it could have profited GoDaddy millions and millions on over inflated expiration auctions.

It's not so bad for me though .. I'm a numbers guy (although I actually don't buy a ton of domains these days) .. there most certainly are domains I've very disappointed to lose at auction because of a bug or glitch .. but in my case there's always another great buy around the corner ... glitches are a part of doing business with GoDaddy .. but they've got such a great depth of expiring domains that I can grab at great prices going to auction every day, that the problems are just one of those things you put up with in contrast to often getting some great deals.

Again though .. as I've said above several times .. and in multiple other threads .. GoDaddy isn't evil .. and they are not out to scam domainers .. bugs and glitches are simply a fact of life on big complex platforms like GoDaddy's .. it sucks .. it isn't unique to GoDaddy .. you'll find this sort of thing in any multi-department institution with 1000+ employees. They most certainly should be doing a better job .. but they aren't out to get you .. in this case specifically .. if the issue didn't exist, then they would have actually made more money from you (or bidder #17).
 
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GoDaddy has been well aware of this problem for a long time now, but since they haven't done anything to fix it, this is NEGLIGENCE which makes them 100% responsible for these errors because GoDaddy is willingly & knowingly engaging in Auction Fraud which is defined as "wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain" and they continue to operate in this corrupt manner while completely disrespecting their customers in the process.

The GoDaddy Auction deceived me because it provided false & misleading advertising that said I won the domain resulting in financial gain for GoDaddy. Since GoDaddy is incapable of running auctions legitimately, they should be banned from the auction business or all auctions should cease & desist until they can actually fix all the problems affecting their platform and actually take responsibility for their errors instead of leaving their customers "holding the bag."

https://www.godaddy.com/Domain-Inve...n-lost-domain/m-p/133163/highlight/true#M1559
 
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They are not in auctions business. And never were. As per ToS....

So what, they can write TOS that says they are not in the auctions business even though it's called GoDaddy Auctions and all the terminology they use are Auction terms such as "Bids". How can GoDaddy be in the auctions business, but yet have TOS that says they're not in the auctions business? They CAN'T!

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Yes, what Tony said, it is more of a marketplace or exchange. Traditional auction houses are heavily regulated.

It’s a great name you lost out on, I been taking a break from the over heated auctions, had I seen it, I would have easily paid $10k for it on a heartbeat. It’s one of those ones that comes around every decade, and it could have easily had a great business built on the power of the keywords. It’s gonna be a rough weekend for sure, but soon enough a new shiny name will come along, and you will forget about it.
 
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Yes, what Tony said, it is more of a marketplace or exchange. Traditional auction houses are heavily regulated.

It’s a great name you lost out on, I been taking a break from the over heated auctions, had I seen it, I would have easily paid $10k for it on a heartbeat. It’s one of those ones that comes around every decade, and it could have easily had a great business built on the power of the keywords. It’s gonna be a rough weekend for sure, but soon enough a new shiny name will come along, and you will forget about it.


You can't say you're not in the auction business while engaging in the auction business. Everything GoDaddy is doing is the very definition of an auction. They are CLEARLY in the auction business.

Thanks, I agree it is a great domain which is why I am going to do everything in my power to get it because I have a legal right to the domain because I was the original winning bidder.
 
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You can't say you're not in the auction business while engaging in the auction business. Everything GoDaddy is doing is the very definition of an auction. They are CLEARLY in the auction business.

Thanks, I agree it is a great domain which is why I am going to do everything in my power to get it because I have a legal right to the domain because I was the original winning bidder.
It's the same way Namejet defines their auctions as an exchange, it is a loosely worded word, I understand it is an auction on an electronic exchange.
 
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The problem is they can't advertise that their GoDaddy Auctions and then put in there TOS that they're not in the auction business. That's false advertising especially since all their terminology are auction terms.

As you can see here, GoDaddy Auctions is even trademarked.

"We take the integrity of domain name auctions seriously, and want to make sure both buyers and sellers are protected. Before you bid, make sure you do your research. Each bid submitted on GoDaddy Auctions® is a binding contract."
https://www.godaddy.com/help/can-i-cancel-my-bid-on-go-daddy-auctions-921

LMAO! Obviously, they don't take the integrity of their auctions seriously, that's just more fluff!
 
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Interesting, I cannot find such a trademark in USPTO...

Well if thats the case, then GoDaddy is committing a crime doing so as this is not only unlawful, it's illegal and should result in serious repercussions. And doing an exact Google search, I see they are using this trademark everywhere.

Such a misuse may constitute false advertising. See, e.g., Sports Authority, Inc. v. Abercrombie & Fitch, Inc., 965 F. Supp. 925, 941-42 (E.D. Mich. 1997) (placement of the “U.S. Pat. Off.” notice near a non-registered trademark may constitute false advertising under Lanham Act § 43(a)) and Sauquoit Paper Co. v. Weistock, 46 F.2d 586, 581 (C.C.P.A. 1931) (“It is no doubt true” that affixing the ‘Trade Mark Registered U.S. Patent Office” notice on goods that are not protected by a federally registered trademark creates “a prima facie case of fraud against the public… .”).

Such use is also a form of “unclean hands” that can bar the user’s registration of the mark. See, Four Roses Products Co. v. Small Grain Distilling & Drug Co., 29 F.2d 959 (D.C. Cir. 1928) (notice misuse sufficient to refuse registration on the ground that “the trademark registration Act was designed to prevent and not to promote misrepresentation.”).
 
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I like to deal in facts & reality, not what ifs! You're basically saying that the "Congratulations! Your bid won" message will show at anytime during the auction as well as the "Auction Ended Timestamp", but I don't think it works that way and if it does, you can't run auction software that doesn't work and not expect to suffer any consequences. No one else from the auction has come forward with any info regarding being scammed like i have.

Looks like you can't trust that congratulations your bid won notification at DropCatch or Godaddy.
 
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Looks like you can't trust that congratulations your bid won notification at DropCatch or Godaddy.

Yes, you can, it's legally binding, you just have to do something about it to hold them accountable otherwise they have no problem screwing their customers over and scamming them until someone comes along and beats them at their own game!
 
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@Joe Styler @Paul Nicks

How's it going?

Thanks for scamming me with GoDaddy Auctions®

Business as USUAL @GoDaddy , right?

The two of you may as well run a daycare together because that is EXACTLY what it is like dealing with GoDaddy Auctions®, especially on the phone. Incompetent fools that destroy people lives and don't even have the remorse to shed a sliver of empathy. I am FULLY prepared to pursue legal action against GoDaddy Auctions® and am currently seeking legal counsel.
 
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Latency, loss of connection to server, and refreshing the page does not explain how you can receive a page, from the server saying:

"Congratulations! Your bid won."

"Auction ended"


From an IT standpoint. The server should NOT be dishing out scripts that are false. Especially if the auction has not ended. Latency and loss of connection does not explain how or why false pages are on a server in the first place.

If the server was coded properly there would NOT be false pages served if there is latency or loss of connection on the user's side.

In other words, latency and loss of connection are a completely different issue and really has nothing to do with the auction server performance.
 
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Have you not heard back from GoDaddy yet?

It appears @Paul Nicks responded to the DomainNameWire.com article covering this...

https://domainnamewire.com/2019/04/26/glitch-causes-godaddy-auction-confusion/

Show attachment 117357

No, I have not heard from @Joe Styler or @Paul Nicks regarding this. I spoke with GoDaddy's 1st level support for an hour who was just going back & forth to the Auctions dept. before finally transferring me to Greg Goodrich who was completely disrespectful & heartless to me! The GoDaddy Auctions dept is so bad, they hide behind multiple levels of support making it nearly impossible to talk to them and they are the literally the absolute worst people to deal with. You can't just call & talk to them, it's like you have to give them a blood sample to get anyone on the phone. They are hiding because they are scamming. Why do you think @Joe Styler & @Paul Nicks have FAILED to follow up with me?

@Paul Nicks Your apologies are WORTHLESS, you guys have KNOWN about this for OVER a month now and you have done absolutely NOTHING to resolve the problem so now I am having to take legal action against GoDaddy Auctions for your complete Negligence in running GoDaddy Auctions and SCAMMING me.
 
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They haven't known for just weeks .. I complained about this last year when it happened to me .. probably within the first few months after they changed to the new auction platform. So at least a year is my guess. Although .. as is the case 90% of the time .. they NEVER follow up .. so who knows if it got reported or passed around to 3 different people before just getting tossed in file 13!

That's why I pretty much gave up reporting things ... never any action .. never any follow up .. it got to the point where I'd actually apologise to my rep each time because it felt like I was writing super long emails for nothing.

However .. for those too lazy to read my longer posts .. you should go back .. as this issue should have been so glaringly obvious that all along I thought it was deliberate in that they didn't have an efficient alternative. And I'm saying that not as a programmer, but just someone with a good grasp of algorithms and logic .. BOTH reasons for this glitch should have been apparent as they were developing the new auctions platform (although in fairness, I can't remember if it was an issue before .. so it might go back even further, but it's at least since this current version of auctions which I think is about 1.5 years old now?

Not only that .. but there are TWO reasons for getting this glitch .. one of which has nothing to do with connection.
 
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