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Entire GoDaddy account repossessed!

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LordMomo

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Hi everyone,

Really in need of some help here...
So I changed payment methods about a week ago at GoDaddy. A day or two later I got an email from their Verification Office requesting that I submit some additional documents:
ID, Bank Statement showing latest transaction, Back and Front of card.

I did so.

Since I received that first email, my account has been locked. I get an update a few hours ago (after submitted all documents) saying that my account has been reviewed and is not eligible to be unlocked.

Around the same time I see the WHOIS on my domains being updated to [email protected] and I have still been locked out of my account.

In all honesty, I have done nothing wrong, and I am unable to speak to someone regarding the reinstatement (I only get computerized responses and the Call center can do nothing). :banghead:

Does anyone know what I can do as I have spent a lot of money on some of the domains in that account (it is my primary account)?

I would really appreciate any advice.

Momo
 
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I was never offered this option either. Just closed my account without any discussion about being repayed.
From what @Joe Styler said, repayment follows automatically. Nowadays, at least :xf.wink:

Sounds above board and reasonable. Except it is not. Like many here, it seems, I remain not reassured about the safety of any assets entrusted to GoDaddy in the event of any "misunderstanding". I still don't understand what really transpired in @LordMomo's case. While I fully understand and respect both sides' need for discretion, this only serves to confuse me (and others here, I expect) further.

Well, here's my take away from this thread: it is GoDaddy policy to reposesses all assets in a client's account under any circumstances they deem suspicious. Conveniently for them, there are no clear rules governing such actions. The client is left with no recourse, except @Joe Styler's or other kind souls best efforts. The other avenues mentioned, like ICANN and the courts, don't merit serious consideration (read: very expensive and unlikely to resolve the issue within a short period of time measured in days). This is woefully inadequate and unsatisfactory. Hence best to keep interaction with GoDaddy to a minimum and deny them assets to reposess, by transferring-out any acquisitions post haste. Problem solved. Time to move on to other topics...
 
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From what @Joe Styler said, repayment follows automatically. Nowadays, at least :xf.wink:

Sounds above board and reasonable. Except it is not. Like many here, it seems, I remain not reassured about the safety of any assets entrusted to GoDaddy in the event of any "misunderstanding". I still don't understand what really transpired in @LordMomo's case. While I fully understand and respect both sides' need for discretion, this only serves to confuse me (and others here, I expect) further.

Well, here's my take away from this thread: it is GoDaddy policy to reposesses all assets in a client's account under any circumstances they deem suspicious. Conveniently for them, there are no clear rules governing such actions. The client is left with no recourse, except @Joe Styler's or other kind souls best efforts. The other avenues mentioned, like ICANN and the courts, don't merit serious consideration (read: very expensive and unlikely to resolve the issue within a short period of time measured in days). This is woefully inadequate and unsatisfactory. Hence best to keep interaction with GoDaddy to a minimum and deny them assets to reposess, by transferring-out any acquisitions post haste. Problem solved. Time to move on to other topics...
I'll answer you and @stub in one response. I am sorry to hear about what happened to @stub and think that we have refined our processes over time on fraud to be smarter. We are not all powerful, there are relatively free ways to complain such as ICANN, Verisign, BBB, local govt etc. We don't normally have that type of issue as in most cases we can work out the issue with the customer if it is legitimate and if not they are unlikey to pursue it with a third party complaint as it will result in a worse outcome for them. I can't honestly say this could never happen to a legitimate customer, we are human and make mistakes, but I have been here 11 years and can say they are very rare and there are options for people to pursue outside of us without paying for a lawyer. At the end of the day we work very hard to help and protect our customers and I can think of countless examples where we have gone above and beyond to do so at sometimes great expense to ourselves. Of course I am biased but I believe us to be a good company that has many people working together to help our customers succeed online and to protect their assets. We have recovered stolen domains for customers who have let others into their account through password sharing or phishing even though this is not an easy process. I have also seen us take a customers side against a foreign govt at potentially large losses for ourselves because we believe in protecting and helping our customers. There are many companies to choose from when registering domains and there are edge cases that can happen anywhere. Over the past decade I have seen large scale hacks, insiders taking advantage of their positions, bankruptcy, lawsuits, you name it from other registrars that had large scale impact on their customers. The grass isn't always greener. From what I have seen though I would want GoDaddy on my side protecting my assets and I feel safe with them with my most valuable domains because of the years of the reputation we have built by helping customers and what I have seen personally that is not always publicly reported.
 
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@Joe Styler - of course I can understand where you are coming from as a good employee. As you say, "I can't honestly say this could never happen to a legitimate customer". And that's the rub. I am a long-standing account at GoDaddy. I forget exactly but approx 12-14 years, with an exemplary record. I checked with my Account Manager if I could do this. And his reply clearly said I could. I have no complaint with you Joe. In my mind you do a great deal to write the wrongs or to clarify policy issues. But dealing with your fraud squad department, is an entirely different kettle of fish.They DO NOT share the same attitudes as you. They shoot first and ask questions later. IMHO. I've used this phrase about them before. They think they are GODS. Arrogant beyond description. The fact that they could do this to me, astounded my current Account Manager (not in so many words, also being a good corporate guy, but between the lines). I was also SHOCKED at their cavalier attitude. It was shameful. IMHO. That they should treat such a long-standing, exemplary customer with such shoddy tactics, bereft of any quality of communication. With their minds already made up what the outcome would be. That's they playbook. IMHO.

But the rub is always possible. And who wins when you disagree? I'd say the fraud squad, because ultimately it's there responsibility.

And so i repeat my warning to GoDaddy customers and potential customers. It is entirely possible, however remote a possibility Joe makes it sound, that if you cross paths with their fraud squad. it is very possible, even with 100% water-tight argument, to turn out unsatisfactorily for you. I had no idea what I had done was in anyway illegal to GoDaddy. It turned out, to be an illuminating exercise. As I said before. If it could happen to me. It could happen to you. Be forewarned.
 
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This was not an old case. Which is why it still burns so brightly in my mind. Maybe less than 4 months ago. So Joe's comment about refining there processes over time, couldn't help me. And maybe can't help you either. When your time comes.
 
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I would like to know what happens to the domains where Whois shows Cancelled by Godaddy.

Do Godaddy directly offer them for sale? Do they let them expire, so they enter their expiring domain sales process? Do they cancel them, so they become free without going through their expiring domain sales process? Or do they quietly renew them and passively take unsolicited offers on them?

If you close an account for any reason, the customer should be allowed to transfer away any domains not DIRECTLY connected to the reason for closing the account.

I agree with this. Which makes the forced change of Whois more significant. Because, as said, if it is your name in the Whois you can force transfer out as per ICANN rules even if you have no access to the account holding the name.
 
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Joe Styler said:
We don't normally have that type of issue as in most cases we can work out the issue with the customer if it is legitimate and if not they are unlikey to pursue it with a third party complaint as it will result in a worse outcome for them.

This doesn't sound at all like the department I had to deal with. AT ALL. Arrogant and Inflexible. Their way, or the Highway. Shoot first and ask questions later. Make the customer squirm. We are not going to change our minds, anyway. If we lose the argument we'll just get them to sign a legal document, making it look like we did a good job. We will never apologize. The customers we deal with are all scumbags. That sounds more like the department I was dealing with.

There was always an undercurrent of them not being genuinely open to you challenging their premature decision to confiscate your assets. They were not the flexible problem solvers, that Joe is trying to make them out to be.

The fraud squad compared to Joe Styler? Like chalk and cheese.
 
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I'll answer you and @stub in one response. I am sorry to hear about what happened to @stub and think that we have refined our processes over time on fraud to be smarter. We are not all powerful, there are relatively free ways to complain such as ICANN, Verisign, BBB, local govt etc. We don't normally have that type of issue as in most cases we can work out the issue with the customer if it is legitimate and if not they are unlikey to pursue it with a third party complaint as it will result in a worse outcome for them. I can't honestly say this could never happen to a legitimate customer, we are human and make mistakes, but I have been here 11 years and can say they are very rare and there are options for people to pursue outside of us without paying for a lawyer. At the end of the day we work very hard to help and protect our customers and I can think of countless examples where we have gone above and beyond to do so at sometimes great expense to ourselves. Of course I am biased but I believe us to be a good company that has many people working together to help our customers succeed online and to protect their assets. We have recovered stolen domains for customers who have let others into their account through password sharing or phishing even though this is not an easy process. I have also seen us take a customers side against a foreign govt at potentially large losses for ourselves because we believe in protecting and helping our customers. There are many companies to choose from when registering domains and there are edge cases that can happen anywhere. Over the past decade I have seen large scale hacks, insiders taking advantage of their positions, bankruptcy, lawsuits, you name it from other registrars that had large scale impact on their customers. The grass isn't always greener. From what I have seen though I would want GoDaddy on my side protecting my assets and I feel safe with them with my most valuable domains because of the years of the reputation we have built by helping customers and what I have seen personally that is not always publicly reported.

Dear @Joe Styler,

How can I get in contact with you? I tried to send you a PM on this website but it doesn't work.

I have almost the same issue as the thread starter. The GoDaddy verification department keep sending me robotized messages even though I keep explaining. It's been over a week now, and it's getting very frustrating. Never had this problem with other registrars. It's ridiculous that GoDaddy keep sending robotized messages when it's such a serious matter as this. GoDaddy is literally stealing my domain bought with MY credit card.

Please get back to me, I've been in contact with the unhelpful GoDaddy support 6 times now.

Thank you.
 
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This doesn't sound at all like the department I had to deal with. AT ALL. Arrogant and Inflexible. Their way, or the Highway. Shoot first and ask questions later. Make the customer squirm. We are not going to change our minds, anyway. If we lose the argument we'll just get them to sign a legal document, making it look like we did a good job. We will never apologize. The customers we deal with are all scumbags. That sounds more like the department I was dealing with.

There was always an undercurrent of them not being genuinely open to you challenging their premature decision to confiscate your assets. They were not the flexible problem solvers, that Joe is trying to make them out to be.

The fraud squad compared to Joe Styler? Like chalk and cheese.

This literally sums up my experience with GoDaddy support.

I wonder how many customers GoDaddy lose because of this issue. They need to stop send robotized messages from the Vertification/Fraud department. I keep explaining and asking questions, and I get the same message everytime. Worst support ever.

I hope we can resolve this issue or I will never ever buy a domain from Godaddy again, and transfer all of my domains.
 
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@Joe Styler I've been following this thread since the beginning and have been debating with myself back and forth on whether or not to transfer all of my domains out.

I currently have about 900 domains at GD and I've only started to use GD since last year - almost all of the domains were won on expiring auctions, quite a few for $x,xxxx, and many names were won for 3 figures. With a valuable portfolio, it's quite unsettling reading this thread as you can probably imagine.

Although your answers/response/presence gave me some degree of reassurance, the cases like the one posted by @stub and now by @SWED make it really difficult to NOT worry. @Nerevar also said that "GD locked her out of her account for every new credit card that she used, she had to provide a photo / scan of the card every time" (??!!).

As a business owner, I understand the negative impact that fraudulent charges and customers have on a business, but the worse thing is when your customers are misjudged and even worse - unable to get help and attention for a serious matter like this. I will be relocating to another country soon, should I then be worried that my account being flagged since my address will change to another country and a new credit card will be used??

I really hope this thread gets the attention it deserves and your company can make improvement on this aspect. Your customers should NOT be constantly fearful of you taking their valuable assets with no prior warnings - which seem to be happening now, and when misunderstandings do happen, we should at least deserve immediate attention, human review and response to matters like this.

I did not choose GD as my registrar before because I don't remember the reviews of your customer service being that great many years ago. When I started to participate in your expiring auctions and started to use the registrar again last year, I was pleasantly surprised by how great the customer support have been and how much it has improved - the reps are always friendly, ready to help and trying their best to help, you can feel the company culture behind it that they truly are happy to help their customers. Fraudulent prevention department is not the most glamorous part of a company, but it should have the same goal as the rest of the company - provide exceptional customer service.
 
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I will be staying in GoDaddy with over 1,000 names because I still think it is a very solid registrar. I think that the risk of losing domains is negligible, since if you make no haste, contact your rep, ask Joe Styler for help etc., you can resolve any issue. Delays are bad for business, but unless there is a holiday or event, it will not be a big delay. There are lots of domainers on this forum, and if they had really lost domains, I suppose we would know it by now.

However, if Joe Styler left this forum, I would perhaps reconsider my relationship with GoDaddy. This shows to me that GD has yet much to implement in terms of customer service.
 
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I don't have many domain names at GD, and had no issues with them to date. But I'd be a fool (based purely on the service reviews in this thread, both past and more recent ones) to have the goal of eventually moving my entire portfolio to GD one day.

That said, if I had thousands of domain names with them already, I may possibly have shared a different view due to some "great" service-experience, or perhaps my blind optimism related to my being too lazy to complete the transfers out.

Although Joe represents GD, he isn't them. The GD brand is a much larger and overall collective body. If Joe moves to another registrar, it would be understandable that many will follow. There's value in Joe, and as a result, there's value in what he represents. But if GD does not have Joe to offer this type of personal assistance to NP members, we would most likely have a fairly collective view from members agreeing that the risk (of dealing with the fraud department) is way too high.

The reality though, is that too much trust and reliance is being placed in an individual who quite realistically could not be with us tomorrow (for whatever reason). What then? So, if Joe never existed - would you risk your domain names based on everything you know about GD (good and bad) including this thread.

Just imagine what individuals (who don't know NP exists) must feel like knowing that they have the task of going through the alternative processes (eg. icann) to remedy bad service and costly mistakes. Like any investment, you should diversify your domain registrars.

In the end, GD is as strong as their weakest link (the fraud department) who sometimes sacrifice the good guys for the greater good. If it was 1&1 on trial ... whole different ballgame.

NB* Thanks for all your effort and assistance Joe, always appreciated. We vote for better service (in the form of communication with customers) from the fraud department.
 
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[B]@brandsly[/B] [B]@Nerevar[/B]

You have a chance of 1/10th of 1% of this happening to you. This is already too high a percentage to gamble on NOT losing your entire GoDaddy portfolio. It doesn't matter what the percentage is. Why would you want them to have this ability. AT ALL. Maybe you can live with that small percentage. But it looks a whole lot different if you become one of those statistics. Believe me. It happened to me. I have praised my Account Manager in this thread. He performed miracles. And even he was not confident it could be rectified. The fraud squad are a law unto themselves. Mostly anti-customer, IMHO (from my interactions with them). I was extremely happy and surprised that they were finally persuaded to listen to what my Account Manager was saying to them. It was in the end, a last ditch effort to get them to see reason.

I praise @Joe Styler He does exceedingly good job for us. As well as shading the argument about who the fraud squad are, and their motivations. They are as I described in this thread. They are NOT reasonable people. You can't even have an open discussion with them on the merits of your case.

Caveat Emptor.
 
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I interestingly enough just got a following up email from ccinqiuires/Verfication department at GoDaddy. Coincidence after posting here? However. They asked me for additional information/documents. I just provided them that, let's see what happens.

I deeply hope they resolve this as fast as possible. I will keep you updated.
 
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In the footer in the email I got back from ccinquiries@secureserver(.net) (asking for additional information) it says: "Please do not reply to this email. Emails sent to this address will not be answered."

Lmfao, this is getting better and better. They ask for additional information but I can't reply to the email they just sent me? I can't even access my admin panel to upload the documents because it's locked.

However. I emailed verifypayment@godaddy(.com), ccinquiries@godaddy(.com) now. Joe told me to do that. Let's see...
 
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In the footer in the email I got back from ccinquiries@secureserver(.net) (asking for additional information) it says: "Please do not reply to this email. Emails sent to this address will not be answered."

Lmfao, this is getting better and better. They ask for additional information but I can't reply to the email they just sent me? I can't even access my admin panel to upload the documents because it's locked.

However. I emailed verifypayment@godaddy(.com), ccinquiries@godaddy(.com) now. Joe told me to do that. Let's see...
You can reply to that address. You can also email the two others in the email. I checked in with the payment verification team and they have said that you can access the page you need to upload the documents and they sent an email explaining how to do so, and that you can also fax them in with the number they gave you or simply attach them to the email you send them.
 
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I don't have many domain names at GD, and had no issues with them to date. But I'd be a fool (based purely on the service reviews in this thread, both past and more recent ones) to have the goal of eventually moving my entire portfolio to GD one day.

That said, if I had thousands of domain names with them already, I may possibly have shared a different view due to some "great" service-experience, or perhaps my blind optimism related to my being too lazy to complete the transfers out.

Although Joe represents GD, he isn't them. The GD brand is a much larger and overall collective body. If Joe moves to another registrar, it would be understandable that many will follow. There's value in Joe, and as a result, there's value in what he represents. But if GD does not have Joe to offer this type of personal assistance to NP members, we would most likely have a fairly collective view from members agreeing that the risk (of dealing with the fraud department) is way too high.

The reality though, is that too much trust and reliance is being placed in an individual who quite realistically could not be with us tomorrow (for whatever reason). What then? So, if Joe never existed - would you risk your domain names based on everything you know about GD (good and bad) including this thread.

Just imagine what individuals (who don't know NP exists) must feel like knowing that they have the task of going through the alternative processes (eg. icann) to remedy bad service and costly mistakes. Like any investment, you should diversify your domain registrars.

In the end, GD is as strong as their weakest link (the fraud department) who sometimes sacrifice the good guys for the greater good. If it was 1&1 on trial ... whole different ballgame.

NB* Thanks for all your effort and assistance Joe, always appreciated. We vote for better service (in the form of communication with customers) from the fraud department.
I sure hope I am not gone tomorrow :) GoDaddy is a big company with many people in various departments. I have been with them since they had two offices, now I don't know how many we have all over the world. Many things have changed in that time but one that has remained constant is our care for the customers who are the reason we are successful. Everyone here knows that if our customers are not successful we are not successful and with that in mind, if I were gone tomorrow they would find someone else to help the customers. I have been here long enough to know that we work hard to help customers and do not generally ban people's accounts. It is also abnormal for us to ban an older account if you have a good payment history.
 
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well... given how huge GD is compared to other registrars... and how many clients it has.. compared to others.. I suppose the odds we hear of GD issues more often than other places.. are bound to be simply.. greater.

sounds like statistics101 to me.

cheers
 
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You can reply to that address. You can also email the two others in the email. I checked in with the payment verification team and they have said that you can access the page you need to upload the documents and they sent an email explaining how to do so, and that you can also fax them in with the number they gave you or simply attach them to the email you send them.

Thank you for your reply. They didn't explain how I can access the page to upload the documents? Just saying that I can login and will be prompted. But my account is locked. However, I have replied to the email they sent me.
 
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I sure hope I am not gone tomorrow :)

It is also abnormal for us to ban an older account if you have a good payment history.

We all wish you stay at GoDaddy, forever :)

So I was the one that fell thru the cracks. Pity for me :( The fraud squads actions would have bankrupted me, if I'd had all my domains with GoDaddy. I was extremely lucky to get the lockout overturned, after I had basically given up all hope. I don't think the fraud squad are taking care of GoDaddy customers. They are taking care of the interests of GoDaddy (badly IMHO). For me, it should never have happened, AT ALL. I don't know how they would ever come to the conclusion to lock me out of my account, when I'm a very longstanding customer with an impeccable payment history. AND HAD DONE NOTHING WRONG. All I did was to tell my previous Account Manager I wanted to change my Account Name from a personal to a corporate name. And he told me GoDaddy couldn't care less what a customer puts in as the Account Name. So I changed it. Which turned out to be incorrect. You care a lot, apparently. Enough to lock me out of my account. With no possibility that it will ever be re-opened.
 
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Oh. And I would add paranoid to all the list of traits of the fraud squad. They don't really want to talk to you openly in case they give something away about what they are looking at. It is impossible to have a bi-lateral conversation with them.

Have I said enough? Probably way too much. But I can tell you. I was treated shamefully badly. IMHO. This was my personal hell with coming under scrutiny by the fraud squad. Through no fault of my own. It could happen to you, too. And you might not have an Account Manager, which fought 150% for you.
 
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Soon 48 hours since the first email. Still no answer...
 
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[B]@brandsly[/B] [B]@Nerevar[/B]

I praise @Joe Styler He does exceedingly good job for us. As well as shading the argument about who the fraud squad are, and their motivations. They are as I described in this thread. They are NOT reasonable people. You can't even have an open discussion with them on the merits of your case.

Caveat Emptor.

I just want to add my .02, about customer service in general. Any business can deliver a product... in this case any registrar can register and hold your name for you. It is when something goes wrong that you see the true merit of a company. In my experience, GD is always just a phone call away, and the team is very responsive. Plus, how many registrars are on here at all to communicate with NP members? GD is the largest and we have a senior member here to help out.

It is unfortunate OP is having a problem with the fraud department, but I don't think this situation reflects too ill of GD. This is not a common complaint, and they are clearly trying to resolve. FWIW, I keep my portfolio here and have no interest in moving to a smaller registrar.
 
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GoDaddy replied to me today and reinstated my account and my domains after they repossessed it. Took about 2 weeks, 5 phone calls, 10 e-mails. Partly my own fault. But I'm happy they made the right decision.

Short: My issue got resolved with GoDaddy. I'm happy to continue to use them.
 
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