Dynadot

GoDaddy Scammed Me - Here's PROOF!

NameSilo
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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.
this almost isn't even a bug .. and almost more a result of very sloppy programming.

What's the difference between a bug and very sloppy programming? lol
 
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- The new end time gets reset to 5 minutes, rounded UP to the next full minute end time.

Here are a few examples with original auction end times of 11:25:

Bid at 11:19:59 = Auction ends at 11:25:00 (nothing changes)
Bid at 11:20:00 = Auction ends at 11:25:00 (nothing changes)
Bid at 11:20:01 = Auction ends at 11:26:00
Bid at 11:20:59 = Auction ends at 11:26:00
Bid at 11:21:00 = Auction ends at 11:26:00
Bid at 11:21:01 = Auction ends at 11:27:00
Bid at 11:23:59 = Auction ends at 11:29:00
Bid at 11:24:00 = Auction ends at 11:29:00
Bid at 11:24:01 = Auction ends at 11:30:00
Bid at 11:24:59 = Auction ends at 11:30:00
Bid at 11:24:59.999 = Auction ends at 11:30:00
Bid at 11:25:00.000 = I have no clue
Bid at 11:25:01 = You get an error saying your bid isn't valid because auction ended.

If that's accurate, then GoDaddy needs to copy and paste your example to their FAQ.

+1 for the well written attention to detail!
 
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@member-162055 .. I hate to tell you this .. but indeed you didn't win the auction as you were not the last bidder before 11:25. Although it definitely sucks that you were told otherwise by the incorrect "congratulations statement" and that you weren't aware of the new bid.

That being said .. this almost isn't even a bug .. and almost more a result of very sloppy programming.

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.

The confusing customer service problem you ran into is a separate issue that is unfortunately a huge problem at GoDaddy in that it's a massive multi-department company. The first customer service agent you talked to obviously isn't aware of this bug/glitch/sloppy coding loophole. It's a big problem at GoDaddy both in terms that it gives bad info to customers like in your case when the first agent agreed that you won when in fact you unfortunately didn't .. but it's also what I feel is the root cause for there being such an unforgivably large number of bugs and issues on GoDaddy's overall platform .. simply put .. more often than not, one department has no clue what goes on in another. It's not a problem unique to GoDaddy .. in fact you'll find that in most larger companies more often than not the right hand often has no clue what the left hand is doing. It's just that when your business almost entirely takes place on a huge platform, that platform is updated and tweaked regularly .. .and often one department's changes has unintended consequences in another. So it's not an evil thing .. but you could fairly say that they could better at auditing their platform integrity. This issue is nothing compared to others both past and present.

This isn't GoDaddy out to be evil or trying to scam you .. in fact .. chances are you'd have been willing to pay more for the domain ... which would have put more money into GoDaddy's pocket's (remember that they keep 100% of auction revenue for domains that were registered at GoDaddy when it expired).

All that said .. I remember being really upset when it happened to me .. so I feel really bad for you .. maybe with this happening for a high $x,xxx it might get them to address the issue? Yeah .. ok .. lol .. maybe not. If there's one thing I will concede to you that GoDaddy is fantastic at .. it's dismissing bugs and other issues and trying to sweep them under the rug. The number of bugs and issues I've reported are well into the double digits .. and it's extremely rare that I even get acknowledgement or a request for more info .. I can still repeat a serious security issue I reported 3 years ago .. I can still repeat accessibility issues that caused me to lose domains 2 years ago! Again though .. it's not evilness .. it's just the result of GoDaddy being too big for any one person or team to truly have a grasp of everything in the entirety of their platform.

Thanks for pitching in! The problem is not only that the auction is a legally binding contract, but auctions can't have 2 different end times so if they side with the 2nd end time, they are completely destroying the integrity of their marketplace.
 
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As you can see in your email, the auction did not end. So I don't know why you said it didn't close?

Use your head, otherwise this conversation will repeat like two windows staring at one another.

The fact is the auction has 2 different end times!

If GoDaddy sides with the 1st end time, I win.

If GoDaddy is corrupt & sides with the 2nd end time, they show their true colors and face the consequences.
 
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auctions can't have 2 different end times so if they side with the 2nd end time, they are completely destroying the integrity of their marketplace.

What about the other bidder who didn't refresh their screen and also saw they were the winning bidder at a price lower than $9,000?
 
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How many more complaints does GoDaddy need to receive before they implement a fix for the bug? The standard, set your proxy bid higher, simply isn't cutting it when their page refreshes to inform the user they are the winning bidder.

And we have several of these threads, most recently a lot about the GD app telling you you won (was that in the hemp thread?). They are not just losing bids, they are losing confidence and taking up everyone's time.
 
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What about the other bidder who didn't refresh their screen and also saw they were the winning bidder at a price lower than $9,000?

Who?

Winning Bidder under $9K? How is that possible?
 
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If there's one thing I will concede to you that GoDaddy is fantastic at .. it's dismissing bugs and other issues and trying to sweep them under the rug. The number of bugs and issues I've reported are well into the double digits .. and it's extremely rare that I even get acknowledgement or a request for more info .. I can still repeat a serious security issue I reported 3 years ago .. I can still repeat accessibility issues that caused me to lose domains 2 years ago! Again though .. it's not evilness .. it's just the result of GoDaddy being too big for any one person or team to truly have a grasp of everything in the entirety of their platform.

Likewise, I and others have found they have no interest in fixing stuff - even when it is an easy and obvious fix. Auctions at GD seem to have a particularly bad attitude, best summarised as "The customer is always wrong", and "If you don't like it, sue us." So maybe the time will come when someone with deep pockets will sue them, even if the chances of success are not high, just to flush out the problems.

You can see a long list of problems reported on their Afternic platform over the years, not a lot getting fixed there: https://www.namepros.com/threads/problems-bugs-and-fixes-at-afternic-report-problems-here.1006373/
 
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I have the taken screenshots of the full bid log, but not sure how to get them all here in order?
 
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What's the difference between a bug and very sloppy programming? lol

lol .. When you say it like that most would think not much of a difference.

But without going into the technical side (I'm not too keen on sharing the technical aspects of bugs for obvious security reasons .. particularly with GD .. knowing it could be an open issue literally for years) .. the problem here is that this is the extremely predictable result of a decision on how to implement a segment of the auction coding. They chose the simpler code .. mind you .. I can't rule out the fact that a more complex coding wouldn't be prone to worse issues. But to be clear .. this is something they are 100% aware of to some degree. It's been reported at least once by me (and likely dozens of times by others).

Not only that though .. this should be a known consequence of a deliberate coding decision .. something that should have actually been predicted and only implemented because the alternative was either worse, buggier, or just beyond the abilities of their team ... *OR* ... it's just something they missed because they did have a very strong algorithm/programming auditing team .. *OR* .. just really bad programmers (which I don't think is the case, but I obviously can't rule out).

I taught myself some Basic and Pascal a bazillion years ago and haven't programmed much since (aside from hacking a bit of php to customise my old forum, which is far from real coding .. lol), but it's not a coding error .. it's a algorithm/logic error. Basically it's a result of the way they chose to do something .. what they chose to do was coded properly, and this is a predictable consequence of that decision ... (if that makes any sense .. lol)
 
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O boy i have promised myself to leave thread contribution , but I must add here. First sorry for your stress but if I may add, The true legal issue lays in much more. I do hope you follow onward for more than just your own restitution.

A corporation is supposedly held to this weird thing called " fair business practice " and updating available technology when so readily available versus making portfolio acquisitions and advertising/promoting their trust will never be enough to win in any fine print.

In my humble opinion i think the software issue will always be won by them.. for now, don't waste your time arguing with them or Joe, Go for the Lawyer and go for higher purpose. Disabling Level Fines for them is my promise. you make your own and I wish you well.
 
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I have the taken screenshots of the full bid log, but not sure how to get them all here in order?

Thanks, but I was hoping for bids closer to the $9,000 mark.

Specifically speaking to any bids that occurred in extended bidding time (extended bidding time = any bid beyond the initial projected end time). Any bidder with a high bid that occurred during extended bid time could have potentially experienced the same issue as you -- the screen showing them as the winner. Thus, they may feel entitled to the domain at a lower sales price than the actual $9,100 end price.
 
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O boy i have promised myself to leave thread contribution , but I must add here. First sorry for your stress but if I may add, The true legal issue lays in much more. I do hope you follow onward for more than just your own restitution.

A corporation is supposedly held to this weird thing called " fair business practice " and updating available technology when so readily available versus making portfolio acquisitions and advertising/promoting their trust will never be enough to win in any fine print.

In my humble opinion i think the software issue will always be won by them.. for now, don't waste your time arguing with them or Joe, Go for the Lawyer and go for higher purpose. Disabling Level Fines for them is my promise. you make your own and I wish you well.

I am prepared to spend MUCH MORE for a lawyer than I should be paying for the domain. Matter of fact, I have already reached out to a couple domain attorneys. I deal with lawyers on a daily basis so it's nothing new for me!
 
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Poor Daddy :(

LMAO....It's quite ironic you mentioned this because I have been considering buying the domain PoDaddy.com from GoDaddy to bring back what used to be NoDaddy.com.

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I am prepared to spend MUCH MORE for a lawyer than I should be paying for the domain. Matter of fact, I have already reached out to a couple domain attorneys. I deal with lawyers on a daily basis so it's nothing new for me!
You can go to the best domain attorneys, godaddys tos cover them throughout, and you will find out any honest attorney will tell you that you are wasting your time. If you want to spend your money, but you need to define what is a winning online bid. Godaddy search engine will also tell you domains are available to register at reg fee, when they clearly are not. A bid history stamp outlines the timeline which flows properly. A legal bid was placed, resetting the timer, as everyone has explained the page without a manual refresh in the last seconds continues to countdown, and then shows the won message. Had you had the app open, or done a manual refresh, or checked your email box within 3 minutes all your fail safes would have showed you that you were no longer the high bidder.

The auction is not over until the confirmations are complete, and you can make payment, you got newbied on this, and the last second strategy paid off for the high bidder.

Who knows maybe the high bidder doesn’t make payment. At these levels, my guess is you were up against a true end user.
 
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From $4,483+, it's just me & Bidder 17 or rather 591395 as you can see here:
Screen Shot 2019-04-25 at 11.44.21 PM.png

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Screen Shot 2019-04-25 at 11.45.44 PM.png

Screen Shot 2019-04-25 at 11.46.15 PM.png

Screen Shot 2019-04-25 at 11.47.19 PM.png

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A few of you have mentioned @member-162055 should have refreshed after he though he won the auction ... while that might have helped .. there is at least one circumstance where it would not have.

So while he unfortunately legitimately did not win the auction .. he most certainly is legitimately entitled to be angry .. whether he is justified in further legal action is something I really couldn't say .. but it couldn't be for the domain which was legitimately won by the other bidder, it would have to be for damages or the doctor's and pharmacist bill for his impending stress-related breakdown! :-/

I really wish I could share more specific information .. but again .. I still know of several open bugs and issues at GoDaddy .. and despite that I am a relatively happy customer (admittedly it helps when you are aware of the bugs .. and how to avoid them .. lol) .. so knowing it can sometimes take forever before things are fixed, I make it a point not to talk specifics/technicalities of bug/glitches (I recommend everyone does the same .. which definitely is not to say to not talk about them generally .. as there should be lots of that every time).


Again .. I want to stress .. I never heard of or read anything at this NoDaddy site .. and there indeed could be a small number of bad eggs at GoDaddy .. but for the most part they are good people with good intentions who genuinely do want to have a good platform for all of us to use. Their problem as I've said many times .. is similar to most big businesses and government agencies .. which is that at a certain point their size and scope prevent them from having true control over their platform .. it's a monster of it's own right .. I'll bet not a single employee really has a complete grasp of it's entirety. One fix or upgrade is made .. and initially it looks all good .. but what most miss is that it messes something up in the department next door. In fact .. I'll bet myself and a handful of other heavy users likely know more about their platform than 99% of their own employees. But again .. I want to stress that that is not an "evil" thing .. it's a very common happening in most large organisations. That being said .. they are a 10-figure company .. they definitely should be putting more resources into minimising these sort of issues .. as there probably are a few too many issues than there ought to be.
 
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But GoDaddy's TOS does not & will not protect them from engaging in illegal activities or scamming their customers. Any lawyer can write a TOS that says companies can get away with breaking the law too, but that doesn't mean that they will actually get away with doing so because there are State & Federal legal rights for auctions that override GoDaddy's TOS, especially since they are legally binding, so they have to do what's legal, not whatever they want. GoDaddy and their Auctions dept is literally operating as an extreme abuse of power.
 
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You can go to the best domain attorneys, godaddys tos cover them throughout, and you will find out any honest attorney will tell you that you are wasting your time. If you want to spend your money, but you need to define what is a winning online bid. Godaddy search engine will also tell you domains are available to register at reg fee, when they clearly are not. A bid history stamp outlines the timeline which flows properly. A legal bid was placed, resetting the timer, as everyone has explained the page without a manual refresh in the last seconds continues to countdown, and then shows the won message. Had you had the app open, or done a manual refresh, or checked your email box within 3 minutes all your fail safes would have showed you that you were no longer the high bidder.

The auction is not over until the confirmations are complete, and you can make payment, you got newbied on this, and the last second strategy paid off for the high bidder.

Who knows maybe the high bidder doesn’t make payment. At these levels, my guess is you were up against a true end user.

I agree, you have to follow the trail of expenses they have put into known software issues vrs other specific expenses they chose for their growth. you will not win this case aside from them just giving in or who knows... there is years of statements by .... employee of theirs on this forum in acknowledgment where their system is not of any benefit / fair business practice and they planned to end certain fees, or make specific changes, some up to 3 years ago, and of course nothing changed. You can only follow that trail if going legal. anything else in my humble opinion will be very difficult. I hope you read this twice and understand it, it is more sincere than you may know.
 
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From $4,483+, it's just me & Bidder 17 or rather 591395 as you can see here:

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.
 
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