Disappointed at GoDaddy

[wallet2it]

First of all, sorry for the complaining.

Have been grumpy lately but really disappointed at Godaddy today.

I called the Godaddy customer service to discuss about lowering my renewals for my .org.

Please correct me if I am wrong:

A sale representative answered and said the renewal price of .org at around $20 is set by ICANN and not set by registrar so it can't be changed.

I said, "how about Dynadot, Namesilo, and NameCheap? Their renewals are around $10?"

He responded, "That's not correct...if that's the case, all our customers will move to other registrars and we have billions of customers".

I said, " Yeah you are right. That's why I am moving away from Godaddy".

He then insisted on the renewal price of $20 is set by ICANN and that other registrars were not following ICANN rules;

I said, "Come on now! seriously?"

He said, " Yeah I know better...trust me.."

I wasted an hour talking with him.

I called back later and spoke to a manager. He lowered my renewal price for .org....so obviously it can be changed....

I am done complaining! Maybe no one cares haha

 

[Rob Monster]

It is probably a training issue, rather than organized deception.

I review the transcripts of our support calls. Even though we have almost no turnover, we still have newer folks make errors. In those cases, we usually follow up via email to clarify the answer to their question.

However, of course ICANN does not set prices other than ICANN fee which is usual a relatively trivial component of the total renewal cost of any domain.

If you get some goofy answer, I would note the name of the support rep and relay it to @Joe Styler or @Paul Nicks as I am sure they like to see that stuff get fixed.

 

[wallet2it]

It is probably a training issue, rather than organized deception.

I review the transcripts of our support calls. Even though we have almost no turnover, we still have newer folks make errors. In those cases, we usually follow up via email to clarify the answer to their question.

However, of course ICANN does not set prices other than ICANN fee which is usual a relatively trivial component of the total renewal cost of any domain.

If you get some goofy answer, I would note the name of the support rep and relay it to @Joe Styler or @Paul Nicks as I am sure they like to see that stuff get fixed.

Yes I believe that I got a follow-up email to rate the representative so I know his first name.

 

[xynames]

https://www.namepros.com/threads/av...-if-even-one-trademark-claim-is-made.1110373/

 

[Ategy]

Sigh .. there is no better definition of a LOVE/HATE relationship than how I feel about GoDaddy!

More than anything else I have to say that they do have very good staff and are good at hiring people who are certainly above average in Customer Service "people skills" .. they are generally very good at relating with people/customers and seem like they genuinely will make an effort to help you .. *IF* they can. But the problem with customer service is that even if you have the best possible people .. they aren't effective if they don't have the proper industry/platform training, tools and information. That most certainly is a weakness at GoDaddy .. it actually wouldn't be too bad on it's own, if it weren't amplified by an incredibly buggy platform .. their website is just horrible .. or whatever adjective is 5 levels below horrible would only start to be accurate when describing the GoDaddy website/platform! To use an @ikehook term ... it makes me want to punch babies in the face! (which to be clear he did NOT use in reference to GD)

That being said .. all large companies and platforms have similar issues .. mostly because they are large, complex and have multiple departments with overlapping pieces. It isn't easy running a platform that size without issues ... but at GoDaddy it really is beyond excusably bad .. it got to the point where a while back I'd start emails to my poor account rep apologising for bringing up yet another problem/bug/issue (Seriously think about it .. How bad does it have to be when a customer apologises to a company rep because that customer reports too many bugs ??? lol). It was like I was reporting things once or twice a month until I just gave-up .. because GoDaddy lacks the most important element in ever being serious about making themselves better.

It's not just technical bugs .. on this specific topic of pricing .. there have been and ARE tons of pricing mistakes at GoDaddy. I live in a jurisdiction that is heavy on consumer-protection .. if I really wanted to I could likely take GoDaddy to court (and easily win given the obvious repeated mistakes).

BUT ... gotta also love GoDaddy because they have by far the best choice of expired domains at auction!

I've lost a lot of money, domains, time and sanity because of GoDaddy .. like A LOT .. but I'm also making money because of my acquisitions at GoDaddy .. sooooooo .. yeah ... maybe being sane is overrated? But I wouldn't know after being a GD client for so long! lol


Looking at @Rob Monster post above I have to say that as much as everyone is loving Epik at the moment .. like ALL registrars, even they have bugs ... I've reported several directly to @Rob Monster .. and I'm sure I will find more as they grow .. but the huge difference with them is that instead of ignoring the issues and never getting back to you, their actual CEO is very available and makes sure they address and usually solve the issues relatively promptly, and actually communicate/follow-up with you (you think that would be obvious to all registrars? lol) ... more often than not it's the actual CEO! And that's all you can ask from registrars, as because of their obvious complexity, it's not realistic to expect perfection .. but GD is so far from perfection the distance can only be measured in light-years .. or maybe even light-centuries!

Now with the size of GD I'm not expecting fixing everything instantaneously, nor communication with their CEO .. but they really need to be doing a better job considering they are a TWO+ BILLION DOLLAR company! Come on GoDaddy .. you can doooo iiiiitttt !!!

 

[MapleDots]

If I ever have a problem I call support and it's fixed right away. In most cases it's a billing issue of not getting my wholesale club pricing but when I call a credit is promptly issued.

I have over 1000 domains and a good chunk are at GoDaddy. When the renewals come the remainder will probably be moved there.

I would not be doing that if I thought the service was sub par. The reps I have dealt with have always been very nice and tuned in to my problem right away.

So for me GoDaddy is the choice, I have tried cheaper but as a domainer they are the best fit for me.

If I was ever to switch my second choice would be epik for sure and I predict that the competition there will heat up in the future. As a domainer it's all about the tools for me and in the end the best tools to help me with my business will win.

 

[Joe Styler]

Yes I believe that I got a follow-up email to rate the representative so I know his first name.

If you let me know I will have someone look into it. If you can pm me the domain you called about and the date that would be easier for me to find the info I need. That is not great for you to have wasted an hour on the call. It does sound like a training issue and I apologize for the time it took you to get help.

 

[wallet2it]

If you let me know I will have someone look into it. That is not great for you to have wasted an hour on the call. It does sound like a training issue and I apologize for the time it took you to get help.

Dear Mr. Styler,

Thank you for taking your time on this. But before I give you his name (if you really want his name), I want to make sure he won't get fired for this. He probably was just trying to up-sell as he is a salesperson. I called agin later on to the technical support department and spoke with a manger. He resolved my problem right away.

 

[topdom]

I think there are both "strict" newbies, and flexible experts at Afternic.

 

[Joe Styler]

Dear Mr. Styler,

Thank you for taking your time on this. But before I give you his name (if you really want his name), I want to make sure he won't get fired for this. He probably was just trying to up-sell as he is a salesperson. I called agin later on to the technical support department and spoke with a manger. He resolved my problem right away.

I don't know what will happen, but it sounds like a training opportunity to me. ICANN doesn't make the prices and other companies are not breaking rules by renewing a .org for less than us and that should be addressed. That way next time you or someone else calls in you get the right information the first time and get the help you need.

 

[wallet2it]

I don't know what will happen, but it sounds like a training opportunity to me. ICANN doesn't make the prices and other companies are not breaking rules by renewing a .org for less than us and that should be addressed. That way next time you or someone else calls in you get the right information the first time and get the help you need.

Ok when I get home tonight...I will pm you his info. Thank you very much.

 

[Ategy]

I don't know what will happen, but it sounds like a training opportunity to me. ICANN doesn't make the prices and other companies are not breaking rules by renewing a .org for less than us and that should be addressed. That way next time you or someone else calls in you get the right information the first time and get the help you need.

This is exactly what I mean by good customer service .. honesty and transparency first!

That being said .. sounds like a really interesting 1-hour conversation .. I offer the price of a .org domain to anyone who can get me a copy of the transcript!

As much as I hate the thought of someone getting fired, while I could 100% understand if the employee didn't know how prices were actually set, the fact he insisted it was specifically ICANN really leads me to wonder if he truly thought that, or if he was deliberately lying just to get a customer off his back. If it was the former then GD has some serious training sessions ahead of them .. but if it's the latter, then unfortunately deliberately lying to a customer for any reason is 100% not acceptable!
(Let me be clear that I am not insinuating anything either way .. there isn't enough info to say either way, and it very well could have been an honest mistake .. but most definitely something to investigate to be sure either way)