Entire GoDaddy account repossessed!

[LordMomo]

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).

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

 

[Name Trader]

Anytime we mark a purchase as problematic we refund it automatically for the reasons I stated above.

But that doesn't qualify you to take a customers account and other domains away. IMHO.

 

[Name Trader]

I don't know exactly what happened until I can discuss it with the fraud team. It is rare for them to refund an order and more rare for them to lock an entire account. We'll see what happened with the account when I speak with them this week.

We are all waiting with baited breath, Joe.

 

[MasterOfMyDomains]

Repossessed by Go Daddy is associated with ~149,097 other domains

I see the Repossessed by godaddy stat when i search one of the names in your signature is unchanged at 148,519

So none have been deleted from their system or repossessed recently.
Truly sorry you have to deal with this, I have zero names at godaddy and will never register another name their again.
Can't wait to hear @Joe Styler explanation.
If posted earlier I missed it, but any other registrar repossess names?

Seems you're missing the point here. I'm happy for @stub and hopeful about @LordMomo, same as you. However, this thread has hilighted the bigger and, frankly, very scary picture - see my question in red a couple of posts above...

As for leaving this as a "technical error", well, okay... thing is, 50,000* seems like a lot of "technical errors"...

We'll never know how many of those more or less 50,000* names have been reposessed due to fraud or perceived fraud, as in @LordMomo's case, and how many are... collateral damage. Judging by the @LordMomo case, possibly most of them!

* Disclaimer: I'm using the 50,000 figure, calculated by @stub, for illustration purposes. No one here knows how many such "technical errors" there really are.

Not missing the point at all.
Firstly its about lord momo, this thread, lets get his names back.
Yes happy for Stub too
As you can see by my numbers above more names have been reposessed by godaddy.

You guys continue to attack. Yes it is a big problem, blame Joe, its all his fault since he came here to help.

Your not gonna save the world Domains-Wanted by being aggressive.
All i am saying is lets see what Joe says and learn why it happens and how to prevent/rectify future situations.

You guys should be as calm about the situation as momo instead of coming on here guns blazing.
But, that is namepros nowdays

All we can do is shut up and wait for a report from Joe.

So i get the point, daddy is still repossesing names. Lets try and find out why

 

[Domains - Wanted]

Repossessed by Go Daddy is associated with ~149,097 other domains

My mistake. Thanks for pointing this out

You guys continue to attack. Yes it is a big problem, blame Joe, its all his fault since he came here to help.

How many times do I need to post and say "kudos to Joe" for you to understand it's GoDaddy I' m unhappy with, not Joe??

Your not gonna save the world Domains-Wanted by being aggressive.
All i am saying is lets see what Joe says and learn why it happens and how to prevent/rectify future situations.

Agreed, with reservations.

You guys should be as calm about the situation as momo instead of coming on here guns blazing.
But, that is namepros nowdays

Can't speak for @stub, if he's one of the "guys" you're referring to here, but this is me being calm as a cucumber

 

[MasterOfMyDomains]

So the number is 150,000 not 50,000 and maybe you should go start your own thread on the topic of goodaddy reposessing names and leave this thread to momo issue

Thanks for your help Joe.
You are the answer to everyones questions

 

[Domains - Wanted]

So the number is 150,000 not 50,000 and maybe you should go start your own thread on the topic of goodaddy reposessing names and leave this thread to momo issue

Great suggestion. Will do!

 

[Name Trader]

Repossessed by Go Daddy is associated with ~149,097 other domains

Not missing the point at all.
Firstly its about lord momo, this thread, lets get his names back.
Yes happy for Stub too
As you can see by my numbers above more names have been reposessed by godaddy.

You guys continue to attack. Yes it is a big problem, blame Joe, its all his fault since he came here to help.

Your not gonna save the world Domains-Wanted by being aggressive.
All i am saying is lets see what Joe says and learn why it happens and how to prevent/rectify future situations.

You guys should be as calm about the situation as momo instead of coming on here guns blazing.
But, that is namepros nowdays

All we can do is shut up and wait for a report from Joe.

So i get the point, daddy is still repossesing names. Lets try and find out why

I take offence if this is directed at me. Please show me where I have attacked Joe. I have been gracious to him, but have contradicted some of his statements. I trust Joe is thick skinned enough not to take offence at these contradictions.

 

[Name Trader]

So the number is 150,000 not 50,000 and maybe you should go start your own thread on the topic of goodaddy reposessing names and leave this thread to momo issue

Thanks for your help Joe.
You are the answer to everyones questions

Or he will be after he explains why @LordMomo had his account closed without the possibility to ever re-open it. Why he hasn't been refunded for all the domains in his account. Or why he hasn't been allowed to transfer them to another registrar. That is outrageous, if LordMomo, is to be believed. And without any other evidence, I have no reason to disbelieve him. We are all waiting to hear what @Joe Styler has to say.

 

[LordMomo]

Update (probably final):

Bank has confirmed credit card dispute has been finalized. Managed to retrieve most of the money spent in the last 3 months. Probably a 0% chance of anything more happening.

I'm happy however, as at least I managed to get a "refund" when the GoDaddy support made it clear that I would get neither domains or cash refunded.

@Joe Styler and all other commenters thank you for all the help and ideas. I do not believe anything more can be done here now (since the credit card chargeback has been completed). I will probably close the thread.

In conclusion, no domains returned, account permanently locked, some purchases forcibly "refunded" and horrible support from GoDaddy. I did jump the gun by starting the chargeback with the bank and maybe Joe could have helped, but it wasn't a risk I was willing to take.

Regards
Momo

 

[Kenny]

Maybe not yet.
I'm glad you got your funds returned, but lets let Joe explain what happened on their end first.
It would be good to know if there was / is a glitch in their system, and if / when it will be repaired.

Peace,
Cyberian

 

[cdboard]

glitch? he used the credit cards of two different people on the same account. that would trip the alarm of many online businesses.

OP, were any of the domains on a "bad behavior" list - maybe because of a previous owner?

 

[Name Trader]

Update (probably final):

Bank has confirmed credit card dispute has been finalized. Managed to retrieve most of the money spent in the last 3 months. Probably a 0% chance of anything more happening.

I'm happy however, as at least I managed to get a "refund" when the GoDaddy support made it clear that I would get neither domains or cash refunded.

@Joe Styler and all other commenters thank you for all the help and ideas. I do not believe anything more can be done here now (since the credit card chargeback has been completed). I will probably close the thread.

In conclusion, no domains returned, account permanently locked, some purchases forcibly "refunded" and horrible support from GoDaddy. I did jump the gun by starting the chargeback with the bank and maybe Joe could have helped, but it wasn't a risk I was willing to take.

Regards
Momo

Please don't close this thread until @Joe Styler has had a chance to fully explain what happened at the GoDaddy end. There are a lot of people in this thread waiting to here his explanation, before deciding whether they continue to hold their domains at GoDaddy. I would have thought you would be interested to hear his explanation also.

You must have a good cc/bank The few times I have asked for a refund, it takes them approx 2 months before the money is refunded into my account. I'm glad to hear you have got your refund. And yes, I agree you have jumped the gun. Waiting another week, could only have been more beneficial to your case. But now it's cut and dried

 

[jaydub]

But I can see why OP "jumped the gun" with a chargeback. He got a "no way, no how" nasty email from GD , and not knowing Joe, he just thought he had better get his money back.
Perhaps Joe could have helped but OP wasn't aware of him at that time and knee jerked it.

I too would like to hear from Joe as to what happened here and I do appreciate his involvement to help clarify this for the OP and us that may have domains with GoDaddy, even though this matter had nothing to do with him.

Again... Cheers Joe

 

[carob]

glitch? he used the credit cards of two different people on the same account. that would trip the alarm of many online businesses.

Alarm yes, account closure and loss of all domains, no.

 

[DomainZombie]

No news here?

 

[Kenny]

No news here?

Waiting on @Joe Styler for an update from GD.

Peace,
Cyberian

 

[Domains - Wanted]

No news here?

Waiting on @Joe Styler for an update from GD.

Same here

 

[deez007]

I thnk it would be good form and the right thing to do for GD to return the OPS domains even though he did a chargeback.

Had the GD support team responded properly and appropriately then chances are the OP would not have proceeded with the chargeback.

 

[Domains - Wanted]

I thnk it would be good form and the right thing to do for GD to return the OPS domains even though he did a chargeback.

Had the GD support team responded properly and appropriately then chances are the OP would not have proceeded with the chargeback.

Dreamer.com!

 

[LucidDomains]

Using a credit card of a relative is not a fraudulent case. I have done it many times to buy a number of different purchases over the years. I have used my partner's card, parents' card, brother's card. I have never ever had an issue myself.

P.S. I haven't read this thread entirely, unsure if there was more the OP did or didn't do which caused the fraudulent alarms.

By the way, I know @Joe Styler is away for a couple of days... in case you're waiting for his reply.

 

[Joe Styler]

I am back on the forum and should be again for the foreseeable future. I have spoken with the fraud team and looked over the details of the account in question. I think most people here know me to be a fair and honest guy who goes out of his way to help anyone he can. I hope that I have earned enough credit over the years to draw on some now when I say looking over the account details it is very suspicious and I would have to side with our fraud team. I am not willing to go over the details for two reasons, we do not publicly discuss customer's account details, and I do not want to give people a look into what we look for.

I can state that in no uncertain terms, we did refund all purchases on that account when we shut it down so there is nothing to dispute as the funds were sent back to the banks that issued them.

Using a credit card of a relative is not a fraudulent case. I have done it many times to buy a number of different purchases over the years. I have used my partner's card, parents' card, brother's card. I have never ever had an issue myself.

P.S. I haven't read this thread entirely, unsure if there was more the OP did or didn't do which caused the fraudulent alarms.

By the way, I know @Joe Styler is away for a couple of days... in case you're waiting for his reply.

Thank you I was away. My son has been very sick and I had a business trip. I am back now.

 

[Joe Styler]

I understand what I am going to say will be unpopular so I ask that you keep in mind the whole of the contributions I have made during my time here and the fact that I have always been honest and worked hard to help anyone I could with any issue and share information which I think will help people as well as spearhead changes to our products and services as a result of feedback on here.

Knowing that I have tried the same thing in this case and have worked with our fraud team on this as well as investigating the details myself and I would have to say that I am convinced that this was the correct decision in this case. There are several red flags on this account that put together as a whole make it hard to unban the account as much as I would like to and understand the PR associated with not doing so. I will PM @LordMomo with some additional information I will not share publicly to see if that can help clear things up.

I would also like to state that I have examined and re-examined the payments from multiple banks and they have all been refunded before @LordMomo stated he was doing a chargeback. We automatically refunded the purchases at the time we closed the account as I stated. I am not saying he is incorrect, the money takes several days to process through the banks to show up in your account so it may be that he did not yet have the funds or they had not shown up on the various statements but I am confident the money was already refunded by us fully.

I also think it is important to understand that we have over 13 million customers and very very few ever have a fraud team issue. It is not a problem to use someone else's credit card as others have stated on this thread, there are more factors than that involved here and involved on all the purchases made which is why the entire account was closed down.

In the rare cases where there is a fraud issue we do give customers an opportunity to clear it up and a great majority of those customers are able to work with our team and do so.

I am not willing to go into detail on why we made this decision in this case as I do not want people to be able to develop a "playbook" on how to get past our team but I will say that we are in business for the long term value our customers. We also seek to have a safe and secure marketplace and look for a balance that protects everyone. As I stated, I hope that my credibility over the years has earned some trust in this case.

I will PM @LordMomo with some additional details that may help him restore his account but that I do not think should be part of a public forum.

 

[Mister Funsky]

I had one of my domains taken a few years ago without warning and I never got it back...no trademark issue or anything of that nature. I never got an explanation only an email saying that I needed to justify why I should have the name!?!?!? I was in the middle of chemo, near death, and could not even sit at my keyboard so the battle with the registrar was short...had other things to deal with. I wish you luck and suggest you find another registrar...although I have names with several, my current favorite is epik...free privacy (if you want it) and reasonable pricing.

 

[Kenny]

Good enough for me. Thank you Joe.
Whomever wants can continue to trash GD and their policies, and how the support team acted inappropriately in their responses to the matter at hand, but it appears their was enough evidence to suspect fraud, close the account, and that's the bottom line.

Peace,
Cyberian

 

[anantj]

Edited: Post removed as the original comment has been edited