GoDaddy STEALING domains from people's accounts

[NameOmnia]

So here it is.

Today I have received an email from GD saying that 3 of my numeric domains that I have bough from a NP member were cancelled and removed from my account.
Surprised I checked the whois and it turns out the are repossessed by GD.

I call the ( useless ) support and they tell me that there are problems with the previous owner's account and that if I want the domains back in my account I have to pay for their registration.

WTF?

So GoDaddy refuses to contact the previous owner and gives me 2 options

1) pay for registration
2) contact the previous owner and see what he/she can do...
WHAT????

WARNING : GoDaddy will take away any domain from your account if the previous owner/s are having issues on their accounts. They STEAL domains from the current account no matter what and if you want to have them back you have to pay for registration ( or whatsoever amount they tell you ). THEY DO NOT CARE how long the names have been in your account for and they DO NOT CARE that you have not being the registrar and they DO NOT CARE that you are not the "non paying" account holder.

GODADDY IS A FRAUD, BEWARE! GODADDY ARE THIEVES.

Transfer any domain out as soon as you can.

I would be really really pleased to hear what @Joe Styler has to say about this.
In the meantime shame on you GoDaddy

 

[DnEbook]

The seller has claimed they intend to act in good faith so we have to give them the chance to do so, this is hopefully just a slight setback and will be worked out to the satisfaction of all, keep calm and allow for the processes. A few here know what happened to me last xmas and eventually it got worked out in the correct result

 

[NameOmnia]

GD has the expected due diligence to inform you, and then provide you with the option to pay the fees. If they have done that in a prompt and timely manner then they hold no fault in this situation.

In the email I received there was no mention.
It was a standard email stating that 3 domains were cancelled and removed from my account ( like the one you get every time a push is completed f.e. ) and that if I felt there was a mistake I had to contact them.
Once I called I was then informed that I had to pay because in the original account there were issues.

 

[NameOmnia]

The seller has claimed they intend to act in good faith so we have to give them the chance to do so, this is hopefully just a slight setback and will be worked out to the satisfaction of all, keep calm and allow for the processes.

Yes, this is about GD not Salai.

 

[DnEbook]

Yes, this is about GD not Salai.

It seems he has to re-emburse you the cost and then you can renew/register the names, would that suffice?

 

[DomainVP]

In the email I received there was no mention.
It was a standard email stating that 3 domains were cancelled and removed from my account ( like the one you get every time a push is completed f.e. ) and that if I felt there was a mistake I had to contact them.
Once I called I was then informed that I had to pay because in the original account there were issues.

Then that indeed was handled poorly.

I'm sure you get 'courtesy calls' for GD to sell products, but not a call for a situation like this?

Sounds like procedure should be updated, and some consideration given to you as a customer.

They are a great company, but I did have to educate a rep once on what 'whois' was and that there is more than just who.is when it comes to finding that info. It was the persons first day, I felt bad.

 

[NameOmnia]

It seems he has to re-emburse you the cost and then you can renew/register the names, would that suffice?

So Salai and I were both on the phone with GD at the same time to have the thing solved real time with them but no nothing can be done until Salai calls the fraud department.
The "standard" GD support does not deal with these aspects; there is nothing I can do on my side atm. Salai is the only one who can fix the issues with fraud, regain ownership then push.

I have specifically asked GD on the phone if the issue could have been fixed real time if Salai gave them another card number or PP account and they said NO. Only fraud department can deal with cases like this.

 

[DnEbook]

We feel your frustration!

 

[S-B]

If a pawn shop buys stolen merchandise, the police are free to come in and "steal" it back for the rightful owner.

I don't see anything wrong with this. You got scammed by someone else; call them out.

This.

 

[Salai Domains]

Friends Im here I Will Call now for Credit Card company to try understand, in few hours Will be 9:00AM at Arizona so they Will fix the problem.

 

[Salai Domains]

And please be careful with telling That Im scammer or anything worse. I discover This situation tonight 3:30 AM And Im trying ali I can to fix the problem.

 

[JayJay]

I really don't see why Photon (as the current registrant) couldn't have at least been given an option to fix the situation by paying the reg fees herself say within 24/48 hours, they still would've gotten their money and the names wouldn't have had to leave her account. I would have preferred this as a customer rather than rely on the original owner to pay and re-push them. I guess they must have their reasons though.

 

[Salai Domains]

I really don't see why Photon (as the current registrant) couldn't have at least been given an option to fix the situation by paying the reg fees herself say within 24/48 hours, they still would've gotten their money and the names wouldn't have had to leave her account. I would have preferred this as a customer rather than rely on the original owner to pay and re-push them. I guess they must have their reasons though.

The worst is that @photonmymind tried to fix. I've tried to fix too. But the worst for me is that NO ONE from GODADDY msg me about the situation. I only know because @photonmymind look to me. So is that why I've create a threat too about this

 

[DnDigger]

Chargeback as conception causes a lot of problems and opportunities for misunderstandings.

 

[.NJ]

1. Photo pays the "unpaid" registrations fees that Salai technically didn't pay for.

2. Photo will then still have the names in her account "paid".

3. Go after Salai for the the "original" registration fees that Photo had to cover for him.

4. Communicate with Salai only leaving GD out of the picture which would be much easier.

5. Salai pays you the "extra" fees you had to pay GD because of his credit card issue.

6. Done.

 

[james haw]

When I pointed it out GD customer disservice told me " well in that case you sue him" OH THANKS!

Godaddy deal with domain names, and as domain names are international they should not advise that. It's so hard to take people or a company to court when they are from different countries with different laws.



Have I missed something BTW? If Photon bought the domains, then Salai has no transactions to chargeback. Salai is the one who received the money so nothing to "reclaim", so I don't see why Salai's credit card is involved.

Hopefully it'll get sorted though, for everyone's satisfaction.

 

[ksusha64]

Godaddy can not take domains out of your account unless there is a court order or UDRP decision. I had similar situation and after my lawyer contact them, names were returned right away. They are breaking ICANN regulations and the law. I can't believe all domineers are not by you on this and taking illegal position of godaddy.

 

[DU]

Godaddy can not take domains out of your account unless there is a court order or UDRP decision. I had similar situation and after my lawyer contact them, names were returned right away. They are breaking ICANN regulations and the law. I can't believe all domineers are not by you on this and taking illegal position of godaddy.

What law?

Funny how when names end up at ename after theft people complain about how hard it is to ever get them back. Perhaps the members of NP should collaborate to come up with a system that doesn't allow any abuse, any theft, and any complaining. Sometimes we want names given back... sometimes we want them kept.... aren't circumstances annoying.

Seems it's all being worked out. Don't understand why there's so much drama over 2 month old names.

 

[21x20]

Just stating that I agree with some of the previous statements... No company can allow a product to remain active after a chargeback. In this case with domains, that includes whether the original account holder did the chargeback or not.

Imagine the scams of registering tons of names and pushing them to other accounts. "Oh, you can't touch that name now! It's in another account!" As someone above said, this would be a rampant problem for the industry if they allowed it.

We should be careful as domainers how we approach this or Registrars would have to start locking domains in accounts and not allowing pushes until the chargeback period has passed for new reg's and renewals. Obviously that would make what we do here pretty hard. There are "cost of doing business" issues and while it sucks, I think this is one of them.

Dealing with members with good trade reviews is one way to be safe... If that happened here, I'd suggest if the person doesn't work with you, please do put a negative on them so we all see it when we deal.

Aside from that, unless you're a VIP at GoDaddy with your own rep, GD is sorta horrible at communication and support. That's just their size ... they are a cheap registrar that has definitely had some trouble scaling a knowledgable support base that's not reading from a script. I can sorta understand that.

 

[Bhanu Madala]

Hi Same Happened with my account what is the process?

 

[NameOmnia]

What law?

Funny how when names end up at ename after theft people complain about how hard it is to ever get them back. Perhaps the members of NP should collaborate to come up with a system that doesn't allow any abuse, any theft, and any complaining. Sometimes we want names given back... sometimes we want them kept.... aren't circumstances annoying.

Seems it's all being worked out. Don't understand why there's so much drama over 2 month old names.

You clearly have missed the whole point of the thread.

This has nothing to do with the potential value of the names or their age but with a registrar taking names from people who have done nothing wrong and without any authority to do so ( imo ).
Have you thought what they would have done if the domain were already with another registrar? They would have knocked straight away on Salai's door right?

Many times on this forum names were had registered and sold for xxx or x,xxx very quickly; how would you have liked it if you were the buyer of one of those names and GD took them away from your account because the person who registered them with GD has had cc issues?

BTW do you know/remember/keep track of every person you buy a name from? What if that name were bought at GD auction ( as I pointed out to the support ) and you didn't have a clue who the seller was? Not so easy to contact them right?

And no, things haven't been sorted out yet but they are on their way apparently. GD still remains a fraud to my eyes.