Godaddy Screwed Me....

picassoface · Aug 18, 2014

After being a loyal customer for years godaddy sends one of my auto renewals to a collection agency. $8.50 for the domain and $25 for the collection agency. $33.50 because i forgot to turn the auto renewal off. So if you have names you're unsure of renewing, turn auto renewal off.

Biggie · Aug 18, 2014

lol

that's some bull-sugarty

dem mo-fo's are just supposed to let the domain expire, if you don't renew

maybe you should check gobaddy renewal policy.

katherine · Aug 18, 2014

Strange. Isn't it a failed credit card payment, escalating to a chargeback ?
That looks very much like 1&1, you must explicitly cancel your domains, otherwise they will renew them, and they will chase you to hell with their bills .

Jack Gordon · Aug 18, 2014

Every day GoDaddy gives us another reason to love them.

Did you explicitly agree to those fees in your agreement?

If not, you may have some recourse...

domainoid · Aug 19, 2014

why would they use a collection agency to be paid a fee for an auto-renewal you forgot to turn off? i think this is unprecedented as godaddy usually just locks you out of your account if they can't charge your credit card the amount they think you owe. - their way of doing business sure stinks.

draggar · Aug 19, 2014

I've forgotten to update a card in the past but they notified me of the failed payment & didn't send me to a collection agency? This must have been months back wen they tried to charge you.

But yes, great advice, turn off auto-renewal for domains you do not want to renew.

bradwbowman · Aug 19, 2014

People just make stuff up. They don't send you to collections when they can't bill your credit card, and they don't lock you out of your account if they can't bill your credit card. They also don't have an IQ requirement to be a customer which is what leads to these sort of statements. Now what can happen is if you have a checking account on file and you have your domain set to auto renew and ignore all of the notices that you get, and that checking account has insufficient funds, then the check processor called Certegy will send you to collections, not Godaddy.

domainoid · Aug 19, 2014

bradwbowman said:
People just make stuff up. They don't send you to collections when they can't bill your credit card, and they don't lock you out of your account if they can't bill your credit card. They also don't have an IQ requirement to be a customer which is what leads to these sort of statements. Now what can happen is if you have a checking account on file and you have your domain set to auto renew and ignore all of the notices that you get, and that checking account has insufficient funds, then the check processor called Certegy will send you to collections, not Godaddy.

If someone on this thread is stupid it must be you my friend. Do not tell me godaddy does not lock you out of your account if they can't bill your credit card because they've done it to me at least twice. First time the card did not have enough funds except they did not bill the default card like I told them so if was their fault. The second the card had expired and they didn't have the new expiry date on record but here too it was their fault because they were billing a card I had not used with them in quite some time.

From your profile (you live in gilbert az which is godaddy's turf) and how you defend them it looks like you work for godaddy or at least you act as their mouthpiece on dnf. Rather than calling fellow domainers idiots when they are stating the truth (i was and i'd be surprised if picassoface was making this up) why don't you start by helping users here when they have problems with your registrar/employer which happens quite often. Watch your language.

bradwbowman · Aug 19, 2014

I guess I did give a little attitude so I'm sorry. I just see so many things posted online that aren't true and the collections thing was one and I lumped yours in.

- They don't send to collections over credit card payments, just check payments like I explained, I was helping out by explaining how it works. If picasso could comment and confirm that it was a check and the collections is from Certegy, that would help everyone out. Some people get confused when they have multiple credit cards and checking accounts as payment options.

The locking of accounts after a failed payment must be something new since I worked there, but it must only be in select situations as my account has not been locked after recent failed payments.

They bill whatever card you have assigned to that item. They are not going to make assumptions and take your most recent card and apply it to all items. What if it was a clients or for a different business? GD is not going to make assumptions for you, especially when it comes to payments. They never change anything, it all comes from the customer side.

picassoface · Aug 20, 2014

Yes it was certigy who works for godaddy. For this name i used a checking account that i closed before it renewed. What i cant understand is why godaddy let it happen. Its not alot of money, ill pay the $33, but they should stop such small amounts ($8.30 originally) going to a Collection Agency when an autorenewal doesnt go thru. Remember, they have all domains set to auto renew. WE have to turn it off. Its a shady practice. How many of you had a name renew that you didn't want to keep ?

Biggie · Aug 20, 2014

i advise.... never sign-up, or authorize any company, utility or service, to automatically take payments from your checking account.

imo...

picassoface · Aug 20, 2014

"screwed" is too harsh a word....i would replace it with "angered".... from a customer service viewpoint.... i do share half of the blame it appears....

bradwbowman · Aug 20, 2014

A majority of people want to KEEP the products they have purchased. There would be a lot more upset people (in my opinion) if they set items to not automatically renew. A majority of people expect that feature to be turned on. Businesses could lose their business name or their business website/email could go down for even a day. I've had hundreds of people get mad at me/Godaddy because they didn't go down the list and try to bill every single card that is on file.

Before it renews, Godaddy does send out a lot of notices letting you know it is marked for auto renew. If you don't want to worry about setting auto renew every time, there are multiple options to make this easily avoidable.

1. Pre-Set Profiles - http://support.godaddy.com/help/article/4251/managing-domain-name-preset-profiles
2. Buyer Profiles / Domain Registration Defaults - http://support.godaddy.com/help/article/1252/setting-domain-registration-defaults

You may think I'm a Godaddy defender, but I actually disagree with them on a majority of issues and that is one of the major reasons I left after 8 years. Billing is one thing that I don't disagree with them on though due to the fact they send out multiple notices before an item comes up for renewal. They are not psychic. They do not know if you want to keep your items or not. If they made assumptions on your intent they could be liable for a lot of business damages. The fact is a majority of their customers have successful businesses and want to keep their items active.

bradwbowman · Aug 20, 2014

Is it silly to go to collections over such a small amount? Absolutely. I do think the system is a little ridiculous too. Technically what happens is Certegy provides authorization (much like Visa and Mastercard authorize a credit card). They check to make sure the routing number / account number, Drivers License are all legit etc. Once they do that, they pay Godaddy the amount of the product and they deduct the amount out of the consumers account. On the first transactions, there is usually not a problem. The problems usually arise when the item auto renews. I'm pretty sure Certegy doesn't reauthorize everything and they just assume the $8.00 charge will go through. They pay Godaddy, but then when they can't collect the money, they technically send you to collections. Godaddy tries to stay out of the middle of it and tell you to call Certegy etc. which honestly is a big hassle and I don't think Godaddy handles it the best from a customer service standpoint, but that is actually what is going on. Godaddy doesn't send to collections, its the Certegy company that does. If you call up Certegy and paid whatever is owed within a certain amount of time, it will never go to collections.

bradwbowman · Aug 20, 2014

Biggie is totally right. Don't let companies have access to your checking account. If a dispute arises, you are out whatever the disputed amount is until it is resolved, and that is cash. If that dispute takes a while to resolve, it can put a real strain on people who run a tight ship when it comes to cash flows. Same thing goes for using debit card vs credit card. I ALWAYS use a credit card. You have more protections in disputes and the same thing in regards to cash. My friend had his debit card hacked and they withdrew $8,000 and it took him 4 months to get it back. Luckily he didn't live paycheck to paycheck etc. and also had other cash stored away, but for some people, that could cause serious problems paying their mortgage and bills. 4 months is a long time to not have that kind of money.

Theo · Aug 20, 2014

About automatic checking charges - never again. I found out the hard way 10 years ago, when I had to cancel a gym membership due to moving out of the area, they made it impossible to cancel. Was charged 3 months of fees before I finally threatened them with litigation and they canceled my account.