Complaints
This profile includes complaints for GoDaddy.com LLC's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see
Customer Complaints Summary
- 1,663 total complaints in the last 3 years.
- 697 complaints closed in the last 12 months.
If you've experienced an issue
Submit a ComplaintThe complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.
Initial Complaint
Date:04/20/2024
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Applied godaddy payments recently and my account got disable/suspended after few attempts charging my client card.It seems to be my client credit card got declined due to his bank.My account payment got disabled after this.I really hope godaddy could review my account again and I will be more aware and ensure this issue wont happen again.
Business Response
Date: 04/26/2024
Thank you for the opportunity to address our customer's concerns.
Upon conducting business with GoDaddy, our customer acknowledged and accepted our agreements, found at *********************************************************;
On April 16, 2024, our customer set up ********************** Payments in their account. ********************** Payments is our built-in payment gateway which allows our customers to take secure, online debit and credit card payments through their website or in person.?
GoDaddy takes customer security and our commitment to preventing fraud seriously.?Our customers transaction was flagged for review by our Verification Team and payouts were disabled.
Our Verification Team determined that due to certain risk factors, GoDaddy Payments would no longer be able to service our customers account and notified our customer.
RESOLUTION:
GoDaddy upheld its agreements with our customer in good faith and honored its terms of service.
While we empathize with our customers frustration, GoDaddy has a responsibility to ensure the safety and security of both merchants and customers using our platforms. This is especially true when GoDaddy Payments is being utilized.
Thank you again for the opportunity to address the concerns presented by our customer.
Kindest regards,
**********************;
Office of the *** GoDaddyInitial Complaint
Date:04/19/2024
Type:Status:ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I've been trying to delete a domain/service. I no longer own the email that's connected to it, so I can't receive a confirmation code to complete the process of cancelling. No one at this company can help me. I keep getting the same instruction that don't work over and over again. I've tried on previous occasions to do this as well with no luck. I just need to cancel and delete this service and domain. Not one person can help me. What am I suppose to do? Just keep paying for it? Keep getting charged for something that I'm not using and want to cancel? Very shady business practices.Business Response
Date: 04/24/2024
Thank you for the opportunity to address our customer's concerns.
Upon conducting business with GoDaddy, our customer acknowledged and accepted our agreements, found at ***************************************************.
On March 20, 2017, our customer registered the domain name in question for a two-year term via online transaction.
On March 21, 2023, per their account preferences, ********************** automatically renewed the domain in good faith to honor agreements with our customer. Before each renewal, we emailed renewal notices informing them that expiring items would renew in accordance with account settings unless additional action was taken. Account management is a customer responsibility.
On April 19, 2024, our customer contacted our *********** and was provided with the steps to cancel the domain.
On April 21, 2024, the domain was successfully canceled.
RESOLUTION:
GoDaddy upheld its agreements with our customer in good faith and honored its terms of service.
If our customer wishes to close their account fully, they can review the steps in the following article: **************************************************************
Thank you again for the opportunity to address the concerns presented by our customer.
Kindest Regards,
****
Office of the *** GoDaddyCustomer Answer
Date: 04/24/2024
Better Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.
Regards,
*******************************
Initial Complaint
Date:04/19/2024
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Money was taken out of my account from ********************** without my authorization. This same day I noticed the withdrawal, I reached out to GoDaddy for resolution to refund my money and then cancel all business between companies. GoDaddy then ignored my request. I reached out again where I was instructed to complete a refund request form which I did and was told I would have a resolution in two days. Three days later, I reached back out to GoDaddy to check on my refund because I hadn't received any updates. At this time, they told me I was out of the timeframe for my refund to be returned and that there was nothing else they could even though I had been requesting my refund back for weeks. I have the entire text thread of the them giving me the run around for weeks forcing me out of the refund timeframe. If you have another option then GoDaddy, go with your other option. You'll end up highly disappointed if you don't.Business Response
Date: 04/22/2024
Thank you for the opportunity to address our customer's concerns.
Upon conducting business with GoDaddy, our customer acknowledged and accepted our agreements, found at ***************************************************.
On April 1, 2022, our customer registered two domain names for a one and two-year term.
Between April 2, 2023, and April 2, 2024, per our customers account preferences, ********************** automatically renewed the domain names in question in good faith to honor agreements with our customer. ********************** sent renewal notices prior to expiration informing our customer the expiring items would renew in accordance with account settings unless additional action was taken. Account management is a customer responsibility.
RESOLUTION:
GoDaddy upheld its agreements with our customer in good faith and honored its terms of service.
Our office's attempts to connect with our customer have been unsuccessful to date. As a courtesy and one-time exception to GoDaddys Refund Policy, we are willing to honor a refund as our customer has requested; however, the domain(s) will need to be canceled before we can proceed. Once canceled, our customer can reach out office via email to *********************************************** to request a refund.
We have included instructions to cancel a domain here: ************************************************************
Thank you again for the opportunity to address the concerns presented by our customer.
Kindest regards,
*****************************
Office of the ***** GoDaddyInitial Complaint
Date:04/18/2024
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Last year I transferred my domain to ********** Somehow, godaddy has reacquired my domain without my permission. I want my domains permanently released from godaddy.iguytech.com iguyshop.com They also after me closing my account and transferring my domain tried to retaliate saying that I violated their terms. No terms were ever violated. I terminated our relationship.Business Response
Date: 04/19/2024
Thank you for the opportunity to address our customer's concerns.
Upon conducting business with GoDaddy, our customer acknowledged and accepted our agreements, found at ***************************************************.
On November 29, 2023, our office notified our customer of **********************'s decision to end its business relationship with them after reviewing their history of interactions with our support staff. In our communication to them, we provided the authorization codes needed to transfer their domains to a new provider. Additionally, we prepared the domains in question for transfer. To date, our customer has not acted to initiate said transfers.
RESOLUTION:
GoDaddy upheld its agreements with our customer in good faith and honored its terms of service.
Our office has shared the authorization codes again with our customer.
Thank you again for the opportunity to address the concerns presented by our customer.
Kindest regards,
Mat T.
Office of the ***** GoDaddyCustomer Answer
Date: 05/09/2024
Godaddy never sent valid credentials regarding this issue. They sent credentials that do not work. Additionally, the other domain has been marked as not transferable. They claim to be allowing me to transfer my domain. They never allowed it to transfer. The code they sent it the same code I've had for 2 months 3 months, it does not work. They are upset because I ended our relationship and are retaliating. We terminated this relationship weeks before godaddy claims they terminated this relationship. We in fact terminated this relationship because they practice fraudulent behavior. They are made because I curse and employee out for practicing fraudulent behavior. This type of retaliation is not acceptable under any circumstances. Feel free to contact me if you validation questions.
Sincerely,
*****Business Response
Date: 05/10/2024
Thank you for the opportunity to address the complainant's additional concerns.
We stand by our previous response. The complainant was provided the information necessary to transfer the domains in question, and ample time to do so. At this time, the domains are no longer available to be transferred. The complainant will need to wait for the registry to release the names for registration, at which time they can re-register the domains with a registrar that is not affiliated with GoDaddy.
Thank you again for the opportunity to address the additional concerns presented by the complainant.
Kindest regards,
Mat T.
Office of the *** GoDaddyInitial Complaint
Date:04/18/2024
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
They refused to cancel my website subscription. I could not get a hold of a live person, but the chat feature said they could not cancel, and I had to have it for another year but that I could cancel for next year. I put in a billing dispute with my credit card company, but this had caused other problems.Business Response
Date: 04/22/2024
Thank you for the opportunity to address our customer's concerns.
Upon conducting business with GoDaddy, our customer acknowledged and accepted our agreements, found at ***************************************************.
On December 12, 2023, our customers domain name auto renewed for two years, per their account preferences.
On January 8, 2024, our customer contacted our Care support team for a refund. They were properly advised that the domain in question was outside of our refund policy which can be found here: ***************************************************/refund-policy.
On February 21, 2024, we were notified that our customer disputed the transaction.
RESOLUTION:
GoDaddy upheld its agreements with our customer in good faith and honored its terms of service.
We empathize with our customers frustration but cannot refund the order in question. The dispute was resolved in our customer's favor and the funds were returned to their original payment method.
Thank you again for the opportunity to address the concerns presented by our customer.
Kindest regards,
********
Office of the ***** GoDaddyInitial Complaint
Date:04/17/2024
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Subject: Summary of Formal Complaint Against GoDaddy.com LLC Dear Better Business Bureau,I am summarizing a formal complaint against GoDaddy.com LLC due to unauthorized and continual auto-renew activations on my domain services against explicit instructions to disable such options. This ongoing issue, spanning years, has resulted in several undesired renewals and associated charges.On April 16th, 2024, despite a lengthy wait, my call with a GoDaddy representative ended with the rep not fulfilling my request to disable auto-renew, and instead, incorrectly assuring a supervisors follow-up. The representative also terminated the call prematurely, reflecting the companys dismissive stance.This conduct signifies a serious breach of trust and consumer rights, as auto-renewal has been used as a compulsory mechanism rather than a voluntary convenience.Demands include the immediate deactivation of auto-renew for all services, a written acknowledgment of this preference, a full refund for past unauthorized renewals, compensation in the form of free domain credits, and a formal apology for the customer service experienced.The complete document detailing the complaint and demands, which could not be fully captured due to the BBB system's limitations, is attached.Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.****************************************Business Response
Date: 04/24/2024
Thank you for the opportunity to address our customers concerns.
Upon conducting business with GoDaddy, our customer acknowledged and accepted our agreements, found at *********************************************************;
On November 20, 2015, our customer purchased multiple domains for one-year terms each in an online transaction. Our customer continued to purchase and renew products in their account via auto-renewal, guide-assisted, and online transactions.
On April 16, 2024, our customer contacted our Care support team regarding renewals of products that had occurred within their account over previous years. At that time our customer was properly informed the renewals they were referring to were not refund eligible.
From the documentation our customer has provided we are seeing select domains listed on renewal notifications that are also showing auto-renew settings of off. However, our customers account shows auto-renew settings for these domains were set to off by our customer after the successful renewals in question occurred.
GoDaddy gives its customers complete control over billing and renewal preferences. ****************** is a customer responsibility. Our customer may find the following articles helpful.
Turn off auto-renew: *****************************************************************
Refund policy: *****************************************************************
RESOLUTION:
GoDaddy upheld its agreements with our customer in good faith and honored its terms of service.
We appreciate our customers' candid feedback about our service levels. GoDaddy strives to offer the best service levels in the industry.
While we empathize with our customer, we respectfully decline their demand requests.
We remain available to assist our customer with any outstanding concerns and can be reached at ***********************************************.
Thank you again for the opportunity to address the concerns presented by our customer.
Kindest regards,
**********************;
Office of the *** GoDaddyInitial Complaint
Date:04/17/2024
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Beginning last week, I noticed I had calendar blocks on my online portal (which GoDaddy runs). This means there were many "unavailable" blocks that were there and my clients had very limited options when it came to choosing appointments to schedule services. Each time a client contacted me for a consultation, I had to go online and see how the calendar looked prior to directing them to the online scheduler because those blocks caused schedule discrepancies. I have been attempting to fix the issue since Friday, 4/12/24 with no success. I called GoDaddy on Monday to get the issue resolved. I spoke with one rep who lost the call in the middle of our conversation (after I'd explained everything to her). I didn't receive a call back. I called back, waited for another rep to get on the line, and then spoke with ****. After sitting on the call attempting to explain the situation to ****, he finally began understanding what the problem was - sort of. He gave possible fixes. I told him I'd tried all of that. Another disconnected call. I did a neg survey and was contacted via text by *****, quality **** ***** and I texted back and forth for OVER 8 HOURS till nearly 11pm at night and the issue still was not fixed. Throughout this entire process from 12noon till 11pm, I kept asking for the issue to be escalated up. ***** attempted to resynch the system and stated it should be resolved within 24 hrs. Nothing changed. Next day, another rep I texted with said the same - "I resynched and you should see the change within 90 mins to 24 hours." What kind of timeframe is that to sync IT systems in 2024? Again, this was from Fri-Tues. It's now nearly a week later dealing with this "resynched and wait" drama.I want a CALL from GD executives - someone who can resolve this issue and issue a credit for service time lost or credit for the next year of service given this is an ongoing issue. Having a week without my clients being able to book when they want is ridiculous in 2024.Business Response
Date: 04/22/2024
Thank you for the opportunity to address our customer's concerns.
Upon conducting business with GoDaddy, our customer acknowledged and accepted our agreements, found at ***************************************************.
On April 15, 2024, our customer contacted our Care Staff multiple times regarding the availability of their appointments on their Websites+Marketing (W+M) site builder. Our customer had utilized W+Ms ability to set up appointments for their customers to schedule and synced up a personal calendar so that when appointments are made through their site, it shows up on their personal calendar too. When synced, the W+M appointment calendar will block out any times that are already spoken for on the personal calendar. As an example, if a synced calendar has something scheduled at 10 AM on April 18, the W+M calendar will block that time as unavailable, so that appointments are not double-booked.
Our customer followed the requested troubleshooting steps, but the unavailable times remained on the W+M calendar.
On April 19, 2024, this issue was escalated to our developers for resolution.
RESOLUTION:
GoDaddy upheld its agreements with our customer in good faith and honored its terms of service.
Our office empathizes with our customers experience and has successfully connected with them. We will continue to work with our customer to resolve their concerns amicably.
Thank you again for the opportunity to address the concerns presented by our customer.
Kindest regards,
Mat T.
Office of the ***** GoDaddyInitial Complaint
Date:04/17/2024
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Auto-renewals with more than agreed-to fees. I asked to cancel and receive a refund. So far, I have only been "transferred to someone who can help. Nobody on the other line yet....Business Response
Date: 04/18/2024
Thank you for the opportunity to address our customer's concerns.
Upon conducting business with GoDaddy, our customer acknowledged and accepted our agreements, found at ***************************************************.
On April 17, 2023, our customer purchased a ********* Email Essentials plan for a one-year term via online transaction. GoDaddy provides promotional offers for new product purchases. These offers may have an expiration date and/or other limitations.
On April 17, 2024, GoDaddy automatically renewed the email plan in question in accordance with our customers account preferences. ********************** sent a renewal notice prior to the transaction on April 7, 2024, informing our customer the expiring email plan would renew in accordance with their account preferences unless additional action was taken. This notice also included the current pricing associated with the renewal.
RESOLUTION:
GoDaddy upheld its agreements with our customer in good faith and honored its terms of service.
We understand our customers frustration regarding the pricing of their email plan. Our ******************** is available 24/7 to assist with the cancelation and processing of any applicable refund and can be reached via one of the available options here: **************************************************
Any applicable refund must be processed within GoDaddys refund policy, which we have also included here: ***************************************************/refund-policy
Thank you again for the opportunity to address the concerns presented by our customer.
Kindest regards,
*****************************
Office of the ***** GoDaddyCustomer Answer
Date: 04/18/2024
After using the chat feature to get redirected, I was unable to wait the minimum 15 minutes to request a refund. I did have 5 minutes to formally complain. I would like to request a refund of the charges accrued this month. Please contact me. Phone is fine......I'm an old guy these days and online links will confuse me.
************
Business Response
Date: 04/23/2024
Thank you for the opportunity to address our customers additional concerns.
Our customer contacted our *********** on April 22, 2024. Our staff assisted with canceling the email plan and has processed a full refund. We ask that our customer please allow 3-5 days for their financial institution to process this transaction.
Thank you again for the opportunity to address the additional concerns presented by our customer.
Kindest regards,
***************************;
Office of the *** GoDaddyInitial Complaint
Date:04/17/2024
Type:Status:ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Such a shame doing business with Go Daddy. Unethical is their first and last name. I was actually charged for a product I discontinued using, Web Hosting economy, and now can't get a refund because I didn't catch them "renewing" it within their 30 day window. Why were they "renewing" a product I was no longer using, is my question. I was using the Web Hosting economy and had cancelled it and upgraded to Website and Marketing. This was on 21/03/2021. Attached are bills to indicate the same.On 23/05/2023, lo and behold, I find they have renewed Web Hosting Economy on for $359.64 - a product I had cancelled. What???? I had clearly cancelled it on 21/03/2021 to upgrade to Website and Marketing and gotten a refund for it ( bills attached). They refuse to refund me for it. Why? Because I didn't catch the "renewal" in their 30 day window for a refund. Why were they billing me/ auto renewing me for a product I was clearly no longer using when I upgraded to Website and Marketing?They are dishonest and unscrupulous. I want them fined by the BBB, people to know about their unethical approach and a refund to be processed for the same.Thank youBusiness Response
Date: 04/19/2024
Thank you for the opportunity to address our customer's concerns.
Upon conducting business with GoDaddy, our customer acknowledged and accepted our agreements, found at ***************************************************.
On May 23 and June 26, 2020, our customer purchased a Hosting Web Economy Linux cPanel plan for a three-year term and a Standard SSL for a two-year term via online transactions.
On March 21, 2021, our customer contacted our ************ Our staff assisted with moving them from the hosting plan to a Websites+Marketing (W+M) Standard plan for a three-year term. This move included prorated refunds for the hosting plan and the SSL.
On April 18, 2021, our customer completed their move from the hosting plan to the W+M. However, they left the products active within their account.
On May 12, 2022, and May 23, 2023, per their account preferences, ********************** automatically renewed the products in question in good faith to honor agreements with them. Before their renewals, we emailed renewal notices informing them that expiring items would renew in accordance with account settings unless additional action was taken. Account management is a customer responsibility.
RESOLUTION:
GoDaddy upheld its agreements with our customer in good faith and honored its terms of service.
As an exception to our refund policy, we are willing to provide refunds for the renewals in question upon deletion of the associated products if completed by May 2, 2024: ***********************************************************************************************
Once the products are deleted, they can email us at *********************************************** to request a refund. Moving forward, any refunds must abide by GoDaddy's Refund Policy: ***************************************************/refund-policy
We encourage our customer to review and manage their account settings to prevent further unwanted renewals.
Thank you again for the opportunity to address the concerns presented by our customer.
Kindest Regards,
Jenn
Office of the *** GoDaddyCustomer Answer
Date: 04/19/2024
When we have cancelled a service through the upgrade, it should not remain on our order. This is a predatory practice. When we have clearly upgraded the service, why on earth would we continue to be billed for the former?
The customer service person should have notified me that until and unless one removes a product from the list, I will continue to be billed even when I have clearly begun using another upgraded product. To keep it on our order is clearly fraud.
Besides refunding me in full for the Web economy package that I should never have been billed for in the first place, GoDaddy should stop this predatory practice that preys on unsuspecting consumers, many of whom are small businesses.
2) The *** was renewed when I did not even use it the first time around. That amount, too, should be refunded in full.
I will accept only a complete refund for the *** and the Economy Hosting plan. Furthermore, BBB has to oversee a change in the way business is done at GoDaddy. Social media is **** with complaints about the company.
Business Response
Date: 04/23/2024
Thank you for the opportunity to address our customer's additional concerns.
We stand by our previous response. Account management, including product cancelation, is a customer's responsibility.
As previously stated, we are willing to provide refunds for the renewals in question upon deletion of the associated products if completed by May 2, 2024.
How to delete products in my GoDaddy account: ***********************************************************************************************
If our customer needs assistance with deleting the products from their account, our friendly Care staff are standing by to assist: *********************************************
Once the products are deleted, they can email us at *********************************************** to request their refunds. Moving forward, any refunds must abide by GoDaddy's Refund Policy: *****************************************************************
We encourage our customer to review and manage their account settings to prevent further unwanted renewals.
Thank you again for the opportunity to address the additional concerns presented by our customer.
Kindest regards,
****
Office of the *** GoDaddyCustomer Answer
Date: 04/25/2024
Better Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.
Regards,
*****************************
Initial Complaint
Date:04/16/2024
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Over 20 years of dealing with fraud/abuse work on the internet, I have dealt with competent, inept, apathetic, and flat out rude hosting providers. Generally, the latter two categories fall on hosting companies in foreign countries that don't care about reports submitted via foreign entities. Recent years have found that godaddy is falling into the second or third category. As a preemptive statement, I understand the differences between registrar, hosting, and mail-hosting; and that the hosting - not registrar - is responsible for abuse of service. In this recent (and several other relatively recent) cases, godaddy fills multiple roles. Recent case, domain "ie-mag.com", relatively recently registered using privacy so fraud can't be easily detected, has been sending repeated scam emails to an address on my domain. Hosted IP address is 166.62.27.60 (a godaddy IP address). Habitually, godaddy's "abuse" department fumbles the ball on a simple task - as hosting company for domain, block access to something that's both a violation of AUP, and the law. It is understandable that were it simply the registrar, this would be not their issue (though I imagine the masked whois information for offending domains is likely fraudulent, as the case for spam/scam domains - which is a reason to terminate registration). However, as the hosting IP address (and all forwarded abuse incidents) shows greater involvement of godaddy resources in this, it IS their issue/responsibility.Appropriate action from this registrar/hosting company is to audit this offending account for accuracy, and terminate all offending domains presently registered with fraudulent information. For those that *** be registered with accurate information, taking corrective action re the abuse of service/violation of AUP, including but not limited to termination of hosting matches the **** This is not an issue of "forgot I signed up" or "pre-existing relationship. This is a criminal scam attempt.Business Response
Date: 04/16/2024
Thank you for the opportunity to address the complainants concerns.
Typically, if there are sites or domain names that our customers believe may be violating our terms of service, we ask that more information be provided via our Report Abuse page found at *************************************************************;
Regarding the domain name ie-mag.com . Although GoDaddy is the domain name registrar and hosting provider for the website, the domain's MX records are resolved to a third-party email provider. As such, we have neither access to, nor jurisdiction over the email content for this domain.
The complainant may wish to contact the domain's email provider to see if they have policies to address their concerns.
Additionally, if the complainant finds that they are unable to contact the registrant because the contact information given on the ***** database is invalid, they may report this to us by performing a ***** lookup on the domain at who.godaddy.com, and at the bottom of the ***** page, click on the report invalid ***** option.
Thank you again for the opportunity to address the presented concerns.
Kindest regards,
******
Office of the ***** GoDaddyCustomer Answer
Date: 04/19/2024
Nice attempt to deflect accountability. As initially indicated, there is an understanding of the differences - and responsibilities of registrar, host, and mail server. Now, the scammer's mail provider - ******** is similarly unresponsive to complaints, regarding same offenders. But, this is not regarding them. This is regarding the registrar/host. *************** the reports have been forwarded, and submitted through the portal. There was a humorous exchange that suggested the **** with them suggesting the hosting company (the initial party). As the scammer is using the domain "ie-mag.com", which is hosted on ** IP resources, this falls in with the "host" responsibility. The scam email may pass through ******** servers, and they may be very willing to ignore abuse reports; but the domain is still hosted on the ** IP. This is not a new situation. On several previous occasions, **-registered/hosted domains have sent nearly identical (save for the fake name, fake "company" name, and a couple words) with some nonsense about paying some ridiculous fee to have an imaginary article written in a non-existent "magazine", followed by a number of "I didn't hear back, I want you to pay me money for nothing" followups.
Conveniently, with the "privacy" enabled, the scammers are shielded from easy discovery of their false WHOIS information. Considering the website is filled with false information (claims alleging dates 2020 and earlier, with a registration date of 2021, for instance, or having a recent number provisioned through a wholesale number provider reputed for use with scam/fraud lines. It's reasonable that the provided WHOIS information may not pan out as accurate, as well. Unfortunately, they pay a couple bucks, and their sins won't be seen by others.
It sure would be nice if the host actually was responsive and responsible, instead of dodging and deflecting... and not realizing they tried to mislead someone with 20+ years experience.
Business Response
Date: 04/23/2024
Thank you for the opportunity to address the complainants' additional concerns.
We stand by our previous response.
GoDaddy does not allow malicious content on our customer's websites. If the complainant believes a site is hosting malicious content that violates GoDaddy's TOS, they can find more information on reporting that content here:
*************************************************************
GoDaddy will, in its sole discretion, determine whether activity or content violates this policy.
GoDaddy regularly works with courts and law enforcement from the local to the international level. If the complainant suspects any of our customers are using their domain name or website to engage in any illegal activities, they may help us by contacting their local law enforcement agency, and request them to investigate this situation. Law enforcement may contact GoDaddy directly if they need more information pursuant to an investigation. We have a long-standing history of cooperation with law enforcement and the courts.
Thank you again for the opportunity to address these additional concerns.
Kindest regards,
******
Office of the *** GoDaddy
BBB Business Profiles may not be reproduced for sales or promotional purposes.
BBB Business Profiles are provided solely to assist you in exercising your own best judgment. BBB asks third parties who publish complaints, reviews and/or responses on this website to affirm that the information provided is accurate. However, BBB does not verify the accuracy of information provided by third parties, and does not guarantee the accuracy of any information in Business Profiles.
When considering complaint information, please take into account the company's size and volume of transactions, and understand that the nature of complaints and a firm's responses to them are often more important than the number of complaints.
BBB Business Profiles generally cover a three-year reporting period, except for customer reviews. Customer reviews posted prior to July 5, 2024, will no longer be published when they reach three years from their submission date. Customer reviews posted on/after July 5, 2024, will be published indefinitely unless otherwise voluntarily retracted by the user who submitted the content, or BBB no longer believes the review is authentic. BBB Business Profiles are subject to change at any time. If you choose to do business with this company, please let them know that you checked their record with BBB.
As a matter of policy, BBB does not endorse any product, service or business. Businesses are under no obligation to seek BBB accreditation, and some businesses are not accredited because they have not sought BBB accreditation. BBB charges a fee for BBB Accreditation. This fee supports BBB's efforts to fulfill its mission of advancing marketplace trust.