Complaint Review: GoDaddy - Internet

Using a close to expiring credit card does not work with these godaddy ripoffs My card was expired at the time of their auto renewal that I was scammed into. Instead of contacting me to update the card (which I would not have done) they went ahead and some how changed the experation date untill the card went through with some kind of isurance charges. This company is criminal and must be stopped.

Godaddy's upsell process has evolved over the years to become one of the best in the industry to get people to pay for what they never wanted in the first place. I give them props for that, but in this case, it's borderline criminal how they hide this function... not only with a well paced area that the majority will never see, but in how you won't be able to change your mind at the end of the checkout process.

Around the 5th step in the process of adding your domain name to the cart, past the first set of offers and where they try and get you to buy into 5 year service, there is a 1 point font line below the main text that states:

Includes FREE Auto-Renew Protection (note how it does not state you are automatically set to renew charges every year... Oh looksie... I get this great protection for FREEEEEE), and then has a small text link, not a check mark, which should I add NOT be selected by default, but a text link which allows you to turn this feature off.

Of course, you are now followed by up to 10 more upsell steps before getting to your final receipt on what you are paying for. Now Under "unit price", NOT "your price" or "total price", you will see the small text of recurring, which of course has no link to turn it back to manual I might add.

You are now set to pay each year on the same credit card, that price point. WooHoo!

Let's face it... the majority of the population does NOT want to be deceived like this. We DO like you to warn us when our domain is going to expire, which you DO in fact do even when set to manual.

If it is now a no-no for banks to automatically enroll us in their automatic overdraft program, then it should be the same here. Nuff said. This company is run by MLM'ers for a reason... they know how to screw you out of your money.

I have also had a problem with the auto-renew feature not turning off. That is, over time, either godaddy.com automatically turns auto renew OFF (obviously illegally) or their auto renew feature is 'legitimately' malfunctioning. I think the former option is most likely, and not the latter. I have 23 domains with godaddy (regret it now) and had around 15 of them set to auto-renew OFF. That was over a year ago... now apparently all the domains auto-renewed, w/o my approval, and with me going in there to the settings and turning auto-renew off. I think they assume most people, IF THEY DO notice they have extra charges on their credit card, won't bother filing a claim with their CC company, or, just won't notice the extra charges because of the auto-renewal defaulting back to ON. In any case, this seems to be a common complaint from lots of godaddy customers. I know I didn't appreciate realizing that I still had 23 domains, and expected to have about 15 of them no longer in my possession. Godaddy simply assumes (and doens't care, with their mega million $ lawyers) that most people will see this major problem and go, "EH, that's not good, but... oh well."

They did the auto renewal with me too, and I had explicitly turned that function off! Oh, and God forbid you want to renew your website and do it manually, then they start double charging you! I paid for some fee to renew it (after the domain expired) for 18.00, so I pay it. I later get charged 5 dollars for some fee (that isn't explained) for the domain renewal. This is charged AFTER I had paid (I thought) for everything else. I just paid it, since it's not worth doing a billing dispute with the cc company. I think that's why they add another small fee on, they figure most people won't go to the trouble of disputing it.

I have purchased GoDaddy products. I had specifically turned all auto-renew features off. Somehow, they were turned back on without my knowledge, and no one else can access my account. I am the only person. ANd I verified that it was off every few months. The suggestion I can offer is this: if you have one, use a credit card that is close to expiration. If somehow the auto-renew is either not turned off or in my case turned back on by GoDaddy, they will send you a message stating your card is expired and you need to pay for the services. At least then you will know. (I am not saying refuse to pay, just make sure they can't charge without your knowledge).

Why do you think they call it "auto-renew".? So they don't ahve tos end you a notice. this is what it says on the godaddy web page. MIGHT be a good idea if you actuall READ it. Auto Renew automatically renews your products and services before they expire. You set up automatic renewals so that when your expiration dates approach, we automatically renew your accounts and charge the credit card you have on file. If you do not set up automatic renewals for your products and services, you must manually renew them. You can disable Auto Renew at any time. To Enable or Disable Auto Renew Log in to your Account Manager. Click the Renewals & Upgrades heading to expand the section. Click Payments & Renewing Items. Use the checkboxes to select the items for which you want to enable or disable Auto Renew. NOTE: To select all of the products and services on the page, select the checkbox in the header at the top of the list. This selects all of the items listed on the current page but not all the products and services listed in your account. Click Auto Renew. Select one of the following: Auto Renew Sets the selected items to automatically renew upon expiration. Disable Auto Renew Removes the automatic renewal option from the selected items. You can manually renew these items to prevent them from expiring. Click Save Changes. Rate this article: Not helpfulSomewhat helpfulHelpfulVery helpfulSolved my problem