GoDaddy Sucks

Once upon a time I used GoDaddy to register my domain name and host my website. The navigation on their website was terrible, but I assumed at the time it was because I was a rookie to managing my own website. The admin interface used so I could manage my website also was hard to understand. I found myself constantly checking the help section just to find the next area of the admin screen I wanted to be in.

Finally one day I was so fed up with the complicatedness of managing my website through them that I looked elsewhere. I stumbled upon what looked like an upstart hosting company, StartLogic. Their website was simple, direct, and easy to use. I felt smart when I logged into their admin screen, and the interface was clean and accessible.

While I later learned that there were other/better/competing hosting companies out there, I stuck with StartLogic and watched it grow. Why should I switch when I have excellent customer service at my fingertips? I have always been able to speak to a real person, in English, immediately when I call tech support on the phone. I have always been able to get a direct, easy-to-follow answer for my programming questions when I use live chat, and the same results when I send off an e-mail.

Recently it was pointed out to me by the helpful StartLogic staff that I had not yet transferred my domain name registry to them. An odd detail I must have overlooked a few years back when I switched to them as my hosting company. Now that I have more experience with the web and managing a website, I was fairly confident in my abilities to make a smooth transition between GoDaddy and StartLogic.

Alas, it has been a painful, long journey. Because I had not needed GoDaddy for the last 2-3 years, my account with them was woefully out of date. In order to access my customer number, they would have to send me an e-mail with it. The e-mail account they listed was old and abandoned, so they could not send me an e-mail with my customer number, so I could get logged in. Sad that I could remember my password from so long ago, but not the durned customer number. Well, to change my e-mail address to a current one, I had to print a form, fill it out by hand, add my driver’s license to it, scan the form, then fax it or e-mail it back in. Just so I could change an old e-mail address.

Ok, form filled out, scanned, e-mailed in. Customer number e-mailed to my new e-mail address. Now I can log in and change all my personal information and update the account so I can unlock my domain and have it ready to transfer. No problem. I navigate the frames-laden page and unlock my domain. What’s this? I need an authorization code too? Ok. Navigate the poorly-designed pages again to request an authorization code sent via e-mail.

I send the thumbs up to StartLogic to begin transferring my domain. No go. StartLogic helpfully informs me that GoDaddy has registered my domain as a private domain, not public. I need to remove the private registration and make it public. Sure, no problem. Except that GoDaddy does not handle that part – it’s a service offered by DomainsByProxy.com. Now I have to request a password for the account I apparently have at DomainsByProxy.com. Ok, log in and password in hand, I change the account from private registry to public, after lots of reading that assures me that canceling private registry does not mean canceling my registration of the domain name.

I try to send the request to transfer my domain name again. Oops! Transfer code no longer works, it was used up on the request that was denied. Now I need to request a transfer code again. E-mailed the wrong people for a new transfer code. Getting ready to e-mail the right people for a new transfer code, when it occurred to me: will they need a new authorization code too? Log in to GoDaddy and send the authorization code to my e-mail again, in case they need it. E-mail the correct people for a new transfer code. At present, this is where I stand (or sit), waiting.

It’s a good thing my domain does not expire for another few years. It is sad that a simple request may take a few more hoops to jump through before it is magically transferred to the host of my choice. I wonder how many people have given up in frustration and disgust? It’s dirty and underhanded, but I would not be surprised if it was one intentional way for GoDaddy to retain customers.