BEWARE: GoDaddy - Seriously Shady in 2025

splishsplash

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I'm in the middle of an absolutely unbelievable issue with GoDaddy..

I've always defended them as being good, but they've really screwed me this week.

They've literally STOLEN an auction domain from my account.

The account is secured with 2FA. There's no notification of a domain transfer, and my account login history shows my last login to GoDaddy was the 1st of Feb 2025, other than the night I logged in to find out what happened to the domain on the 11th of April. This means only GoDaddy themselves could have taken this domain.

This is a domain that I bought at auction in 2023, and has been live since then. I have a receipt renewing this domain in July 2024, so it was paid for until July 2025(And everything is on auto-renewal with multiple backups. I *NEVER* let domains expire by accident)

On the 11th of April, I got an email saying "a domain you have cancelled has been removed from your account"

I have spent 50 euros and countless hours phoning and trying to get help on web chat.

I can't express how bad their support is. Here's some things that have happened so far :-

1. One guy told me that I would have to contact their domain brokerage service to get my domain back, then ended the chat.

2. Another point I explained the situation to someone, was told to wait, and then when I asked for an update, the AI bot asked me how it could help. I got through to a second operator, repeated, was told to wait, and again ended up back with the AI. This happened THREE times.

3. The first person I spoke to on the phone told me it had been transferred to another account, but he couldn't disclose who that is.

4. Another person on the phone told me he was in contact with a technical team and would email me or call me back within an hour. It's been 3 days and I haven't heard from him.

5. Another person just flat out told me there's nothing anyone can do, and that I need to email "[email protected]". Did that, and got an email back saying that email doesn't exist.

6. Another person told me it's listed for auction, and I need to contact the domain aftermarket team.

7. Multiple others told me to contact multiple other emails, one of them being an email for stolen domains that required me to send a copy of my passport.

At this stage, I am getting nowhere. No one has replied to my emails and my domain is outright gone.

I'm going to be moving every domain I've got to porkbun. This is just unbelievable that GoDaddy can go into my account, steal a domain that's paid for and live in my business, and there's no accountability.

I'm going to keep trying to get in contact with someone that can help, but at this stage it seems like legal action is my only avenue, which is unfortunately going to cost me a couple of grand at least.

If anyone has any contacts that could help me or advice with how to deal with this I'd appreciate it.

Fortunately it's not one of my higher end domains(I have domains I've paid as much as $25,000 for), but I still paid about $1500 for this back in 2023, and it leaves you with that feeling of being violated by a company you've trusted. A $4 bil a year company no less.

EDIT: I've posted this on X to try to get some traction -
I would REALLY appreciate if you guys could help me get some engagement on that by reposting/liking/commenting on it. My goal is to get someone at GoDaddy to see it and take action.
 
Man you just keep going through it...

With your lack of aggression and bitterness I'd say keep contacting them, but with that same lack of aggression and bitterness - the legal route is kinda owed to you

Too right move away from that nightmare, but when you get that "bro why'd you leave us" email - send them all the screenshots and then respond to them how they've responded to you

"You're going to have to contact BTB mate"

Unfortunately I haven't an X account, sorry
 
Hey splishsplah, sorry to hear that.

That’s absolutely unacceptable.

You might already be thinking this, but I’d recommend escalating this publicly:
Post the details (as you've done here) on X and tag @GoDaddyHelp, they might answer it faster
Also a good try could be with Reddit. I would even try to Tag some GoDaddy workers on LinkedIn.

Really hope you get this resolved quickly. I do have a lot of domains with GoDaddy, but gladly they are all just cheap .com domains.
 
Hey splishsplah, sorry to hear that.

That’s absolutely unacceptable.

You might already be thinking this, but I’d recommend escalating this publicly:
Post the details (as you've done here) on X and tag @GoDaddyHelp, they might answer it faster
Also a good try could be with Reddit. I would even try to Tag some GoDaddy workers on LinkedIn.

Really hope you get this resolved quickly. I do have a lot of domains with GoDaddy, but gladly they are all just cheap .com domains.

Already done and asked above for people to help me build engagement on it so it gets some attention :-)


Tagged all the GoDaddy accounts. I don't have a super big account on X though. Only 500 followers and I don't post that much so I don't naturally get much engagements. Only a few hundred views per post.
 
Your decision to move your domains to Porkbun is right, I only used GoDaddy several years ago and it's overpriced, especially when you see the quality of their service
I'd recommend you to call to their phone number, their online support is even worse. Anyway, I will help your tweet as well.
 
You should put it on Trustpilot and review websites too. On social it will be buried under common posts.
Trust Pilot is a waste of time, too easy for companies to keep asking for the same thing until your time is up to edit your report and your reports gone

Look at Trust Wallet and MoonPay, absolute scum
 
Namesilo also has a similar thread here
Those domain and hosting companies are getting worse overtime
 
Your decision to move your domains to Porkbun is right, I only used GoDaddy several years ago and it's overpriced, especially when you see the quality of their service
I'd recommend you to call to their phone number, their online support is even worse. Anyway, I will help your tweet as well.

I've spent 50 euros on calls so far. Got nowhere as of yet. The last guy told me there's nothing he can do, so no point in even trying, and told me to email an address that didn't even exist when I tried it.
 
They are worst, when it comes to support these days.

I've never experienced anything like it.

Even on the phone they can't seem to do anything.

But the problem is sometimes they say they can get it fixed, then they disappear, other times they just disappear, and yet other times they say they can't do anything, then disappear.
 
I've never experienced anything like it.

Even on the phone they can't seem to do anything.

But the problem is sometimes they say they can get it fixed, then they disappear, other times they just disappear, and yet other times they say they can't do anything, then disappear.
I had the similar sort of issue spoke to CEO even but they all said this all happened that is our policy or something
 
I had the similar sort of issue spoke to CEO even but they all said this all happened that is our policy or something

Yeah the biggest problem is the support team don't seem to have any access/power to the systems.

The teams that do, aren't available on the phone nor any other standard support system.
 
Are they still affiliated/owend by NewFold Digital in the UK?

I did some consulting work for them and to say the issues were concerning is an understatement. Workplace bullying, shady/pushy sales tactics and hidden fees. They will 100% run into legal issues in the coming years.
 
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