GoDaddy Customer Abuse

I run a URL shortening service much like tinyURL.com. And I received emails from GoDaddy where my domain name is registered that there are complaints against me of email spamming/sending unsolicited emails for affiliate offers. They sent me a sample of an email sent by a complainant. According to GoDaddy there are a lot of complainants.

Apparently one of the users of my site hide his affiliate link using my shortening service and then sent massive unsolicited emails. I told GoDaddy that I have a limited control over my users, particularly on how they are going to use my service. I already deleted the spammer's shortened link but apparently it is not enough. GoDaddy emailed me again saying the following things:

Now here is the thing, I don't want to pay $199 for the "Abuse Enforcement Program." Any idea on what should I do?

 

I would tell them to go screw themselves and switch to another host. GoDaddy is just trying to pump another $200 out of you for no good reason. Find a new host and make sure you check their policies on url shortening services before you join.

 

Other than reading this similar thread:

http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=976241

Unfortunately you either get a new name or pay the fine then transfer after,
especially since Go Daddy can show their agreement has been violated if it's
brought to court.

 

Thanks Dave and Melog... I'm emailing them now.

 

Damn, that's terrible man. They basically grabbed you by the balls while you weren't looking and now they're asking if you'd rather get screwed with a hammer or with a baseball bat

 

ArticleScholar (and others):

While I know that this isn't the best situation, and paying $199 isn't something you had planned/expected, I hope you'll take this opportunity to learn a valuable business lesson, regardless of the outcome of this particular situation. In almost all cases, a new business venture is going to have unintended consequences. In the present case, you had a customer use your service for spamming others. I would think that you probably didn't even think that this would happen... you were simply trying to provide a good and valuable service and were thinking about all of the benefits and great possibilities such a service would offer!

Thinking about the negatives is something that a seasoned business professional learns to do (and it's something that lawyers are actually trained to do). This isn't an advertisement for you to go hire one... it's just me pointing out to you that sometimes it's a good idea to talk with some other folks about your idea before you turn it into reality. They can point out the things that you haven't yet considered (or in some cases, don't want to consider) and they can help you figure out solutions to potential problems.

Again, looking at the present case, it appears that GoDaddy has seen this several times before and they simply have you add language to your terms of service which makes your users agree to comply with GoDaddy's terms of service. They have a charge (similar to what hotels charge for people who bring pets to a non-pet hotel) that covers the administrative costs involved in dealing with the damage. It's not unreasonable (and, unlike muncle's statement above, they didn't "grab you by the balls while you weren't looking").

But you didn't appear to have taken the time to consider what would happen if your users used your service within a spam context and you didn't think of how that would impact YOUR service provider. From GoDaddy's homepage, it took 2 clicks to find their Anti-Spam Policy: godaddy . com -> Company Info (at the bottom of the main page) -> Anti-Spam Policy (12th bulleted item on the left)

So it's not like they were hiding the fact that they would hold you responsible for spam sent from your domain.

All in all, I guess what I'm suggesting is that you can pay one fee or the other, depending on whether you want to continue to use GoDaddy or not. But before you decide to transfer away to some other hosting service, I would recommend that you call a few to see what THEIR policies are regarding spam. My guess is that you're going to find something similar at all of them.

Good luck with whatever you choose!

~Jeff

 

You need to pay the $199 because any other host will ask you more or less the same.

 

I agree. Not to mention, if you want to move your domain to another registrat, you are going to have to pay GoDaddy the $75.00 because they will now have your domain name locked preventing transfer.

Then, like yenerich says, what's to say that in a couple of weeks time your new Registrar doesn't do the same thing?

It's unfortunate but jigordon points out, it becomes the cost of doing business.

 

Remind me not to start a URL shortening service ever.

 

godaddy is so full of SH$T, why don't you try blue host
i think they because # 1 in the world as the best hosting service.

 

Pay the fine,
register 20 new domain name sand let them age.
Next time close down,
and the next,
after duplicating the site.
Welcome to the life of a spammer

 

I've been hearing a lot of good things about bluehost these days. It's time to try them out, i think.

 

Do you have only a domain name with godaddy or hosting as well?

 

pay the fine, and get a better server

 

Which is why you never ever ever ever register the domain at the same company you're getting your webhosting from.

 

Try Joker.com for a registrar. They could care less about such trivial complaints.

 

I recently called GoDaddy asking why they do not support CHMOD on their Windows servers and asked to be switched to Linux hosting. I was treated like a complete idiot by whoever I was talking to.