goDaddy abusively threatens and asks for money [help]

Hy,

I own a short url redirection site. It seems spammers got a hold of it and they did some email spam. However I was contacted by hosting a week sooner than I was by goDaddy on the same issue. I had to close the short url site because of incoming complaints. So I closed it.

Btw, my site has no ads and I don't get any money from having it. I never did. The whole short url redirect script is actually the secondary part of my site http://p-0.org which is actually a blog and the script was initially intended for my blog readers. After some time I didn't find time to write to the blog and I let it stay still for a while.

Now goDaddy asks for 200$. I have repeatedly explained the situation, provided the log archives for the domain from back when I started it in 2008. I even went to the trouble and contacted spamCop (they were responsible for the first spam complaints sent to the hosting) and I did further investigation to find the real spammer. I have supplied undoubted information to goDaddy and yet I still get the same template email. Pay 200$!! (they ask me what a rip off, I feel I am being mugged)

I contacted Bob Parsons but haven't received any mail from him. Seems the Abuse Department is a joke and all it was meant for was to tax people. I am sure most of the spam complaints are real and I tend to believe that the whole pourpose of the Abuse Department is to make goDaddy rich by profiting on the spam did by others. That is why they don't care I'm a victim here.

Please HELP ME! Who do I have to contact? Please, is there anyone that has authority on goDaddy and can make them not treat customers with such abuse? I have went to hell lot of emotional damage just from the thought of me losing my goDaddy account and the whole spammer thing and all. I hate spam more than anyone .

 

Are you sure you got the email from godaddy. It could be a forged email too.

As regards to $200, I have never heard any host or registrar asking money. If they receive any spam complaint, they will either contact you to provide a explanation or terminated your account or domain.

Why don't you paste the email along with complete headers.

 

That's BS, Godaddy would never do that...that email is coming from a scammer.

 

Same thing happned to me. I had short url site and had to take it down because of spammers. My domain was at dynadot and that is where most compains came. Dynadot treated them with pure profesionalism and just forwarded the emails to me.

Site itself was hosted on godaddy dedicated. They received 3 complains and every time they sent me an email that my server was hacked and there is a malicious script on it. They were not able to understand that this is short url site and it's not hacked. They went on my server 3 times and disabled the site through SSH login even though I have already removed the urls that were spammy.

They did not charge me anything, probably because I had few problems before with them (they shut down my serer over another site and I went beserk on the phone, so I guess they made a note not to shut my server down anymore). But it is also possible because I am a very long term client with 2 dedicated servers and plenty of domains.

At the end I just shut down the site although it was very popular and was making me money. Spammers were just too strong.

 

I basically got the same mail every time, no matter of what I wrote to them. I am not even hosted on goDaddy.

goDaddy is only my registrar. Biggest mistake ever!! I loved goDaddy until now. It seems they just don't care. Besides the point it takes a day or two to respond to the mails. The response is somehow insulting because they respond like they completely ignored my effort to help them find the real spammer.


Bottom line, they don't care! All goDaddy wants is a slice of the spammers profit.. And for those like me who didn't spam? Well tough luck I guess, goDaddy is used to taking that slice and it's awful hungry.

The Abuse Department is nothing more than a tax collector. (

The mail is official it is from goDaddy. Basically I am given two options and they didn't bother trying to see that my identity: site url was used fraudulent by others. THEY DON't CARE !! ((

Option 1: Pay 200$ and goDaddy will take care of the emails it received regarding my domain; yeah right.. they don't even bother trying to see I'm innocent. Can you believe how they treat their customers? I am a goDaddy member for a long time, but nothing matters. They are the judge and they start with GUILTY. The trial? There isn't any. Just the 200$ tax

Option 2: Pay 75$ to be allowed to move the domain in question.

At every message I sent, there was a 1 or 2 day pause from goDaddy abuse center and then they hit reply, they copy the you got two options template and that's it. I feel I am the one being abused(because if you read carefully the tos you will see what goDaddy can "legally" do to you), and all they threat you with domain deletion and even account cancelation.

My question now is: Who can stop a big company like goDaddy from abusing the innocent folk like me? There is a very known fact, especially amongst the people who investigate spam, that short url sites deal with heavy stuff. I wasted time to deal with it and kept it rather clean.

Please help me and tell me what I can do!! If any goDaddy employees amongst dp members please help me. I guess goDaddy doesn't pay you to hear the customer just to do the orders so I think it's not your fault but
it is only goDaddy's fault.

p.s.: i read jason's story but I don't want any kind of money from this all I want is to know my domains and my account is safe and if possible I would want an apology from goDaddy

 

I visited that URL, but I could not find any contents related to $200 or such. I still think that email has been forged.


@optimizare - You have two options:-

1) Either call their customer care and confirm them if they are demanding $200 and if yes, then for what reason. Also try to explain them your problem.

2) File a complaint with BBB (https://odr.bbb.org/odrweb/public/getstarted.aspx). Be sure you fill up the form properly.

Overall, I still think that some scammer is trying to scam you. Did you check the email headers correctly? If possible, check the email source code and check the links inside them.

 

Unfortunately they have. Search around hard enough online and you'll find lot
of cases of this sort.

I've blogged before about Go Daddy's so-called hidden charges, especially if a
user is "found" to violate any terms of their legal agreements. From this latest
thread, apparently Go Daddy is still charging $200 for alleged spam complaints
not resolved "satisfactorily" in their eyes.

Also unfortunately, the OP has little to no recourse if his immediate goal is to
regain the domain name without paying the fine. He could complain to ICANN,
the BBB and maybe even his local attorney general or similar, but Go Daddy is
no stranger to these things and pretty much know what to do.

Alok, the OP appears to have already contacted Go Daddy about it and is not
getting a satisfactory response. That's pretty much not a scam, though that
probably depends how one defines it while not binding on other people.

To the OP: email (and don't worry about my posting
that email as they've known others doing that anyway) with specifics, but do
expect the worst. I know you're frustrated about this, and this is a tall order,
but try to remain polite in your communication/s with them.

Expect the worst, and be ready to move on if you've pretty much exhausted
everything and things don't pan out. Good luck.

 

Very sad. A company like GoDaddy.com is doing this. I just can't imagine that.

So as of now, optimizare is left with only one option and that is to file a complaint with BBB.

 

Thanks a lot guys. I have filed a claim with the BBB.

I pray all will be solved because believe me these were the worst days of my life. I basically host all my domains with them and this came as a shock. Sure 200$ to save my life work would be an option but I don't give in to unlawful practices. It's a principle thing.

 

wow, I'm surprised. These are just issues for hosting? Have you experienced anything like this for domain registration with them?

 

Like I think I mentioned before:

I don't host with goDaddy: they are just my registrar
and yes the emails were sent from the goDaddy HQ. I checked it and the employees confirmed this as I confronted them about this abusive tax charge.

 

wow, that really sucks. It's scary. Seems like it's hard to find any service that's reliable anymore.

 

this is the first time I have come across anything like this..I mean they do have weird policies and plans..but demanding money like this is a clear rip-off..its good that you filed a complaint..

 

Godaddy does rip you off! They charged me, automatically, claiming someone had reported my contact details were not correct. Well, of course they are correct.

And emailing the department that was supposed to help was worthless! they never would respond. Since I setup my account to auto bill my paypal, the fine was paid and I never did have any recourse.

I only use godaddy if I have to, or buy a domain that is pushed to me. Its moved out of there as soon as it makes sense and well before it expires!

t

 

Me too. I'm literally in shock that they are demanding this to be honest, how strange!

 

I had this with godaddy, they wanted $2000 from me though ! it was because i just left a proxy running on a sub domain much like you have , the spammers got hold of it and in no time the site had gone over my bandwidth, Godaddys charges for going over bandwidth are expensive.

However after discussing this with them and saying i would cancel all 50 of the hosting plans i had with them they soon waved the charges and put it down to a mistake.

 

I really tend to believe that this could be sorted out and negotiated with them on the phone.

 

Here is exactly what I would do, Being anoyed with the fact about losing the domain to spam also

Reply to the email asking a godaddy staff for a private staff contact number

Ring it, And say, Hi im the domain owner of xxxx, Heres what I have to say to your charge

"F**K OFF C**T

They think cos there a big company they can do what they want. They cant