I have all my domains with Godaddy, but recently I have been getting concerned as I have been getting emails from them telling me update an domain that has 11 months to go before it needs re-registering offering me a huge discount of 40%, thinking this is a scam I have ignored it. I then went into my account and changed all the 5 sites that I no longer use to lapse (not auto renew), but for some reason my credit card has been charged for a site that I private registered 4 years ago and I no longer have access to the email address, etc. After completing the form for a refund they now tell me it cannot be closed and I have to continue paying for renewal, the problem is I have other domains with them and my credit card is about to expire. I am thinking of transfering the current domains I use to some place else and leaving Godaddy with the lapsed domains and out of date credit card details - any ideas? I spent 8 hours yesterday trying to resolve this with them and now I get an email telling me I cannot do a chargeback for the cost as part of their T & Cs - but I changed the domains not to renew BECAUSE I did not want them! My bank says otherwise. Comments needed.
Yeah GoDaddy can be tricky. I still buy domains from them because of the numerous coupon deals throughout the year. But their upsell techniques are very sneeky, you have to see what options they auto fill in for you. I also transfer them over to NameCheap a month or so before renewal.
although you can't access your previous email account, i think you can verity your domain ownership with your passport or identity card.
GoDaddy are extremely reasonable, just email them and you can expect a response within 72 hours for sure, much better than most other domain providers I have tried working with.
Yeah you can get response with one day usually. I have no problem with them at least for the previous years.
Godaddy also allow resellers to own brand domain selling. I have used powerhoster.com for years - one of the cheapest. It's quite a painless process to transfer domains between these accounts - you pay now but get a year 'free' This means if you renew a domain due to expire in a few weeks, you pay now but get it renewed until a year after original renewal date. Your new cc details registered with powerhoster (or domaincheapsters etc) will not be accessible to GoDaddy - and you can just remove cc or let it lapse
I suggest changing default for new domains to NOT auto-renew. That way you won't automatically get charged for domains you no longer need. Godaddy always will email you many times reminding you of the domains that are about to expire in your account and as you have said will sometimes try to get you to renew way ahead of time at a discounted rate. GoDaddy has gotten worse about sneaking in upselling stuff so you do have to watch it, but I've been a big customer of theirs for years and so far had very few issues.