Explain Yourselves (Godaddy Haters)

I know they have their faults but, cheap food always tastes best.

[rollinj]

You know what I'm talking about.

You could spend $40 eating some caviar, blue cheese, thincrust organic pizza. But the pepperoni one from the chain down the street for $10 is so much more satisfying!

I have read for years that "Go Daddy Sucks", but I ask you complainers to put your money where your mouth is.

I ventured outside of my comfort zone earlier this week, I was ready and willing to buy a domain from one of "the other guys".

To my surprise, they wanted ridiculous amount of money for things like "private registration" ($11 at one big name registrar! $3/year at another). Sure, many of them offered free private registration, but only for 1 year.

And the cost of their domain names? Asinine! $10/year for domain names? From Name"Cheap"? And I still have to pay for privacy registration on top of that (which will probably have increased by) next year?

I for one never pay more than about $7.50 for my .com domains with free privacy registration for up to 10 years in a row. And I buy them from GoDaddy.

Maybe it's because I have been with them for over 4 years now and I know where to get all the coupons, but I tried my veteran couponing skills on all of their competitors and came up empty handed.

Please tell me why I should take the plunge? My wallet will not allow me to.

EDIT: Now network solutions is trying to rob me for $12.99/year!? That's almost double what I'm used to paying. How does anyone justify this overspending? /rant

[HuskyPup]

Now network solutions is trying to rob me for $12.99/year!?

That's cheap looking back to the early 90s when they were charging $70.00 a year, needless to say I didn't register many names in those days!

[wheel]

I pay I think about $8 for my domain names and I don't know what for private reg, but it's not much.

I pay that extra buck to work with a company that doesn't have a history of holding people's domains hostage and demanding money to get them back. And I get to deal with a company who's employees I've met in person and who've supported this community in the past. That's worth a buck or two to me. If you're happy there, keep smiling.

[rollinj]

You're right on there HuskyPup. But still if you could save a dollar then why wouldn't you?

wheel, I completely agree. There are times when paying that extra dollar or two for a quality product is totally worth it. Like brand name razors instead of those dollar store ones. The brand name razors give you a smoother shave for longer and don't start rusting on you and growing jagged edges after they've touched some form of water.

What then are your domain registrar's benefits over GoDaddy?

GoDaddy Pros

1. I have always received a response from their customer support within 24 hours.
   
2. I can call them 24/7 if need be.
   
3. Owned a few hundred domains with them for 4 or 5 years now without ever having a domain "held hostage".
   

GoDaddy Cons

1. They are big and a bit less personable than smaller domain registrars for sure, but I have had a quite a few helpful phone reps over the years. They might not always the same person but they're usually pretty good.
   
2. Apparently they charge fines for certain domain infractions, but I don't spam anybody and I don't host plagiarized content, so I have yet to see any problems on that front.
   

I would argue that godaddy has supported the web developers community by paying for multi million dollar superbowl advertisements and getting the consumer the lowest possible prices. Just think of how many people they introduced to this world.

Let me remind everybody I am talking about their domain registrar services only. Obviously liquidweb is a better choice for hosting ;)

[wheel]

I had a guy call godaddy a year ago or so. Guy was like 70, didn't understand. the godaddy rep proceeded to upsell the guy on everything. It wasn't a $10 domain reg when he was done, it was like a $50. That's one reason not to deal with them.

Superbowl ads don't impress me. In fact, I find Godaddy's ads insulting. I'm as much of a guy as the next guy,but I will despise you and your products if your value proposition is nothing other than sx. That's a second reason to not to deal with them.

But if you're in love with them, I don't think you'll find it's a problem with anyone here. Domain reg's aren't something folks get too evangelical about.

[Demaestro]

I have to think to myself... how does GoDaddy spend so much on advertising their domains for sale service if they truly aren't gouging people somewhere?

I have never used GoDaddy so I have no knowledge about how they do things, but someone is paying for those ads and it isn't off $7.50 registrations.

[rollinj]

I'm not getting evangelical about anything, rather, I am in search of domaining nirvana.

I'm asking to be tempted by your inside information (as a loyal customer to any other registrar in particular).

What is it about them that you love?

Just because a company employs a sales team isn't a reason to hate them. I am posing this question purely from a business standpoint. If I only bought 2 or 3 domains per year, maybe the extra dollar wouldn't seem like so much money.

wheel, maybe that's the reason that GoDaddy caters to me. They undervalue their domains in hopes that newcomers (who only know price comparison) will buy a cheap domain and sign up to their SUPER AMAZING DOMAIN PROTECTION PACKS and MUST HAVE FOR BUSINESS type upgrades.

Demaestro, my sentiments exactly. But from a business man's point of view, one who is not prone to gouging, is this not a good thing?

I only need domains, so below market rates prices, quick and easy purchases, and a large range of accepted TLDs are what do it for me with GoDaddy - strictly business speaking.

What does your registrar do for you?

[Mr Bo Jangles]

I've been using 'the big daddy' for more than a decade and have had zero complaints - I think they do a good job, their systems run well IMO, and they deserve their success.

my2cents

[mromero]

Wheel, please tell us more. Always looking for alternatives.....

[rollinj]

Another good point Mr Bo Jangles. Companies don't become successful for no reason, they must be doing more than just a few things right just by looking at their popularity.

mromero I concur, who does wheel use for domain registrations and why?

[Demaestro]

Since we got onto alternatives, I wonder how many people do what I did.

I got my own TuCows domain reseller account and I do all my own domains... I don't even mark up the prices to myself.

[Swanny007]

Why I'm moving away from GoDaddy:

- too much noise (upsells) for everything (I just want a domain dammit, think KISS principle)
- when a rep calls with a great deal and I'm busy he says he can't give me the deal in a few days (really irritating)
- too many coupon codes don't work (tired of trying a bunch every time I renew)
- pricing is not "straight-up", the coupons are all over the place (tired of that game, value me as a customer and give me everyday low prices)
- their pricing isn't *that* much better than the competitors

And maybe it's just me, but using hot women to sell domain names reminds me of sleazy used car salesman tactics. I just don't know how to better explain that.

I've got about 100 domains and have been a customer for about 4 years. But I am now slowly moving my GD domains away when they come up for renewal to Namecheap and Moniker.

[wheel]

I got my own TuCows domain reseller account and I do all my own domains... I don't even mark up the prices to myself.

There is a name from the past. I looked at doing this years ago and it was beyond my technical capabilities - and I think the paperwork looked hard too. I think it both would look substantially easier today.

[HuskyPup]

I use Joker's reseller account, I've been with them for years and now have probably 90% of my names with them. Touch wood, I've never had to contact them about anything...I think!

I bought a new domain a few weeks ago from a guy who held it at GoDaddy, super smooth transfer from both parties, the only hold-up was the actual seller who was away for Xmas and didn't confirm the transfer in time so we had to do it again, no problem.

[rollinj]

Demaestro, are you talking about OpenSRS? The tucows domain seems to have divested itself heavily from what it once was.

Swanny007, I hear you. It drove me nuts to click through the "no, thanks" buttons on GoDaddy but within the last 6 months I would say they have gotten much better with the upsells. Also I am probably a lot younger than many of the members here, but attractive women pushing products has no bearing on my sense of morality.

wheel, indeed! Their signup "just a few minutes" and costs $95. If you're talking about OpenSRS that is.

HuskyPup, I don't fully understand the Joker's reseller account pricing page. Does that mean if I promise to spend $5,000/year on domain products that I will get .com registrations down to $6.54/year? Does this include privacy services?

[Demaestro]

It looks like Tucows is a reseller through openSRS but my reseller account and agreement is with TuCows. Tucowsinc.com is still geared towards their old style.

Wheel.... it was a steep learning curve, I was lucky my sys guy was able to help me with through it.... and the agreement I signed was like a book.

It was like 5 years ago and I still remember wondering when or if the printer was going to stop.

[kaled]

If you have never experienced a problem with an organisation you are not qualified to comment on the efficacy with which they solve problems. I have held household insurance for 29 years and car insurance for 27 years - I have never made a claim on either so I have no idea who is and who isn't good at dealing with claims. This being the case, I simply opt for the cheapest.

If GoDaddy are cheap and you've not had a problem with them it might well be foolish to go elsewhere but for those people who have experienced problems that have not been resolved satisfactorily, it might be foolish to stay.

rollinj
Cheap food does NOT always taste best - often it is ghastly and deserves to be thrown in the bin. I think what you meant was "nabbing a bargain always feels good". You talk about using coupons - they (and other tactics) exist because marketeers know that people like to feel they have got a bargain. Clearly the tactic has worked with you but whether you really have gotten a good deal is perhaps open to debate - you won't know for sure until a real problem arises.

Kaled.

[HuskyPup]

@rollinj

I don't use privacy settings however I've had a good look around the Joker site and I cannot see this anywhere...maybe you will have to ask them.

I usually deposit $500 every few months for renewals and they add an extra 33.33% making a .com about $9.60 therefore if you were to deposit $5000 it does make them about $7.68 at normal rates but less with the current promotions for new registrations only I believe.

All my domains are mine, I have a reseller account since I used to have so many and get the extra bonus and never need to have to get a payment card out when registering or renewing.

Hope that helps.

[rollinj]

HuskyPup, thanks for that! Joker does seem to have the absolute lowest .com promotional price I have seen so far. But their yearly renewal rate is a few cents more than GoDaddy's and requires that I deposit $5,000 I believe so I'll have to recalculate that option. I will email them about private registrations and get back to this tread.

kaled, yes that is the expression I was originally thinking of, actually it was "free food tastes best", but Godaddy's deals aren't THAT good so I had to change it up a bit :P

I'm not claiming I have never had a problem, who could? I have contacted them via phone probably 10 or 20 times over the past 5 years, and each time my concern has been addressed professionally and respectfully, and I usually receive a response within a few hours via email. Anyone care to share their GoDaddy horror stories?

Really I guess my question should have been phrased:

"Is there really a difference in the quality of a .com purchased from one registrar than another?"

So is the general consensus here simply that "I would rather pay more money to receive top quality support"?

[wheel]

No, the general consensus is that I don't pay any more than you do, and I get to deal with a company that has both better customer service and hasn't deliberately screwed people over. I don't know where you got the idea others are paying more than you.

But if you're happy with your registrar, then why are we even having this conversation?

[cien]

I'd rather pay $40 for 1 domain at Namecheap than $4 at Godaddy. I've had a few issues with Godaddy the worst one trying to transfer domains out of godaddy with domainsbyproxy on them. I spent 2 months calling them, faxing them letters about my identity to multiple people there to no avail and finally after almost 2 months I got a nice guy on the phone who helped me out and cancelled the private registrations. I almost lost the domains. Never again. With Namecheap I could sleep at night. Private registrations are the cheapest around too I think. 5 for $7something?

[RP_Joe]

My main compliant with them is their hosting. I had a client with a php email script problem. We don't support that.

The one good thing about Big daddy is that its very difficult to loose a domain because you missed a payment. They bug you to death. This is why I recommend them for domain only to clients who are not so sharp on Internet things.

[rollinj]

wheel, you and I obviously aren't having a conversation here, but thanks for the snide comments! They're always fun to read :) I am physically paying less money for my domains than you are, if you don't buy through GoDaddy, there's no question about it. I believe we have established that already above.

Guys, please don't take my question as anything more than that. A question.

I am not here saying "I use Godaddy, I'm better than you are, neener neener neener!".

I am simply asking for honest advice from the community I have come to trust and love over the years. Am I happy with GoDaddy? Of course, otherwise I wouldn't be posing the question.

cien, that's a valid complaint about GoDaddy, their DomainsByProxy brother can be a pain to say the least if you lose the original documentation. I went through that ordeal a few years ago, and made sure as anything I would keep track of it for next time. In their defense, imagine if it was easy to change your DomainsByProxy accounts and you didn't need all of that original info? What kindof complaints might they encounter then?

And that is a great price on private registrations.

RP_Joe, agreed, their hosting is a true webmaster hell for anybody who knows anything about websites. And maybe Twitter might not have lost summarize.com if they registered it through GoDaddy :P

Any more truly scary stories about GoDaddy's domaining products/services?

Or any more truly great stories about why you pay the extra buck to buy your domains where you do now?

Thanks for all the great feedback, everyone! Keep it coming.

[wheel]

Or any more truly great stories about why you pay the extra buck to buy your domains where you do now?

It's been made quite clear the problems people have with Godaddy. It's also quite clear that not everyone is going to spend 3 hours on the internet to save $1. For you, that may mean you make money. For me, it means I actually lost money. Depends on what your time is worth.

If you feel superior saving your $1, go nuts. If you feel saving that $1 offsets dealing with a company that's upsold their unwitting clients and who have locked people's domains while holding them ransom for $100's of dollars based on allegations alone, go nuts. Nobody here is pulling you down.

[robdwoods]

I'm new to hosting my own sites but I've fond the GoDaddy service actually not too bad. They even followed up by phone after I set up and account and the rep fixed a couple of things for me, unasked, to save me a few bucks. The interface is awful and clunky and it's hard to find stuff but the functionality is pretty good once you find it. Mostly they need to hire a few really good usability experts to clean up the UI.

[Status_203]

After reading this thread [webmasterworld.com] I went searching for more details. Horror stories about GoDaddy are depressingly easy to find.

I moved all my domains from them after reading a few articles about how the place is managed (there will always be dissatisfied customers). I hadn't had any problems but didn't consider a few $ saving worth the higher risk to my domains.

<edit>P.S. I'm a web developer, not a domainer, so don't have a huge number of domains. (although probably still too many :) )</edit>

[rollinj]

robdwoods, I agree. The UI could use a bit of work. But if you save some money, and the domains work at the end of the day... who really cares right?!

Status_203, I know, there are a ton of GoDaddy scare threads/websites. But what merit do they hold in the business world is what I'm after?

You don't like they way they organize their whois info? You don't have exactly what they need to change it? Keep better records.

You don't like their coupon syste? Pay somebody $0.50 to find the right coupon for you, if you can't find it yourself.

The business world is rough, but I'm not looking for a shoulder to cry on.

When you have 1,000+ domains to re-register every year. $1 makes a difference. $0.01 makes a difference. Maybe I'm not asking this question in the right forum, but I'm asking it anyways.

A domain is a domain is a domain. If you have any reasons to buy through another company for more money, please explain. I would love to hear what company and why you chose them.

[topr8]

i don't always agree with Wheel but in this case

>>It's also quite clear that not everyone is going to spend 3 hours on the internet to save $1.

hehe, spot on!

personally i'm happy with my domain registration company, i front up money in advance to keep the prices as good as possible.
i've never had a problem registering or renewing with them.
furthermore i use their DNS at times and i've never had an issue with that - a tiny problem there would very quickly negate years worth of 50c and $1 savings!

from the Charter for this forum:

Discussions about service provider should address general criteria for decisionmaking, not whether you like or dislike a company.

Please post your issues in general terms, avoiding mention of specific service providers, domain registrars or hosting companies.

i think though that part of this argument in this thread is that some people might be coming from different angles and have different requirements, and we focus on different areas.
for instance someone who is in ecommerce would spend their time/money better worrying about sales than domain name prices
whereas a domain name speculator would have a totally different agenda on price.

i agree that in business getting good value in all areas is important,

however many years ago when i started i was befriended and helped by an old hebrew couple from poland, who had survived (although now both dead) and they had done very well for themselves from having literally, absolutely, nothing (including no other family) after the war...

i'll never forget what she said to me which was, you know topr8, if you worry about pennies all the time you'll only ever make pennies!

(one of many truisms i learnt from them)

[MamaDawg]

I have a couple of domains with GD ... I sometimes register there or have things pushed to me. I transfer out at first renewal.

1) That AJAX hot mess of a control panel - it's awkward and slow.
2) Dislike their business practices. Most people will probably never have a problem with them, but heaven help you if there's an ALLEGED problem, because they will immediately side with the accusing party and take action based upon accusations before determining out if the action is justified. Horror stories abound.
3) Looking for coupons is a waste of my time, and there isn't always a coupon for what I need it's easy to find coupons to register domains. Renewals? Not so much. My preferred registrar is much less than their "regular" prices, only slightly more than the coupon prices.
4) Privacy at my registrar - free. Always. No coupon, unlimited domains.
5) How many times do you hear of domains being stolen from a GD account? Additional security at my registrar - account AND domain level - also free. Always. No coupon clipping.
6) GD's commercials and marketing message overwhelmingly target a 20-30-something male audience. While I'm not "offended" by the material, it makes a negative statement about my value to them as a customer.

PS: Not a fan of trashy fast food either - that organic pizza sounds good :)!

[xplicit]

pff....godaddy is verry verry sneacky. for privacy protect he ask for 10$/year...everyelse is free...i think i will transfer my domains.
i never ever recomand godaddy. they take for a simple expired domain auction a fee like 10-12$(only fee)!

I have another account at namecheap and i am very happy with my webhost there. Also there a new .com domain is under 10$. i didn t find elsewhere more cheap like that.

[edited by: engine at 2:19 pm (utc) on Jan 20, 2011]
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