I don’t know why I expect different results when I have to deal with GoDaddy.com – even though they’ve proven time and time and time again that they do NOT care about customer service. And today was just another example of poor customer service, and an overall failure of the people answering the phones AND a supervisor.
Here’s what happened: I got a domain renewal email, sent to an address I haven’t used for *YEARS*, about a domain that I haven’t used, touched, worked on for years. I searched my password vaults for any hint of information connected to this ancient email address, or the domain, or GoDaddy – and found nothing.
The first thing I did is to check the WHOIS record, and sure enough – all three contacts (technical, administrative, and Registrant) listed my name, a very old mailing address, and the ancient email address. The domain is for a small non-profit that I use to serve on the Board for, as well as doing web / internet / technology for, so I knew how this was connected, but I have no memory of what I ended up doing with the domain in question.
The next thing I did is to try to sign into GoDaddy.com to make sure that a) there wasn’t a credit card on file that would get charged again, or b) to update the information so that the nonprofit was correctly listed on the account. Here’s where the frustration started. I entered the ancient email address – where the domain renewal email was sent to – and the domain that was listed IN that email, but kept getting this error: "Invalid domain and email combination" – so I was finally forced to call GoDaddy.
So, at 8:06am PST, on a SATURDAY morning, I called GoDaddy, just to get the automated system that told me it would be *19 MINUTES* before someone could help me. Yikes. Can you imagine if this was during the middle of the day on a weekday?! So, I choose the ‘automated callback’ option. And about 20 minutes later, I get the callback.
The first woman is as friendly as I would expect, having to work at GoDaddy, but the first several comments and questions are NOT anything related to "How can I help you?" Instead, it’s "What’s your call-in PIN?" and when I say I don’t have that, she says she can’t help me unless I have that PIN. Then she proceeds to send me a password reset to the account that is connected to the phone number I’m calling in on – but that is NOT the account I’m calling about. Shockingly, she doesn’t ask about my phone number, or what the problem is – she just sends a password reset.
I ask her to just listen to my problem so that she can understand what the issue is – to which she responds that she can’t help me unless she can get into my account. I explain that I’m not calling about the account connected to the phone number that I’m calling from, and I again ask if she would just listen to my issue. And SERIOUSLY, she again insists that she won’t be able to help me without the PIN, and asks if I got the password reset email. UGH!!*!*!*!*** *MORON!*
I ignore her ignorance, and start explaining that I got a renewal email to an ancient email address, etc. And again, she says she can’t help me. That was the end of MY patients dealing with an idiot, so I ask for a supervisor – to which she responds that a supervisor won’t take the call unless they can get into the account. WHAT?!?!
*NOTE TO ANYONE READING THIS* ***DO NOT USE GODADDY!!!!***
MOVE TO GOOGLE DOMAINS OR **ANYONE** ELSE!!!!!!
She puts me on hold, and several minutes later a different woman gets on the call and announces herself as a supervisor. BUT, instead of starting out with "How can I help you?" She BEGINS with "I’ll need your PIN to access your account.
So, I try to explain the same thing I explained to the first woman. And now this supervisor is playing the same broken record. I BEG her to please just ask for the email address or domain name from the renewal email – but she REFUSES, explaining that they ‘only have a white screen in front of them with a box asking for a PIN’ and there’s nothing she can help me with. Unbelievable!! I tell her that I’ve been in software and web development since the early 1990s, and I KNOW they have the ability to look up domain names, but she insists that they can’t help without a PIN. So I push her, asking ‘How do you help people who don’t have their PIN, and don’t have access to the email?’ – to which she responds with the typical time-wasting-answer that GoDaddy is famous for, and says I’ll need to go through the ID verification process, which can take up to 3 business days.
Still, no help – from a GODADDY SUPERVISOR – and my frustration is boiling over now. This is NOT a difficult issue to figure out. But now GoDaddy has proven once again that they (mostly) employ idiots, and that GoDaddy apparently doesn’t train their employees on basic customer service.
So, I hang up, and call right back. BUT, since I know that they are too stupid to think on their own, and rely solely on their caller ID, I block my outgoing number and call back. This time I only have to wait for 14 minutes. And when the "customer service" person answers, I get a get this time – who starts out the same way… NOT with "How can I help you?" but, "Can I get the phone number on your account?" To which I say, "No, I’m not giving you a phone number, I want you to ask me what the problem is first." Then he explains that he can’t do anything with an account without the PIN. *!)*@%&!)%$!@(*%!%**)$
So, I repeat the same story about the renewal email, and I tell him that the previous two IDIOTS that I talked to refused to help – including a supervisor. Then he asks, "Can I get the domain and email address from the renewal email?" ****WOW!!!!**** Someone with a brain!
So this guy starts typing and searching… and while he’s typing, I’m venting about the previous two morons I talked to, and told him that customer service like that is why I stopped supporting GoDaddy – and why I flatly refuse to help anyone who uses GoDaddy.
When I’m done with my rant / venting, he has finished searching and confirms what I had already done, that all three of the contacts in the WHOIS record are for my ancient email address. And he APOLOGETICALLY says that he can’t help, since I don’t have / can’t get access to the GoDaddy account, even though the WHOIS info has my email on it. As a software and web geek, I fully understand and I start to fawn over him for actually being intelligent and trying to help. He surmises the same thing I already had – that when I transferred the domain over to the non-profit (ages ago), they never updated the WHOIS contacts – BUT – he can send a password reset to the user on the GoDaddy account, which should prompt them to call in – AND – he is able to leave a note on the account attached to that domain, explaining what we had just talked about. WHEW!
I thank him profusely for actually helping me, and for being smarter than the previous moron and the idiot supervisor. So I ask if I can talk to a supervisor to give him kudos for giving GOOD customer service. He happily accepts my thanks, and puts me on hold.
A few minutes later, the supervisor picks up the call. And yes, you probably already guessed… it’s the idiot supervisor I talked to 20 minutes early! I literally laughed-out-loud and said "Oh, it’s you." Then I went on to give him every compliment I could – as well as doing my best to backhand her for being a moron, and showing her that an underling was smarter than she was on how to search for a domain.
I finished by telling her that I hope she learned something from the experience, but I was quite sure that she wouldn’t, but I hoped that the guy who actually gave good customer service WOULD see that kudos come through. I’ll never know.
In closing, ***DON’T USE GODADDY!!!!*** I’ve had at least a dozen problems over the years with my PERSONAL domains / web hosting / files / email – plus COUNTLESS problems when handling issues for clients. GoDaddy is NOT to be trusted. They do NOT care about customers. They do their best to confuse, confound, frustrate, and just take your money. So please, PLEASE, *PLEASE*, use ANYONE else for your domain registration, web hosting, and email hosting. And just don’t even bother trying to use any of their other services. In the long run, you (or your tech person) will be hating life. And if you don’t believe me, just do a Google search for "GoDaddy sucks".