The problem here (as I see it) is that GoDaddy moved the domain to the new owner before the current period of registration had finished. There was no downtime or suspension for the domain, that meant the original owner had little/no notice that things had gone wrong.

The ICANN regulation which GoDaddy are citing over this does give the Registrar/Reseller the right to do this but leaves the decision on cancellation up to their ‘good judgment’. ICANN does not mandate you to cancel the registration.

So it seems this is more a case of different business practices rather than an ultimatum from ICANN. Tucows for example choose to leave the domain suspended until the end of the registration period and then a further 80 days until it moves to a new auction owner (40 days is the usual expiry time).

I would be concerned about your domains if they are with GoDaddy. As a domain reseller myself, I would find it hard to justify a personal phone call to each client with the current margins. People are being a little unrealistic if they are asking for that.

Leaving the domain to run, suspended, for the registration and redemption period is a fair amount of notice for the client that something had gone wrong. The domain would be down for a minimum of 40 days, most likely much longer. It’s a pity GoDaddy aren’t adopting this practice, maybe this PR disaster will make them reconsider their policy.

Right now, Godaddy offers “Private registrations” which can probably avoid this issue, but paying extra to keep what you already paid for seems illogical to me.

Have you ever heard of Moniker, Chris? I keep hearing about them as good alternative to Godaddy on dnforums [http://www.dnforum.com] though I wonder if there are happy Moniker customers who were not ex-Godaddy customers, as sometimes people will always find the other side greener after their own ship goes down.

[I think I wrote a reply and somehow forgot to submit it or something. Came back and found my comment isn't here for moderation. If this is a duplicate comment, please accept my apologies and ignore/delete this comment while keeping the previous one, if possible. Thank you.]

Just like Peg, I am a newbie in the whole hosting/domain name/website hobby, and I am registered with GoDaddy.

I have to say that I had absolutely excellent service from them. I waited litteraly less than two minutes on the phone, and I had the option of turning off the background music (very annoing on so many customer service hotlines), and they treated me politely and seemed to know not only the answer, but even the problem I had.

It’s just scary though, that they can take advantage of someone’s profitable business just as easily though. I would be really surprised if they don’t do anything to solve this mess. Otherwise, they might and will lose clients.

email should never be considered a primary point of contact. The email could have been marked as junk. They should have sent a certified letter.

I am going to move when my service expires, if not sooner.

Their service is great. They’re not the cheapest though – $15 a year. But I prefer their reliability.

I use GoDaddy myself–now, I’m no internet guru, (just a mom trying to make a few bucks!) but I can safely say that I have never had any trouble with them. I’ve transferred domains in and out, used their hosting and other services with absolutely no issues. For a little guy(gal) like me, the price is right and the Cust. Serv. has been excellent (and I have very high Customer Service expectations!)

I have kept all my info on my domains and my account with them up to date–I’m not sure if it’s really as simple as that, but I’ve never had any issues with them. Anytime I’ve telephoned them, they’ve been very helpful, pleasant and friendly and have offered detailed and informative answers to all my questions.

I can tell you that I’m not going to jump in and defend GoDaddy in any of the venues that I read today–mostly because I *am* a neophyte with limited domain registrar/hosting experience, but also because those who have ostensibly been screwed by GoDaddy are so fired up that my defense of their services would not make any difference to the posters…it simply wouldn’t add any value to the discussion.