I have multiple websites through Dotster and GoDaddy, and typically register with whomever is cheapest, and then jump to a different registrar at renewal time to again keep costs down. I’ve been happy with GoDaddy’s renewal fees, as the registrars usually try to charge you double to renew vs. registering a domain, and GoDaddy usually charges the same price.

However, with paulcutler.org up for renewal, they’ve screwed the pooch pretty bad on this one. A copy of my (fairly nice) email is below, we’ll wait for their response. According to their support website their phone hold time is 17 minutes, and average email response time is 9 hours. As it’s not mission critical as the site is up now, we’ll see how their email response is.

Here’s my email / letter:

Dear GoDaddy Customer Service Representative:

I wanted to make you aware of a problem I had with your service. I visited my domain early this morning (7 a.m. CST) and I received a GoDaddy Parked Domain page. Logging in to my account at GoDaddy, it showed my domain expiring on 1-4-2006.

Unfortunately, my office network blocks webmail, so I was unable to visit Gmail to double check my last email from GoDaddy. I then assume assumed the domain had expired as the GoDaddy account page showed, and GoDaddy had given me a week before parking the domain, as it had worked last night. I then renewed the domain for another 2 years through GoDaddy early this morning.

Upon returning home tonight from work, my domain was working again, and I checked my GoDaddy account and Gmail. Sure enough, I have a receipt from GoDaddy in Gmail showing I renewed this domain on 12-8-2005 for 2 years, and my GoDaddy account now showed my domain was now renewed through 2010.

Please explain to me why my domain was parked when I renewed over a month ago. I feel taken now that I’ve renewed for an additional 2 years on top of my renewal in December and you have even more of my money. I’m extremely disappointed in your level of service, specifically in not displaying my account information correctly.

Sincerely,

Paul Cutler

(email deleted to avoid more spam)