You're not being callous at all. There are some companies that are known to frequently mistreat customers and have harmful policies. Any halfway savvy user (which OP appears to be) should know this and it's unfortunate when they get burned. It's even more unfortunate when a less technically literate person gets screwed by GoDaddy.

Having said this, I'm super happy OP wrote this. We should not forget that yesterday's GoDaddy is the same as today's GoDaddy. I really feel for OP, and I know how it's easy to feel as though bad stuff only happens to other people, but my hope is that posts like this will continue and the beast will starve.

I suspect that GoDaddy will begin to employ the same tactics Nigerian scammers do in order to weed out the savvy customers with blogs, and will try to ensnare technically illiterate people with credit cards.

I tried to unlock and transfer the domain first..see the note at the bottom..

Since it was going to take a while (couple of days) and since the domain was going to expire in two days..I decided to renew the domain anyway with godaddy.com to try transfer it later.

This should have been fine and unsurprisingly, GoDaddy appears to be at fault.

I hope you never give them a penny ever again and fingers crossed I can toast to GoDaddy losing another customer!

I was about to post this when I saw your comment and I second you. When I was looking to buy a domain, they looked like a very popular choice, thanks to ads and "positive" reviews.

In fact, some of my less tech savy friends have brought domains and even hosting from them.

As a freelancer, I've had only problems with them. From confusing navigation to bad control panel for hosting, they have everything in place to trouble me.

NameCheap is my go to place for domains and they are really great.

Could we be constructive and maybe name some GOOD domain registrars - so that if people read this and are on GoDaddy they could move?

I've heard good things about "namecheap."

I am using namecheap for 5-6 years now (can't remember for how long). I never had to do anything except manually renew the domain I needed.

I also set myself in a mission to 'help' people who need help with setting up their DNS and uses Godaddy to transfer them to Namecheap first before helping out - simply because I wouldn't want to deal with Godaddy horrible UI.

To date I think I've been able to move about 100 domains out of Godaddy.

--

By the way it's a shame since I know some Godaddy Execs and they're very nice, I feel they're like trying to navigate a old ship that won't turn its course no matter how much energy they put in.

I also use namecheap, they're great. One thing I like about them compared to GoDaddy, which I used to use, is that the control panel for a domain is tiny yet does everything I need. The number of different control panels, all of which took forever to load and were horrible to use and navigate, is one of the reasons I no longer use GoDaddy.

The only registrar I will tell anybody about anymore is Gandi (gandi.net). For ~$15USD you get the domain, private registration and an SSL cert for a year. I don't like some of what Namecheap has done in the past and I've had nothing but stellar service from Gandi.

I'll third Gandi.

The transfer from GoDaddy went smoothly. (The longest part was waiting on GoDaddy.)

The free SSL cert is quite a nice bonus, and their customer service is great.

I'm considering purchasing hosting from them in the near future.

I'll fourth Gandi; nothing but simple, non-obnoxious domain name registration.

I'll second Gandi. Moved to them a few years ago during another GoDaddy scandal and have been very happy with my decision.

I've been hearing great things about Gandi pretty consistently from everyone who uses them. I'm in the process of moving my domains over to their service and so far (given, only a few months in) nothing but smooth sailing.

Thanks for mentioning Gandi.

Clickable: https://www.gandi.net

They're the only ones I've come across as of late who offer 10 year registrations other than GoDaddy. That's the only reason I've stayed with them, and now I can be rid of their god awful interface.

Gandi rocks. You also get the free DNS, 5 email boxes, basic blog and site installs and web redirections.

As a Namecheap customer considering a move to Gandi, I'm curious what it was that Namecheap did in the past that you don't like?

I've had great results from domainmonster and gandi (both European based, but that shouldn't make a difference).

I have used domainmonster for several years and have had no issues at all. They have an excellent customer service too.

The only practical technical difference with Godaddy for my purposes is that they do not support catchall addresses for email forwarding for security reasons, but this is minor.

Actually I've been searching for one which provides 2 factor authentication but couldn't see a popular registrar which provides this.

Name.com offers this through Verisign's mobile app. I haven't used it as I just noticed it today.

I too have good experiences with NameCheap.

I've been using Dynadot for some years already

No problems so dar.

While I agree with this sentiment and had a similar reaction ("doesn't everyone know GoDaddy are scumbags?"), I upvoted this article. We need to scream this from the rooftops, get stories like this spread far and wide. Until GoDaddy goes out of business, everyone needs to be made painfully aware of how dangerous it is to be their customer.

Not that I disagree with your point, but GoDaddy ran a lot of tests and the ads with scantily clad women put in seemingly compromising positions or being taken advantage of returned the most money in sales. So it's not like they're just doing it for fun; it's all business.

But yeah - don't use GoDaddy. (edited for clarity, I hope)

"It's all business" is the worst excuse in the world for being a shitty human being.

I would rather somebody be an honest asshole. At least if they can admit they like being misogynistic, there's a chance they might get their act together one day.

But being willing to make the world worse because it lines your pockets? And then saying, "Oh man, it's not me, it's that darned business thing making me do it"? That's a sad rationalization, a total unwillingness to take responsibility for your actions.

More like "our customers respond well to misogyny" which means they will change as our culture changes. I see it as more of a commentary than a cause.

That's only true if they have no effect. But I think it's absurd to say that superbowl commercials have no influence on culture. The whole point of advertising is to influence. I agree that their success is a symptom, but at that scale I believe it is also a cause.

It isn't the scantily clad women necessarily it is that they are really the only registrar people can think of when they want to get their own domain because godaddy is the only domain registrar that advertises on tv.

I meant that GoDaddy tried ads with a lot of different gimmicks, and they discovered which ones worked best for them.

What other companies would you recommend then?