GoDaddy.com Complaint

[richkoi]

I have many of my personal web sites and a few of my clients hosted on GoDaddy servers. I have been a loyal customer to them due to their low prices and high level of customer support. I had to cancel one of my accounts because the database restrictions were not satisfactory any more. Unfortunately I forgot to backup my database which contained hundreds of personal links, client data and more.

Within minutes of canceling my GoDaddy hosting account for this domain I realized my mistake. I tried to login to my server but GoDaddy had already deleted it. I contacted customer support and asked them if they could restore my database. They send back a reply that it would be $150 to restore the data. I then contacted them by telephone, was put on hold for half an hour, and then was told the exact same thing. I then wrote an e-mail to the president's office and they would not waive the restore fee either.

I know I made a mistake by not backing up my data, but it was a bigger mistake to provide GoDaddy with hundreds of dollars worth of business every year and expect help with an honest mistake. I suppose they outsource their backups and would have to pay a fee to restore the data but I still think it would be worth it to satify a customer who provides as much business as I do.

First time mistake + multiple hosting accounts, domain name registrations, secure certs, etc... = sorry, $150 or you don't get your data back.

I will be moving all of my hosting to a new company and transferring my domains somewhere else also. I will no longer encourage anyone to use GoDaddy's services. If you are looking for inexpensive, reliable and high customer support levels, here are some alternatives to GoDaddy's service:

Hosting:

* SectorLink

Domain Names:

* IPower, Inc.

If anyone else has suggestions for either, please post them on this thread. I have learned my expensive lesson with GoDaddy and will do business with companies that have not grown past the level of quality customer support.

GoDaddy.com, make a mistake and we hold your data hostage!

[JKomp]

I have a friend who is being charged $80 each to renew his domains by GoDaddy, otherwise they will auction them off! It's all perfectly legal but not ethical.

[cyanide]

Well, it's a hard lesson, for sure.

But... GoDaddy is a budget host - Those 2 words should say it all.

[JKomp]

You'd think they would cut my mate some slack considering he is a high volume reseller!

[cyanide]

You'd think they would cut my mate some slack considering he is a high volume reseller!
Are you talking about your $80 domain renewal. I didn't see that post actually, until I posted.
That is a rip off for sure... why are they charging so much?

On second thought, regarding GoDaddy backup
Normally, when you change hosts you download the files, then backup(export) your databases, so that you can upload to the new server.

So, you should have had your database before cancelling and if you didn't, then you have no-one to blame, except yourself.

I'm the last person to stick up for godaddy, but it seems this is pretty simple mis-cue on your part

[richkoi]

I admit it was my fault for not backing up, but $150 for a mistake is too much, especially when other hosts can recover backup data in an instant for no charge.

[richkoi]

GoDaddy reduced the recovery fee to $75 and explained to me that it costs them an administrative fee to recover due to them keeping backups off-site.

$75 is much more reasonable than $150. It is still a bit pricey but I made the mistake and will have to pay the costs.

I will not be moving my current sites away from GoDaddy since they ultimately understood my complaint and gave me a reasonable explanation. However, I think I will stay away from value hosting when it comes to running a business. You get what you pay for.

Lesson learned: Back up your databases!

[richkoi]

GoDaddy reduced the recovery fee to $75 and explained to me that it costs them an administrative fee to recover due to them keeping backups off-site.

$75 is much more reasonable than $150. It is still a bit pricey but I made the mistake and will have to pay the costs.

I will not be moving my current sites away from GoDaddy since they ultimately understood my complaint and gave me a reasonable explanation. However, I think I will stay away from value hosting when it comes to running a business. You get what you pay for.

Lesson learned: Back up your databases!

[Corey Bryant]

$150 is pretty average for a restore. I'll admit - Godaddy has irritated me a time or two as well. Most hosting companies charge anwyeher from $100-$200 to restore data.

I have a friend who is being charged $80 each to renew his domains by GoDaddy, otherwise they will auction them off! It's all perfectly legal but not ethical.BulkRegister charged a buddy of minet $160 for theirs and I read somewhere that NetSol is actually buying the expired domain names that were registered with them and auctioning them back to the consumer starting at $100.00

We resell for Directi and one customer forgot to update her account & I thought all was lost but Directi did not even charge her anything extra. I would recommend them for domain registration.

[richkoi]

$150 is pretty average for a restore. I'll admit - Godaddy has irritated me a time or two as well. Most hosting companies charge anwyeher from $100-$200 to restore data.

I guess I have had good luck with other hosts as they have restored backups for me from free to $50.