advice Don't Abuse GoDaddy Promos: They will delete your account!

[Chris Hydrick]

Hi...

I was just informed that a newly created GoDaddy account of mine was deleted for coupon abuse. The pun is this is I'm Jewish, and well, I didn't know that was such a thing. In my culture, coupons are as good as cash. I am very upset right now.


Dear GoDaddy Customer,

Thank you for being our valued customer. Your account has been reviewed by our verification office as a precautionary measure to defend you from possible misuse of either your payment method or products in your account. As a result of this review, your recent order(s) in shopper account ######## have been cancelled. Please note that refunds issued to the original payment method are normally processed by your payment provider and/or issuing bank within five to 10 business days. However, some payment providers may hold the funds for a full billing cycle or longer. For further information regarding refund processing timeframes, or if you require assistance locating a refund submitted back to your original payment method, please direct your inquiry to your financial institution.

If you feel this action has been taken in error and would like to request reinstatement, please login to your account with us today. During the login process, our secure site will prompt you to upload a viewable, scanned copy of the payment method account holder's government-issued photo identification, such as a driver's license or passport. In the comments box, we ask that you also provide a brief explanation of how you intend to use the product(s) purchased.

Upon receipt of the requested documentation, we will re-evaluate the status of your account. We thank you in advance for your cooperation and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Sincerely,
Verification Office

 

[Nerevar]

Many domainers have multiple accounts, and they discuss this freely with GoDaddy support, and use coupons. Once GoDaddy really starts to hunt coupons abuse, they will scare off their best clients, the domainers. I do not think they want to do that... Maybe with the exception of some people that have a dozen of accounts and go totally wild. So I believe that GoDaddy will not push the matter, and that the problem is in the gift card and not in coupons. I might be wrong of course, but that is my opinion and feeling of what is going on.

 

[discobull]

Many domainers have multiple accounts, and they discuss this freely with GoDaddy support, and use coupons. Once GoDaddy really starts to hunt coupons abuse, they will scare off their best clients, the domainers. I do not think they want to do that... Maybe with the exception of some people that have a dozen of accounts and go totally wild. So I believe that GoDaddy will not push the matter, and that the problem is in the gift card and not in coupons. I might be wrong of course, but that is my opinion and feeling of what is going on.

I agree with you. I understand that people might get annoyed hearing about some folks having multiple accounts for the sake of maximizing their coupon benefits, but I'm unable to find anything in Godaddy's TOS addressing that issue so I'm not sure how they could be penalizing anyone for violating a non-existent coupon policy. If I were in the OP's position, my first question to any GD rep would be to ask him/her to point me to the policy covering this issue so that I could verify for myself that I'd in fact violated their terms.

 

[D. Wells]

You can register as many domains with promo codes with ONE account, but if they catch you opening multiple account to use promos then it becomes a problem. I've had an account closed and about 200 domains repossessed by Godaddy from doing this some years ago, so don't try it!

 

[Mahogany]

Question:

Are there any risks of opening a second account with the wifes name, different address, different payment but same IP address?


Also, @IceDude did were you able to retrieve any of your domains back or what they back up for grabs for anyone to register?

 

[D. Wells]

@Mahognay_Consulting They dropped the ones within the grace period and sent the rest to auction.

For example check the whois of http://www.whois.com/whois/trespire.com.

 

[ResoluteDomains]

It could be this, or, because I used my checking account on seperate Godaddy accounts.

Please keep us informed... I would hate to think that we cant have several accounts at Go Daddy....

I've got one account for personal domains, one account for investment domains and other accounts for various business ventures with clients / what have you..

 

[D. Wells]

Please keep us informed... I would hate to think that we cant have several accounts at Go Daddy....

I've got one account for personal domains, one account for investment domains and other accounts for various business ventures with clients / what have you..

You can have as many accounts as you want. Just can't abuse promos with them..... For example, if you used one promo with one account, you can't clear cookies and use it for another... That's considered abuse...

 

[Chris Hydrick]

You are giving the OP the benefit of the doubt which you shouldn't be doing. He has admitted that he had multiple accounts created specifically to abuse coupons. Godaddy is in the right here.

You're right. I don't want to scare users to thinking this will happen to them. I was buying serveral domains a day under multiple accounts, and using the same payment methods in crossed accounts. Weather or not this is IP related, I don't know as customer support has given me very little information, and referred me to inquire through email to the verification dept. Of which, I have not been able to get any details as to what triggered this as of yet.

Once GoDaddy really starts to hunt coupons abuse, they will scare off their best clients, the domainers

Absolutely! Can anybody reccomend me to any other cheap registrars? I really should have switched it up. This lesson has taught me to use multiple registrars if I'm going to be buying a lot of domains in a shorter period of time.

my first question to any GD rep would be to ask him/her to point me to the policy covering this issue so that I could verify for myself that I'd in fact violated their terms.

Customer service isn't giving me direct answers to these questions. I will go through terms and conditions myself to find the clause, and update accordingly.

I've had an account closed and about 200 domains repossessed by Godaddy from doing this some years ago, so don't try it!

That really sucks man. My loss was only a fraction of yours, so I can only begin to understand what you went through. Roughly, what percentage of the drops were you able to recover?

 

[Chris Hydrick]

For example, if you used one promo with one account, you can't clear cookies and use it for another... That's considered abuse..

I think this plays a big part in it. The warning email (that I have yet to locate) was supposedly sent out late February around the time I read in the Godaddy Promo thread here that clearing you cache will allow a promo to go through. This led me into buying UpdateCache.com yesterday. (I hope that account doesn't get deleted- haha)

Also, note that I was mainly using the $.99 coupons. Learning from this, it's not worth it to try and save the extra dollar. The $1.99 were still available.

 

[ResoluteDomains]

I think this plays a big part in it. The warning email (that I have yet to locate) was supposedly sent out late February around the time I read in the Godaddy Promo thread here that clearing you cache will allow a promo to go through. This led me into buying UpdateCache.com yesterday. (I hope that account doesn't get deleted- haha)

Also, note that I was mainly using the $.99 coupons. Learning from this, it's not worth it to try and save the extra dollar. The $1.99 were still available.

I dont understand why Go Daddy doesnt just fix the problem in their software then.... It wouldnt be too difficult to restrict coupon use to one time per payment method / card / account etc... I mean, its not rocket science. Of course people will figure out other ways to game the system but it would definitely cut back on 90% of it - if thats what they're worried about.

 

[D. Wells]

I dont understand why Go Daddy doesnt just fix the problem in their software then.... It wouldnt be too difficult to restrict coupon use to one time per payment method / card / account etc... I mean, its not rocket science. Of course people will figure out other ways to game the system but it would definitely cut back on 90% of it - if thats what they're worried about.

Godaddy does restrict use of coupon codes to one payment method, one account, etc... That's not an issue.... The thing is you can clear browsing data, open a new account with a prepaid card or whatever, and you the same promos over and over. This is wrong and borderline "fraud."

At the end of the day these promos are for new customers. Not for us to abuse over and over......

 

[Chris Hydrick]

I just found another account of mine was shut down this morning.

Arrggggggg -- when will this end?!

 

[discobull]

I just found another account of mine was shut down this morning.

Arrggggggg -- when will this end?!

Were you using a CC or gift card on that account? Was under your real name?

 

[ulterios]

I just found another account of mine was shut down this morning.

Arrggggggg -- when will this end?!

When I had spoken to GoDaddy on the phone last year I had asked if multiple account are ok and they said yes, a lot of their customers do that. What got you in trouble is that you have taken it to a level beyond most. I think many people have probably 2 accounts but don't go beyond that for this reason.

I hope this gets resolved for you soon, I know the frustration and stress this industry can cause.

Good Luck and may the Cheese be with you.

 

[cdboard]

how many accounts do you have that contain domains?

 

[Azwan Asban]

whoa.. don't be sad buddy. i think the problem is you're registered too many trademarked domains.. imo
i have 2 gd account also use all promo codes .99 but never happen to me.

 

[NameOmnia]

As many others said and as I have directly told you in chat, you really looked for this to happen.

Using different gift cards but adding your name for all of them was the reason you got in trouble and unfortunately a not very smart move as ALL the coupons you used fell under the same name.
Having multiple accounts with GD implies also having multiple Email addresses and multiple payment methods ( a unique name for every payment method )

I think this is just the beginning of what I foresee won't be a happy end story

* comment has been rephrased as it could sound offensive. Apologies.

 

[Chris Hydrick]

Were you using a CC or gift card on that account? Was under your real name?

They were gift cards. My real name was used.

The main thing to get out of this is don't do excessive work arounds to get the best promo code. Resetting your cookies and what not being one of them.

 

[Chris Hydrick]

i think the problem is you're registered too many trademarked domains.. imo

The accounts with any trademark risk have not been affected. These accounts included brandables, and generic keywords.

 

[ulterios]

whoa.. don't be sad buddy. i think the problem is you're registered too many trademarked domains.. imo
i have 2 gd account also use all promo codes .99 but never happen to me.

Trademark possible domains had nothing to do with it. GD wants you $ and they will let the customer worry about if it's a trademark issue later.

You can go register something like microsoftwindowisthebestoperatingsystemintheworld.com which is a clear trademark issue and GD will let you reg it.

 

[Nitindomains]

Trademark possible domains had nothing to do with it. GD wants you $ and they will let the customer worry about if it's a trademark issue later.

You can go register something like microsoftwindowisthebestoperatingsystemintheworld.com which is a clear trademark issue and GD will let you reg it.

Calls for Dragons Dancing picture. hehe. :P

 

[ulterios]

Calls for Dragons Dancing picture. hehe. :P

Just for you:

 

[Azwan Asban]

i just want post some funny actually..

p/s~ i know that. :p psycho

 

[discobull]

Would it make sense to push your domains out of any remaining offending accounts?

 

[ulterios]

Would it make sense to push your domains out of any remaining offending accounts?

I had been thinking that myself as well but I didn't know if that would trigger another alert. I was thinking that maybe pushing them to an account a family or friend of his could create from a different ip and with different name, email, etc.. might save the domains. I was afraid that because he is already being looked at, that might set the fraud alert again.