GoDaddy Makes the DMV Look Like a Model of Efficiency

The Problem

Recently, I needed to transfer a client's domain name from GoDaddy to Moondog Web Hosting. In order to transfer a domain name, you need access to the administrative e-mail address listed in the WHOIS record. The administrative e-mail address for this particular domain name was no longer valid, so I logged in to the GoDaddy account to change it, but GoDaddy's information change form wouldn't process the update.

The Call

I called GoDaddy customer service, and they said  the update could not be processed because some information was missing in the registrant portion of the WHOIS record. I explained that I left those missing fields alone on purpose because I knew any changes to the registrant information would engage GoDaddy’s 60-day transfer lock. I was in a Catch 22 situation.

The customer services representative I spoke to understood my predicament, and he checked with his supervisor for a workaround to the problem. When he came back on the line, he said the only option was for me to go ahead update all of the missing WHOIS fields (triggering the 60-day transfer lock), and then send an e-mail to review60@godaddy.com explaining the situation and requesting removal of the 60-day transfer lock. That seemed overly complicated to me, and since it was GoDaddy's inability to override an error in their update procedure that created the lock, I asked him to call the Review Department directly and expedite removal of that lock. He replied, "They are in another building, and they don't have a phone number, just the e-mail address." Really? I hung up the phone because anything I would have said at that point would have been cruel.

It Gets Worse

I sent the e-mail to review60@godaddy.com detailing the situation, but they would not take action because the e-mail did not come from the e-mail address on file with account, so I had my client copy and paste my e-mail and send it from the account on file. About 24 hours later, she received a reply saying they needed a copy of her driver's license and a copy of the business license in order for them to "evaluate removing the lock as requested." I don't know if she is going to fill out the paperwork, or if she will just wait the 60 days. I do know she does not have a very high opinion of GoDaddy right now.

Conclusion

GoDaddy may be the world's largest domain name registrar, but as long as they continue to spend their profits on race car drivers and bad Super Bowl commercials instead of  improving the customer experience, I will continue to nominate them for Worst Company in America.

Goodbye Google Reader

This week Google announced that it will retire Google Reader as of July 1, 2013.  Reader was Google’s web-based program that let people subscribe to news feeds from their favorite sites. According to the Official Google Blog, the reason for shuttering the service is declining usage. I foresaw the demise of Reader back in 2011, when Google dropped Reader's ability to natively share and moved that feature to Google+.

As recently as 2011, Google Reader was always open on my desktop, and I checked it several times a day. Now most of my "breaking news" comes from Twitter, so I am not freaking out over the shutdown like some people who have started a petition to keep Google Reader running. If the petition fails, there are several alternative RSS readers out there, and I think I am going to give The Old Reader a try.