Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  02/04/2025

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On July 14, 2024, I paid a renewal fee of $429.95 for web hosting and security; it's worth mentioning this was not scheduled to renew until September. I decided to revamp my website and the company I selected offers better hosting and customer service. Since my current arrangement with GoDaddy does not expire until September 2025, I requested a prorated refund for the hosting. After MULTIPLE chat sessions, often kept over an hour, GoDaddy's customer service kept bumping me off the chat and putting me back in the queue because they would tell me to wait and it was taking them too long. Tonight, they agreed to refund my money . . . so long as I would put the money into another GoDaddy product. I have been a customer for 15 years, and their once- great customer service is garbage. I would like a prorated refund - withholding money that I was told they'd prorate/refund just because they don't like how I would spend it (i.e., not on another GoDaddy product) is unethical and illegal.

  

  Business response

  02/05/2025

  Thank you for the opportunity to address our customer's concerns.
  
  Upon conducting business with GoDaddy, our customer acknowledged and accepted our agreements, which can be found at ***************************************************.
  
  Over the last four years, our customer's Deluxe Linux cPanel Hosting plan with Website Security Deluxe has been renewed annually, most recently on July 14, 2024. They manually processed this most recent renewal through the GoDaddy website. 
  
  On January 13, 2025, they contacted our ************* Team to discuss the possibility of a "pro-rated refund for the time remaining on their hosting plan. During this call, they were correctly advised that the time remaining on their plan was not eligible for a refund.
  
  From January 13 to  24 of 2025, they submitted multiple requests for an Out Policy Refund and, in each instance, were correctly advised that it was outside of GoDaddy's Refund Policy. This policy can be viewed at this link: ***************************************************/refund-policy 
  
  RESOLUTION:
  GoDaddy upheld its agreements with our customer in good faith and honored its terms of service.
  
  We thank our customer for their feedback regarding our service levels.
  
  The expiration date of their hosting plan is currently September 2, 2025.
  Per GoDaddy's Refund Policy, we respectfully decline our customers' request for a pro-rated refund. 
  
  Thank you again for the opportunity to address the concerns presented by our customer.
  
  Kindest regards,
  **** M
  Office of the CEO GoDaddy

  Customer response

  02/05/2025

  I do not accept this, as I have not received proper service or proper security and have found a more secure way to ensure my website's safety. If they do not refund me what I am owed, I will take legal action.

  

  Business response

  02/10/2025

  Thank you for the opportunity to address our customer's additional concerns.
  
  We stand by our previous response, and per GoDaddy's Refund Policy, we respectfully decline our customers' request for a pro-rated refund. That Policy can be found at this link: **********************************************************************;
  
  Thank you again for the opportunity to address our customer's additional concerns.
  
  Kindest regards,
  
  **** M
  Office of the CEO GoDaddy

• Initial Complaint

  02/03/2025

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I have a current account with **********************. However, I just discovered a charge and realized it is from a separate very old account. I have been charged for this old account yearly for around 10 years. I want to cancel my old account. The Email associated with this old account is ********************** I have no access to this old email as it was compromised many years ago. I have no recollection of the domain name I created under this old email/account.I spoke with ********************** customer service and was advised to use " **************** ". I have tried a few times to use this and submitted my ID etc. However, It requires you know the domain name, which I do not. I was then advised by customer service to use my current domain name and include information in the free text section, which I did however the response from change update never addresses the issue or tells me to do something that I already have explained I can not do etc etc It seems that change update might be using AI as even when I provide detailed information I get back an answer that is completely unhelpful or does not address the issue at all. I called Go Daddy customer service again and was told there is no way for me to have direct contact with *************** Go Daddy is not providing me with any viable option to cancel my old account.

  

  Business response

  02/06/2025

  Thank you for the opportunity to address our customer's concerns.
  
  Upon conducting business with GoDaddy, our customer acknowledged and accepted our agreements, found at ***************************************************.
  
  On December 15, 2015, our customer purchased the domain name in question for a one-year term.
  
  In accordance with our customer's account settings, ********************** automatically renewed the domain name on December 16 each following year for additional one-year terms. The most recent renewal was on December 16, 2024.
  
  On January 18 and 31, 2025, our customer created escalations with our Account Recovery Team for assistance with identifying and regaining access to the account. On February 5, 2025, our Account Recovery Team responded to our customer, informing them the account in question had been updated with their current email address.
  
  RESOLUTION:
  
  GoDaddy upheld its agreements with our customer in good faith and honored its terms of service.
  
  This office has since connected with our customer and worked with them to resolve their concerns to their satisfaction.
  
  Thank you again for the opportunity to address the concerns presented by our customer.
  
   
  
  Kindest regards,
  
  ******
  Office of the CEO - GoDaddy

  Customer response

  02/07/2025

  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.
  
  Regards,
  
  ******* *****
  
   
  

• Initial Complaint

  02/02/2025

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I upgraded a website plan to premium, and then due to obfuscated information, I realized the plan was unable to provide the services I needed. I attempted to cancel within an hour of the mistake and wasn't refunded. due to their "policies". The lack of a fair and reasonable return policy is predatory and should be looked into.

  

  Business response

  02/03/2025

  Thank you for the opportunity to address our customer's concerns.
  
  Upon conducting business with GoDaddy, our customer acknowledged and accepted our agreements, found at ***************************************************.
  
  On February 2, 2025, our customer upgraded their free Websites + Marketing (W+M) plan to a paid version.  W+M is a template based do-it-yourself website builder platform that allows customers to create their own website.  Shortly after upgrading, our customer contacted our Care team seeking a refund. 
  
  Unfortunately, our Care Guide incorrectly advised that the upgrade was not eligible for a refund.  The interaction in question has been shared with our ***************** team so coaching and feedback can be provided for improvement opportunities. 
  
  RESOLUTION:
  
  GoDaddy upheld its agreements with our customer in good faith and honored its terms of service.
  
  Our office has processed a full refund for the transaction in question, and our customer can expect to see the funds post to their original payment method within 2-3 business days. 
  
  Thank you again for the opportunity to address the concerns presented by our customer.
  
  Kindest regards,
  
  **** ****
  Office of the CEO - GoDaddy

  Customer response

  02/04/2025

  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.
  
  Regards,
  
  ***** *****
  
   
  

• Initial Complaint

  02/02/2025

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  GoDaddy allows you to buy a domain for a website but then a year later they skyrocket the price of the domain and don't inform you that the price will go up 400% to what you paid initially, but then just charges you without notice anyways.

  

  Business response

  02/03/2025

  Thank you for the opportunity to address our customer's concerns.
  
  Upon conducting business with GoDaddy, our customer acknowledged and accepted our agreements, found at ***************************************************
  
  On February 1, 2024, our customer registered a domain name with Full Domain Privacy and Protection (****) for a one-year term. This transaction included a ********* M365 Email Essentials (M365) for a one-year term.
  
  On February 1 and 2, 2025, per their account preferences, we automatically renewed the service(s) in good faith to honor agreements with them. Before each renewal, GoDaddy emailed notices informing them that expiring items would renew following account settings unless additional action was taken. Account management is a customer responsibility.
  
  RESOLUTION:
  
  GoDaddy upheld its agreements with our customer in good faith and honored its terms of service.
  
  GoDaddy offers customers a discount in their first year, when the customer may be likely to be just starting their ventures and may not be fully up and running yet. After that, GoDaddy asks customers to pay a fair market value for products and services. This is described during checkout when our customers purchase any item from us.
  
  We are happy to offer a refund within our refund policy; however, before we can do so, our customer will need to downgrade the **** and cancel their domain and M365 via the steps provided. They may email us at ********************************************************************* once the domain and M365 have been canceled to request their refund.
  
  Refund Policy: ***************************************************/refund-policy
  
  Downgrade FPP: ********************************************************************************
  
  Delete products: *************************************************************************************************
  
  Thank you again for the opportunity to address the concerns presented by our customer.
  
  Kindest Regards,
  
  Jenn
  Office of the CEO GoDaddy

• Initial Complaint

  01/30/2025

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  A website with marketing service was purchased on 1/1/2025 for $101.64 I discovered today on 1/30/2025 that the website exceeded its limit on pages without notifying me of any such limitation. I learned there was a problem from ******. When I called Go Daddy, they demanded an additional $155.00 to upgrade the site. I objected to the demand citing misleading sales and marketing practices that allow a user to use more than the service allows then restricting the discovery of the website on ****** without notifying the user preventing the website from being indexed by ******. This renders the website unusable and constitutes a restraint of trade and fraud.

  

  Business response

  02/04/2025

  Thank you for the opportunity to address our customer's concerns.
  
  Upon conducting business with GoDaddy, our customer acknowledged and accepted our agreements, which can be found at this link:***************************************************.
  
  On January 4, 2025, our customer initiated a seven-day free trial of GoDaddy's Websites + Marketing Basic (W+M) plan through the GoDaddy website. Immediately afterward, they upgraded their W+M plan to a paid plan and extended it for an additional year. An email receipt for this transaction was sent.
  
  From January 25 to 30, 2025, they contacted GoDaddy's Customer Team to address perceived shortcomings to the W+M plan they purchased. When they were offered the opportunity to upgrade their plan, they declined.
  
  RESOLUTION:
  
  GoDaddy upheld its agreements with our customer in good faith and honored its terms of service.
  
  Should our customer elect to cancel their W+M plan, we will, as a one-time exception to our Refund Policy, provide a pro-rated refund for the time remaining on their plan. We will honor this offer until February 19, 2025. If they take advantage of this offer, they can email their acceptance to ***********************************************************************. All future refunds will be processed in accordance with GoDaddy's Refund Policy, details for which can be found at this link: ************************************************************************;
  
  Thank you again for the opportunity to address the concerns presented by our customer.
  
  Kindest regards,
  
  **** M
  Office of the CEO - GoDaddy

  Customer response

  02/04/2025

  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.
  
  Regards,
  
  ******* ********
  
   
  

• Initial Complaint

  01/30/2025

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I use GoDaddy for domain-hosting for my business website. They charge in two-year increments for website domain hosting. My account was set on "auto-renew" so I get automatically charged every two years. I received an email from GoDaddy saying my auto renewal payment was unsuccessful and that I needed to log into my account and check the accuracy of my billing info. I did that, and realized my credit card had an outdated address. I updated my credit card info to provide my current address and fix the problem. When I did that, I was offered an option to "renew now". Since my website domain was expiring, I selected to "renew now". The payment went through successfully, and I was emailed a receipt. When I checked my email, I saw another email from earlier today (hours before I paid to "renew now"). The older email from GoDaddy said my auto-renewal had gone through successfully. I had not seen that email when I updated my billing info and selected "renew now". I checked my credit card and saw that I was billed twice in the amount of $44.34.$44.34 is the price to renew my domaine for two years but I was charged double, in the amount of $88.68. I called to try and get refunded and was told it was impossible to refund my money. I explained what happened and how I was only trying to renew my domain name for two years, until the next auto-renewal came into effect in 2027. I was told that I could not be refunded, but that my domain name would be current until 2029. I said that was not acceptable and that I wanted to be refunded for the overpayment (I was charged double for the service I was paying GoDaddy for). After trying unsuccessfully to be refunded over the phone, I tried using GoDaddy's text message help service. After 40 minutes of incredibly slow responses and saying my problem was being "checked on", I was told "there is a a known issue going on with us today...I will suggest you come tomorrow". I said that was unacceptable. I was not refunded, and charged double

  

  Business response

  02/02/2025

  Thank you for the opportunity to address our customer's concerns.
  
  Upon conducting business with GoDaddy, our customer acknowledged and accepted our agreements, found at ***************************************************.
  
  On January 29, 2011, our customer purchased a domain name registration for a 2-year term.  Per their account preferences, the domain has automatically renewed every 2 years. 
  
  Unfortunately, the automatic renewal scheduled for January 29, 2025, failed due to an invalid or outdated payment method. 
  
  Our customer was notified of the billing failure on January 30, 2025, and shortly thereafter, GoDaddy made an additional attempt to renew the domain, which was successful.  Our customer was notified of the successful renewal at 9:47 AM Arizona time via email. 
  
  Our records indicate that our customer processed a manual renewal for an additional two-year term at 1:48 PM Arizona time on January 30, 2025. 
  
  Later that same day, our customer contacted our Care team seeking a refund of the second renewal.  They were properly advised that domain renewals are not refundable unless they are cancelled. 
  
  RESOLUTION:
  
  GoDaddy upheld its agreements with our customer in good faith and honored its terms of service.
  
  It is not possible to remove time from a domain renewal.  While we empathize with our customers situation, neither of the renewal transactions are refundable and their domain is currently paid out for the next 4 years.  If our customer elects to cancel their domain, then both of the renewal transactions would be refundable, within 5 days of the transactions. 
  
  Thank you again for the opportunity to address the concerns presented by our customer.
  
  Kindest regards,
  
  **** ****
  Office of the CEO - GoDaddy

• Initial Complaint

  01/30/2025

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Entered by BBB staff LO Consumer states he received a statement for December 30, 2024 showing a charge that the organization he works for was not familiar with. The consumer tried disputing the charge with the bank but they told him they could not help him and he would need to contact the business. The business asked for information that the consumer did not have because the organization is not familiar with GoDaddy.

  

  Business response

  02/03/2025

  Thank you for the opportunity to address the complainants concerns.

  From the information provided, the complainant does not appear to be a GoDaddy customer.

  The charge in question took place on December 30, 2024.

  RESOLUTION:

  We empathize with the complainant and have reviewed the billing information they provided to determine that the charge in question was not made by GoDaddy, but instead was made by someone utilizing GoDaddy Payments. GoDaddy Payments is a payment processing tool that GoDaddy provides its customers with so they can accept payment on their website as well as in person.

  If the complainant does not recognize the charge in question, we encourage the complainant to work with their financial institution identify the charge.

  Thank you again for the opportunity to address the concerns presented by the complainant.

  Kindest regards,

  ***
  Office of the CEO - GoDaddy

• Initial Complaint

  01/30/2025

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Our organization is a 501c3 NYS Tax Exempt charity. We have submitted our NYS tax exempt documentation AND 501c3 papers to GoDaddy multiple times and spoken with 6 different operators. GoDaddy refuses to refund sales tax on the latest renewal and we are unable to communicate with any individuals in the sales tax department at GoDaddy. We repeatedly have this issue and goDaddy fraudulently collects sales tax from us and refuses to refund it. Some products they don't tax us on and others they do. All our products under our account number should be marked as tax exempt so we are never charged tax. Furthermore, I don't understand why we are unable to communicate with the GoDaddy sales tax department. We've submitted so many times via email to their requested email address and never even receive the courtesy of a reply. Our charity has many products with GoDaddy and spend far too much time arguing with them because they keep ripping us off and charging sales tax we shouldn't be paying -- and then they keep the money with no refund to us. We service children with cancer on an all-volunteer basis and every dollar is crucial to our mission, we don't need GoDaddy stealing it from our kids.

  

  Business response

  02/03/2025

  Thank you for the opportunity to address our customer's concerns.
  
  Upon conducting business with GoDaddy, our customer acknowledged and accepted our agreements, found at ***************************************************.
  
  Recently, our customer reached out to our *********** to submit the necessary documentation for establishing their Tax-Exempt status with GoDaddy. These requests are processed on a first-come, first-served basis. However, due to an unexpected increase in request volume, our processing times were delayed.
  
  RESOLUTION:
  
  GoDaddy upheld its agreements with our customer in good faith and honored its terms of service.
  
  We empathize with our customer and appreciate their candid feedback. 
  
  Furthermore, we have expedited their request and successfully applied Tax-Exempt status to their GoDaddy account. Additionally, our tax exemption team has reached out to our customer via email with an update on their account status and refunds. 
  
  Thank you again for the opportunity to address the concerns presented by our customer.
  
  Kindest regards,
  ******
  Office of the CEO - GoDaddy

  Customer response

  02/03/2025

  While we do acknowledge their backlog there is no excuse not to communicate via email with the customer.  We have not received an email they say was sent. 

  Furthermore, we HAVE NOT received a refund of the sales tax charged on the last item renewal that started emailing them about at the end of December 2024 
  The tax exempt information we submitted recently was a re-send of what has been sent multiple times over a number of years.  

  How are we to assume GoDaddy has suddenly corrected the error and marked our ENTIRE account as tax exempt? 

  As a charitable, all-volunteer organization we are seeking the refund of sales tax charged in December that should not have been charged.

  

  Business response

  02/04/2025

  Thank you for the opportunity to address our customers additional concerns. 
  
  We stand by our previous response.
  
  Our office has confirmed with our tax team that our customer's tax exemption has been successfully applied to their account. Additionally, a refund request has been submitted through our billing department.
  If our customer has any further concerns regarding their tax exemption, they are welcome to contact our ************* Team at ************ or visit us online at ****************************************;
  
  Thank you again for the opportunity to address the additional concerns presented by our customer.
  
  Kindest regards, 
  ******
  Office of the CEO GoDaddy

  Customer response

  02/06/2025

  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.  We will re-open this complaint should any one of our products renew and be charged sales tax. 

  Additionally, we have checked our credit card activity and there is no refund for the sales tax charged.  When was refund request processed by GoDaddy and how long should we wait to have it 
  appear on our credit card?  

  
  Regards,
  
  ******* ********
  
   

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  01/30/2025

  Complaint Type:

  Delivery Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Just received 5 phishing emails from a Go Daddy site ******************************* why would anyone use any of their web services! I call them criminal negligence!! Them have no real knowledge of what they sell!!!

  

  Business response

  01/31/2025

  Thank you for the opportunity to address the concerns presented by the complainant.

  Based on the information provided, the complainant does not appear to be a GoDaddy customer.

  While ********************** is the registrar of record for the domain name in question, we have no other affiliation with the domain registrant(s) or any associated businesses.

  GoDaddy takes abuse claims seriously and has a process in place to report them. If the complainant has encountered a site or a domain name they believe may be violating GoDaddys Terms of Service, a complaint can be submitted for review via our Report Abuse page found at: ********************************************************

  Thank you again for the opportunity to address the concerns presented by the complainant.

  Kindest regards,
  ******* *******
  Office of the CEO GoDaddy

• Initial Complaint

  01/30/2025

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  They double charged our church's *********************** of ******) credit card and refused to refund, even after hours with their staff over six months in order to attempt to rectify the issue. 7/13/24 Order #**********. - we ordered Website Hosting Deluxe $287.64 to replace our Website Economy for ***********************. 7/19/24 we were charged $359.64 for the Website Economy Hosting (order#********** also and we discovered it 8/2/24, less than 30 days after the double charge. I called then to get the money back. They told us we had to move the files over ourselves to the new server (which could mean hiring someone to do this), which we weren't informed of when we bought Website Hosting Deluxe. We had bought the Website Deluxe Hosting to get a SSL certificate. I told them to not delete our files until they were moved over. They claimed that someone from their team called me to move the files over. I am able to prove with telephone records, and I provided them with the proof that that never happened. We changed the card in the system due to changing banks so if we were to get a refund it needs to go onto the new bank card. I contacted them 10/31/24, 11/11/24, 12/9/24, 12/26/24 also. Their ticket numbers for refund requests were OOPR-***** and OOPR-*****.

  

  Business response

  02/05/2025

  Thank you for the opportunity to address our customer's concerns. 
  
  Upon conducting business with GoDaddy, our customer acknowledged and accepted our agreements, found at *********************************************************;
  
  On July 19, 2015, our customer purchased an Economy hosting plan for a three-year term in a Care support assisted transaction.   This hosting plan continued to auto-renew within our customers account per their preferences. 
  
  On July 13, 2024, our customer contacted our Care support team and addressed a Deluxe hosting plan for their website that would an SSL.  Our customer purchased the Deluxe hosting plan after the call with our Care support representative ended. 
  
  On July 19, 2024, per their account preferences, ********************** renewed their Economy hosting to honor our agreements with them. 
  
  Between August 2, and October 23, 2024, our customer worked with our Care support teams to help migrate their website from their Economy hosting plan to their Deluxe hosting plan.  Our Care support teams worked with our customer to the best of their ability to help our customer in this process.   
  
  RESOLUTION:  
  
  GoDaddy upheld its agreements with our customer in good faith and honored its terms of service. 
  
  We empathize with our customer.  A member of our team was able to speak with our customer regarding their experience and concerns.  While the Economy hosting is no longer refund-eligible, we have processed a full refund back to the original payment method.   
  
  Thank you again for the opportunity to address the concerns presented by our customer. 
  
  Kindest regards, 
  
  **** *. 
  Office of the CEO | GoDaddy  

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩