[geeks] call for help (fwd)

[Jonathan C. Patschke]

I'm sure many of you remember Dave McGuire, formerly of this list.  I
thought this might be of interest, especially given how popular GoDaddy
is in the techie circles.

Unfortunately, this won't get resolved as quickly as the Panix thing did
a few months back, as Dave's mom's company isn't nearly as large as
them.

-- 
Jonathan Patschke   )   "Let me hear you make decisions
Elgin, TX          (     without your television."
USA                 )        --Depeche Mode, "Stripped"

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 22:26:22 -0500
From: Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com>
Subject: call for help


   Hey folks.  This is an unusual one, but I need your help.

   The short version: The domain name of my mom's largest customer, registered 
with GoDaddy a few years ago, was just stolen...by GoDaddy themselves.  The 
customer is fuming, and has begun the process of migrating to another service 
provider.  This has the effect of cutting my mother's income approximately in 
half, less than a week after signing a lease on a new house.

   The domain disappeared from the root nameservers a few days ago, and we 
called GoDaddy's support people who started an investigation.  A few days went 
by with no resolution, until tonight when she basically got fed up and called 
them again to see what was up.

   Tonight, they said the domain was "unavailable", because they "received a 
complaint from a third party indicating that the contact listed in the whois 
database was unresponsive".  Said contact was my mother, who's had the same 
phone number for seven years, and the same email address for twelve 
years...unresponsive, my ass.  Further, this domain had just been renewed this 
past December, paid in full for two years.  And even further, they just charged 
my mother's debit card another ten bucks due to the "query" regarding the whois 
database!

   They acknowledged that this is a popular scam.  According to statements by 
one the support people she spoke with, this is a frequent occurrence, and 
involves...you guessed it, cash.  It works like this.  Someone figures out that 
they want a domain that is registered with GoDaddy.  They hop onto GoDaddy's 
website, and "pre-buy" the domain...paying money to be the first in line to get 
it if it becomes available.  Then, they make a complaint that they were unable 
to contact the current owner of the domain (whether that is true or not), then 
GoDaddy yanks the domain...which then magically becomes "available" to the 
person who paid to be the first in line.  And oh by the way, the previous 
owners' money is not refunded.

   To make matters worse, they flatly refused to allow her to speak with a 
supervisor, saying that she had no recourse, and if she had a problem with 
that, she could go file a complaint with ICANN.  They refused to provide 
contact information for anyone of authority within the company.

   I know GoDaddy is popular in this crowd...to be honest, until tonight, they 
were popular with me too...so this probably comes as a tough pill to swallow. 
But this has plainly exposed them as a bunch of suited thieves who have just 
stuck a knife in my mother's back.

   I humbly and sincerely request that you, my most trusted friends, immediately 
dump that company like a hot rock and move your domains elsewhere.  I realize 
this is a pain, and may involve a few bucks (which I'd offer to pay if I didn't 
foresee sending all of my spare money to my mother now), but this company needs 
a whack on the back of the head.  I'm counting on there being enough 
GoDaddy-registered domains in the hands of people here to make them notice a 
little exodus.

   Again, I know this is a big pain in the ass, and I wouldn't ask if these 
suits hadn't just lobbed a hand grenade into my mother's business, and her 
livelihood.  Please consider helping me with this by dumping GoDaddy, and get 
as many people as you know to do the same.

             Thanks,
             -Dave

--
Dave McGuire              "I've watched Harley people throw up
Cape Coral, FL                      on the ceiling."    -Krissi