Consumer Review: on Godaddy's Customer Support
Posted by Alerts For Consumers at Sat, 29 Mar 2008 21:27:00 GMT and is filed under Technology Alerts,Consumer Information 
Categories: Godaddy, hosting, hosting company, consumer review, consumer support at Godaddy.com
What do you get when you mix an edgy advertising campaign with a high demand product and exceptional customer service? The answer is GoDaddy.
As a small business owner, you learn to accept the good with the bad in customer service. While some companies (i.e.) dominate the market and lack consumer appreciation (e.g., AT T), others understand the value of exceptional customer service. It's one of the reasons, I maintain service with Godaddy.
Over the past decade, I have experienced the good and bad with hosting companies. One company was so illicit that they randomly ran credit card numbers. A different "hosting agency," actually stated that they provide customer care to people who had a minimum in hosting fees. Not to mention, the outgoing office message sounded like they were working out of a prison-sized college dorm.
So, that's how I ended up with Godaddy. Generally, I try to avoid using companies that I think over-hype their products. But, GoDaddy offers far more than ultra convenient hosting and spectacular add-on products. This company's consumer relations rocks. From their tech support department to their customer service representatives, all agents are American (a major plus in my consumer book).
Unlike the sick feeling I experience when calling one major phone company, Godaddy always offers a solution. So to make a long story short, here's a "reader's digest" version of what transpired:
___________________________________________________________________________
19 March 2008
Dear GoDaddy,
On March 19, 2008 at 1 PM CST, I called your headquarters to report an extreme security breach using the QuickBlog interface. After providing an account of the situation, Sean Smith placed my call on hold and then I received a busy. In other words, the call was disconnected without a callback.
I am contacting you to identify the following security issues with GoDaddy's Quick Blog:
1) Eleven-new categories to my site's directory without my authorization....
2) On March 18th at 2:30 PM CST, after uploading, publishing and pinging the RSS feed, I attempted to edit content, and the article disappeared. I received an email notification of the date and time of the publication; however the article was somehow pirated because when I tried to re-enter the same article, QuickBlog returned a response, "cannot use the same article." (As a result, I had to rename and rewrite the article).
I am gravely concerned about this security issue. As I use your service to run an online publication, my business cannot afford these security issues. My account is due to expire next month and I would like the opportunity to move TheConsumerJournal.com and my other domains to a safer hosting environment if Godaddy is unable offer better security.
Please let me know if your organization, can tell me what happened and how GoDaddy plans to prevent this problem for causing further online security duress.
Sincerely,
Holly Bentz
www.TheConsumerJournal.com
Finally, please know that a copy of this correspondence will be printed at AlertsForConsumers.com. As my site was designed to notify consumers of online security issues and other unsuspecting victims maybe experiencing the same situation.
___________________________________________________________________________
In less than 24-hours of sending the above communication I was contacted by the president's office of GoDaddy. His call was not the "I'm patronizing you so you will go away." The call was about solving consumer issues. He responded to every issue that I mentioned in my complaint letter.
Godaddy"s Response :
As we discussed, we have reviewed your concerns about the possible vulnerability of our Quick Blogcast application with our developers. As the changes to category listings can only be made through the administrative control panel of the application, any changes not made by you would have to be done by someone with access to your account login information. Unfortunately, as the categories have been removed, the cause of the issue is hard to determine, and should it occur in the future we will need you to contact us with the categories intact for direct diagnosis.
Our company takes account and system security very
seriously, and improvements are constantly being added. However,
account security is also heavily the responsibility of the account
holder, as the account login credentials are managed by the account owner. It is important to ensure that passwords are kept secure and updated frequently, and that spyware and virus-scanning software is up to date and used on a regular basis.
In the future, if you are concerned about account or program security, you can contact our staff for assistance. We would
be more than happy to further discuss any questions or concerns you may have.
___________________________________________________________________________
Now, the truth of the matter is that had my questions gone unanswered, I was planning to move my account to another hosting company. But, it goes to show you how consumer driven companies like GoDaddy respond to issues, they do not just process credit cards and force inept service like the other companies, we know.
Here's to an Internet company that understands how to integrate good old customer service with new technology. And for those looking for a hosting company with KNOWLEDGEABLE and RESPONSIVE AMERICAN customer support agents, Godaddy is the "go-to" hosting company.
Holly Bentz (c) 2008 fruitionmedia.net
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