GoDaddy SSL Cert Scam • Hacker News Board

Re: GoDaddy SSL Cert Scam

#41

Post by samdk » Mon, Jul 11, 2011, 3:55 PM UTC

citricsquid wrote: post #27

pavel_lishin wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I see no problem here. Really, you don't see a problem with their "better ask forgiveness than permission" tactic?

> Really, you don't see a problem with their "better ask forgiveness than permission" tactic? uh, isn't that what PG and all the other people here constantly say is what you should do in business?

Not with my money. You taking my money without specifically asking means that I will never, ever do business with you again. (And that I'll specifically warn other people against dealing with you.)

"It's better to ask forgiveness than permission" is not a universal truth to be applied to every aspect of startups/tech work. It is often a good idea when there's a lot of bureaucratic red tape and/or you need to get approval from other people about things. This is a very different situation: you're charging your customers ~4x more than they originally paid for something automatically. Are there other companies that do this sort of thing? Sure. Maybe it makes sense financially, but it's not a good way to treat your customers.

Re: GoDaddy SSL Cert Scam

#42

Post by powertower » Mon, Jul 11, 2011, 3:56 PM UTC

Domains are GoDaddy's loss-leader.

All profits come from cross-selling, up-selling, and shady tactics.

A registrar that has sold 1 million domains at $10/year price, and does nothing else, is one that will make at most about $25,000/year in profit max after various costs (reg fees, support, etc), but more likely will be in the hole.

I stopped blaming GoDaddy a long time ago. This is just the nature of the game.

Re: GoDaddy SSL Cert Scam

#43

Post by rlpb » Mon, Jul 11, 2011, 4:07 PM UTC

citricsquid wrote: post #27

pavel_lishin wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I see no problem here. Really, you don't see a problem with their "better ask forgiveness than permission" tactic?

> Really, you don't see a problem with their "better ask forgiveness than permission" tactic? uh, isn't that what PG and all the other people here constantly say is what you should do in business?

Another thing I think he says (can't find a reference right now) is not to piss off existing customers.

Re: GoDaddy SSL Cert Scam

#44

Post by fbuilesv » Mon, Jul 11, 2011, 4:09 PM UTC

CoffeeDregs wrote: post #32

Okay, I use godaddy for domains and DNS. Never had a problem with them. But these 'godaddy sucks' posts and the godaddy buyout are starting to worry me. Who would you recommend as a replacement for registration and DNS?

I can't recommend DNSimple enough (http://dnsimple.com). Pretty straight forward pricing, nice one-click integration with stuff like Google Apps and they'll even give you a discount if you transfer domains off GoDaddy.

Re: GoDaddy SSL Cert Scam

#45

Post by beedogs » Mon, Jul 11, 2011, 4:10 PM UTC

gst wrote: post #38

I never understood why GoDaddy has such a monopoly-like status - even in the startup scene. I've only used their services once (because someone transfered a domain to me and prefered to do this as GoDaddy-internal transfer), but the first thing I did was transfering the domain to another registrar (the one that I typically also use for my other domains). Reasons why I wouldn't use GoDaddy: GoDaddy is not really one o…

The guy that owns them has said/done some things that annoy me, too. That plus cheaper, less-hassle registrars were enough for me to avoid it.

Re: GoDaddy SSL Cert Scam

#46

Post by aneth » Mon, Jul 11, 2011, 4:10 PM UTC

Godaddy is he only place I've found "Extended Validation" certs at a reasonable price - $99 instead of $499+. I hate their website and crosselling, but I do appreciate as the author points out that they have people you can call - how many registrars have that?

Are there any alternatives for EV certs that are not a ripoff?

Re: GoDaddy SSL Cert Scam

#47

Post by Shenglong » Mon, Jul 11, 2011, 4:15 PM UTC

gst wrote: post #38

I never understood why GoDaddy has such a monopoly-like status - even in the startup scene. I've only used their services once (because someone transfered a domain to me and prefered to do this as GoDaddy-internal transfer), but the first thing I did was transfering the domain to another registrar (the one that I typically also use for my other domains). Reasons why I wouldn't use GoDaddy: GoDaddy is not really one o…

What's cheaper than GoDaddy? All my .com and .net domains end up costing me $7.49. I'd love to know...

Re: GoDaddy SSL Cert Scam

#48

Post by jonathanjaeger » Mon, Jul 11, 2011, 4:16 PM UTC

Same thing would have happened to me but my credit card on file expired. Talked to customer service and was never charged. Despite some of the obvious disadvantages of using GoDaddy, I've always gotten great customer service from them.

Re: GoDaddy SSL Cert Scam

#49

Post by cedsav » Mon, Jul 11, 2011, 4:18 PM UTC

ilikepi wrote: post #15

Timely... At work we use RapidSSL (a division of GeoTrust) for a handful of certs. Last night I received an email with a banner warning me, "Your certificate is ABOUT TO EXPIRE". The email goes on to list the expiration date as "Oct 12, 2011". Four months is certainly generous notice, but I've always taken this as a simple marketing attempt to maintain customer loyalty. Usually I take these emails as tickler reminder…

For what it's worth, I think it's fairly common practice these days. Not long ago I booked a car rental (I think on Avis.com). The first time I got a quote, I didn't book it right away as I was shopping for better prices elsewhere. When I came back the quoted price went up, and it basically went up every time I tried to get a new quote. I had to use Tor to get it to give me the original cheap price.

Re: GoDaddy SSL Cert Scam

#50

Post by unreal37 » Mon, Jul 11, 2011, 4:18 PM UTC

This isn't really a scam. I have dozens of domains with GoDaddy, as well as some of their other services. "How can I get the cheapest price" is a game we all play with them. Revision3 has a handy page with GD discount codes, and I've been referring to that page for years. I am helping keep Digg in business from the affiliate fees.

Can we agree the "auto-renew" was not scammy? They didn't rip you off a year. Just reminding you 60 days early as they should.

Can we agree its not shady or unethical to charge different prices for 1st year versus a higher price for subsequent year renewals? Or different prices for different people, in some type of A/B test? Everyone does that. Even amazon.com shows different prices to different people.

Can we agree their customer support was really helpful to you?

So what's the problem exactly?