Go Daddy Refunds EAP Pre-Registration Fees to Affected Customers

I posted an article yesterday about Go Daddy not refunding the Early Access Program (EAP) fee of Donuts EAP pre-registrations. A few hours later I received an email from the “Office of the CEO – GoDaddy”. Now I have $2,850 in my credit card refunded from Go Daddy.

(I had also contacted support before I read the email so I am not sure if Go Daddy reacted with the refunds before I contacted them or not.)

I don’t know what happened here as the Go Daddy is constantly revising it’s help section at http://support.godaddy.com/help/article/8959/donuts-gtld-prereg-refunds-and-auctions. I am almost 100% sure that when I read this help section 2-3 weeks ago it stated that only the registration fee was supposed to be refunded in case Go Daddy missed the EAP pre-registration order. Maybe it was a mistake from the beginning and they mixed it up with some other category. I guess we will never know but the fact now is that EAP fees are supposed to be refunded but there was/is a problem with the refunds.

The fact that all charges appeared in my orders as “Day 5 Early Registration Fee (non-refundable) $150” didn’t make this easier to see through. I also didn’t get refunded 19 EAP pre-registration fees for failed EAP orders. I only got refunded the registration fee.

This is part of the email I got from the “Office of the CEO – GoDaddy”:

Dear Konstantinos,

Today I became aware of your post on OnlineDomain.com regarding EAP fees and proper refunds.

Seeing this, I began discussing your feedback with a few folks internally and we discovered that an error did indeed occur with a few of your purchases. That said, we’re looking into why this happened and the process we have in place to ensure that we’re not only taking care of you, but of any other customers who may have been affected. Regardless of what we find we’ll ensure the right thing gets done for everyone. You will receive the proper refunds in the next few days.

We always try to get everything right the first time and if we miss the mark, we make it right.

A couple of hours after the email from the “Office of the CEO – GoDaddy” I got my 19 $150 EAP refunds for a grand total of $2,850. This is why I mainly write this blog. To help myself and others with domain name related problems.

I am sure that this problem has affected a lot more Go Daddy customers (as the email from Go Daddy hints) that made EAP pre-registration orders that failed or they lost the auction. I advise you all double check your orders and refunds and make sure you got refunded BOTH the registration fee AND the EAP fee.

This affects all EAP fees and not just the Day 5 one. Day 5 is the most common one as it is the cheapest.

I seems that this has something to do with orders for multiple EAP pre-registrations. Orders with single EAP pre-registrations might not have been affected so that is most people didn’t see this happening.

By the way the EAP fee is still called “Day 5 Early Registration Fee (non-refundable)” in my orders in Go Daddy.

Sold.Domains

About Konstantinos Zournas

I studied Computer Engineering and Computer Science in London, UK and I am now living in Athens, Greece. I went online in 1995, started coding in 1996 and began buying domain names and creating websites in 2000. I started the OnlineDomain.com blog in 2012.

13 comments

  1. Thank goodness! Godaddy learned it is never too late to do the right thing….Well, at least in this case….. ………BTW I believe the “Office of the CEO” is not actually the CEO but a separate department with little influence from the CEO. I have received marketing and sales material from this department and it was all templates, nothing personalized by the CEO.

  2. Most likely let you know to come to them first, before posting online, love corporate PR.

  3. “I also didn’t get refunded 19 EAP pre-registration fees for failed EAP orders. I only got refunded the registration fee.”

    I really don’t understand you: how can you use a registrar that doesn’t make refunds in full in case your registrations are not succesful?!? I can understand if the rembursment is made in your account at the registrar and not, let say, on your paypal or credit card account, but willing to use a registrar that keeps the fees if your registration is not successful seems a little beat incredible to me. Maybe as you said this issue was a bug that happened only to those like you that made multiple registrations, anyway the statement ““Day 5 Early Registration Fee (non-refundable)” need for sure alarm everyone about the real intentions they have/had…

    “They want to talk to me…” Turn off the phone.

    • I ordered the domains and then saw the (non-refundable) part. All orders were in a 2 day period.
      I then didn’t do any more EAP pre-registrations with Go Daddy.

      I don’t expect a call… 🙂 If they wanted to talk they got my number.

  4. Sorry, I have understood just now the possible reason..I am a little retarded sometimes… Maybe they wrote “Day 5 Early Registration Fee (non-refundable)” only for those attempting of registering more domains at a time because they don’t want domainers on their new gtlds….

  5. I think godaddy plays the game in a bad manner. Everything you “mine” something on Godaddy it goes up for auction. Even for backorders, you know, it’s the same. Domaining was not made with that rule, such a rule is against the domaining “game”.

    Yes, registrars want domainers. The registries are confused…: they want and don’t want domainers at the same time. The only thing they are sure is they want absolutely for them the best domains.

  6. . Everything you “mine” something
    Everytime, sorry

  7. happyend
    credits to you
    and credits to godaddy

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