So, I have to say I’m not super happy with GoDaddy Technical Support. I’ve been with a GoDaddy reseller for ages now. The only reason I probably haven’t switched is the price point (however, I’m probably paying more now then most other hosts as I have two packages) and the frustration of having sites offline while I’m moving web hosts.
In terms of moving my WordPress sites, I likely could move them all with a simple backup and restore. I use Updraft which is a free WordPress plugin; backups and restore are a breeze. Moving sites though means they’re down for a bit while I have to move them. I’ve also found before that when I setup my SSL certificates with CloudFlare (it’s free, although it’s not the same level of SSL encryption you get from a certificate) it can take a day before you’re able to see the site secured with an SSL padlock. So, a little bit of downtime, some lost earnings; a good bit of work to move everything over. Then of course there’s always some issue that requires more troubleshooting then you anticipated.
The Trouble with Moving Web Hosts
The idea of having to move web hosts is I’d only like to have to do it once. Also, if I move away from Go Daddy I have to renew my domains with another host either when I move or at renewal time. If I really want to leave GoDaddy completely, it could be a bit of a hassle to move everything over. I need to do it eventually, though, once I find something better.
Being with a Go Daddy reseller means it’s not “actually GoDaddy.” I found this out the hard way when attempting to buy a domain on flippa. The guy I dealt with was either an idiot or a scammer, and eventually it wasn’t worth my time for a $200 transaction so I told him I was done messing around and to refund my money. But the guy tried to do the Go Daddy thing where it just sends you an email you can accept for the domain transfer. I was excited to take possession of the domain I had purchased, but I found that I wasn’t able to use the Go Daddy link.
Some frustrated calls to Go Daddy tech support later advised me I couldn’t do it this way and the owner had to provide me with unlock codes and unlock the domain. I tried to explain that to the seller and he couldn’t figure it out, although he had sold a bunch of other domains. The problem was though he didn’t try; likely easily could had resolved it if he called tech support.
None of the above though is why I am unhappy with Go Daddy tech support. The reason I am unhappy with them is because they sell you a solution to fix every problem. Most of the time, what they sell you is something you don’t need I have found. Their solution to everything is to upgrade the package; they won’t even do a simple reboot of your server – they can’t because most setups are shared servers, so “rebooting” your server means a bunch of other websites would also get interrupted.
GoDaddy Support likes to Upgrade your Package…Don’t Expect Much Else
Recently I found that after they upgraded my package, they had simply rebooted whatever my package was running on. I could tell because all of the resource counts went down to zero. On another call, they sold me a scanning tool (this was after I received a message that I had had files injected / uploaded into my site). I had removed all of the files mentioned in the upload report, their scan tool found nothing and didn’t really work well. I cancelled it after a month or two.
GoDaddy support is usually vague about a problem and don’t offer much insight. If you’re intermediate or advanced, don’t expect their reps to provide much answers for a problem other then “you need to upgrade your package.” They don’t look at log files, or can help much to troubleshoot DNS issues etc. Sometimes they may offer tools or resources, but I would anticipate they are commissioned as they like to sell things to you whenever possible. This is after paying the per minute rate to call the United States, as there is no 1.800 number. You have to call Arizona.
Offline Times / Downtime with Go Daddy
With uptime monitoring setup on my sites, I constantly get alerts about my sites being offline. Go Daddy servers generally reboot every day or every night. Generally this is 15 minutes. No problem. But what bothers me is the downtimes at night for sometimes 1-2 hours at a time. Generally I see this 3 or so times a week. Calling in will … you guessed it, result in someone trying to upgrade your package. This is after waiting in a que and paying to wait in that que, because again you have to call a number in Arizona – no 1-800 number to call.