A couple of weeks ago, I had a domain that was set to auto-renew.  Due to a bank issue, a lack of process understanding on my end, and a bit of confusion on the @GoDaddy interface (which I do think needs a little improvement)… my domain expired.

I logged in a few times to make sure the domain would renew and noticed that I had it set to auto-renew and had updated payment information tied to my account.  I did not, however, tie my payment information with that specific domain.  That was on me and was the lack of process understanding I mentioned.

I called @GoDaddy support and after 10 minutes or so had a good discussion with a helpful support rep.  I was satisfied with his service, but a bit displeased with the end result.  The approximately $11 domain name that I wanted to renew ended up costing me $90 with a redemption fee.  I knew it was my fault and admitted as much, but still felt a little wronged.

As everyone is accustomed to doing, I tweeted my experience.  Granted, I couldn’t describe the whole situation in 140 characters AND I am used to fielding positive and negative feedback from social media at work, but I was still a bit surprised by the response.

Several minutes later I had a voicemail from The Office of the President at GoDaddy.  Not a tweet, not a DM, not an email, but a phone call.  I was immediately happy.

Yes I am a dork with that.  Todd Barr (@tbarr) and I love reaching out via the phone to respond to Twitter complaints or questions we receive at @Bandwidth… and it has a personal touch that is frequently lost.

I had a great conversation with Brian at GoDaddy.  I asked him some questions about how they reach out and deal with social media and his department isn’t responsible for the social media interaction… it was escalated to them.  I love that.  We do that and in my opinion… it matters to customers.

Brian explained in great detail (although not boring and overly extensive), what happened and that they would like to refund me $40.

I was happy.  I messed up, and admitted it.  @GoDaddy went above and beyond just to show that they were listening.  To me, that is what it is all about.

Honestly, it was the best $50 I’ve spent on web hosting and I even bought two additional domains at @GoDaddy last night after the call.

Kudos for listening.  It does matter…