Do not switch hosting accounts!

jstoker_com said 1 year ago:

*** Overview ***
Changed Hosting Plans and it cost me much more than I though it would.

*** Background ***
I am a student at the U of U, web designer and an entrepreneur. I have used GoDaddy for hosting homework solutions and testing product ideas. I have used GoDaddy for the last 3 years and I am at a all time low.

*** My Experience ***
I recently upgraded from a wordpress ultimate hosting package to a windows ultimate package in hopes of testing my hand at ASP.Net development. I thought the transition would be low impact, I couldnt have been more wrong. I cant activate any WordPress(WP) using GodDddy’s interface on the new hosting plan until the old one is completely gone. I cant switch the plan without incurring outage. The most frustrating part is that I have to download ALL CONTENT and DATABASES only to upload ALL of it again. I have to rebuild all of the databases from backups and re-link all of the sites to the databases.

Even more enraging is the TECH that tells me that there is no other way for it to be done. My wife, a non-tech visual designer even asked, if you can download it and then re-upload it, why cant GoDaddy?

I expected this hassle if I tried to switch to some one else, I did not expect this hassle if I stayed with GoDaddy. I feel like one of my new WP sites should be dedicated to voicing the short comings of the service. After all, I just committed to three more years of this.

*** Proposed Solution ***
Help the customers that choose to stay with your services. Especially those who simply want to upgrade their commitment.

Gary A said 1 year ago:

@jstoker_com

It is generally not recommend to host WordPress sites on a Windows hosting plan. If you have switched to a Windows hosting plan, you should be able to switch back to Linux plan without any downtime and without manually transferring the content. Changing the operating system of a hosting plan does not require you to manually move any files or databases. Information on changing the Operating System of the hosting plan can be reviewed here:

http://support.godaddy.com/help/article/1285

It doesn’t seem like all of the information relating to what you described has been provided, so I can’t be exactly sure of what is causing the trouble you have described. Based on what you described, it seems like you had a WordPress (which is hosted on Linux) hosting account and then modified the hosting plan to be a Windows hosting plan. If you only upgraded/modified your existing hosting plan, there should be no to manually move any files.

You may want to continue working with our support teams so that they can review your account with you in detail and better assist you. Our support teams can be reached 24/7 through the following page:

https://support.godaddy.com/supprot/

We do have limitations on Windows hosting plans that prevent PHP based applications from being installed on secondary/alias domain names.

-Gary

jstoker_com said 1 year ago:

I purchased a new plan, not modified an existing plan, as the difference between continuing a existing plan and starting a new plan was $292.78 (Double the price) for three years of service. I understand that WP on Windows may not be encouraged but it was the only way for me to support ASP.Net at the same time.

For clarity, when you mentioned there are limitations on Windows Hosting with secondary/alias domain names does that mean that I cannot use Windows in the same fashion for aliased domains that I used the Linux?

Ultimately what I am hoping for is simply many hosted domains to work with that can be PHP or ASP.net.

Gary A said 1 year ago:

@jstoker_com

If you did purchase a new plan as opposed to upgrading/renewing your existing account, then you would need to move the files to the new hosting plan. Our support teams would not be able to transfer content between hosting accounts.

On Windows hosting plans, we do not offer the automated installations of PHP applications to aliased domains through the Hosting Connections. You may still manually install the applications if you wish. There are no other limitations on aliased domains.

-Gary

Nate D said 1 year ago:

@jstoker_com – That is some good advice to others! If you want to upgrade your hosting plan it is much easier to simply click the upgrade button (no downtime) than… buying a new hosting plan, moving the contents, moving the databases, updating the domains, etc (and incur downtime).

So hopefully someone else will not make the same mistake as you have. But look at the bright side “a penny saved is a penny earned”, Go Daddy paid you $292.78 for the troubles.

jstoker_com said 1 year ago:

@Gary_A

Thanks for the clarification. Its good to know that the system does not support the automated installs of WP for aliased domains with Windows. I will be getting plenty of practice moving the old content.

@Nate_D
Correct, clicking the the upgrade would have been simpler in hindsight, but I couldn’t disagree more with you on the “Penny Saved”. For the trouble and effort I could have switched to another service provider. Nothing about purchasing at a lower price point means that I am being paid for my efforts. I would describe the troubles as a hidden fee. I thought I was saving when I purchased a new plan, but there was a cost that was not in the price displayed.

b_barney said 1 year ago:

On May 1st we started a transfer from a Go Daddy reseller account to an account directly with Go Daddy. The lady I spoke to assured me it would be a seamless transfer and that the DNS entries would be fine because they would never leave the Go Daddy servers. She also assured me that by doing the transfer through her and not by myself, that if anything went wrong, that Go Daddy would be responsible.

Long story short, all 87 domains lost their DNS entries, corporate email for 200+ employees was down for 2 days, ordering sites were down for 2 days, and all the customer service reps could say was that the person that did the transfer did it “wrong” and that it was “really strange”… Neither of those help me.

After spending literally hours on the phone with the Go Daddy customer support team, the bottom line is that the DNS entries are gone and they don’t back that up on their servers. They are also refusing to refund the transfer fees because they feel that the transfer was completed “successfully”… Seriously?

Nate D said 1 year ago:

@jstoker_com – Well then I guess it is one of those “live and learn” type of circumstances for you. You found a loophole to try and cheat the system, but then found out it is more work than it is worth.

jstoker_com said 1 year ago:

@Nate_D What definition of cheat are you using? I did not defraud, deceive or manipulate anything. Neither did the poster above from what I can tell. The “lesson learned” was the poor support, which has only been further reaffirmed here. No solution, empathy or consideration has been shown. Is it your belief that me and other customers should be taught a lesson when we purchase from GoDaddy?

Gary A said 1 year ago:

@b_barney

I’m sorry to hear about the trouble you had with your domain transfers. I have requested that a support member from the appropriate team reach out to you regarding your account.

-Gary