Round 7
After numerous attempts to have GoDaddy clarify my situation, I had finally received a response. The response had been: "I do not understand what information you are looking for." I therefore replied yet again and mapped out my questions yet again:
Subject: RE: CASH PARKING SUSPENSION NOTICE
From: "Rev. David B. Smith
Date: Fri, December 28, 2007 11:31 pm
To: cashparking@godaddy.com
I am sorry you were not able to understand my requests.
I thought they were quite clear.
I made three requests in the email in question. I quote:
========= from email dates 1st December 2007 ==========
I am ... seeking clarification of the situation.
As I understand it now from your most recent email:
- 1. I am not being accused of any misdemeanor
- 2. All monies due to me have nonetheless been withheld
- 3. My account has been permanently suspended
- 4. I am not permitted to argue the case.
Again, if this is correct, a simple 'yes' will suffice,
to show that I have understood the situation correctly.
I would again request that you do me the courtesy of
including your name when you reply to me.
Further, I would again ask if you could give me the name
and contact details of somebody more senior in managment
with whom I might discuss the terms and conditions of
the company.
=======================================================
I'm not sure where you failed to understand my requests,
but I thought it was clear that I was asking for:
- 1. Confirmation that my analysis is correct
- 2. Your name
- 3. The details of someone more senior in management
I await your reply.
Thank you.
Rev. David B. Smith
www.fatherdave.org
Three days later I received two serperate responses! The first, I assume, was from the same nameless lackey that had answered most of my previous emails:
From: cashparking@godaddy.com
Sent: Tuesday, 1 January 2008 1:19 AM
To: Rev. David B. Smith
Subject: RE: CASH PARKING SUSPENSION NOTICE
Dear Rev. David B. Smith,
Your Cash Parking account was found to have violated our Terms of Service. We are unable to say if you did or did not do so intentionally with the intent to defraud us, only that the violation was significant enough for our ad service provider to suspend payment for your domains. Yes, your account has been suspended and the revenue earned by that service is being withheld. As previously stated, the provider of our ad service brought this to our attention and decided they will not be making payment for your domains. As Google will not be providing funds for this service, we will not have payment to share with you. Your account has not been cancelled as you suggest in point #2 - only suspended. Therefore, we previously advised you that to prevent the Cash Parking service from renewing automatically, you will need to cancel the service. You may contact support@godaddy.com if you need assistance cancelling the Cash Parking service.
Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do to change this decision. Again, this decision was made by Google, our ad service provider. They will not pay us for your domains, so we cannot continue your service. We certainly cannot share revenue that we are not receiving for your domains. If you wish to discuss this directly with Google, you are welcome to email them at adsense-support@google.com.
Regards,
GoDaddy.com Cash Parking Team
cashparking@godaddy.com
The second response I received that day was far more deliberately framed and was actually signed by somebody with a name!
From: cashparking@godaddy.com
Sent: Tuesday, 1 January 2008 1:35 AM
To: Rev. David B. Smith
Subject: RE: CASH PARKING SUSPENSION NOTICE
Dear Rev. David B. Smith;
It is not a matter of "misunderstanding your "requests." Via the statistics that we received from our Google reporting system it determines whether or not the traffic that has been directed to your cash parking page and the click through rates associated with this account is natural or unnatural traffic. When it has been determined that the traffic is unnatural, Google will not share the revenue generated with us, therefor we have no revenue to share with you.
As far as any monies owed to you, please contact billing@godaddy.com and they will supply you with any revenue owed to you.
Terms Of Service: "Google, the provider of our ad service, will not be making payment for your domains. As Google will not be providing funds for this service, we will not have payment to share with you. Your Cash Parking service has been permanently suspended. This decision is final and not up for debate.
To prevent the Cash Parking service from renewing automatically, you will need to cancel the service. You may contact support@godaddy.com if you need assistance cancelling the Cash Parking service. This suspension only removes you from our Cash Parking service - you are still free to host, manage and sell your domains."
Thank you very much for you time and attention.
Sincerely,
(name withheld as a courtesy)
GoDaddy.com Cash Parking Team
cashparking@godaddy.com
Well, it seemed that I had finally made some progress!
For one thing, I was now dealing with someone who had a name.
Secondly, this person suddenly seemed to be willing to pay me the money GoDaddy owed me (though, in truth, I wasn't concerned with the money but with the principal, so I didn't pursue that further).
Most importantly though, it seemed that blame for the situation had now been squarely fixed on someone - ie. on Google.
Google had (allegedly) been the ones to accuse me. Google were (allegedly) responsible for the fact that I hadn't been paid. GoDaddy (so it seems) was powerless to protect me from the 'Big G's' corporate might.
The only conclusion one can draw from this is that the relationship between Google and GoDaddy is what would traditionally be termed a master/slave relationship. Google decides what is true. GoDaddy does what it's told, and carries the dirty work, or so it seems.
Personally, I don't buy into this for a second, and I think it's a rather shameless case of corporate buck-passing. If GoDaddy wants to punish me for something I didn't do, they could at least have the guts to take responsibility for their actions, and while they're at it, they could do me the courtesy of not re-billing my Cash Parking account which they keep telling me I have to shut down while making it technically impossible for me to do so!