Domain Brokerage -- Is this normal service?

[John99]

I recently purchased domain brokerage service for a domain clearly abandoned, on Aug 30th. After 2 weeks of no one reaching out to me, I called and talked to someone who said the domain I was looking at was worth tens of thousands of dollars, and then was disappointed  when I said I was really only interested in buying it for a reasonable price, and I told them they could go ahead and see if the domain owner was willing to sell. I assumed, that because GoDaddy is the registrar for the domain, GoDaddy could contact their own customer.
After over a month of no reply to my contacts, I call the customer service today (Oct 29th, almost 2 months from the original purchase date), and they say "nope, couldn't get a hold of them, and you are not able to refund because you placed an official bid on the domain.

Quite frankly, the idea that I "placed a bid" on the domain without even contacting the person who could RECEIVE assumed bid, is ridiculous.
So I pay for a service, do not get any actual help. I have to call on my own, weeks AFTER the original purchase, and then when they see it’s not going to return a decent payout from their cut of the final purchase, I get tossed into a forgotten pit and don't get contacted .....again. When I ask about a refund due to the horrid service, I am once again essentially ignored because “oh well, you’re not going to make us a profit, so who cares”.

Is this standard for GoDaddy services? I typically utilize services such as Microsoft and Amazon for my corporate hosting, so I have not had dealings with GoDaddy in the past. Being large companies, their customer service can often be trying, but it is normally technical issues. I’ve never had issues with billing. Is this type of backhanded service standard for GoDaddy? Quite frankly, if this is how they treat someone who paid out a hefty sum for results, and return the favor with negligence and a blatant lack of respect for the value the customer provides, there is no way I will consider GoDaddy for any services in the future.
All I wanted was a refund for a service that was not properly rendered. Instead, I get a “better luck next time”.
I can guarantee, there will not be a next time for myself or business.

[Nate]

Unfortunately a domain owner is not required to give a reason for declining or even respond to an offer at all.  The initial fee covers researching the domain and attempting to initiate negotiation, if an agreement is made there's a commission on the purchase price to cover the transaction.  Expect to offer an amount that would justify to the current owner releasing their ownership, that is in addition to the broker fees.  I would recommend considering the likelihood the current owner being willing to sell the domain at a price you're willing to pay before enlisting a broker service.  If a domain owner does not want to participate in negotiations there's nothing more the broker could do.  But if you feel you have a fair offer with a good chance using a broker shows it's a legitimate offer and it will be covered with transaction protection, I know personally I ignore all offers that are not with a broker.

[John99]

It was not so much that it didn't go through.... it was that the service didn't even contact me after i started the process online, and sent repeated emails asking how the process would take place. The process should have at least kept me up to date on what was going on, and not require me to place a phone call 2 months after initiating the process.