Bye Bye Registerfly

[domainsusi]

For those of you who don't know - here is part of an email I received from eNom:


**************
This is a formal notice to owners of domains which have been registered through eNom via its reseller, RegisterFly.com.

YOU MUST TAKE ACTION NOW TO RETAIN FULL MANAGEMENT RIGHTS TO YOUR DOMAIN NAME.

Although you purchased your name at RegisterFly, eNom is the actual registrar of record for your domains. As we are severing our relationship with RegisterFly, we are aware that this may have an impact on you as the domain owner.

****************

 

[Smith]

A plus for people still left with names @ registerfly is that maybe now the wait on customer service responses will drop, seeing how they just lost a bunch of customers competing for service and all lol

 

[elimam]

There are complex contract issues at stake here (more than just domainer's complaints about RF's service).

I have to agree with fonzie_007 here. even though i agree & i know for fact that registerfly is a s**t company, i find what enom is doing not ethical. just simply put yourself in their shoes. what would you do if you were a reseller of enom (or any registrar for that matter) & suddenly they decided to cancel your account & TAKE ALL your customers.
i understand they can cancel the contract if there is a breach somewhere, but why to go after your customers? it's registerfly who was doing all the hard work to acquire them. enom were just sitting there & receiving their money. If i was Regfly i would definitely sue them.
tomorrow enom will come to me, close my enom account & say you are not using your domains properly, so we will take them all & put them to better use!!!!
having said the above i am glad my domains had been pushed to an enom account, as i've stopped renewing my domains at registerfly for almost a year now & i've been transfering them away.

 

[PolurNET]

I agree, I was a bit surprised Enom was taking and even forcing RF customers to choose them else lose their domains. I think it could have been handled more amicably between both parties, and a better method of announcement than email. Many people will likely be on vacation or away, so the 30 day window is certainly not enough. And what happens to protectfly customers?

 

[labrocca]

One has to assume that RF was already notified by Enom about the problem. They may have given them a couple chances for all we know to straighten their act out. It's a mess. If you read at sites like Registerflies people say Enom is a scam too. Enom just doesn't want to associate with RF anymore and who can blame them. I am sure legally this is all being done in a legitimate way. Enom could have done this the same week that RF became accredited. It didn't ...it's been many months and disastrous months at that. RF service has only gotten worse and often people who are ignorant blame Enom. I am sure some RF support tickets blame Enom for this too and that's just unethical. Enom isn't stealing ANY business from RF. They are allowing at no cost all names to be at Enom instead of RF. Customers will still be able to transfer out to another registrar...RF even if they so choose.

 

[IAmAllanShore]

Allan, with all due respect, how would you have done things differently? There was certain "legalese" that needed to be included in the email message, as well as an immediate call to action.

Not trying to start a "flame" by any stretch of the imagination.

But the "legalese" wasn't there, for one thing - and the word choice was lacking. I get from the "call to action" that you approached this from a marketing standpoint (And you've identified yourself in that context), but the message wasn't couched in a marketing manner. The two messages, I'm afraid, are almost incompatible (The marketing message and the "Registerfly will no longer be an enom reseller message") I'm sure you all had some great legal resources from Spectrum/Demand/Oak that you might have vetted the letter through, but I'm not entirely sure the end product was what you were aiming for.

How would I have done it differently? Armchair quarterbacking gives me an unfair advantage, but...
Shorten the email, say to "Login to your eNom account for an important announcement" (Or at the least, put that as the headline) for those that you know already had an account with both registrars (As I'd imagine many did). This might require 2 emails, or . At a minimum, put a prominent link at the top to the "official" enom website. Keeping things simple is always a nice way to avoid trouble on all fronts. Even still, I'm not out to do your job for you While it might not be fair to say "That wasn't good" without providing the correction... that's all I've got at the moment

All the best, and enjoy your time here when you aren't having to deal with troublemakers like me :notme:

-Allan :gl:

 

[tldagent]

Enom clips the wings of Registerfly

I have to agree with fonzie_007 here. even though i agree & i know for fact that registerfly is a s**t company, i find what enom is doing not ethical. just simply put yourself in their shoes. what would you do if you were a reseller of enom (or any registrar for that matter) & suddenly they decided to cancel your account & TAKE ALL your customers.
i understand they can cancel the contract if there is a breach somewhere, but why to go after your customers? it's registerfly who was doing all the hard work to acquire them. enom were just sitting there & receiving their money. If i was Regfly i would definitely sue them.
tomorrow enom will come to me, close my enom account & say you are not using your domains properly, so we will take them all & put them to better use!!!!
having said the above i am glad my domains had been pushed to an enom account, as i've stopped renewing my domains at registerfly for almost a year now & i've been transfering them away.

I'm not defending Enom but I believe you are wrong. The fact of the matter is Enom has been inundated with complaints from Registerfly customers. Registerfly can't provide a good honest product and service so Enom suffers with the flow of traffic and additional complaints. Enom had every right to nix them and they deserved what they received.

Here is a forum post from Registerflies.com:

I know someone that knows someones friends neighbor that's "inside" with registerfly. For her protection I will not disclose too much details, but I do believe I have a much better understanding on why this company has such a bad reputation and why they screwed me over with more than 5 of my domain names. I was talking with this person and we got talking about domain names and I brought up registerfly's name and much to my surprise she knew someone that knew someone REALLY close to them that was bitching and complaining about how KEVIN MEDINA is ****ing over the entire company in every way possible.

To make a long story short I was told that there are 2 main owners in the company. One of them being Kevin Medina a dishonest, distasteful and shady man. The other one being John (some Jewish last name). From my understanding Kevin is the technical guy and the only one that has access to all servers and web site. Kevin is aware of all problems with the web site but ignores them and deletes them. John on the other hand wants to make changes to run the business better and satisfy his clients but is unable to do anything because Kevin is the only one that can actually do something and does nothing pushing it to the side continuing to ignore the issues at hand. There is constant battles between the 2 partners but Kevin has the winning hand because he controls all data and information leaving John with an inability to do anything.

I've read through the forums online, participated in many, voiced my concerns and they never listen. After learning this information I don't think the problem is with Registerfly not listening. I believe that they listen but that they CANNOT do anything but raise these issues to Medina and beg him to get stuff done. Having built a web site in the past I know that it's the person that has access to the web site and database that is in control.

I believe that easiest solution to this problem would be to FIRE this CEJOKE. Somehow get this looser out of there. He clearly doesn't care about the business. Fire him and hire someone else that really does care and have authority to make necessary changes. If they can bring on a CEO that will put money where it needs to be put to enhance their platform and compensate clients that they screwed over, they might be able to recover their bad rep.

Registerflies.com

Enom did the right thing. Registerfly was given plenty of opportunity by Enom. I even invited them to Registerflies and they chose not to show or comment.

This is a huge blow to Registerfly and well deserved. Let Registerfly... if they can afford to defend hundreds of counter claims.

 

[Dangerous Dan]

what would you do if you were a reseller of enom (or any registrar for that matter) & suddenly they decided to cancel your account & TAKE ALL your customers.

It's been a long day here in Seattle, but before I head home I wanted to address one last thing.

eNom is not "forcing" anyone to migrate to us! Although it's the easiest way to secure your domain names because we are already the registrar of record, any RegisterFly customer is free to transfer their names to any ICANN-accredited registrar they wish! In fact, anyone who'd like to transfer their names directly to RegisterFly under their cred, go for it!

The action eNom took with RegisterFly was not out of the blue. Our executive team has met face-to-face with their principals during industry conferences. As with all our resellers, we maintain an ongoing dialogue with them. RegisterFly certainly had knowledge that they were not providing the level of customer service we expected from them ... let alone what their customers expected of them. In my personal opinion as a 25-year marketing veteran, I doubt they were blindsided.

Allan, as has been announced, under the terms of our reseller agreement RegisterFly was given 30 days notice of their termination. They will no longer have access to their reseller tools after that time. If we were to have asked their account holders to "log in for an important notice" (keeping in mind many didn't know that RegisterFly was a reseller of eNom, or even WHO eNom is!) there's no way we could have been assured all would have done so in that time frame.

Then on day 31, those RegisterFly customers try to log into their RegisterFly account to manage their domain ... and it's not there! Not all domain owners are as proactive as those of us who do this for a living. Forget about marketing. From a customer service point of view, can you see why that would not have been the best method of handling the migration?

So again, anyone who'd like to transfer their RegisterFly names to an accredited registrar other than eNom, the procedure is addressed in our FAQ. We hope you'll stay with us

 

[labrocca]

RF answers back. I just got this email.

Discontinuation of using reseller services with enom.com

We are aware that enom may have sent a notice in regards to the
relationship between enom/registerfly.

As of February 2006 RegisterFly.com become an ICANN Accredited registrar.
We formerly used to resell domain services under enom.com but stopped
accepting registrations for them on February of 2006 (1 year ago). Since
we are ICANN Accredited we have no need to process new
registrations/transfers under enom anymore and spent the past year moving
large numbers of names away from enom.com to RegisterFly.com. The amount
of names remaining at enom.com is relatively small. Any
registrations/transfers after February 1st 2006 are directly under
RegisterFly.com, inc. which would not be affected by this.

Our top priority is ensuring our customers are not impacted in anyway
during this transition. If you are a registerFly.com customer, rest assured
we value your business and strive to offer the lowest possible pricing with
the best online tools. For a limited time you can renew/transfer your name
away from enom.com for only $5.99 per domain name. One year will be added
upon
completion of the transfer. If you decide to stay with enom as the
registrar you will pay considerably higher to renew than the special $5.99
rate we are offering. You can contact our customer care center at
305-674-0165 (8AM to 9PM) or via email at [email protected] on
specifics on how to move your domain name(s) over and take advantage of
these special savings today.


If you call within the next 48 hours and take advantage of this offer you
will be eligible to receive an additional $7.99 account credit towards next
years renewal.

 

[JasMate]

You just beat me to it labrocca

 

[PolurNET]

RF as usual tries to get people with low pricing, they must be really desperate now more than ever

Dangerous Dan, thanks for your clarification. But the fact that emails to protectfly [the faulty email service from RF] users (of which there are many I'm sure) and users who are not available in the next 30 days may find this news surprising. Are there alternative methods apart from email links setup to deal with such situations?

 

[Tippy]

I'm kinda happy to see RF fighting back, good for them... not that I feel they are the best/better registrar.

 

[JasMate]

I'm kinda happy to see RF fighting back, good for them... not that I feel they are the best/better registrar.

Cool I never thought I would find a registerfly fanboy (all things are possible) LOL :hehe:

 

[elimam]

I'm not defending Enom but I believe you are wrong. The fact of the matter is Enom has been inundated with complaints from Registerfly customers. Registerfly can't provide a good honest product and service so Enom suffers with the flow of traffic and additional complaints. Enom had every right to nix them and they deserved what they received.

my comment is not about if regfly deserves what is happening to them or not. my point is, enom shouldn't have gone after regfly's customers, or any reseller for that matter.
being "wrong" or not is irrelevant, because i m just highlighting enom's business practice, which i don't i agree with.

 

[lpstong]

Dangerous Dan. I was wondering how to get the email. I have about 16 - 20 domains with registerfly and never received an email. From what I understand there was a code to set up a free enom account. But what if we already have an enom account? What process do we have to do in order to get the domains from RF to enom w/o a code.

And I feel lame about not knowing about RF. I never knew anything until about 30 minutes ago.

Edit: Ok I guess I feel real lame. I see the notice in my RF account

 

[netguru]

I got this email too.

 

[fonzie_007]

Is there an easy way to migrate domains into my pre-existing eNom account or do I have to set up a completely new account?

 

[elimam]

eNom is not "forcing" anyone to migrate to us! Although it's the easiest way to secure your domain names because we are already the registrar of record, any RegisterFly customer is free to transfer their names to any ICANN-accredited registrar they wish! In fact, anyone who'd like to transfer their names directly to RegisterFly under their cred, go for it!

thanks Dangerous Dan for your reply. i certainly believe that you have taken the proper measures when canceling regfly's account. just i find you going after their customers and putting your self as the "savior" of domain name owners to be a bit not very ethical :imho:

 

[labrocca]

my comment is not about if regfly deserves what is happening to them or not. my point is, enom shouldn't have gone after regfly's customers, or any reseller for that matter.
being "wrong" or not is irrelevant, because i m just highlighting enom's business practice, which i don't i agree with.

But they were always Enom customers. RF was just a middle man. Places like McDonalds gives out franchises...and if the owner of the franchise messes up the good name of McDonalds they have in the contract to remove them. This is what has happened here.

Let's take NameCheap.com as a great example of a good Enom reseller. No one complains...no namecheapsucks sites and they basically do a fine job. I don't see Enom trying to steal their customers. And you know why...because they are ALREADY Enom customers. You can't steal what's already yours.

 

[lpstong]

And reading through the notice. That anyone who can transfer their domains to enom are domains that were registered prior to 2/01/06.

That I would be charged $5.99 if would like to transfer them to enom.

Any registrations/transfers after February 1st 2006 are directly under RegisterFly.com, inc. which would not be affected by this.

So my question is, Are my domains safe? Probably not. But it will cost me an arm and a leg to transfer them out. And they are all just .info's

The notice also said if I transfer them to enom that next year I might be eligible for a $7.99 credit. Now I dont know if that is per name or for all my domains that I transfer.

 

[elimam]

But they were always Enom customers. RF was just a middle man. Places like McDonalds gives out franchises...and if the owner of the franchise messes up the good name of McDonalds they have in the contract to remove them. This is what has happened here.

I am sorry but i don't agree here. they were never enom's customers, enom never did anything to acquire them. & it is not like Mcdonalds franchise, they never did business with enom's name. only us domainers know that they were enom's resellers. to normal folks, they know only regfly.