Registerfly - CEO

[tldagent]

Below is an email that was forwarded to me with some of the latest information on the Registerfly Debacle. We have also added a news release on www.registerflies.com that explains a little more.

Has Enom known this all along?

"RegisterFly.com is one of the largest internet domain name registries.

They originally operated as a reseller of services from Enom.com, but in
February 2006 they received their own ICANN accreditation and became
authorized to manage and sell their own domain services. There has been
friction and difficulty between RegisterFly and Enom for well over a
year, and in the past several weeks it appears that Enom has "fired"
RegisterFly. They sent alarming emails to all the customers who had been
receiving resold services announcing that their relationship with
RegisterFly was severed and informing them how to access their
automatically transferred domain names in a new Enom.com account.

I have experienced a long and dreadful history of problems with
RegisterFly, and I am apparently not alone. In fact, some industrious
person has set up the domain "www.registerflies.com" where he has
documented numerous problems AND the failure of ICANN to act responsibly
to address a situation that is clearly not acceptable for an accredited
registry managing over two million domain names.

But the real story isn't just that people are unhappy. Last night I
called their secondary customer support number to see whether they might
be able to help with major problems that have been occurring all week
(since the main support number obviously could not.) I'm not talking
about minor stuff, but rather a situation where the customer service
reps and administrators at RegisterFly CANNOT ACCESS their own systems
at all!

The rep I spoke with told me a story about the real problem. It seems
that the partners who started the company are fighting with one another,
and one of them is trying to force out the other. The one who is being
forced out has apparently been retaliating by hacking into the registry
systems and databases and making changes that have utterly paralyzed the
company. Suddenly my recent problems start to make sense. The outsourced
customer service reps have been telling us since Monday that they would
like to help, but that they cannot access the backend panels that
control their systems. They suggest it will be working in a few hours
and ask the customer to call back then. When you call back they loop
through the same scripted routine again.

This has been going on since Monday! The company cannot control its
systems. Even worse, the support rep indicated that they fear the
alienated partner is trying to hack and destroy the domain registration
databases. It is an incredible situation. Infighting at a domain
registry jeopardizing over two million domain names and preventing
customers from even being able to make minor changes to the domains they
own."

 

[Domainate.com]

The sad thing is that no matter what happens to RegisterFly, you bet your ass its owner will have taken nearly all the money out of it and be relaxing in the Caribbean by the time the company is gone. ICANNs moving really slow and giving them 15 days...what happens when names expire within that time? Those people are screwed?

There should be more anti-regfly names like RegisterF****d.com or RegisterMcFly.com. Someone search a ton of them on an unsecure whois channel so everyone can see a ton of anti-RegisterFly names in reg lists and expired lists every day, lol.

 

[labrocca]

Well I just randomly checked a few domains at RF. All are still unlocked and the auth codes display. They are the same auth codes as when I grabbed them last week. So let's hope all is well there and transfers out are successful. As I said..I got 11 going out to Moniker and will report on any problems or my success.

Well within the 7 day period all 11 domains successfully were moved to Moniker. On about the 3rd day I recieved emails from RegisterFly to manually approve the transfers with a domain key. It said it would immediately release the names...however I recieved errors on all attempts to use my keys. So I waited till the next day and tried once again...same error telling me to contact RF (no way). On the next day..the keys worked and the next day all domains were at Moniker.

So like I said..I didn't panic. I was diligent...and I have not lost my domains only time and energy. Contacting RF imho is a waste of time.

Now with this new ICANN 15 day thing I am gonna need some quick cash to transfer out the rest! OMG

 

[BrandYourself]

The guy who runs registerflies is a very good friend of mine and im amazed and astounded to see that some people in this thread have been slamming him ! The reason he's remained anonymous until now are entirely for legal reasons .
Hats off to him for going to a lot of trouble to HELP domainers out !!!!!
This guy is a domainer (in fact it was me who originally pointed him registerflys way unfortunately) He's totally on the level and worked REAL hard on this for no reward and to find some people here slagging him off makes me fume

 

[labrocca]

The reason he's remained anonymous until now are entirely for legal reasons .

That's the weirdest thing I ever heard. Kevin Medina is the ex-CEO so he WAS the guy who ran RF. I don't know who you think you are talking about but no one here has SLAMMED anyone personally besides Kevin Medina. If your buddy just took over at RF...I did just wish them luck so I don't know where you get this attitude about protecting some friend of yours when thousands of domains are in jeapardy.

 

[BrandYourself]

huh????????? i just got off a nightshift but im sure that im talking about the guy who runs the registerflies.com gripe site as im sure as hell not talking about medina

 

[briman1970]

RegisterFly is back up after (supposedly) being hacked by Kevin. I don't even know if it's safe to login, but the site is running faster than it ever has for some reason.

I just got through reading the last two entries at R'flies, including the comments. Kevin (or someone impersonating Kevin) has posted comments on the second to last entry, and R'flies Admin has replied. "KevinM" had this to say in his first comment:

As the Current CEO (always have been), I can assure you John Naruszewicz and Glenn Stansbury are FOS. Our legal counsel has sent the appropriate response. There is a restraining order being sent to both parties to ensure the charade of impersonating employees of RegisterFly is over. Both John Naruszewicz and Glenn Stansbury were terminated on 2/12. We sent more details and requested to provide evidence to the administrator of this site and he did not respond and in fact adapted a pro-john response. John\'s access to our systems were revoked today (contrary to what he said). He is NOT an employee of the company nor is glenn stansbury. Bother have been terminated and proof of their termination can be provided. The proof and the damages to be filed against both of the aforementioned will be visible within the few weeks. Mr Naruszewicz tool what is a personal relationship vendatta(10 year relationship gone bad) to the doorstep of the company and it is a shame.

After reading the "Official Statement from Registerfly", the "Cease All Transactions" and about 200 comments, I find myself wondering when I'm going to lose my names rather than if.

 

[labrocca]

huh????????? i just got off a nightshift but im sure that im talking about the guy who runs the registerflies.com gripe site as im sure as hell not talking about medina

Doh...now your post makes sense...silly how one word can change everything. Anyways sorry I was mistaken but I still don't see anyone slamming the guy running registerflies site.

 

[RickM]

Now I'm confused....who is in charge at regfly?? Kevin, or the other two.....TBH I'm starting to think that it would be better for RF to just close down.

 

[Static]

I've got a few domains at RegisterFly. Is it safe to transfer them over to moniker now?

 

[Kate]

The one thing I am not comfortable with is that registerfly is still allowed to take orders from new, unaware customers. Although I doubt ICANN has the power to issue a restraining order (other than terminate the contract) it is obvious they are not in a position to accomodate further business.

 

[traderonline]

i have several domains in my registerfly account. didnt come across any serious problems until now. anyway it is better to transfer them to another registrar as soon as possible.

 

[briman1970]

OK, I am trying now to renew a name that I don't want to lose. I've already renewed it once on 2/10 before it expired with no success. The cart says 12.99 for renewal and I am going to pay via Paypal. I don't care if I lose the money, I just need to know if this is going to work. I will take screenshots of the whole process and post here with results.

Wish me luck. I'm going in.

 

[name idol]

OK, I am trying now to renew a name that I don't want to lose. I've already renewed it once on 2/10 before it expired with no success. The cart says 12.99 for renewal and I am going to pay via Paypal. I don't care if I lose the money, I just need to know if this is going to work. I will take screenshots of the whole process and post here with results.

Wish me luck. I'm going in.

Unless you want to pay KM personally and trust him completely, it might be best to wait until Monday:

http://www.namepros.com/domain-name...-empire-strikes-back-registerflys-former.html

 

[briman1970]

Unless you want to pay KM personally and trust him completely, it might be best to wait until Monday:

http://www.namepros.com/domain-name...-empire-strikes-back-registerflys-former.html

I don't trust anyone at this point. I'm not waiting anymore. It's time to get off our asses and do something. I'm taking screenshots and I will be contacting all the proper authorities after I see what happens. I already have many other screenshots (RF account, my last attempted renewal, reports, etc.)

If every person affected would email/call ICANN, the FTC, the BBB, etc., and make blog posts, click on Diggs etc. then things may get going a little faster. It's better than sitting on our thumbs.

 

[name idol]

I don't trust anyone at this point. I'm not waiting anymore. It's time to get off our asses and do something. I'm taking screenshots and I will be contacting all the proper authorities after I see what happens...

...

It's a noble sentiment, but RF themselves appear to be saying DON'T pay us until Monday because the site is hacked and the money would go to our evil former CEO's personal bank account (at least that's how I read today's announcement):

http://www.namepros.com/domain-name...-empire-strikes-back-registerflys-former.html

 

[PC Medic]

It's a noble sentiment, but RF themselves appear to be saying DON'T pay us until Monday because the site is hacked and the money would go to our evil former CEO's personal bank account (at least that's how I read today's announcement):

http://www.namepros.com/domain-name...-empire-strikes-back-registerflys-former.html

Actually, I have yet to see "RegisterFly themselves" say anything (which is probably my biggest gripe with them at this point). I have seen a lot of "I talked to Kevin and he said..." or "I talked to John and he said..." type posting all over, but not a word yet 'Officially' posted to their site or via some 'reliable' news source. I have been proceeding with caution, but so far have been able to slowly move 2 of my domains out of RF and initiate the same on several others.

I see in This Story that Kevin Medina is said to have regained control of the servers Friday night, but then just after that says he has set up a mirror image of the site at http://registerfly-inc.com/. I for one would not even attempt logging in here as it does not provide any SSL security and question its legitimacy at this point.

 

[JMJ]

The guy who runs registerflies is a very good friend of mine and im amazed and astounded to see that some people in this thread have been slamming him ! The reason he's remained anonymous until now are entirely for legal reasons .
Hats off to him for going to a lot of trouble to HELP domainers out !!!!!
This guy is a domainer (in fact it was me who originally pointed him registerflys way unfortunately) He's totally on the level and worked REAL hard on this for no reward and to find some people here slagging him off makes me fume

I for one questioned the "breaking news" and maybe even seemed to slam him. I do believe his heart is in the right place but I also see and have seen that there's LOTS more to this than the one side of the story is saying. With each day that goes by it becomes more apparent that this is the case. This is my reasoning for questioning him because it seemed all to strange that a site which was built to trash a business seemed to now be working hand and hand with the company during a time of downfall. And as I suspected there's more to that story as well. That being the partners disputing ownership and one trashing the other.

I hate to say it but I think he's going to find down the road that he might have been better off not getting in the middle, sticking with his beliefs and providing an outlet for complaints. Providing an outlet for one side of the partner war may have set himself up for liability.

 

[BrandYourself]

I think the fact that the registerflies site owner has changed tack with the site has aroused some possibly understandable paranoia and made some people wonder if theres some collusion going on (I know too well how it feels to be screwed by registerfly I figure I've wasted at least 400 man hours due to their incompetence/fraud and Ive certainly lost circa $3k in stolen domains)
By changing tack on registerflies.com I mean that the registerflies site is now geared towards a much more reconciliatory role - which I actually welcome as fingers and toes crossed it MIGHT lead to domainers receiving some recourse after the historic debacle registerfly have created. All I can say is the registerflies owner is a solid and extremely well intentioned person - I'm biased as hes a real good friend of mine but I have no doubt whatsoever about his integrity

 

[Kate]

If you use the same username/password for registerfly with other sites I guess it's time to change your passwords... it's obvious the customer data at registerfly has been and is being mishandled. That's not a place where I would safely leave a credit card on file.

 

[cdboard]

I think the fact that the registerflies site owner has changed tack with the site.....

yeah, that is interesting, isn't it. it appears he has "picked a side" in the disagreement.


fwiw, I just logged in at registerfly.com and changed nameservers for one of my .INFO domains. I verified the change using betterwhois.com.

 

[RickM]

If people are able to start modifying their domains, then that is a good sign. If you can move you're domains....I really don't need to tell you why

Even if it means borrowing a bit of cash to do so....get you're domains out of there!

 

[mrfike]

Strange, as I've followed the drama unfolding at Registerfly I've had no problems logging in and working on dns/ redirects etc.
Of course since everything's taken a turn south since last week I've not been back and certainly not had any new transactions.
Again, interesting to note that RF's notoriously bad customer service had been improving since early last year. I have to wonder if that was because of or in spite of former boss Medina?
Anyways, today I received notices from Enom for a few of the domains about some domains that they will transfer them for free.

 

[briman1970]

I got a reply on a Registerfly support ticket!!!!!!! It was an old support ticket which wasn't related to the name I'm currently trying to renew (for the second time) but still... this is news in and of itself! An actual reply to a support ticket on Registerfly!!! It was relevant and semi-courteous too!!! I had to rub my eyes to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.

Thank you for writing RegisterFly.com technical support. I see your question is related to the renewal of expired names in your account. Upon researching your account further I have obtained the current pending queue of your domain name renewals. (Diligence from a Regfly employee!?!? Amazing!!!) Due to the large volume of names we are processing it can take anywhere from 1 to 5 days to properly process and confirm the renewal of your expired domain names. (Pertinent Information!?! Holy-moly!!!) In order to avoid these situations in the future, please ensure your domain name is renewed at least TWO WEEKS prior to the domain name expiring. We also offer a special coupon code you can use to RENEW names that will discount the renewal price to $6.99 providing it is used at least 10 days before the name expires. Please do not re-open this ticket unless you have something to add to this ticket otherwise it will add to our ticket queue resulting in possible other delays.

A copy appears below:

Domain: -----------.us (edited out by me)
Date: 2007-02-10
Ref#: 62453356
Status: NEW
=======================================

We hope this information has been helpful for you.

RegisterFly technical support
Renewal Group Services

Is this the light at the end of the tunnel!?!?!?! :yell:

 

[phpnoobs]

It seems that some things changed, I've made an transfer in 4 days.

 

[verbster]

My domains are almost all still showing "client transfer prohibited." I've tried to transfer, but it fails because of the "status."

Does anyone know why my domains might be in the transfer prohibiteds status? They are not in the 60 day period, nor have they had updates in the last 60 days.

Here is an example of the whois:

Registrar of Record: REGISTERFLY.COM, INC.
Record last updated on 18-Nov-2006.
Record expires on 04-Aug-2007.
Record created on 04-Aug-2005.

Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.FABULOUS.COM 64.15.205.211
NS2.FABULOUS.COM 64.15.205.212

Domain status: clientTransferProhibited
clientUpdateProhibited