Registrar Troubles

2007-11-15T12:12:00.000-08:00

I've decided to do away with multiple blogs and just try to keep one generic blog - Wagonfly.

Seeing as how Registerfly has been done in, I don't think there will be too much to write on the topic, though. Will be mostly about Linux, open source software, science, philosophy, politics, etc.

2007-05-12T21:24:00.000-07:00

I found out recently that more of my domains registered with Registerfly have expired. There were no email notices save for warning regarding one domain - which is strange because I've always gotten them before. I would think that's a logical thing for a domain registrar to do.

I hesitate to renew them though, as all I may accomplish is lose money and/or give them my credit card info without any service rendered. I don't think it's unreasonable given their history.

A lot has gone on since last I posted. There is a Wikipedia entry on Registerfly that gives very good brief on what went down and also what has been behind Registerfly's problems.

So 10-year business partners, Frank Medina and John Naruszewicz, part ways bitterly. Each accused the other of misappropriating company funds. This is important since one of the problems Registerfly had was that 75,000 domain names were lost because Registerfly did not have funds for a registration fee.

Anyway, they fight to control the company. Frank Medina deletes passwords needed to refund customers and generally sabotages the business. By March 2007 Jogn Naruszewicz runs Registerfly.com Frank Medina runs Registerfly.net. Court gives Frank Medina control of Registerfly on March 8th.

All through this ICANN did not acted on customer complaints and accusations of fraud.

Registerfly lost ICANN accredition on March 31st. Or so it seemed. Frank Medina has invoked arbitration clause in the accredition agreement.

So at the moment Frank Medina is in control of Registerfly and Registerfly is still an accredited registrar. There is a class action lawsuit against Registerfly, ICANN and eNom.

2007-01-24T20:46:00.000-08:00

Following are some links I ran into today.

The RegisterFly Debacle ... has another Registerfly horror story with many comments recounting bad experiences.

RegisterFly Is A Scam ... seems like a story similar to mine. They tried to renew their domain and kept failing until they contacted Registerfly's billing department. Go figure.

HowTo Fly Away… or how to escape from the RegisterFly nightmare ... has a step-by-step instruction on how to transfer a domain registered back when Registerfly was a eNom reseller.

2007-01-12T09:19:00.000-08:00

Registerfly has responded to my last support ticket:

Response:
Dear client,

Please be advised , this domain appears to be in redemption.
This occurs when a domain has surpassed the 29 day grace period,offered for renewing an expired domain name.
Redemption can be anywhere from 60 days to 9 months.
To remove a domain out of redemption, you have the option of placing a fee of 209.00 into your account, submitting a support ticket , requesting that the domain be released from redemption status.
As this domain appears to be held by one our previous backend providers enom. you may also contact enom.com to see what other options are availble for this domain.
The amount of the renewal attempt has been issued to your quick checkout account.

This, after telling me to keep trying to renew and it should work out. Some people have accused Registerfly of holding domains hostage to extort its customers. I'm starting to think they are right.

I've send yet another support request, this time letting them know that I would rather communicate with them in writing over fax. I might have to talk to an attorney about this.

2006-12-08T23:20:00.000-08:00

Gave renewing through Registerfly one more try a few days ago. I didn't get a renewal failure email yet. But I don't yet see it in my Registerfly account. I am waiting for the account to be credited for this latest renewal attempt that did not go through.

I also sent a support request for my domain to be "manually renewed" yesterday. The domain now shows up as one of my domains, except with past expiration date.

2006-12-02T01:09:00.000-08:00

My domain has been expired for 2.5 weeks now.

I called Registerfly on Thursday. Waited half an hour or so to be told the same thing I get on their online support system. They're having problems. Keep trying to renew. Supposedly some people have requested that their domain names go on a list for automatic renewal attempts. You'd hope Registerfly itself knows when the problem is fixed and let its customers know.

Searching for "registerfly sucks" yields some relevant results. One of which is a gripe site about Registerfly.

I also just registered with WebHostingTalk Forms to discuss my problem and seek advice.

Some people recount experiences similar to mine. There is even talk of class-action lawsuit. Registerfly's customer relations department must be snoozing.

I noticed that my expired domain name was originally registered when Registerfly was eNom's domain name reseller.

Their relationship might have soured since Registerfly became an ICANN certified registrar. If Registerfly is in short supply of scruples as many people allege, a policy of not renewing domain names still registered with eNom might make sense. Some customers will be put off and transfer out, but if great majority of Registerfly users stayed with them until the grace period for the domain names were over so Registerfly could grab it... Then Registerfly wouldn't have to pay its competitor a cut. If math works out right, profit increases and the competitor is worse off.

Well, that's one scenario I've been imagining. Could be eNom refuses to do anything for its competitor - in which case you'd think Registerfly would organize a public announcement and a lawsuit. Or there could be some kind of a deal between Registerfly and eNom to skirt rules on domain name registration? Or it could have nothing to do with eNom at all. It could even be that Registerfly has been having a technical problem for weeks on end like they say. But that would mean they were either severely short-handed or incompetent.

I've read here and there that eNom can renew an expired domain name from Registerfly if I were to sign up for a domain name reseller sub-account. I'm considering the option, but I wonder if I have enough time with 1.5 weeks left in eNom's (non-compliant?) 30-day grace period.

2006-11-25T08:42:00.000-08:00

I got a reply. The exact same reply about how their admins are working on it and I should try renewing in 24 hours. Looks like a copy-and-paste reply. Sounds like maybe a lot of customers are having the same problem.

2006-11-24T23:26:00.000-08:00

I've submitted another support request. I tried to renew my expired domain three times. This is most frustrating.

2006-11-24T17:12:00.000-08:00

Attempted to renew my domain again. Failed. Again.

2006-11-23T10:57:00.000-08:00

I got a reply for my support ticket with Registerfly today.

Supposedly there's a technical problem with the domain renewal interface and their admins are working on. They have refunded the $8.99 renewal fee into my Registerfly account and instructed me to try renewing 24 hours later. *crosses fingers*

2006-11-22T19:06:00.000-08:00

What little traffic my domain name may be fetching right now are going to an advertisement page set up by Registerfly. Standard procedure for expired domains during the grace period, I guess.

But it's annoying to see it there since I've already been charged for the renewal a week ago.

2006-11-22T07:21:00.000-08:00

Registerfly is my domain name registar. I had no big complaints with them until recently when their website became very sluggish and unresponsive. I wanted try out a different domain name registar because I was hearing good things about one in particular.

When one of my domains names was about to expire, I initiated a domain name transfer process. Being my first transfer, I was rather clumsy at it. I got started on the whole thing very close to the expiration deadline and thereby having the domain expire before the transfer completed.

When I confirmed with the new registar that I need to renew my domain name before proceeding with the transfer, I ordered a renewal with Registerfly. The renewal order falied for unspecified reasons.

Naturally, I attempted to contact Registerfly through their support system. This was two days later. (It has been a week. I have yet to receive a response.) Later on the same day, my credit card was charged the renewal fee by Registerfly. Seeing an email about the charge, I assumed that Registerfly renewed the domain.

They hadn't. So I contacted them again and yet again. I'm waiting for their response. I really do hope this turns out well.

On a brighter note, Registerfly's website seems more responsive now - meaning that it no longer takes me two minutes to load a page.