F***! RegisterFly goes tits-up!

[mcfox]

I don't know how I missed this but Registerfly has gone tits-up!

Damn. I can't even remember what domains I had with them. :rolleyes:

I'm waiting to see if the site goes back up or what - at the moment it's down www.registerfly.com

For the latest info, check out www.registerflies.com

Here's a thread on DP:
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=237854

and the latest on DP:
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=250686

The Register (22nd Feb):
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/22/registerfly_ceo_lawsuit/

(23rd Feb)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/23/icann_registerfly_accreditation/

[YabbaDoo]

Site works for me =/

[mcfox]

It's intermittent.

I'd advise anyone with domains reg'd at Registerfly to get them moved asap. From what I have been able to gather, they have 15 days to get their s**t together before ICANN pulls the plug.

[mcfox]

It's intermittent.

I'd advise anyone with domains reg'd at Registerfly to get them moved asap. From what I have been able to gather, they have 15 days to get their s**t together before ICANN pulls the plug.

Attention everyone. I just received confirmation that the Registerfly site has currently been hacked into and taken over by Kevin Medina in the Florida office. I was asked to put this up here due to the amount of customers that are sending money. At this moment, they are trying to get police in Florida to arrest Kevin immediately.

I'm relaying a message that they have asked me to put up on here. They have lost control of even the site and are locked out of the system. The data has been corrupted but they do have a back up and are scrambling to get this situation resolved.

Your support forms on this site will be held right now and forwarded when we know the proper management team has control of the data.

This is only what I've been told and this is currently the only medium of communication that the current management of Registerfly has. More updates soon.

"I see on your main site that you say that we don’t have any access to help customers. That isn’t entirely true. We do have access but it is very limited. We just don’t have any access to make updates to the website over the weekend. I feel we will have full access back on Monday and I found out something that will most certainly have kevin arrested and put in prison for a very long time."
http://registerflies.com/

[Sergio]

If you don't transfer the domains, will they just be available again?

[mcfox]

If you don't transfer the domains, will they just be available again?
At the moment, Registerfly is still operating as a company and remains ICANN accreditted so for now domains are safe.

Having said that, customers are leaving in droves, Registerfly have filed a lawsuit against the former ceo (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/22/registerfly_ceo_lawsuit/), ICANN have given Registerfly 15 days (http://www.icann.org/correspondence/registerfly-notice-of-breach-21feb07.pdf) (PDF) to sort out the mess and no-one yet knows what's going to happen.

If you have domains with Registerfly, my inclination would be to move them to another registrar asap while you have the chance and before the whole house of cards comes tumbling down.

[Connections]

wow glad I was never too tempted with their real cheap deals lol..

I have been using domains with godaddy for ages and never had any problems, godaddy seem to be a massive company so I kinda trust them,

registerfly just sounds dodgey and cheap..

[mawt]

Hmm... This is interesting. lol

[Greg-J]

Moniker.com. It's where the big boys play.

I don't think they'll let you in to the special membership without having 50 to 100 domains first, but if you can get in, the registration fee is only $6 or $7 for most domains and their customer service is second to none. They're the registrar of choice for most people at DNF which is how I got ahold of them.

Without the 'special' price it's pretty ridiculous pricing though.

[jeremy860]

atleast I only have 1 domain with them and rest of them are with godaddy.

hmmm, i better go check on that domain. :whistling:

[mcfox]

wow glad I was never too tempted with their real cheap deals
Nothing wrong with cheap deals - I would use them again in a minute if they got their act together. Having said that, I wouldn't use any of their other services and if the domain was one I considered 'important' I would transfer it elsewhere.

I was fortunate only to have about 25 domains reg'd with Registerfly, most of which are now in the process of being moved - an expense I grudge but what can you do? If you sit it out the whole lot may be lost.

One thing is for certain - all of the domain grabbers will have their bots ready and waiting to grab anything that gets dropped if Registerfly goes under. I would therefore rate the chances of picking up a domain you might lose from Registerfly as zero, so if your strategy involves (hypothetically) waiting for Registerfly to fold, waiting for your domain to become available again then re-registering it, I would recommend you come up with another strategy.

[Connections]

wouldn't want to have like a high priced LLL.com portfolio with register fly

then to see them go under and all your portfolio is gone....

I would be very very angry..

[mcfox]

wouldn't want to have like a high priced LLL.com portfolio with register fly

then to see them go under and all your portfolio is gone....

I would be very very angry..
It isn't just about domain portfolios. Entire businesses have, or are going, down the tubes because of this fiasco.

People have already lost domains because they weren't renewed and the resulting businesses - from web developers all the way down the line to the end-users whose businesses relied on the websites - are all going under. Lawsuits are about to start flying everywhere.

If you read this thread on Registerflies (http://registerflies.com/official-statement-from-registerfly.html), you begin to get an idea of the scale and impact this is having.

Some sample comments:-

kzpdesign - It really doesn't help us. I have two domains that have expired, both are for large clients of mine, of which I am about to loose both accounts because I cannot renew their domains, transfer their domains, or host their domains without modifying the name servers. It's not an extra $80 a month for hosting their site, it's their entire business - email, e-store, website, etc. that is down. Their website is a 1/5th of the business I do with each client. Aadd a couple zeros to that monthly amount and then you can realize what this is costing me and just 2 of my clients.

Dkraus - This is crap....you must excuse me but I have lost everything. I am a single mom of two. My husband left me with nothing five years ago, instead of giving up which I felt like doing I started my own company and have been sucessful for five years, supported my children FOR Five YEARS ON MY OWN. Registerfly has single handedly destroyed my business. Today I lost my last large client. They all walked due to what they say Is MY fault. I can not renew, transfer or host thier domains. These are million dollar companies that are well known and now the names have expired. I am now being sued by them. Well goodbye house, goodbye car, goodbye life! Thank RegisterFly.

ajmurphy1 - In my case, I also lost customers, and I also lost my business because of lost time (time that I could not afford to loose) and lost clients/income. My clients didn't (and still don't) care about going after RegisterFly. All they care about is resolving their problems. I was the one in direct line of fire when RegisterFly prevented renewals and my clients websites went down. And, as a result, I'm the one who - got fired! In my company, I am the one who took the fall for RegisterFly's actions (or lack of them).

[digitalninja]

Wow. That is horrible to read some of those stories.
If I heard correctly they have something like 800,000 customers.
Godaddy has a special transfer program for Registerfly customers.

https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/transfers/registerfly.asp