Crisis at Registrar RegisterFly: company in disarray, 2 million domains at risk

[regic]

[quote author=accentnepal link=topic=7603.msg47627#msg47627 date=1174472226]
My Names are FREE   FREE   FREE!!!!!

[/quote]

[mandy]

Tips on protecting your domain names from bad registrars:

1. Do your due diligence and check on the reputations of your prospective registrar before registering domains with them. Try searching with their name followed by "complaint" or any other related words and see if you find anything alarming. Most large registrars will have a complaint or two which is understandable but definitely go the other way if you too many or if, in the worst case scenario, you see a movement such as www.registerflies.com.

2. Do NOT host your website with your registrar or use their DNS records because any downtime on their part may turn your website into a 404.

3. Be careful registering your domain with a hosting company. Just like a registrar, a hosting company can leave you in hot water if it goes South. Generally hosting companies are just resellers of domains so all is not lost; with some effort you may be able to skirt around the hosting company and contact the core domain registrar...

full article: http://www.isedb.com/db/articles/1623/1/...mains.html

[accentnepal]

Well, they could have said it more clearly:
(Except for the Tulips, of course) Do not register your domain name with the same company as you host with. Hosts offer "free" domains with the hosting and then you have a difficult time getting the name from them when you leave.

[jezebel]

Will Registerfly ever remove the ICANN accredited graphics from their home page? 

The BBB report: unsatisfactory
http://www.trenton.bbb.org/nis/newsearch2.asp?ID=1&ComID=0221000010002016

[regic]

Hosts offer "free" domains with the hosting and then you have a difficult time getting the name from them when you leave.

Microsoft Office Live's free domain offer falls under that category.

The most common problem I've seen over the years is people who hire a web design company to setup their site and register a domain - the design co. lists itself as the registrant of the domain and the site owner is unaware that they don't own the name until they try to move their site.

[mandy]

The latest: here come the class actions

The Dummit Law Firm announced today on its website that it has filed a class action lawsuit against internet registrars Registerfly and Enom, as well as internet standards body ICANN.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Anne Martinez, a Registerfly customer and the registered owner of GoCertify.com, which provided the main source of income for her and her children. The lawsuit was unsealed on March 23 and officially announced by the plaintiff and her attorney's today...

Although ICANN has been receiving complaints about RegisterFly for nearly two years, apparently it takes a lawsuit against ICANN, not by it, to get anything done...

full article: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/28/...gisterfly/

[jezebel]

They removed the ICANN logos from their home page but their about us page still says ICANN accredited

[accentnepal]

I am sure that thousands of people are totally unaware of all this and are still sending them money for renewals and new purchases.

I have heard (unconfirmed) that RegFly has appealed it's suspension which pushes any resolution at least a month out. There was just an ICANN meeting in Lisbon (nice to visit Lisbon on someone else's dime) and RegFly was a main subject of conversation, but there was nothing done, as far as I know.

One speaker said that 75,000 names were lost, don't know how accurate that is but if that is true the entire ICANN board should be fired and whatever is necessary should be done to return those names to their owners.

[bargainbloodhound]

I am sure that thousands of people are totally unaware of all this and are still sending them money for renewals and new purchases.

:ditto:  I can't believe they haven't made any announcements on their website.

I wonder which registrar RegisterFly is buying the names from now (I know it's not ENOM  ;D )

[regic]

I wonder which registrar RegisterFly is buying the names from now

I have a hard time believing any registrar would take the risk of taking them on as a reseller until the legal mess is cleared up.