RE: [ga] Registerfly loses approximately 75,000 customer domains

["Dominik Filipp" <dominik.filipp@xxxxxxxx>]

I have just received the Sedo's February newsletter at
http://sedo.com/newsletter/us/nl_feb_2007.htm

and I especially recommend reading the article "Domainers, Take a Stand
in 2007" out there.

Another interesting link mentioned in the article is recently launched
"Internet Commerce Association" at
http://www.internetcommerceassociation.com.

Dominik


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:owner-ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Andy Gardner
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 10:14 AM
To: Prophet Partners Inc.
Cc: ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx; John M.R. Kneuer (U.S. Department of Commerce);
Vint Cerf; Anick Jesdanun (Associated Press); Arik Hesseldahl
(BusinessWeek); Paul Sloan (Business2.com); Scott Ard (c|net); Rachel
Rosmarin (Forbes); Adam Gaffin (NetworkWorld); Brian Krebs (Washington
Post); CNN News Tips; NY Times News Tips
Subject: Re: [ga] Registerfly loses approximately 75,000 customer
domains


Hows that data escrow going ICANN? Got it going yet yet?

No, I thought not.

The domain registrants get screwed again.

Taxation of the unrepresented.

On Feb 21, 2007, at 2:50 AM, Prophet Partners Inc. wrote:

> Hi Jeff,
>
> That's correct, no one on this mailing list sees this as being a 
> surprising event.
>
> Registerfly with an estimated 2 million domain names, is one of the 
> top 10 domain registrars in the world, as measured by the total number

> of domains under management. By their own admission in the court 
> document mentioned earlier, they recently failed to register or renew 
> approximately 35-40 % (75,000 / 200,000) of their customers' domains. 
> Complaints are rampant, with customers that paid for timely renewals 
> later receiving notification that their domains were expiring. To 
> compound the problem, many people complain that their domains are now 
> locked at Registerfly, without the ability to transfer out to another 
> registrar. Customer accounts of customer support being unresponsive or

> unreachable are also widespread. This is far from being a small 
> problem and certainly not representative of a secure and stable DNS.
>
> Given that Registerfly is ICANN accredited and ICANN's primary 
> objective is to maintain and ensure the security and stability of the 
> DNS, what has ICANN done and what should they do to protect domain 
> registrants who are customers of Registerfly? Note that Danny 
> Younger's message was sent to Vint Cerf, Chairman of ICANN's Board, 
> nearly 3 months ago. What consumer benefits are there to choosing an 
> ICANN accredited registrar over one that is not? What is ICANN doing 
> to earn the $0.25 "tax" (without representation) for each annual 
> domain registration / renewal paid by domain registrants (who have no 
> influence on the shaping of ICANN policies)?
>
> ICANN wants to eventually gain autonomy from the U.S. Department of 
> Commerce, but what have they demonstrated through past actions to 
> prove that they are capable of being autonomous? To the contrary, 
> ICANN has repeatedly shown that they do not act in the best interests 
> of the public community of domain registrants.
>
> Sincerely,
> Ted
> Prophet Partners Inc.
> http://www.ProphetPartners.com
> http://www.Premium-Domain-Names.com
>
> CC: John M.R. Kneuer (Assistant Secretary of Commerce for 
> Communications and Information, U.S. Department of Commerce - NTIA)
>     Vint Cerf (Chairman of the Board, ICANN)
>     Anick Jesdanun (Associated Press)
>     Arik Hesseldahl (BusinessWeek)
>     Paul Sloan (Business 2.0)
>     Scott Ard (c|net)
>     Rachel Rosmarin (Forbes)
>     Adam Gaffin (NetworkWorld)
>     Brian Krebs (The Washington Post)
>     CNN News Tips
>     The N.Y. Times News Tips
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jeff Williams" <jwkckid1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: "Prophet Partners Inc." <Domains@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: <ga@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 12:30 AM
> Subject: Re: [ga] Registerfly loses approximately 75,000 customer 
> domains
>
>
>> Ted and all,
>>
>>   Interesting, but not all that surprising.  On the surface it would 
>> seem that the allegations are more based on poor expense reporting 
>> mechanisms and even worse employee supervision or Registerfly is 
>> trying to cover up some mistakes in registrar management.
>>
>> Prophet Partners Inc. wrote:
>>
>>> A February 12, 2007 complaint was filed by UNIFIEDNAMES, INC. d/b/a 
>>> Registerfly and JOHN NARUSZEWICZ v. KEVIN MEDINA in the U.S.
>>> District
> Court
>>> of New Jersey. It states that as of December 2006, roughly 200,000
> domains
>>> were registered on behalf of customers and that approximately 75,000

>>> of these customer domains were lost since January 2007, due to the 
>>> actions
> of
>>> the Defendant, which resulted in failure to pay the required 
>>> registry
> fees.
>>>
>>> The Plaintiff alleges that the Defendant wasted company money to pay

>>> for
> a
>>> personal escort, rent on a Miami penthouse, personal credit card 
>>> bills
> and
>>> liposuction, in addition to withdrawing thousands of dollars from
> company
>>> accounts for personal spending.
>>>
>>> http://registerflies.com/docman/cat_view-2.html
>>>
>>> This would certainly explain the Registerfly problems addressed by 
>>> Danny Younger on November 30, 2006.
>>> http://gnso.icann.org/mailing-lists/archives/ga/msg05232.html
>>>
>>> However, ICANN's failure to act and protect Registerfly customers
> remains
>>> unexplained.
>>>
>>> Sincerely,
>>> Ted
>>> Prophet Partners Inc.
>>> http://www.ProphetPartners.com
>>> http://www.Premium-Domain-Names.com
>>
>> Regards,
>> --
>> Jeffrey A. Williams
>