Daily Domainer

The situation at troubled domain registrar RegisterFly has descended into outright chaos.

Registerfly's parent company, Unified Names, fired and sued former President and CEO Kevin Medina earlier this month, blaming him for the company's meltdown due to his alleged embezzlement of operating funds.

Shortly after he was dismissed, Medina reportedly embarked on a spree of destruction throughout RegisterFly's backend system, disabling accounts and reneging access to support personnel.

After a deluge of customer complaints about lost domains and fraudulent overcharges, ICANN issued an ultimatum (PDF file) to RegisterFly to fix its problems or face loss of its accreditation as a domain registrar.

ICANN's communication gives readers a sordid look behind the scenes at the registrar and describes the numerous problems that had remained unaddressed for many months.

Among other avoidable management deficiencies, RegisterFly's anti-fraud department had been run on a commission basis, which motivated employees to accuse customers of fraud at every possible opportunity. For example, Lee Semel reports numerous fraudulent charges to his credit card and describes RegisterFly's default reaction to complaints:

According to customer accounts, if you complain to Registerfly about this, they’ll seize your domains and lock you out of your account.

Fortunately, Lee was eventually able to rescue all of his domains from RegisterFly's clutches.

Not everyone was so lucky. Enraged RegisterFly clients gather at Registerflies.com, a site that reports on the latest news from RegisterFly management and employees who are trying to get the company back on track after Kevin Medina's continuing attacks.

However, all may not be as it seems. Web developer Andrew Johnson is among the increasing number of clients who ask themselves whether Medina may just be a scapegoat for the rest of RegisterFly's owners:

I have to call into question their credibility as well because the company does not have a good history. For at least the past 12 months Registerfly has had serious customer service problems.

Meanwhile, GoDaddy has started offering discounts to all RegisterFly clients who transfer their domains to the company. CEO Bob Parsons reports that GoDaddy plans to assist customers who have their transfers denied by RegisterFly:

Since Registerfly's servers may be largely inaccessible, most, if not all, transfer requests could be denied. Go Daddy will keep track of these transfer denials and will then petition ICANN and the registries on behalf of all customers who have had denied transfers. Eventually we will get them approved.

Or maybe not. But GoDaddy offers a refund for each transfer that doesn't succeed.

Other registrars are expected to follow suit and try to attract RegisterFly clients with special offers for domain transfers.

Meanwhile, time is running out for many domain owners. Domains that are not renewed on time due to RegisterFly's fault might be lost forever. And clients who used RegisterFly's whois privacy service or who privacy-enhanced their domain registration details themselves, could be in for a battle to prove ownership of their domains in case RegisterFly goes out of business.

Usrbingeek has some solemn advice for domain owners who believe they are at risk of losing their domain:

[...] I’d get another domain name from another registrar very soon, and if your domain is close to expiring you might want to setup a 301 redirect to your new domain immediately!

Can RegisterFly recover from this hell of its own making and resume normal operations?

The Daily Domainer fears that a comeback may be extremely unlikely. In fact, considering the way things used to be, a mere comeback may not be enough. RegisterFly had suffered from a buggy interface and dismal customer service for as long as we can remember, and the RegisterFly brand is damaged beyond repair after the recent escalation and near-collapse.

It would take nothing short of a miracle for RegisterFly to start flying again, and miracles are in short supply. What's more likely is that RegisterFly's clients list and domains will be bought by an existing, more reputable registrar by means of an asset acquisition.