Official Statement from Unified Names, Inc. Wednesday March 7th, 2007
Important Announcement concerning recent events...
If we've learned one thing at RegisterFly, it's that the actions of a few can affect a great many people. It's no secret that we've been experiencing significant problems here at RegisterFly, and how these problems have affected our customers.
First, we want to take this opportunity to apologize to you for the significant impact these problems have had on you. We are well aware that you all have been greatly affected by the events at RegisterFly. Whether your loss has been financial, personal, or otherwise, our single deepest regret is that our corporate woes have made it to your door. While the repercussions for RegisterFly are not insignificant, they pale in comparison to the devastating effect they have had on our customers.
While the underlying causes of these issues are varied and complex, we understand that you're likely far less concerned about why they happened than about how we intend to address the issues they've caused. However, we do wish to assure you that we are taking every necessary measure to address the problem at its source, and that steps are being taken to correct the vulnerabilities that allowed them to happen in the first place.
The RegisterFly website and systems are now under the full control of Unified Names. In the process of fixing the control, the servers were also optimized, and are now running far faster than before. It is important to note that the official RegisterFly is located at
www.RegisterFly.com and not at
www.RegisterFly.net. While you may have heard differently, this information is inaccurate.
All RegisterFly-related activity must be performed through the official RegisterFly web site at
www.RegisterFly.com.
We have brought in a team of independent systems and security analysts to review our current procedures and identify any shortcomings that need to be addressed. While a key focal point will be the weaknesses that precipitated the recent events here, we are also taking a more general approach to ensure that our systems and procedures, as a whole, are up to date. In this way, we can address not only the current problems, but ensure that any other potential vulnerabilities are remediated.
One of our key priorities is ensuring that our customers either receive the services they've paid for. Critical to this is ensuring that our site works properly, and that accounts are properly funded. We are also working with ICANN and the registries to recover any lost domains as quickly as possible.
Additionally, we have been working around the clock to restore full access to our staff, enabling them to serve you efficiently and effectively. We understand that one of your key concerns has been our staff's inability to access crucial systems, rendering us unable to adequately meet your needs. It is for this reason that restored access has been our main priority over the last few weeks. We have a highly qualified team of technicians working around the clock to bring our systems back to full speed. Due to their tireless efforts, our support staff is now able to access the information and data that they need in order to address your requests. We've also hired additional staff in order to improve response times to your queries. Effective immediately, we've closed down all operations in Miami, and have expanded our New Jersey-based team to handle all sales, billing and support issues. If you require any assistance, please call 973-404-8430.
While this progress is significant, we're still dedicating every ounce of effort towards continued improvement in resolving your issues and ensuring that situations like this do not occur again.
These events have also brought other issues to the fore, and we're taking this opportunity to address those as well. Key among these is our "One and done" philosophy. You've explained to us your frustration in being passed from one representative to another in trying to resolve an issue. For this reason, we've implemented a process that enables our staff to address your tickets from start to finish, without having to pass you along to various departments for different portions of your issue. Another concern you've expressed is the delays introduced when staff members have to consult senior staff for decisions on certain issues. To remedy this, we are empowering our staff to be able to make many of these decisions on their own, and providing them with the training to ensure that these decisions are made fairly and in your best interests.
We are also working to correct the problems that you've been experiencing with situations such as lost domains and registration issues. We realize how significantly even brief downtimes can affect a website, and how devastating the effects can be on our customers. To address these problems, we have employed a highly-skilled consulting firm to fully identify, address and resolve these problems. We have developed a detailed process for resolving the problems that affect your sites, and have already launched a comprehensive initiative that will allow us to fix them effectively.
Some of the key progress we've achieved over the past few weeks:
Restored access to our systems and website
Updated the DNS
Optimized the servers to run faster
Fixed majority of errors within the web site
Work that is in progress includes:
Rectifying payment issues
Responding to and resolving all outstanding customer tickets
Ensuring domain accounts are properly funded
Recovering lost domains
One of the keys to growth is learning from adversity, and at RegisterFly, we are committed to doing exactly that. While the current situation at RegisterFly was triggered by the actions of a few, we fully acknowledge that we could have handled the situation more effectively. We have reviewed our response to these situations, and our approach in notifying you, and identified the areas where we should have done better. We are listening intently to what you are saying, and taking it to heart. While we know that nothing can completely alleviate the losses and damages you've experienced, we are confident that we at RegisterFly will emerge from these times a stronger company, and will have a deeper understanding at how seemingly "background" issues can affect our customers. While we can completely understand lingering reluctance to place your trust in RegisterFly again, we hope that you will join us in our future growth in becoming a better and stronger company.
Sincerely,
John Naruszewicz
President/CEO
Unified Names, Inc.
