So its now a week since the 1st press release was issued announcing that Moniker.com and SnapNames.com were sold to Key Systems.
In addition to being a blogger I’m a domainer that has multiple accounts at Moniker.com and an account at SnapNames.com where I spend six figures a year, but to date I haven’t received a email from either Moniker.com or SnapNames.com telling me as a customer that the sites have been sold.
Not an email. Not a call from my Rep. Nothing
A letter from Key Systems, the buyer would have been nice as well letting customers know they now own the services and introduce themselves.
I didn’t get one of those either.
Actually I would have expected in addition to, or at least in lieu of an email and announcement on the front page of both Moniker.com and SnapNames.com site.
Yet there is no such announcement.
I clicked on the Moniker.com link for News which says: “Learn more about the latest SnapNames and Moniker news”
Nothing about the sale.
Not even a link to the Press Release
(Actually there is no news listed since November 2010).
So I went to SnapNames.com and clicked under News there, once again not a word about the sale, not even a link to the Press Release.
Even worse on the bottom of SnapNames.com page I found this one:
“”SnapNames.com is a subsidiary of Oversee.net.””
Hum
I even checked the Moniker/SnapNames Facebook page, no announcement.
Many domainers who are actively involved in the industry have read about the sale on blogs but I’m sure there are hundreds if not thousands of customers of Moniker.com and/or SnapNames.com that have no idea the sites have been sold and are under new management.
While professional domainers know Key Systems, I assume a lot of people in the US do not.
As a customer of Moniker.com not only are they the registrar of record for hundreds of domain names I own but they have my credit card information on file.
Maybe its just me, but I think people are entitled to know when a change of ownership occurs especially when they have entrusted their credit card info.
Of course customers should have been the first to learn of the sale.
It appears they will be the last to know.
Did anything change at SnapNames.com/Moniker management in terms of your privacy, contract terms and conditions? Something that has a material impact to your business?
Company ownership change hands all the time in the corporate world without a formal announcement to customers for a long time for many reasons: did customers opt in or opt out of e-mail communication? does the ownership change anything materially (don’t rock the boat)? Do they even know who their active customers are ? As for Credit Card concerns? Most real American can’t even tell you who has a claim on their mortgage !
I don’t know about the agreement but it seems to be nothing more than a change in the board of directors/ownership. If the Snapnames/Moniker are a “wholly-owned subsidiary” then the impacts should be net-zero. Maybe I’m wrong.. but it takes me almost a week to figure out what I’m going to have for breakfast.
But what about Namepros? They haven’t announced anything to their customers yet and their customers ARE their business. They did announce it on DNF.com and Domaingang did announce it for them ahead of time – but who’s going to inform the 180,000 users that don’t read those platforms?
But, aw shucks, this lack of notificaion is just terrible news, you need to find a registrar that really cares about you – not the customer you – but you and who you really are deep down inside and not just because you “spend six figures” and “blog” but because you are a valued person, a valued customer. There’s just no love anymore.
As for customers should be the first to know?
Actually EMPLOYEES should be the first to know, SHAREHOLDERS/INVESTORS the second to know, then the MARKETPLACE should be the third to know… and THEN the customers… that’s how important you really are.
Fair question, but the company in your title is wrong. It’s not Oversee’s position to contact customers. In fact, they don’t own the customers anymore, so they *can’t* email to let them know the company has been sold.
I imagine Key-Systems will email customers. Although it would be great if they had done so already, it’s been only 9 days since the ink dried on the acquisitions. The “oversee.net” notice on SnapNames shows that they still have a lot of integration work to do.
Of course the good news is nothing really has changed. Just a different corporate parent.
@unknowndomainer
“Did anything change at SnapNames.com/Moniker management in terms of your privacy, contract terms and conditions? Something that has a material impact to your business? ”
We don’t know. Do we?
If Key Systems can’t get MARKETING the purchase of the companies right, one should have little confidence that they will get much else right.
Are you more likely or less likely to move domains INTO Moniker now?
Good luck Key Systems. If you alienate a great customer like Mike Berkens so much that he has to post something here, you must be doing something very wrong.
Unknown
“””Company ownership change hands all the time in the corporate world without a formal announcement to customers for a long time for many reasons: did customers opt in or opt out of e-mail communication? “”
Well I for one got three email messsages from Snap/moniker about the live auction & the extended auction.
I got “opt in” messages from Moniker and Snap
Just nothing about a sale.
“Do they even know who their active customers are ?””
If they don’t its there fault their active customers are anyone who has a domain name registered with them or anyone who has placed a bid on a domain for sale, or placed a domain for sale, on snapnames.com within the last year.
“does the ownership change anything materially (don’t rock the boat)?”
I don’t know that’s why it would have been nice to hear from the seller and the buyer.
“”But what about Namepros?””
I’m not a member there, so I don’t know anything about it, but what the hell does that have to do with this sale?
“Actually EMPLOYEES should be the first to know, SHAREHOLDERS/INVESTORS the second to know, then the MARKETPLACE should be the third to know… and THEN the customers… that’s how important you really are.”
Well the employees that are left know.
The ones that were fired with the sale in the works, already knew
The shareholders in this company are closely held, the investors are on the board which had to approve the sale.
The marketplace only knows if they read domain blogs or somehow saw the press release.
Otherwise The marketplace doesn’t know nor do the customers.
does anyone remember when seevast bought moniker? Did they send a notice to moniker customers about the acquisition, and how long after the acquisition took place? What about when Oversee.net bought Moniker?
Andrew
Shocking your taking the side of management
))::
On the question of how long did it take Oversee to notify customers of Moniker that they acquired it, the answer looks like the same day:
http://www.domainnamenews.com/domain-auction/breaking-news-oversee-acquires-moniker/1356
On how long did it take for Oversee for to post the on Moniker.com site, that they had acquired Moniker, Answer–Also looks like the same day
From Above link:
“”Update : Moniker just made the announcement on their site as did Oversee, and Seevast, the company that formerly owned Moniker.””
Main heading well say
It’s Business as usual
Mike you are a member of Namepros under worldwide media. I agree there should be an email from Oversee and or Key-Systems by now its been a week and its not too hard to send a “We’ve been sold, but don’t worry about your account” email.
RH
Good to know
Obviously not a frequent visitor to the site
Moreover I don’t do “business” with namepros
They don’t hold any domains like moniker as registrar nor do they have my CC on file
Better yet, when are they going to start answering help tickets again?
@ Michael
“Shocking your taking the side of management”
I don’t understand what that means.
My point is that you’re calling out the wrong company in your headline. This is no longer Oversee’s business, so I wouldn’t expect to get an email from them anytime soon.
If I were key-systems I would certainly communicate this to customers.
Andrew
They were Oversee customers until the second the sold the company
Over the years a lot of the customers spend thousands, hundreds of thousands or more with Moniker and/or Snap, an email thanking them for the business and letting them know the sale took place is not only business 101 but the right thing to do.
They could have also and should have required in their sales contract, that the buyer notify customers within 24 hours of the closing.
They could have put an announcement on the sites like they did (and the seller did) the day they acquired the sites.
FAIL
How would they email you? They no longer have the customer databases. It probably violates the contract to contact customers.
I agree that it would be smart to put the notification into the sales contract. I also don’t see a notice about it on Oversee.net’s newsfeed.
Andrew
Come on the day, they minute before they sold they had the database of its customers they could have also provided the right to email its customers in the contract.
meantime I still get emails daily from snapnames.com with top deleting lists, domain I’m in auctions for etc etc and the site says its owned by Oversee
I guess when it comes time to pay my monthly bill I will see who asks for the money and whose account it goes into.
Of course, customers should have been notified with proper timing.
But, Moniker has been circling the drain since Monte’s departure.
So …par for the course.
On behalf of KeyDrive, KeySystems, Moniker and SnapNames – we want to make the community aware that our PR was sent today at 6 pm ET and a client email is following.
We are excited about the acquisition and look forward to contributing to a flourishing industry!
PR – https://www.snapnames.com/pr/KeyDrive%20Moniker%20and%20SnapNames%20PR.pdf
Please don’t hesitate to direct questions to me regarding the acquisition at michelev@snapnames.com
In regards, to a few specific questions…
How will this acquisition affect my Moniker and SnapNames domains and accounts?
Names registered at Moniker will stay there. Moniker.com will continue to be managed under the Moniker and SnapNames registrar credentials.
Domains purchased or sold through SnapNames will continue to leverage the same interface and technology.
Should I continue to contact Moniker and SnapNames client services and sales?
Yes. Customers should continue to rely on existing relationships using the same phone number, emails and support portals. As such a key initiative is to increase our client services operations.
Thank you!
Michele
Thanks for the info and glad to see notices are going out
Also see Moniker.com has been updated with a notice on top
Well done.
We only have best wishes for the Snapnames.com/Moniker/KeySystems ongoing
Regarding Snapnames: Just for the record, let’s not forget the FACT that current GM Craig Snyder was CEO of iReit while iReit was buying domains from Snapnames shill bidder Nelson Brady.
Regarding Moniker: Then of course there was the security breach by Chef Patrick with no repercussions to anyone at Moniker (that I read about).
Let’s hope KeySystems cleans house and can develop a good reputation.
So far they are off to a SLOW start.
Glad to see they are announcing the purchase to their customer AFTER Mike Berkens felt compelled to post this blog post.
For what it’s worth, Oversee’s acquisition of Moniker closed on December 14, 2007. The post on DNN you reference is from January 3.
So KeyDrive actually sent a communication to its customers much sooner than Oversee did when it acquired Moniker.
The difference here is that KeyDrive let the news out earlier, and I agree that it would have been smart to send out a communication to existing customers at the same time.
John Mauriello kindly answered my questions on Andrew Alleman’s blog February 7th:
Louise-
(1) Will Moniker customers stay with the Moniker control panel and : MONIKER: Yes and there will be improvements and modifications to increase usability.
(2) familiar cust svc reps like Carla, David, Glenda, Jonathan Stanfill, and Korie? MONIKER: Yes these Client Service reps have been retained with the acquisition and we are committed to improving the Client services experience at both Moniker and Snapnames going forward through several programs including hiring and training addition CS reps and Managers. We appreciate your patience while we complete this and welcome your feedback