Sadly it’s Deja Vu for the estate of Jane Angela Maginsky Pantalone Both. I wrote about her passing and her blockchain related domains expiring in January of 2018.
Back then over 100 domains and $100,000 in expired domain auction sales transacted.
After this took place Paul Nicks and I talked and GoDaddy did donate some of the proceeds to charity. I wanted to publish that, but Paul said they weren’t doing it as a PR move, which I understood. I just wanted people to know they did do something.
Now Jane’s son left a reply on Namepros which I included in the 2018 article.
Jane’s Daughter
In 2019 another lady Leah, who said she was Jane’s Daughter left a long comment and gave her side of what actually happened.
I am Jane Pantalone’s daughter. The loss of my Mother was a huge loss to the world. She helped so many people throughout her life, and as stated, was very ahead of her time. The smartest woman I’ll ever know. I’m so very lucky to call her Mom.
Things are not as they seem.. and it’s time I got this off my chest and reveal the truth of how GoDaddy ‘handled’ this unfortunate situation.
She did, in fact, have a plan in place in the event of her death. Her executor, the Estate Administrator, (another family member, not my brother) contacted GoDaddy with the necessary info that she left him. He completed the steps and procedures, and supplied all documents that were required and requested by GoDaddy to gain access and transfer ownership.
GoDaddy denied him access.
DAYS later, they auctioned off her domains and made over $150,000.
GoDaddy rep, Paul Nicks (VP & GM), then proceeded to contact my brother (via NamePros) informing him that they’d be making a $16,000 donation to the NYPD in her honor (an effort close to her heart, as she set up a 9/11 relief fund for the disaster victims and raised over $1 million in donations and provisions).
If that wasn’t a blatant attempt at pacification for their wrong doing, I do not know what is.
In the thread on NamePros (https://www.namepros.com/threads/someone-is-letting-blockchain-domains-drop-and-theyre-selling-like-hot-cakes.1060298/), Paul claims to have not known of my mother’s death (could be true for him personally, but not GoDaddy) and that they unsuccessfully attempted reaching out to us. This is FALSE. Her executor was in contact with and followed GoDaddy’s procedures to transfer the account. He was DENIED access after completing all requirements.
I’m not upset at the potential loss of any money. My Mom isn’t here to enjoy it herself so it doesn’t matter.
What upsets and disgusts, me is that my mother worked so hard, came SO far, was so intelligent, and GoDaddy blatantly, greedily, and unlawfully reaped the rewards of her hard work.
I’ve waited a long time to write this, and no one may even care, but I had to get it off my chest.
Thank you.
I replied back to Leah right away but she never came back and left another comment.
Deja Vu – 24 Domains expire Thursday
So Thursday saw another 24 of Jane’s names expire. In total 26 Blockchain related domain names expired at GoDaddy auctions. There were only 20 reported sales in 2020 before this. Two of the names belonged to a lawyer in California. They were blockchainquest.com and blockchainhunt.com.
It’s sad to see more of Jane’s domains expire and the money not go to family or causes she loved and supported.
Feel really bad for the family. This is also a lesson to be learned by all domain name investors to have some sort of fool-proof plan in place. Domains are not like property/car which can be transferred easily. GoDaddy.com should look into its policies once again. They are already making good money.
GoDaddy is so full of greed it makes me SICK.
I moved all my names out years ago and I sleep a lot better ever since. Don’t trust these greedy punks with your ASSETS!
Wow. That is super-low. It makes me sick that GoDaddy did this. Scum.
I wonder why more names dropped? They gave up?
Why 2 years later and same deal?
I suspect much more to family dynamics …then and now.
It will be great if GD pays 80% of the sales proceeds to the family imo.
a lot of those names aren’t worth much of anything. i saw a bunch go to closeouts and they weren’t worth the registration fee.
I can only say Paul Nicks at GD has been nothing but highly professional and very compassionate in terms of helping recover several stolen domains over the years I have approached him about. I do not see Paul having anything to do with a decision in terms of ultimate choices by GD in regards to said matter. If anything I would bet Paul was the one who pushed GD to do “something”. He seems to champion for the little guy (domainer and non).
I can say that we are assuming that what she says is 100% the case and there was no valid reason for GD to reject the account transfer…did a lawyer for another family member oppose it etc etc etc. Would need both sides before passing judgement.
Like I said, not sure why exactly this happened but Paul Nicks has been nothing but the best for several domainer’s who needed help. I would call on him again and again he would help even though it wasn’t even in his department. Until we as a community need your help again Paul, take care.
I think what happened to this woman’s names is terrible but it was her planning.
If someone will notify their estate, Epik will fund the domain transfers and then run a 1 year sales process and pass through 100% of the proceeds to their estate.
Good to know Rob.
I thought Facebook can give back the accounts of the deceased to family members and why can’t GD?
Does Godaddy have a policy in place that would allow an account to be transferred to the deceased’s executor?
Just read the daughter’s comments — WOW. Assuming the communications between the executor and Godaddy have all been saved/documented, how is Godaddy not financially liable to the estate for financial loss on the auctioned domains?
Seems like we are still missing some critical info. Why didn’t the family lawyer sue GoDaddy? What’s Godaddy’s side of the story? How long before expiration had Godaddy been contacted by the family? Hmmm, some things aren’t adding up.
I don’t know anything more than the rest of us here do about the unfortunate Jane Both domain situation, however in my experience helping the family and estates of deceased domain owners rescue and manage domain names, I have had nothing but great experiences when working with Paul Nicks, Joe Styler, and other GoDaddy team members who are highly ethical people. In the cases I have worked on, GoDaddy has always tried to do the right thing to help family members and estates deal with this challenging issue. A lot of times the good deeds that GoDaddy does go unreported and unrecognized. People are quick to point fingers and lay blame, but there are always two sides to every story, and so far we’ve only heard one side of the Jane Both story.