Some people say that change can be good, but in the case of Fabulous, I’m not so sure.
To give you some background, I (and latterly my son Luke) have used Fabulous as our “parking page” provider for our domains for many years, and it has been just fantastic. Not only have we earned thousands of dollars each year from parking income (though we’d never get rich from just this!), but Fabulous has also given us the ability to sell loads of domains over the years. Not a day goes by when we don’t get at least one enquiry from one of our landing pages with a sales banner on it.
The other great thing about Fabulous is that it helps us comply with auDA policy (monetisation). Here’s an article I wrote about this last October.
Sad News
Fabulous is owned by Dark Blue Sea (DBS), and DBS is in turn owned by the Enero Group (a listed company on the ASX). Enero / DBS also formerly owned Drop.com.au.
DBS contracted Enom (based in the USA) to manage the Fabulous platform for them many years ago. Enom in turn engaged Cameron Bell and Katherine Bell (no relation) to be their frontline troops and run most facets of the business. They have done so in exemplary fashion for a number of years from Brisbane. One of the many things they were responsible for was customer service, and they simply excelled at that.
Earlier this year Tucows bought out Enom, and Enom has now decided to dispense with the services of Cam and Kat as from August 31st. Support is now solely managed from the USA.
One of the main reasons I have stayed loyal to Fabulous over many years is down to the customer service I received from Cam and Kat (who as I said previously are both based in Brisbane). If I had a problem, a quick phone call or email would always sort things out. I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that – they had many happy customers from all over the world. As an added benefit, Cam and Kat became good friends. Let’s hope service continues in a similar vein.
There is also some talk within the industry that Fabulous may be up for sale, but I guess that can also be true about loads of registrars. We’ll have to wait and see what transpires.
Conclusion
I don’t know what the future holds for Fabulous, so I’m looking for a different provider. Or I might just start my own!
But in the meantime, here’s a big thanks to Cam and Kat for all your wonderful service over the years, and best wishes for the future.
Ned O’Meara – 13th September 2017
Sad to see, this was a great company back in the day. Hit hard by the parking decline and their domain sales platform (domain distribution network) was very novel but eventually copied by large registrars. Was an ASX listed company for quite a long time.
https://hotcopper.com.au/asx/dbs/
Sad news. I wish Cam and Kat all the best.
Cam, thank you for many years of great service. Don’t be a stranger! Kat, I didn’t know you but I wish you the best! Long live DeanFest!
An Aussie company that punched above its weight for many years. All the best to Cameron and Katherine.
Jeff
Oh Bugger, will miss them both.
Don
totally agree, cam and kat were “fabulous” , i have no doubt they will land on their feet
tim
Thanks for the love guys.
It’s bittersweet leaving Fabulous after more than 16 years, but it’s exciting to move onto something fresh.
Old friends are of course welcome to reach out and say Hi anytime, or if you brave Ipswich I’ll even buy you a beer.
i’ll remember that as my parents live in tivoli, down the end of moores pocket that went under in the flood
we put heaps of stuff up on benches at 90cm and the water came in at 89cm !!!
but we got the good stuff out first
Yes sad times for Fabulous.com such a great company!
But you can still reach out to Cam and Kat at drop.com.au and fabulous.com.au (just not the .com version)
Cheers
David
Bye bye Fabulous, you were my main registrar for a long time.
Thanks for the entire team there that I’ve worked and meet with over time. I hope our paths cross again in the future just as I’m lucky to still work with some of the ex-team (hi Jen and on occasion hi Mike).