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Ask HN: whither Billmonk?
My roommates and I have been happily using Billmonk (http://www.billmonk.com) for years. Today, it appears to have vanished. I knew the service wasn't really being actively developed since the Obopay acquisition, but that's OK, it was perfect for us as it was! I don't recall seeing any "we're shutting down" message, and there's no status blog I could find - the company blog has been dormant for over a year.
So, with that:
1) Does anyone here know what's up with Billmonk - are they just having a nasty server problem that they're not motivated enough to fix, or has the plug been pulled sans announcement?
2) Anyone have contact info for the [former] Billmonks? (I believe they were a YC company? Not 100% sure.) My roommates and I have some valuable (to us, no one else) data in there... at a minimum, we'd like to have our final totals so we can settle up; ideally, we'd love to have our history.
- vecter 16y agoI would gladly pay to use this service. Maybe they should monetize it with a subscription service.
- novum 16y agoI was an active, very satisfied Billmonk user with 9 or 10 friends. It was aggravating when Billmonk started choking; worse still when the degradation made the app more or less unusable. If you're in the same boat, we've since moved to http://www.splitmybill.ie http://www.splitmybill.ie -- a service that has more or less duplicated Billmonk's use cases. Very basic, but meets our needs.
- usaar333 16y agoI'm glad my roommates switched to splitmybill.ie last month when it seemed billmonk was really beginning to die. I still prefer the billmonk interface, but splitmybill works. The ability to get export history from billmonk would be great though.
- alx 16y agoThanks for splitmybill.ie link, I hope they'll release some export method, otherwise we've just long a year long debt list with my flatmates :/ Funny how this kind of website is really useful.
- aberkowitz 16y agoThey got bought by obopay.com in 2007, so you could try contacting Billmonk through them. Both their blog and twitter (@BillmonkFriends) are long dead.
- foxywfu 16y agoObopay's contact info: Obopay, Inc. 350 Marine Parkway, Suite 100 Redwood City, CA 94065 Main Office - 650-264-2000 General inquiries: info@obopay.com Support: If you can't find the information you need, please contact us by calling our customer support hotline at 888-8-OBOPAY (888-862-6729) or 650-264-2100.
- rumpelstiltzkin 16y agoI called the 650 number and spoke to customer support at Obopay. The lady told me that they are actively working on getting Billmonk up and running and that it should be up today (Monday Sept. 13th). I also recommended she let the concerned folks @ Obopay (no pun intended) know that there are rumours out on the internet that billmonk is down for good and that a lot of people, who maintain their accounts and have money owed to them, are getting antsy. Hopefully there will be official word from the guys @ Obopay very soon. HTH.
- goberoi 16y agoThanks for posting this question here kgrin. I'm one of the co-founders of BillMonk, and like you, am disappointed to see that the service is down without any warning or follow up information. I haven't been at Obopay since late 2007, so don't have much knowledge about how BillMonk is being handled today. However I reached out the company and will be speaking with them this week. I can't promise that there will be any sort of resolution, but I will strongly encourage the company to (a) clearly communicate to users about what's happening with the service on the BillMonk blog (outage or shut down), and (b) if the plan is in fact to shut down BillMonk, to provide users with a way to export their data. Please check the BillMonk blog (http://blog.billmonk.com http://blog.billmonk.com) over the next week or two for updates - hopefully the company will post an update there. I'll also monitor this post to answer any follow up questions.
- swindsor 16y agoSad! I worked for Obopay and on Billmonk with Chuck and Gaurav a few years ago. I hope to see the site back up and explanation on what happened.
- credo 16y agoGaurav, http://billmonk.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/billmonk-now-on-twitter/#comment-37419 http://billmonk.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/billmonk-now-on-twi... lists you as the author of the comment. However, I'm assuming that you didn't write that comment. In case, that comment was spoofed, you may want to write a disclaimer
- goberoi 16y agoWoah, thanks for pointing that out. How unfortunate and confusing. I took your advice and posted a clarifying comment. Sigh... http://billmonk.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/billmonk-now-on-twitter/#comment-37430 http://billmonk.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/billmonk-now-on-twi...
- Shariff 16y agoThanks Vivek and we will be waiting for the outcome of your discussions with Billmonk..kindly push them to bring the site back up.. if that requires any donation so be it..
- rfugger 16y agoHmmm... I actually just loaded billmonk.com last night after a couple of years of not checking on it and it loaded fine. Today, no dice.
- ashish01 16y agoI am in the same boat. Though the site has been unstable for a while it totally died today. @goberoi please convince them to let users export all the transactions. Thanks
- TeHCrAzY 16y agohttp://billmonk.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/billmonk-now-on-twitter/#comment-37419 http://billmonk.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/billmonk-now-on-twi... A comment has been posted on their blog.
- ajj 16y agoIts really bad that they've shut it down without any notice, at least for people to note down their data.
- goberoi 16y agoThat comment was not written by me, Gaurav Oberoi. I've posted a follow up: http://billmonk.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/billmonk-now-on-twitter/#comment-37430 http://billmonk.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/billmonk-now-on-twi...
- mrshoe 16y agoMy friends and I have been happily using Mr. Moneybags for some time now. Give it a try: http://itunes.apple.com/app/mr-moneybags-iou/id342122272?mt=8 http://itunes.apple.com/app/mr-moneybags-iou/id342122272?mt=...
- plusbryan 16y ago"public shaming" is an amusing feature
- chrismsnz 16y agoUnfortunate... I've noticed they've been more and more unrealiable over the last few months - i.e. random fatal errors, recurring bills going weeks without occurring. I even recently started developing a clone for my flatmates and I to use in Django, shame it couldn't wait until it was ready :)
- rottencupcakes 16y agoThank god for the cache. If you grep through your cache files for "layout.addDataset", that line of code is what draws the pie chart of what you're owed on your dash. That page is likely to have your biggest debts and loans. Good Luck.
- crazyg33k 16y agoI don't really care if billmonk comes back up or not, as long as I'm given back my data! There are umpteen number of sites out there which provide a similar (and now I can say, more reliable) service....
- crazyg33k 16y agoNo offense meant Gaurav.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- foxywfu 16y agoIt was up for a little while this morning and I was able to get a screenshot of the front page (so I know totals) but I couldn't download the actual transactions. Back down again.
- mrduncan 16y agoAlthough it's not really under development anymore (due to lack of time), http://billpad.com http://billpad.com is another alternative. [Disclosure: I'm one of the founders of BillPad]
- j3lunt 16y agoI just received word... "We just received the latest word that BillMonk is targeted to be back up and operational by Monday (9/20/2010) afternoon. We have done some upgrades and modifications to the software that will make it better than before."