

Ask HN: whither Billmonk? - kgrin

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.<p>So, with that:<p>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?<p>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.
======
goberoi
Thanks 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>) 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.

~~~
credo
Gaurav, [http://billmonk.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/billmonk-now-on-
twi...](http://billmonk.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/billmonk-now-on-
twitter/#comment-37419) 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
Woah, 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-
twi...](http://billmonk.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/billmonk-now-on-
twitter/#comment-37430)

------
rottencupcakes
Thank 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.

------
novum
I 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>
\-- a service that has more or less duplicated Billmonk's use cases. Very
basic, but meets our needs.

~~~
usaar333
I'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.

------
j3lunt
I 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."

------
crazyg33k
I 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
No offense meant Gaurav.

------
chrismsnz
Unfortunate...

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 :)

------
mrshoe
My 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=...](http://itunes.apple.com/app/mr-moneybags-
iou/id342122272?mt=8)

~~~
plusbryan
"public shaming" is an amusing feature

------
mrduncan
Although it's not really under development anymore (due to lack of time),
<http://billpad.com> is another alternative.

[Disclosure: I'm one of the founders of BillPad]

------
TeHCrAzY
[http://billmonk.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/billmonk-now-on-
twi...](http://billmonk.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/billmonk-now-on-
twitter/#comment-37419)

A comment has been posted on their blog.

~~~
goberoi
That comment was not written by me, Gaurav Oberoi. I've posted a follow up:
[http://billmonk.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/billmonk-now-on-
twi...](http://billmonk.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/billmonk-now-on-
twitter/#comment-37430)

------
foxywfu
It 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.

------
ashish01
I 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

------
aberkowitz
They 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
Obopay'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
I 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.

------
rfugger
Hmmm... 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.

------
vecter
I would gladly pay to use this service. Maybe they should monetize it with a
subscription service.

