Unbeknown to us, we had a client that fell for the Domain Registry Of America "renewal" forms that come in the mail. They sent their 3 year renewal. They were never able to complete the process of obtaining the authorization code and ultimately the transfer was canceled. In the meantime the domain expired at Domain Bank (now owned by Dotster). The client then pays Domain Bank to get it turned back on. But nothing happened. It turns out that DROA was apparently resubmitting the transfer request and somehow in this process, Domain Bank failed to reject the transfer and away it went - with no authorization code.
At this point DROA had already shut the account down because the transfer had officially failed - but they had the domain anyway. They wouldn't turn it on until they were able to charge the client's card again - this is after they just paid Domain Bank.
We spent some 4 hours online and on the phone with these guys over two days.
They finally made it right. But it could have been a disaster. DROA needs to stop slamming registrations. And Domain Bank or Dotster needs to ensure they never transfer a domain without the proper codes.
This is surely a violation of the ICANN policy.
