GD has done the same thing too. New user accounts usually undergo enhanced verification.
What can happen is that if you don't verify payment within 5 days, the names are cancelled within grace delete period (limited loss for the registrar).
Also, as per Icann rules they are normally required to verify your E-mail address. If you don't click on that link, then... yes I think the worst can happen. Welcome to the 21st century, the era of
compliance and obedience.
Most likely, their mails were trapped as spam, so you didn't get them. End of the story. A good percentage of legitimate mail ends up as spam and never makes it to the intended destination. So whose fault is it ? Not always easy to tell.
It's one reason why I have always run my own mail servers:
- privacy
- security
- flexibility: in particular control over whitelisting
Many legitimate providers still send mail that doesn't pass standard validation routines, for example lack of PTR records, or worse a misconfigured SPF record or an invalid DKIM signature. I even had to whitelist escrow.com in the past.
However I don't think it is right to charge you without providing service. I would like to hear their justification on that and the timeline of events.
PS: they don't seem to be an Icann-accredited registrar, so they must be a reseller. It means your only recourse is the upstream registrar. Had they been accredited Icann could have forced them to investigate the case, and produce logs and forensic evidence.
PS2: avoid resellers, only use accredited registrars. If you have a problem with a reseller (often a one-man show) it is not certain that the registrar will even be willing to help and Icann is normally unlikely to be able to do anything.