Fee for Auth Codes - Any Recourse?

[ExampleName]

Hi, I did a quick search for "charge for auth codes" and "fee for auth codes" and didn't find it covered on Namepros... though I'm sure someone out there will probably direct me to an existing thread. XD

Anyway...

I caught a dropping domain name through Pool.com, they gave it to a registrar, and that registrar now says I have to pay them an additional fee for the auth code to transfer out.

Making it much creepier is the fact that this registrar thinks I'm an idiot and keeps telling me "There's no reason to transfer, we can point the nameserves for you. You never need to transfer."


So... I'm sure this surprises no one but me. (Never heard of this practice before - charging for transfer out.)


Do I have any wiggle room? Can I get out of this, or do I have to pay the hostage fee?

Since they don't want to do something other registrars are doing for free, and to keep my domain I have to either pay them to renew or pay to transfer, that's what I'm calling it. :D lol

I never agreed to these terms - Pool set me to them without any choice of my own...



For further clarification, everything has to be done via personal e-mail correspondance, but I don't know if I'm talking to a person or an automated system.


Thanks in advance for any help anyone can provide... again, a lot of you will wonder how the heck I didn't know this happened to people, but I've owned domains for ten years with probably five or six different companies and I was lucky enough to never have anyone ask for a transfer-out fee.

 

[ExampleName]

We should all pool our funds and get a TLD.

.pointless, .ugh, or better yet just .tld

:B

 

[Name Trader]

As you can see, the standards to run a registrar are quite low.
If you think the Wild West era we're having now is going to milden over time wait for the hundreds or thousands of new TLDs around the corner, registries and registrars doing as they please and don't turn to toothless icann for help.

I wouldn't say that ICANN were toothless but rather that they prefer not to chew.

 

[Kate]

The dog doesn't bite, and it doesn't bark either :talk:

 

[DU]

The dog doesn't bite, and it doesn't bark either :talk:

But it lifts its leg on you..

 

[RazorNF]

I win! :D

Congrats, glad it worked out. Hate to think how many times they pulled of this scam though.

 

[ExampleName]

Final update - One week later, the transfer is completed.