Registrar renewed domains for themselves

[domainsagain09]

No wanting to pay rip off fees at one registrar for another year, i decided to let them expire and then renew them with someone else - the domains were obscure names so decided to take the risk that no one else would reg them. I emailed registrar to check that if i didn't renew they wouldn't hit me with some weird clause and they said :

For the domain name you no-longer require you can just ignore all the reminder notices and they will be deleted approximately 60 -65 days after the expiry date.

When i checked after expiry i saw that whois said domains still in my name but they had disappeared from my control panel; quered this with the registrar and they said that....the domains had accidently been renewed by them and they were trying to sell them to recoup thier costs. They agreed to let me pay the two years renewal on one of them and i did this because it was the one i most wanted. However i have now found a use for one of the others...and want it back...if it had been deleted as they said, i would have been able to pick it back up with a cheaper registrar by now - but as it is i am faced with putting nineteen quid sterling into thier grubby paws or not having their domain. Does this sound dodgey to anyone...in thier email to me they said names would be deleted if i did not renew, is that fact they renewed them for themselves illegal? Odd to have a domain listed as mine in whois when i don't actaully own it or have control over it.

 

[cobainer]

Welcome to the world of domaining... you've got only yourself to blame here as you left them to be deleted...

 

[FreshAvails.com]

You can't be serious. As soon as you let it expire, it is out of your control. Maybe next time you will transfer the domains before it expires. I have heard the "It was really obsure and noone would ever think of it or want it" argument before. Odds are you are wrong. Take responsibility yourself and chalk this one up to a lesson in protecting your interests. The good news is it will not likely happen again. Good luck.

 

[Dave_Z]

No wanting to pay rip off fees at one registrar for another year, i decided to let them expire and then renew them with someone else

Lots of people thought that...and eventually paid a high price. Try not to be
one of them.

If it's especially a .com being discussed here, it's autorenewed the moment it
expires and its sponsoring registrar billed. The registrar can be refunded if it's
deleted within its 45-day period.

Your post rather leads me to think you're dealing with a reseller for a registrar
instead, who doesn't have that same power as the latter. Whether what they
did is "illegal" or not depends on any applicable law with your respective areas
of jurisdiction.

More details might be needed to give a possibly more accurate answer.