Thanks nam6641, I have researched it. This situation marks a striking resemblance to a situation that happened to a member named Nova of another major domain forum.
I will add some more details.
In both cases, there was someone who placed the first bid and then deleted it prior to the close of the pre-release.
As this is a name that I am very interested in, I was following it closely but waiting to put in my bid until the closing minutes as to not draw attention to the name. I had seen that there was an initial bid by someone else, but I was still waiting to place mine.
To my surprise, the initial bidder removed their bid late in the last hour. I waited, and placed my bid in the last few minutes prior to the close of the pre-release.
Again, at the time of the close of the pre-release, I was the sole bidder.
After the close of the pre-release, the name showed as "pending auction" in my account. I now understand this is normal. BUT the next day, it changed from "pending auction" to being in my "wish list". This is something that happened AFTER the close of the pre-release.
Checking the Whois information, which I have been doing all along, it still shows that the original registrant has not renewed the name.
So this is not a case where the original registrant renews the name during the grace period.
I've supplied Namejet with several support tickets, but they have not been helpful.
They have responded that either the original registrant has renewed the domain(which they have not) and that the registrar reserves the right to pull the name from pre-release at any time for any reason.
This is extremely frustrating. I am waiting for another response from them.
I know this has happened to others. What do you think? I don't know what to do.
It seems unfair that I would not be awarded the name after being the only bidder at the close of the pre-release and the original registrant has still not renewed the name.
---------- Post added at 10:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:46 AM ----------
Here is another similar thread.
http://www.namepros.com/domain-name-discussion/607196-namejet-doesnt-secure-drop-picked-up.html
My situation is a bit difference as it happened to me with a pre-release. But in the thread you can see that it also happened to ThreeD in post 22 where they were the sole bidder on a pre-release name.