[tlug] domain registration/deletion problem

[Ulrike Schmidt <ulrike@example.com>]

Hi all,

I have a problem with my domain, which ends on "net", and although I am 
sitting in Germany and probably should seek legal advice here I would be 
very interested in learning how the following problem would be handled 
in the US or in Japan, since "net" is a general domain and I would not 
have this problem at all if my domain would end in "de".
The short version is that my provider did not pay and that the reseller 
between my provider and the registrar had my domain put on hold without 
contacting me, although I am listed as the owner of the domain with 
valid contact details and the existence of the reseller was not even 
known to me. The domain was disabled on August 1st and is not reachable 
up to today, although I have offered to pay from beginning. But I do 
have hopes that in the course of the next week the registrar might 
perhaps lower himself to put it back online again.
And here is the long version:

On the first of August I discovered that my website could not be reached 
anymore. The server was up, it was  my domain that was put "on hold 
(redemption period)". Although I am listed as owner contact with valid 
data I had never received any information that there was a problem with 
the domain.
I immediately called my provider and he said he would take care of it. 
When I returned from my holiday on the 10th of August nothing had 
happened. My Provider has some internal trouble, so I gave up on this 
end (totally hopeless) and called the "sponsoring registrar". They told 
me that my provider had failed to pay, that it would cost 47,40 € to 
restore the domain, that I should write an email to a certain address to 
the effect that I would pay for the restoration and that I want the 
AuthInfo for a domain transfer.
So I did on the 10th of August. One day later I got an email with a 
ticket number. Two days later I called and asked why my domain still was 
not restored. They told me, that I could expect the issue to  be 
resolved by the end of the week. Since I was willing to pay and not my 
provider the issue had to go through accounting first, or something like 
that. I was quite astonished.
The next day (13th of August) I phoned again, saying that obviously I 
had been operating on the false assumption that I was dealing with 
professionals who know what it means for a website to be disconnected 
for that amount of time. I said/wrote that am willing to pay, so why 
this delay? Everyday offline hurts my domain. I payed all bills I 
received, it is not my fault that the domain is offline, nevertheless I 
was willing to pay in the assumption this issue would be resolved 
quickly. If I loose my domain because they don't react I will not pay, 
rather they will have to pay me.
This did have some effect. After roughly 10 min. or more on hold the guy 
on the other side told me that there was a reseller between the 
registrar and my provider and that this reseller had to give the written 
permission to restore my domain, I should contact him.
So far I had not known about any reseller, he also does not appear in 
the whois record. I phoned the reseller. They told me I had to become 
their customer and pay 82 € for the restoration. And that the registrar 
first has to ask them in writing. I told them I would not want to become 
their customer and would rather agree with the registrar on the 47,40 €.
I phoned the registrar again and asked them to solve their communication 
problem with the reseller. The registrar promised to talk with the 
reseller and expected the domain to be online the same day. In the 
meantime is was Friday, August 21. On noon I got the first reply by the 
registrar ever to my ticket: they had contacted the reseller and were 
waiting for a reply. This is the last I heard from them.
On Monday, 24th of August the domain was still not restored. On Tuesday 
I called the reseller and asked him whether he had responded to the 
registrars question. He said he had refused the restore on Monday 
because I had refused to become a customer with them.
In the meantime I had found out that other customers of my provider with 
a "de" domain did not have this problem. The Denic had contacted them 
about the problem and asked them to name a different provider. So simple.
I asked the reseller why there was this problem with my net-domain and 
why he could not handle it the same way as the de-domains. He was the 
reseller of all these domains. Because the registrars handle it 
differently, was his reply.
We finally agreed that I would pay the restoration fee plus tax, 8,50 € 
for the domain and that I would be their customer for 60 days and then 
be able to transfer my domain. The whole process took another two days 
because there had been some misunderstandings about the way to transfer 
the money and proof the transfer. On the afternoon of Friday, August 
21st I got a mail from the reseller that they had asked the registrar to 
restore the domain and will keep me updated. The domain is still not 
restored, but with the pace of work I have seen from the registrar I 
might have to wait another week -> accounting and such.
I asked the boss of the reseller why they did not contact me in the 
first place. He said he contacted my provider, I should ask him for the 
money, he could not contact my providers customers. His company has been 
very helpful to me inspite of me not wanting to become their customer. 
My mistake was to take this provider and not their company. They had 
lost so much money because of my provider and still help me.
And what about my time and money? We would not have this problem at all 
if he had contacted me. My contact information was available. I did not 
know that he existed. I had no chance to find out about his existence 
before I threatened the registrar with legal consequences. What is this? 
Is this legal? No reply from the boss on these questions yet.
Also my problem is not only about the restoration fee. My site had quite 
a nice google ranking, second place after the book on which it is based. 
I have several other domains pointing on it now, but still my site 
cannot be found via google (i.e. most of the time, sometimes it happens, 
as I can see in the server log).
He says he cannot contact my provider's customers, but he can switch off 
their domains? Is this legal? On the side of  the registrar?
I searched a bit on the internet and so far only found this proposal 
from 2002: 
http://www.icann.org/en/registrars/redemption-proposal-14feb02.htm
I also tried to understand the registrars agreement: 
http://www.icann.org/en/registrars/ra-agreement-17may01.htm
But I could not find or understand the relevant part. Can anyone point 
me to more "human readable" information?
Best regards, Uli