David,
An email received from our client this morning (below).  Includes a couple
of contact people which others may find handy to know:

<snip>
I contacted ACCC this morning and spoke to Michelle Coco.
Gave her the details of our complaint and she indicated that
they had received others in regards to IRA.  She said that
Francine Adams in their Canberra office would contact us
shortly.
I advised that there was never any mention of registry key
requirements on any of the original documentation (last years documentation)
upon
which payment was made and, that even when they sent
us a tax invoice which indicated that our domain name had
been renewed for the next two years, there was still no
mention of us having to provide our registry key.
Hopefully, we will get some sort of result.
Thanks for all your help so far.
Any advice in this matter is welcome.
</snip>

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Keegel" <djk&#167;cyber.com.au>
To: <dns&#167;lists.auda.org.au>
Sent: Thursday, May 23, 2002 9:46 AM
Subject: Re: [DNS] Interesting IRA


> While this is bad news for the client, there is a silver lining for
> the industry.  A case like this seems like a pretty straightforward
> one for the ACCC to look at: supplier has offered a service, client
> has actually paid for that service (Sep 2001), service has not been
> delivered, and supplier has apparently refused to give a refund.
>
> Can you please make absolutely sure that the client does actually
> complain to the ACCC as quickly as possible.  The ACCC can only
> do its job based on the information it has at hand.
>
> Unfortunately (for the industry) this case is complicated by the
> fact that the domain can't actually be renewed through Melb IT
> until 60 days before it expires (apparently 24th June 2002).
>
> But it definitely sounds like something the ACCC needs to know
> about, and which hopefully might provide ACCC with a basis for
> action.
>
> ] I have a new IRA story from one of my clients today. It's unbelievable!
> ]
> ] We registed a new .com.au for our client in Aug 2000
> ]
> ] IRA send out a renewal notice in SEP 2001 and the client paid it - $251
for
> ] two years - this was part of their "get a free .biz domain name).
> ]
> ] IRA send out another invoice to our client today - $251 and a request
for
> ] the Registry Key (which I have thank God and the client doesn't). So I
check
> ] the expiry date at INWW and its 24th Aug 2002.  That's right, this year.
IRA
> ] never renewed the registration.
> ]
> ] Called IRA and they say sorry about the second Invoice - "we must have
> ] doubled up" and they go on to say they need the Registry Key before the
> ] renewal can take place.  I say, "Not on your life are you going to get
the
> ] Registry Key", and they say they "cannot renew the domain without it".
> ]
> ] I ask what happens about the $251 already paid - we'll accept a refund
and
> ] they so, "Not likely - that was part of the terms and conditions.  Just
> ] provide us with the Registry Key so we can renew the domain".
> ]
> ] So I say I will get the client to contact the ACCC and they so, "That's
> ] fine".
> ]
> ] BTW, a check to see if the client received their .biz (WHOIS at IRA
site)
> ] revealed it is 'available to register'.
> ]
> ]
> ] Chas Cleland
>
> __________________________________________________________________________
>  David Keegel <djk&#167;cyber.com.au>  URL: http://www.cyber.com.au/users/djk/
> Cybersource P/L: Unix Systems Administration and TCP/IP network management
>
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