Daniel: While I don't know specifically, I don't believe this is anything intentional on NSI's part but is rather an artifact of their billing systems. I've known for a long time that their billing systems frequently lag current registration data by months, sometimes many. My guess is that the invoices are entered into the billing system at some time prior to the due date of a domain and are not updated regardless of what happens to the domain registration. At least that was the apparent situation the last time I tried to trace such a problem. They've made a lot of changes in receint history, so who knows if this behavior is changing. I wonder if anyone on this list has real knowledge of the billing processes at NSI? Related to this, you should be warning your customers of the bogus "FINAL NOTICE" scam that is unrelated to Network Solutions. You can see an older copy at the following URL. Note also that there have been a few variations of this. If you do have customers who are still receiving these, let me know. I've been asked to pass on contact information for further investigation of these. http://www.gaslightmedia.com/final-notice.gif Chuck Scott Gaslight Media cscott@gaslightmedia.com On Fri, 5 Jan 2001, Daniel Senie wrote:
For those who haven't already seen this, Network Solutions is sending "FINAL NOTICE" bills to domain holders who've transferred their names to other registrars. Many people get nervious when they receive something which looks official and says "your domain name will be repossessed" or something like that.
I have been advising clients to file complaints with the Federal Trade Commission. This is a flagrant attempt to bilk end users. It is unclear if those who DO pay wind up getting their domains transferred back to Network Solutions, or if they just pocket the money.
Anyone from the press who wants some choice quotes from me on this matter, feel free to contact me.
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Daniel Senie dts@senie.com Amaranth Networks Inc. http://www.amaranth.com