£200 to renew a com in redemption period?!

[Alien]

I've realised today a .com I've had for years needs renewing and I'd totally forgotten about it.

It's via Fasthosts and as it's not in my admin area anymore I e-mailed them for help.

I'm informed as it's in redemption period now, it will cost £200 + VAT to renew for the 'fees'. I'd like to keep the domain, but I'm not so bothered as to be robbed on this scale. :sad:

They say:

Upon checking here, your ******.com is no longer available on the account because it is already in redemption period. I have provided you the whois details of your domain.

Domain Name: ******
Registrar: TUCOWS.COM CO.
Whois Server: whois.tucows.com
Referral URL: http://domainhelp.opensrs.net
Name Server: *****
Name Server: *****
Status: redemptionPeriod
Updated Date: 28-nov-2012
Creation Date: 18-oct-2003
Expiration Date: 18-oct-2012

To redeem the domain name during the redemption period, a charge of £200 plus VAT will be levied. These fees cover the registrar fees, admin and renewal fees.

If you wish to redeem the domain, please confirm you accept the £200 + VAT charge and will forward this to our Domains Team for the process.

How on earth do they justify this kind of money? It's quite ridiculous! LOL.

It will be cheaper to let it drop, then try and catch the name.

 

[Admin]

I've had this too with 123-reg but it's not that expensive, £40 I think. Maybe quote that cost from a competitor to ask how they justify it!

As you say let it drop and try to catch it could be cheaper if you want to take the risk.

Admin

 

[sdsinc]

For .com the out of redemption fee generally is in the $80-$200 bracket. Sometimes more...

Obviously if you let it drop there is no guarantee you'll ever be able to register it again , especially with the vacuum cleaners like Reberry swallowing anything semi-decent in the drops

 

[namealot]

Done it plenty of times accounts long forgotten with cards now out of date it’s a pain Now always check the registrars out some are much better more lenient than others.If you have enough names then the "how do i do bulk transfers stating reasons as your charge means its not worth using there services anymore" has worked for me in the past? you don't have to move the threat is often enough Its worth checking if you can backorder it with them that’s normally a cheaper option allthough no guarantee but if it not worth the 200 then even if one of the snap name type nab it likely it will drop in a year or two..