So basically, one of the "bigger" names in domain registration sold some domain names last year on sale, so I got one and tried that registrar out.
A year later; no emails about renewal and just went to the site to see the holding page.
I then goto the account to renew it and see it cannot be renewed, I then raised a support ticket which was then not replied to - 6 hours later I call them to be told they want a redemption fee (7.5x the cost of the domain too).
Surely a registrar cannot just not send e-mails and then say you must pay their redemption fee at the end.
To top it off they also said the domain is auctioned instead of just being dropped at the end of redemption.
I have now asked for them to scan mail logs to find if anything was sent, as I use Live Domains on the e-mail on file and a search in their shows nothing.
P.S - Its not a LET/LEB provider before anyone says anything. Its 123-reg.