I have a friend who has been paying webtechs.net $900 per year for his website. I guess they do some seo work as well. He wants to move and I will host his site. I called them and they said as long as his hosting contract was up that they would allow him to transfer his domain name elsewhere. He had paid in advance for 5 years on the domain through that company. Now a month later when we try to move they say we should have read the fine print and we should have given them 30 days notice before cancelling the contract. It wasn't cancelled, just not renewed. They won't release/transfer the domain name but said they would let him purchase 6months of hosting instead of paying for the year and only charge him $450 for hosting. What a deal LOL!! Can they do that? They are a reseller for net solutions so called them and they said we could transfer and would email me the info. They sent me the normal transfer instructions where you still need an auth code from a cooperating registrar. I guess BBB would be the next place to file a complaint & call net solutions again. I think the guy I spoke to thought they were releasing the name, not refusing.
You can contact Net Solutions and provide proof that the domain is for his business, there are also processes to follow with ICANN to help him get his domain.
Is the domain registered against this company or your friend? Hopefully it is registered against your friend. Anyway, have a read of: http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/transfers/name-holder-faqs As long as the domain is not being withheld for one of the reasons listed, contact another registrar (the one your friend wants to use, but it needs to be ICANN accredited) and they can initiate a dispute. You can find a list here: http://www.icann.org/registrar-reports/accredited-list.html
It's such a shame that the internet is flooded with resellers that offer the same services as the major hosts that they are reselling for. A lot of hosting resellers are scammers who run their small operations from their basement.
Thanks for the info! The hosting company used all their own info for the registration. The company called me back and said they will have to move the domain to their bulk account and then will give us the user / pass for admin on the domain in a few days. Guess they figured it was worth a shot just trying to get the client pay the extra fee but will transfer after asked a few times. Hopefully they will follow thru....