Domain site is forcing me to pay a fine

[Cleora]

Basically such and such domain site is trying to charge myself and my manager a $150.00USD FINE to move domains.

We found a cheaper and better site, but before we are ALLOWED to leave we have to pay the fine.

We have been waiting for them to send us a code that would allow us to leave fine-free BUT THEY WONT SEND IT. It's been over 2 weeks!!

To top things off, myself and my manager are canadian, so $150 USD fine is a $187.70 CAD fine!! And my manager has been chatting back and forth on the site but I get updated automatically with emails if anyone responds.

ANDDDD if we don't pay the fine, then they say it will go back up on the market for anyone to buy and that we WILL loose it FOREVER. (Basically saying pay up or it will 100% be taken over)

All we want to do is move our old services from this domain site to another, cheaper, and better staffed one. My manager has paid all the payments but they want more because we are leaving them for one of their competitors. My best guess is they looked at X amount of MONTHS we have been using them for, and are now charging us around the total of the total amount of months we have been paying just to get some extra cash.

Screenshot: Inbox - Cleora ‎- Mail (gyazo.com)

Any tips?
(This is all I've gathered from the emails and there could be more to it that I don't yet know about, but that's about it)

 

[Zyger]

The domain site you're using doesn't have any control over it.

When the domain wasn't renewed, ICANN moved it into the redemption period, and it can only be recovered if you pay the fee that they set.

This is why you need to make sure that you don't let your domains expire.

 

[Cleora]

What site is this?

Also, if it goes back to market then shouldnt you be able to snatch it back up on your better site?

no-ip

 

[Lemoncat]

I know for expiration of some domain it is 15 bucks i had it happen once or twice to me, but what kind of TLD are we speaking of here? Because 150 seems quite steep but perhaps that is just the price for some TLD's expiration and wanting to bring it back without opening up registration first for anyone to grab it.

 

[ChitterChatter]

The domain site you're using doesn't have any control over it.

When the domain wasn't renewed, ICANN moved it into the redemption period, and it can only be recovered if you pay the fee that they set.

This is why you need to make sure that you don't let your domains expire.

I didn't even know this was a thing! *ran to check her domain*

 

[Zyger]

Anyway there's 3 things you can do in this situation that I know of.

1) Wait until the domain goes public and attempt to register the domain yourself.

2) Use a domain backorder service to attempt to register the domain for you when it goes public, such as https://dropcatch.com for a fee of $59.

3) Pay the redemption fee of $150.