I have registered my website www.thedomesticgypsy.com
Last week I received a very official looking invoice from this company tell me to renew for one year at $40.00. I did not read all the fine print - my fault for sure - but as I was expecting this bill I paid it. I then received an email telling me to provide them with an EPP code so they could unlock my website. At that point I contacted my web designer and she told me that all registrations should go through her and that this was a trick and many people have been fooled by it. The invoice says it is a solicitation but we are all busy and sometimes we don't have time to read everhthing. I do not believe this is illegal, but it does not speak well of the ethics of this company.
If you receive this "invoice" DO NOT PAY IT. More importantly, DO NOT PROVIDE ANYONE WITH YOUR EPP CODE FOR YOUR WEBSITE.
ps a domain renewal is $15 - NOT $40.