Haha, this remind me of an old story 4 years ago when I really know what's a domain is.
I think of the domain name, and I went to a host (cihost) and subscribe for a hosting plans and that domain name. The domain name at that time cost $70! And the web hosting is around $200, wow wow wow ... I just fill up the form, because I am paying with check, I never expect them to give me anything before they receive my check.
What happens? I then receive a few emails, some from the host saying that my accout is setup and another from network solution saying I have register the domain name and send me an invoice!!! I check the whois database and the my name appeared. CIHosts has register the domain name for me without paying it.
2-3 days later. I found a better hosts, which is much more cheaper. So I thought of hosting with them. I email CIHost saying I want to terminate my account and since it is within 30 days money back guarantee, I tell them I won't pay them anything.
But when comes to tranferring the domain name, I got an headace. When I 'transfer', before I can really agree, CIHost already posted a reply to disagree, not releasing my domain claiming I didn't pay them. I have tried a few times and then always get faster then me.
I really don't know what to do as my experience with domain names systems and web hosting is so limited. But later I went to network solutions. Login and request a change of ALL contacts information to my own. It is done succesfully. I can then transfer my domain to my new host. From that time onwards, I always make sure all the contacts in all my domains are under my name.
What I am unhappy is when I ask the new hosts what can I do if my old host refuse to release my domain name and they told me I can't do anything.
!["" "[mad]"]("graemlins/mad.gif")
Luckily I didn't give up.