VeriSign sent me a “Domain Name Renewal Form”, odd considering that my domain wasn’t registered through VeriSign. I considered that my host might be in a reseller-relationship with them, but that doesn’t turn out to be the case. An uncritical scan of the form would lead one to believe that their domain’s registrar was VeriSign, that the registration expires two and a half months before it actually does, and that filling out the form is simply business as usual. The word “transfer” is only used once on the front of the form. An uninformed person would only work out the true nature of the form after reading the terms and conditions in small print on the back: “[Y]ou hereby authorize us to transfer the registration of your domain name(s) from your current registrar to VeriSign.” I can easily imagine someone in the accounts payable department of a company quickly scanning this form, vaguely recognizing the VeriSign name, and sending off a check and filing it away.
This little piece of misdirection is pretty mild compared to the neglect and contempt that VeriSign recently offered one of their paying customers.