Time to follow up on the post from a few weeks back about those crooks at Domain Central; I have, finally, gotten everything resolved. I had to chase them up every step of the way, and it took three weeks, but they got there.
I intend to complain formally to the DNC about the whole thing. If nothing else, three weeks is not a “reasonable time” to fulfill my UDAI requests, and they came piecemeal at that – I had to follow up more than once to get each single code one at a time, despite asking for them all on the first day – and then when I did get it, it would be wrong. I wasn’t provided with the codes upon registration as required by DNC policy either.
In total, I had to send fourteen emails (in streaks of up to four without reply, each separated by at least a day) and use their live chat support service three times to chase it up. They gave me a “refund” that was only partial and tried to pass it off as the whole thing, and their 24-hour response guarantee for the complaints@domaincentral.com.au address is a total fiction. Twice, I had to wait an entire week before receiving even a token response, and I’m still waiting on the complaints one.
At this point, I’m genuinely not sure whether they’re just spectacularly incompetent or an actual criminal enterprise; either way, I’d recommend keeping your business elsewhere. I’d also recommend staying well clear of anything owned by their parent, Australian Style, which includes Bottle Domains, GetMac.com.au, and search.net.au. Unfortunately ASIC doesn’t provide the same sort of detail as the New Zealand Companies Office, so I can’t find out who’s actually behind it, but anything based at 50 Fitzroy St, St Kilda should raise some red flags.
I only used them for registrations under .nz, so I’ve transferred them all (after I finally got the UDAIs) to 1st Domains, with whom I’ve been pretty satisfied so far.