I haven't logged into Network Solutions for years. Today I did, trying to transfer away a domain for one of my clients who has paid for their "penalty" 5 years in advance. I unlocked the domain there; and as an organized person, I also updated my email, phone number as well as my password and "secret question".
Now, about 20 minutes after I initiated the transfer at OpenSRS, I got an email from NetSol with the subject "Unable to Process Your Domain Transfer Request", because that domain "has been locked due to potentially suspicious activity in your account". My blood pressure immediately went up.
You could have guessed that by suspicious activity, they are referring to my updating of contact info and password. It turns out (after wasting another 8 minutes on the phone) that any such change within 7 days of a transfer request will be flagged, and the domain locked for 30 days. So consider this a warning, for those who still go with Network Solutions. I have not bought a single domain there for more than 5 years, even with my $7.95 transfer and $11.99 new registration pricing.
I'm not sure if it's my Gold VIP status (those who are stupid enough to have spent $1,500 with them; and I have spent way more than that on just 1 single day), but I was told that security lock will be removed in a couple of business days. I'm glad that I kind of foresee such little tricks, and have decided to start the ball almost 2 months ahead. No, I don't buy that it's for the good of the registrant (owner). I hate transfer-unfriendly registrars.

I've run into that as well. Pathetic.
Wasn't GoDaddy doing something similar as well? I haven't needed to deal with them in a while either, but seem to recall they would flag an account for 30 if you made any changes...

that is really a sad thing to happen....I hope nothing like this happens to me, I am in the process of transferring my domain from ixwebhosting to godaddy.

I had exactly the same experience. I firstly had to send them a photocopy of my ID. They unlocked the domain. I had changed all the details to myself ages ago (it was an account I received when I bought the domain). Sent in the transfer request. Everything ok for 2 days, then the message transfer canceled because I'd refused the transfer. Which I hadn't. It was this last weekend. I wanted the domain out of there. So I pushed it to my main account (well pulled it) and put in another transfer request. Transfer should complete today. Hopefully.
Going through this process made me realise that NetSol's purchase process is equally as bad as GoDaddy's, but I'd say more confusing.

With the proliferation of hijacking domains you can not really blame them. It's a simple security measure.
Remember netsol are the ones who allowed sex.com to be transferred away with a simple fax and that lead to years of court battles and millions of dollars of lost income.
When you login, change the password, address, phone etc and then try to transfer away MOST registrars might think something strange is going on. They need to protect themselves as well.
But there should be a way to expedite the issue (such as proof of ID etc).

Personally, I think that kind of security can be a good thing. Just think if it were a malicious user who got a-hold of that data and was able to transfer the domain away from you. Who would you blame then? Don't get me wrong, I am not a netsol supporter.

Being a registrar or working with one is one of those damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't things. A registrar gets blamed for being unnecessarily strict, and they get blamed if the domain name gets hijacked through arguably little to no fault of their own.
I've heard from others who also went through that with Network Solutions. But some stated they're willing to undo the 30-day thing if it's escalated to their higher-ups.
Nowadays, one practically has to prepare for the worst.

Very annoying :-/
I've had Go Daddy block a couple of outgoing transfers on the first attempt, too, and that was a pain each time.
-mike

I got the domain out yesterday, hooray!

Okay, here's an UPDATE:
Their security lock was removed earlier this morning, 30 damn hours after my request. That's fast, in the kingdom of snails. I re-submitted my transfer at OpenSRS, and got a confirmation from Network Solutions an hour later that it will go through by Monday morning.
For someone who has registered, modified and transferred domains thousands of times, I still find this annoying; and I don't even want to guess what an ordinary folk will think if he or she has to go through this kind of hassle. Perhaps this is exactly how they keep their loyal customers — by making it difficult to leave.
Again, security is not an issue here, it's a pretext (made-up excuse). If MY login info was compromised BECAUSE someone hacked into e.g. MY email account, why would I blame Network Solutions? Of course, if it is THEIR account interface that is being hacked, and I am just a random victim, then it's clearly their fault. AND any decent systems security expert could tell the difference almost right away.
No, I will NOT renew my domain at Network Solutions, even with their special offer of $15/yr. I also will NOT transfer other domains to them for $7.95 or register new ones for $11.99 (all prices are PER YEAR for Gold VIP, and not just for the first year). I have not bought anything from Network Solutions for the last 5 years, and will NOT buy from them in the foreseeable future. Period.

Nameslave. If it fails again. Let me know, and we try it my way.

Same thing happened to me. Also their control panel is confusing. I was trying to transfer a domain about to expire to another registrar since our company rather pay 8 bucks then 50 so it was logical to tranfer to our enom account. But they did not allow it, it ended up expiring so had to renew at network solutions.
Also, why are they so expensive anyway? Is there something they offer that other registrars don't? I don't understand such a price difference.

Hi All,
I am the Social Media guy for Network Solutions. NameSlave even though you had a delay in the process we definitely made sure that the request was genuine from the owner. Believe me we have a lot of transactions in and out of Network Solutions and most of them go through. It’s only a few that are flagged, when there are certain activities. Once the identity of the account holder is validated the account returns to the normal status.
People thank us for having security measures in place. Here is a link to a post that gives advice on how to protect your domain name http://cli.gs/1pdQst and I recommend keeping the account info always updated and not just during an account change.
Thanks,
Shashi
smedia@networksolutions.com

People thank us for having security measures in place. Here is a link to a post that gives advice on how to protect your domain name http://cli.gs/1pdQst (http://cli.gs/1pdQst) and I recommend keeping the account info always updated and not just during an account change. Thanks for the link Shashi.

MY email account, why would I blame Network Solutions?
While you won't blame the registrar, some people (especially the arguably average non-techie users) will nonetheless. I've dealt with some of them, even though it wasn't really our fault.

I decided to keep my main domains with netsol since awhile ago, I also called their customer support phone once since my newly regged domain wasn't showing in my account.. I got through almost immediately, and I've never had any other problems.
I've also transfered other domains away from netsol and never had any problems with that either.
Not saying netsol are perfect in every way, but really, I find they have a good control panel, seeminhly good phone support and it seems that they are trying to improve their service.
Not trying to anger anyone who don't like netsol in this thread, but I wanted to chime in with my more or less positive experience with them over the past 2 or so years.

Nameslave. If it fails again. Let me know, and we try it my way.
Thanks, stub. The domain was successfully transferred away about 15 minutes ago, finally.
our company rather pay 8 bucks then 50 so it was logical to tranfer to our enom account.
Also, why are they so expensive anyway?
Like I said, their renewal offer is $15/yr, and my own account at Network Solutions comes with $7.95 and $11.99 for transfer and new registration respectively; so it's not really about prices, at least not to me.
I am the Social Media guy for Network Solutions. NameSlave even though you had a delay in the process ...
Nice to meet you, Shashi. It's always nice to have somebody from respective registrars to show up in forums like WHT.
Not trying to anger anyone who don't like netsol in this thread ...
No sweat, my friend.