A few months ago a well known european company ran a promotion with domain transfers at 1.00 Euro, we transfered in a lot of domains for the promotion and after that we realized that we couldn't have contacts differents than our company name, as some were customer's domains, customers asked for their names to appear in whois, so when 2 months passed we started to transfer away the affected domains to a registrar that would allow us to edit them.
Now the european registrar has blocked the access to our account. The reason? "incorrect use of transfer system", they have blocked the account for transfering away the domains.
The european registrar is OVH, if you are considering their 1 Euro domain transfer offer run away.
Has anybody seen a reputable registrar blocking the account because the customer is transfering away?

Ouch. Have you spoken to their support for a more in depth reason?
It sounds odd..

Yes, i spoke with them and they told me that, the account was blocked exactly for "incorrect use of transfer system" and treating us like scammers, but we only bought their service at their advertised priced, the offer didn't have any other condition.

elmister, your going to want to link up the terms and conditions you agreed to when you did these 1 euro transfers. More then likely they are correct when accusing you of improper use of their system. After all as a domain registrar if they are 'eating' a good portion of the transfer price they aren't doing this so you can then transfer the domain to somewhere else and leave them paying for your transfers.

Many of the below cost transfers and registrations have some hidden clause written in ultra fine print, so before you transfer or register more domains, you should double check the registrars TOS.

I checked their tos and downloaded them for future reference, there is no hidden clause against ttransfering away like 1and1 has. The only reason to transfer away was the inhability to modify all contacts in domain to reflect real owner, in OVH you can't customize administration, billing and tech contacts. OVH's renewal is only 5.99 Euro, about 7.80$, transfering to another registrar is costing us more than renewing at ovh, we leave them for the contacts problem.
We will be probably giving this issue to a lawyer as we are being billed by ovh's division in our country.

I am sure if they are selling domains for 1 Euro they wont allow you to transfer the domain to another registrar. That is why they blocked your account. Companies run specials to get and keep clients.

elmister, your going to want to link up the terms and conditions you agreed to when you did these 1 euro transfers. More then likely they are correct when accusing you of improper use of their system. After all as a domain registrar if they are 'eating' a good portion of the transfer price they aren't doing this so you can then transfer the domain to somewhere else and leave them paying for your transfers.
I just read through their TOS but couldn't find the referenced AUP - maybe didn't look hard enough. Would agree they are probably correct. Reading the fine print isn't exactly easy, but still very necessary.

They blocked account after you transferred all domains away or they blocked account with domains in it? Sorry but you're not clear here. Even if OVH would cover this in own TOS I wondering if this wouldn't be against ICANN rules and they have right to prevent you domain transfer "just because" you register/transferred domains to them with special promotion prices.
A registrar may legitimately deny a transfer request in certain limited circumstances, as follows:
* Evidence of fraud
* Uniform Domain-Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) action
* Court order
* Reasonable dispute over the identity of the person authorizing the transfer
* Domain name is on hold due to payment owed for a previous registration period
* Express written objection from the domain name holder
* Domain name is in "Lock" status (Registrars must provide a readily accessible and reasonable means for name holders to remove the lock status. Contact your registrar for assistance.)
* Domain name is within 60 days of initial registration
* Domain name is within 60 days of a previous transfer
http://www.icann.org/en/transfers/dnholder-faq-03nov04.htm
What would be their objection here anyway?

They blocked account after you transferred all domains away or they blocked account with domains in it? Sorry but you're not clear here. Even if OVH would cover this in own TOS I wondering if this wouldn't be against ICANN rules and they have right to prevent you domain transfer "just because" you register/transferred domains to them with special promotion prices.
What would be their objection here anyway?
none of them, they simply don't like us transfering away after the 2 months limit, i've read the contracts and there is no fine print forbidding us to transfer away.
We transfered away some domains but they blocked the account and there are still some domains into, there is also an account balance that can't be used because we can't access the site, we are considering going to police to report it as fraud as there is money charged and we are being denied service for the money they charged us.
If we win a case for fraud will icann remove OVH accreditation like the estdomains case?

If we win a case for fraud will icann remove OVH accreditation like the estdomains case?
No, they may get a warning. Basically you can complain with ICANN, ICANN will send a complain to them. If they still don't act then ICANN may frighten them that they will revoke the accreditation.
http://www.icann.org/en/faq/#transfer

This is certainly one of those "OMG stories", If there was nothing in TOS or AUP then they cannot legally hold your domains.
When you say "incorrect use of transfer system" ask them for a definition of this, ie. in plain english what does it mean. If it means that they have lost say $5 because you transferred in and then back out, thats their problem.
If you paid by CC to credit your account, then also get in touch with your CC company as they can also get involved if OVH hold onto your cash without allowing you to use it.

By the way, i try to transfer in some domains one months ago but was a mess and do nothing because they need a SMS purchae and no paypal.
By the way, they are a ovh.es , then is very probably do some regional action.

This is certainly one of those "OMG stories", If there was nothing in TOS or AUP then they cannot legally hold your domains.
When you say "incorrect use of transfer system" ask them for a definition of this, ie. in plain english what does it mean. If it means that they have lost say $5 because you transferred in and then back out, thats their problem.
If you paid by CC to credit your account, then also get in touch with your CC company as they can also get involved if OVH hold onto your cash without allowing you to use it.
OVH has a parent company in Spain called OVH Hispano S.L., all communications are made in spanish, the guy i talked on the phone seemed nervous at the phone and rejected to say more than that when i asked for more details.
About the credit card, i really hate doing chargebacks as it may affect my company's credibility as service buyer (you probably wouldn't like doing business with someone that did a chargeback at the first problem without giving a chance to solve it, for me a chargeback is the last option and only did it once to a company called 'gl*b*t', all other business problems in the past have been discussed with the provider), but this payment has been make using a 'Verified by Visa' credit card payment, we have one of this systems and it's impossible to make a chargeback (we love the system, 0% chargeback guaranteed), so the only way to recover the money paid to fund the account will be the legal way, since the domains are still hostage and legal action seem to be needed to recover them we'll claim that money too.
Chargeback is not an option here, we made the payment and authorized it and i'm not going to say now that the payment is fraudulent or not authorized, the payment is fine, the service isn't
Thank you

By the way, i try to transfer in some domains one months ago but was a mess and do nothing because they need a SMS purchae and no paypal.
By the way, they are a ovh.es , then is very probably do some regional action.
They ran a promotion for 100 free .es registrations in September, probably they established that verification system to avoid lots of fake registrations, registry for .es forbids registrations with fake data.
It seems to be very strict, it seems it works for them, unfortunatelly it doesn't seem to work with foreign customers or they don't want latinoamerican customers.

Ovh.co.uk is running a promotion and they are offering .co.uk free , but they have mentioned on their website
It will not be possible to transfer a .uk domain registered as part of the promotion
until the renewal fee for the second year has been paid in full.
Tell them that you will pay full renewal amount for the domains you transferred and ask them if they can unblock your account.
Unless the offer is from the registry, you have to be careful.

Ovh.co.uk is running a promotion and they are offering .co.uk free , but they have mentioned on their website
It will not be possible to transfer a .uk domain registered as part of the promotion
until the renewal fee for the second year has been paid in full.
Tell them that you will pay full renewal amount for the domains you transferred and ask them if they can unblock your account.
Unless the offer is from the registry, you have to be careful.
They don't have that condition listed in ovh.es website and they are bound to their own terms, the lawyer will be cheaper than giving them money for free
Also .co.uk domains have a 2 years minimun registration term
As an example, Resellerclub says
Though the pricing for .UK mentioned above is the yearly pricing, .UK Domain Names can only be registered in multiples of 2 years as mandated by the Registry.
mentioned here http://resellerclub.com/pricing/#domain_reg

By the way, OVH.co.uk runs the same promotion as ovh.es for .com/net/org/info domains at 1 Pound, there is nothing saying that the domains can't be transfered away
http://www.ovh.co.uk/individual/products/domains_transfers.xml
http://www.ovh.co.uk/individual/products/domain_tarifs.xml
anybody reluctant to believe the terms of the company in spain can read the same offer in english in that website

Hi Elmister,
I actually meant you have paid for domains and for service, neither of which you are recieving, and from the tones of your emails, you arent actually getting anywhere with them support or sales wise.
I never like chargebacks, but then again, we support our clients, we certainly don't hold their domains to ransom so to speak.
For .UK by the way, you can contact nominet directly to change your TAG, there is nothing to stop you doing that.
I hate registrars that make it hard for you to transfer a domain, it doesnt help you or your customer (if you are a reseller that is).
What you should ask them, to see if they are purely doing this for the money, is as someone else mentioned, ask them the cost of a normal full renewal, pay it and see if they allow transfer of that domain then. If they dont, then they are in it for the money only.
Chris
OVH has a parent company in Spain called OVH Hispano S.L., all communications are made in spanish, the guy i talked on the phone seemed nervous at the phone and rejected to say more than that when i asked for more details.
About the credit card, i really hate doing chargebacks as it may affect my company's credibility as service buyer (you probably wouldn't like doing business with someone that did a chargeback at the first problem without giving a chance to solve it, for me a chargeback is the last option and only did it once to a company called 'gl*b*t', all other business problems in the past have been discussed with the provider), but this payment has been make using a 'Verified by Visa' credit card payment, we have one of this systems and it's impossible to make a chargeback (we love the system, 0% chargeback guaranteed), so the only way to recover the money paid to fund the account will be the legal way, since the domains are still hostage and legal action seem to be needed to recover them we'll claim that money too.
Chargeback is not an option here, we made the payment and authorized it and i'm not going to say now that the payment is fraudulent or not authorized, the payment is fine, the service isn't
Thank you

Hi Elmister,
I actually meant you have paid for domains and for service, neither of which you are recieving, and from the tones of your emails, you arent actually getting anywhere with them support or sales wise.
I never like chargebacks, but then again, we support our clients, we certainly don't hold their domains to ransom so to speak.
For .UK by the way, you can contact nominet directly to change your TAG, there is nothing to stop you doing that.
I hate registrars that make it hard for you to transfer a domain, it doesnt help you or your customer (if you are a reseller that is).
What you should ask them, to see if they are purely doing this for the money, is as someone else mentioned, ask them the cost of a normal full renewal, pay it and see if they allow transfer of that domain then. If they dont, then they are in it for the money only.
Chris
Thank you Chris for your wise words, we don't have .uk names only cnoi and .es, and .es domains can be transfered away without registrar help directly through nic.es

By the way i only have a co.uk and .es and both in moniker.
One other rule i use, is only trade with registrars with allow paypal (extra docvumentation), only gkg is my exception .