Is my frustration justified?

Poorly worded registration process

[buckworks]

A few days ago, I registered a domain name on behalf of someone else through a registrar I have used a few times. It was a country.tld version of his main business name.

When I logged into my management account to order the domain, their system used my existing info to fill the fields. The instructions specifically said that member information could be edited later from within the management interface, so instead of entering my friend's info then and there I completed the registration with my info in all fields, intending to update everything within a few minutes.

Moments later, their system let me correct everything I needed to change ... except for the Registrant Name. I could update the address, phone, admin email, everything except for changing my name to my friend's company name.

I phoned the registrar's support to ask them to update it for me, since their system wasn't working as promised. I expected that one quick phone call would result in common-sense action and the correction I needed; no big deal.

But they refused, pointing to an obscure sentence in the registrant agreement that said the registrant name could only be changed if [a whole bunch of identifying information] was faxed to them. They said they had to do that to avoid legal risks. The procedure they were demanding was very different from what they had said at the point where the fields were to be filled in!

They stuck by the small print instead of the big print. I had to fill out and fax the form they sent, a major inconvenience during holiday travels! If the domain had been registered for a while I would not have considered that unreasonable, but in the circumstances I thought it was simply stupid.

Considering that ...
(1) this was a brand new registration;
(2) I had the passwords for both the domain itself and the multiple-domain management account it was under;
(3) the update I was requesting was an exact match for the company name on the credit card that had paid for the domain just moments before;
(4) the relationship between the company name and the domain name was clear, and
(5) the supervisor admitted that some of the instructions I had trusted during the registration process were not accurately written;

... was it reasonable or unreasonable for me to think that they should have made the correction I needed, without any hassle?

[peted]

I think you're going to find this "impediment" with any respectable registrar. It's at least as hard to change the name of the registrant as it is to transfer a domain name, and indeed it should be. If you think about it, changing the name of the registrant effectively transfers ownership of the domain name(s) under the changed names. My sense is you should be glad these precautions are in place. I'm sure glad my registrar does it this way. I can't even add or delete my middle initial, or substitute my nickname or initials for my given names, my registrar is so protective. Antifraud precautions usually cause the rest of us added headaches, but in the end it's all probably worth it. I can't imagine the time, aggravation, and expense that would be involved in trying to recover a domain name that had been fraudulently transferred. I think what you've come up against is standard practice in the registry industry.

[Webwork]

Depending on the registrar the workaround is to have your friend (you) create a new account at the same registrar with the WhoIs info you wanted and to push the domain into that account. This is a little end run to certain 60 day transfer restrictions for new domains ;)

[buckworks]

I already jumped through their hoops and sent the fax, but I was highly annoyed that they required it.

I accept the need for fraud precautions, but in my mind it shows a serious lack of common sense to enforce the whole procedure on a minutes-old domain when it was their own sloppy editing that led to the situation.

I have to wonder what sort of "protection" a fax would provide in the event of a fraudulent transfer attempt. A fax would be easier to forge than the information I had already given them.