Registrar showed an already registered cc tld as available and billed

Anyone with similar experience? Is this common for cc tlds

[nick_irvine]

I go to register my first cc tld for a very competitive one word domain and find that it is available for .gr (Greece). I was shown a list of some 60 cc tlds out of which they showed the domain available for .gr. Logically due to the industry I am talking about, it isn’t possible for that domain not to be registered.
Since it was available I immediately registered it and got a confirmation receipt for it.
Later on when I checked on .gr whois, it showed the domain has been registered since 2004. They ripped me off for £107.

Why was I billed for it?
Did anyone have similar experience.
Also can someone recommend a good intl cc tld registrar.

Thanks for your help.

Regards,
Nick

[jtara]

I had a somewhat similar experience, but with a better outcome.

I registered a couple of 2-letter domains in a ccTLD that doesn't allow 2-letter domains (minimum is 3 letters). Of course, I didn't read the fine print first - I just patted myself on the back for my luck.

It was a technical glitch at the registrar, which failed to disallow 2-letter domains.

I was promptly refunded for the unregisterable domains.

Did you request a refund?

[nick_irvine]

Hi jtara,

Yes I have and they said it will be refunded. Though I havent seen anything coming in till now.

Furthermore they said it was not their fault but the local country whois fault ..saying they had maintained incorrect info on their records and hence these guys thought the domain is available. But that was not true as I checked the local whois immediately after I got the domain. Just plain lies is what I was being given and I think this is their common practice to get out financial information from you and what they can do with that..the possibilities are endless.

But it was a good learning exp.
You just cant trust these registrars.
Which one is your preferred cc tld registrar.

Regards,
Nick