I've had the domain name atomic-raygun for ages, and I neglected to change the contact info and so the registration expired. OK, no prob. The blog was never down - it's actually at http://www.tiger-swallowtail.com/space/atomic-raygun.html but I have the domain name to cover up all that (enables me to move it around if I want to while keeping the same URL). Two days ago (when Alan told me the name was not resolving to this site) I went over to the domain place and renewed. It took a bit of time as, I found out through emails with support, there had been some kind of server problem. Finally it was renewed, everything was happy, rainbows and kittens filled the world, etc., etc. I waited. Today I looked at the domainiacal website to see it WASN'T renewed, now, although the money was shown as a credit. I sent a reasonable email outlining my problem to support, and a pithy and annoyed answer on their "Tell us how we can improve our service to you!" form (I mentioned NO body parts). I left the room and came back and the site was up and I'd received several emails, including this:

"Sorry about the inconvenience, we were experiencing some technical problems
and it unfortunately affected the payment process. Your domain now is up to
date. Thank you and have a great day."

Cue the rainbows and kittens.