WordPress - Where's my Domain?

I used to blog at PetesView.net as well, since Nov 23, 2006. I can’t any more because my domain is in no-mans land.

Wordpress says some one else owns it, I can’t understand how that can happen as I renewed with them well in advance.

I first bought the domain through Wordpress.com on Nov 23, 2006 and renew it annually.

This year I renewed on Nov 17 using Wordpress.com’s PayPal link. PayPal transferred the funds to them on Nov 18 and Visa billed me on Nov. 19th.

That’s 4 days to renew my domain – an eternity for the automated systems that actually do the registration.

Through the rest of November and December things looked ok. In early Jan I went to post and PetesView was off line so I wrote Wordpress support. Here’s what they said:

You purchased the credits on 2008-11-18 but the upgrades were not renewed. This happens if the PayPal transaction doesn't clear right away. I'm sorry but someone else registered the domain and there is nothing we can do. You'd need to lookup the domain and contact the current owner of the domain if you want to attempt to buy it back from them.

Or as I read it: “It's PayPal fault. You’re on your own”.

That doesn’t make sense given the financial tracking through both PayPal and Visa shows they had their money no later than Nov 19. And it doesn’t explain why a search of WhoIS shows that the domain is valid until Nov 23, 2009 - which would have happened if my Nov 18, 2008 renewal through Wordpress occurred as ordered. And if it’s someone else’s why does it displays what appears to be an RSS feed of my content.

WordPress’s answer - refund my registration fee and wash their hands of it.

That’s not satisfactory for several years building a brand and domain. Surely 4 days is sufficient to register a domain. Surely a company focused on blogging recognises the value of both the content and the links associated with a domain.

Has anyone else had similar experiences with WordPress.com domain registration?
Can anyone speculate what might be the cause?
Is the refunding the registration fee acceptable?
How can I get WordPress to correct this?

Looking forward to your thoughts?