> I unfortunately did a few domains thru them, one of which expired over > 12 mths ago, and they STILL havent registred it for me!
I think I'm missing something here. If it expired 12 months ago and they still haven't registered it for you, why don't you just go and register it now? I suspect that they haven't registered it for you because it is still registered. If this is the case, then it's impossible to register a domain that isn't available for registration.
