Domain transfers are supposed to be easy. There are a few speed bumps, courtesy of "the bad old days" when pirates would decide to take over a domain and ransom it (did that ever really happen?): you need to get an authorization code from your current registrar, give it to your new registrar, and they will send a confirmation email to the official contact address of your domain. Unless, of course, your old hosting company and new hosting company both happen to be resellers of Melbourne IT. In that case, you have to get a separate "registry" key. Why? I guess it's because they're all about security.
Since you're using a reseller, Melbourne IT's support staff doesn't want to talk to you. They tell you to contact your current provider, and immediately close the ticket.
My then-current (now previous) provider was Yahoo Small Business (perhaps that's TRWTF, but it didn't seem so six years ago). The helpful (really! it was a shock!) Yahoo tech support person sent me an explanation of Melbourne IT's policy, and the steps that I'd have to take to transfer my domain (this is copied from their email, I'm not making it up):
- Back up any custom DNS records
- Cancel your account
Once you have done this, please reply to this email and request that we "release" your domain. This is offered to you as an exception to our standard policy [...]
Their standard policy, apparently, is "hah, hah, you're screwed!"
The solution, in case anyone is wondering, is to use a registrar that's not associated with Melbourne IT. Because, you know, that doesn't have to be as secure.