I am told that the registry's logic around the exorbitant cost to pull a domain out of redemption is to teach the registrant to be more mindful of expiries ...a

I am told that the registry's logic around the exorbitant cost to pull a domain out of redemption is to teach the registrant to be more mindful of expiries ...and not to be predatory because they have you over a barrel. I can't speak to whether the registrar sent you renewals or not. I did mention in another comment below that for some unfathomable reason my company (easyDNS) is the only one I know of that offers the functionality to setup an iCal feed with your domain expires.