Well I've discovered that Lycos are a reseller than a registrar (but they don't make that point clear anywhere on their site).
Their customer services is abysmal (makes BT look like saints).
My client and I requested a transfer from them on 6th November. We followed it up with more emails and several phone calls until eventually we got in touch with someone in their customer services that actually a grey cell available.
Net result is that on 23rd they told my client they would call me to explain "the procedure" for the transfer. When we chased up on 26th they emailed me a form which needed to be completed and sent to the States. The reply was to be sent to Lycos and then I would initiate a transfer from my own registrar and Lycos would approve it.
It is now 29th November, no news from the US or from Lycos so we are in limbo and the site will not be up and running before xmas, as originally planned.
Enter the lawyers.
So the short and sweet is, avoid Lycos when registering a domain, unless you want to stay with them for life.
My opinion, not that of pprune of course (<--legal disclaimer)