Making a "certified offer" to a domain squatter

[josholson at gmail.com (Josh Olson)]

Has anyone ever tried to purchase a domain from a squatter?

A client of mine is hoping to retrieve an expired domain from the
company New Venture Services. The NVS contact in from the whois
database suggested we submit a "certified offer" from network
solutions.

I'm curious if anyone has used this service or another, and if it worked well?

I haven't heard about this type of service before, so I want to ensure
it's not a scam.

Here are some links to information about the service.

https://www.certifiedofferservice.com/CertifiedOffer/pages/bid/aboutCOS.jsp
https://www.certifiedofferservice.com/CertifiedOffer/pages/bid/faqs.jsp#general_0

And the little bit of information I was able to find about New Venture Services.

http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=454271