> A friend in a similar situation (but with regular .net domain) triggered one of their "must pay now" criteria (ref: the StartSSL business model).
One thing that surprises some who have been using SlartSSL for a some time is that a while ago a "non commercial use only" clause was added to the free certificates. I don't know how they police that if they do at all, but if your friend's site was taking money for services that may explain the change from his/her account's PoV. I've stopped using the free certificates for a couple of sites I administer for that reason. This doesn't apply to any of the other certificates they offer (though for a single domain it is cheaper to buy elsewhere).
One thing that surprises some who have been using SlartSSL for a some time is that a while ago a "non commercial use only" clause was added to the free certificates. I don't know how they police that if they do at all, but if your friend's site was taking money for services that may explain the change from his/her account's PoV. I've stopped using the free certificates for a couple of sites I administer for that reason. This doesn't apply to any of the other certificates they offer (though for a single domain it is cheaper to buy elsewhere).