1&1 Internet
No company in recent times has caused more consternation or problems to customers than the giant 1&1.
They have a catalogue of abusive business practices, some even downright illegal and fraudulent.
Hundreds of consumers have reported problems and issues regarding this company, including double-billing, billing of non-existant services, fraudulent attempts to claim non-existant debts, cancellation of paid-for services and more.
Here are some recent reports from customers from around the web:
Just over 2 years ago I bought some domain names off this company on a 2 year contract – cost me about £126, didn’t end up using them – never done anything with them and no longer use the email account from which I signed up.
Got a bill in the post a couple of days ago for £185 for the next two years, they have auto renewed the domains even though they no longer have a valid card and I have never used any of the domains.
Help – any suggestions, I don’t want to pay them £185, have been emailing asking to cancel everything but they are threatening to pass to a debt collection agency and add another £15 onto bill.
I have been online through their website and now cancelled everything but as they auto renewed in June they are refusing to negotiate on this £185.
http://www.chrisbeach.co.uk/view/tech/avoid_oneandone_internet:
All in all, the experience with 1&1 has been fraught with broken promises and wasted effort. When you’re choosing your host, think very carefully before choosing 1&1.
http://www.simonjones.info/1and1internet/:
1AND1 INTERNET IS A CHEAP WEB HOSTING COMPANY, BUT AS WITH MANY CHEAP THINGS, IF YOU USE THEM YOU’LL FIND OUT SOONER OR LATER THAT THEY ARE IN FACT… RUBBISH! It’s a sorry state of affairs when a call to a customer service call centre feels like as rewarding and fruitful as a bare knuckle bar fight. But it’s a situation that many of us are all to familiar with. So called ‘off shore’ call centre’s and phone drones who tell us that “management are not customer facing” are pretty much part of the standard armour that companies use to keep the average Joe from speaking with anyone capable of providing us with some real, heaven forbid, customer service!
http://elliottback.com/wp/1and1-sucks/:
1and1 Sucks: 1&1 Will Rip You Off
Posted in Blogging, Computers & Technology, Milestones by Elliott Back on March 22nd, 2006.As you can imagine, I’ve been having some trouble with 1and1. They nixed by site by placing some kind of “lock” on it. When I get that straightened out, I should be able to recover my images. Until then, I have an old backup of the images. I’m slowing restoring my other sites. What’s weird, though, is that I can’t get SSH access to my account.
http://jeffcroft.com/blog/2006/feb/27/11-internet-is-the-devil/:
1&1 Internet (which might also be called 1 and 1 Internet or 1 & 1 Internet) is a piss-poor excuse for a service company, and I advise you to never use them for your web hosting, web site hosting, webhosting, internet service provider, or as your webhost. 1&1 Internet has possibly the worst customer support of any company I have ever dealt with in any industry.
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There are literally hundreds more posts, blogs, and pages like this. It might be interesting for people to note that 1&1 is owned by the same company, United Internet that runs Sedo - the popular domain trading marketplace.
In addition, they are also connected to a shady company called DomCollect, which has been comandeering domain names from customers at FastHosts/UKReg, which also is owned by United Internet.
Complaints to Nominet have gone largely unheard, and customers have had to resort to suing 1&1 personally, often with long and lengthy court cases.
It is time that these con merchants are finally brought to justice and some action taken against them to stop their unfair practices and order them to improve their shoddy services.
Update – September 25th, 2009:
The Better Business Bureau in Washington, DC, USA has given 1and1 their lowest rating, an F (you can decide what it stands for!), and they have lodged hundreds of different complaints in the last year and beyond:
http://www.dc.bbb.org/codbrep.html?wlcl=y&id=1040770#Complaints
Here is the relevant excerpt from that page:
Customer Complaint History
The company’s size, volume of business and number of transactions may have a bearing on the number of complaints received by the BBB. The complaints filed against a company may not be as important as the type of complaints, and how the company has handled them. The BBB generally does not pass judgment on the validity of complaints filed.
Number of complaints processed by the BBB
in the last 36 months: 797
in the last 12 months: 311
Complaints Concerned: Selling Practices (61 complaints)
50 Resolved 1 Unresolved 3 Company made every reasonable effort to resolve 7 Company did not respond Advertising Issues (18 complaints)
15 Resolved 3 Unresolved Service Issues (130 complaints)
111 Resolved 4 Unresolved 7 Company made every reasonable effort to resolve 8 Company did not respond Customer Service Issues (3 complaints)
1 Resolved 2 Unresolved Credit or Billing Disputes (418 complaints)
343 Resolved 34 Unresolved 12 Company made every reasonable effort to resolve 29 Company did not respond Delivery Issues (18 complaints)
17 Resolved 1 Company did not respond Refund Practices (57 complaints)
51 Resolved 3 Company made every reasonable effort to resolve 3 Company did not respond Product Quality (19 complaints)
18 Resolved 1 Company made every reasonable effort to resolve Contract Disputes (43 complaints)
34 Resolved 1 Unresolved 3 Company made every reasonable effort to resolve 5 Company did not respond Guarantee or Warranty Issues (16 complaints)
13 Resolved 1 Company made every reasonable effort to resolve 2 Company did not respond Repair Issues (14 complaints)
12 Resolved 2 Company did not respond
Tags: 1 and 1, 1&1, 1and1, domain names, domain scam, domains, internet, registrar, registrars, registry, scam
Domain Scams | admin | 
August 3, 2009 12:15 am | 
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