So here's what happened/is happening to me.
In March 2011 I received a letter informing me that unless I cancelled my 1&1 contract it would automatically renew and I would be billed for this service. As I no longer used these domains I rang 1&1 Hosting (as they requested) and asked that they cancel my account. They asked me a security question (my first and last name, very secure) and informed me that they would cancel my account and that there would be no further charges issued.
In April I then received an invoice followed by several chasing letters asking me to update my payment details otherwise they would pass my details onto a debt collection agency.
I knew there must be some mistake and called them assuming I would receive an apology and assurance that the invoice was sent out in error.
I clearly didn't know what company I had signed up with, for the worst was yet to come.
Instead I spoke to numerous people in the billing department who insisted that they had no record of my call and put me through to cancellations who also had no record of my call. They said they would be happy to cancel my account but that they couldn't credit the invoice. Back to billing then who said that their hands were tied and only complaints could help me.
1&1 Hosting's complaints department are the most unhelpful team I have ever dealt with.
You cannot speak to them on the phone, you have to send them an email to which you may receive a reply within a week and even you should expect it to be repetitious and unhelpful. It doesn't seem as if they read your emails, just send out a basic autonomous reply.
I explained to them the situation quite clearly and about 5 emails later they ask if I have any evidence of the phone call I placed to cancel the services. I was in luck! I had a phone bill clearly showing about 6mins of conversation (or being kept on hold) on the date in March that I said. For this I received no comment except "we cannot accept that as evidence".
So what were they expecting? Most non-commercial, web users don't record every call they make just in case someone later tries to rip them off. Or perhaps we should? But in any case, what does class as evidence to 1&1?
Having still not received an explanation of what this evidence should be, nor any contact details of a manager, or a good reason for why my call was not properly documented or actioned at their end, their complaints department inform me that they will not be responding to future emails as they consider the matter closed.
This is a very poor company when it comes to complaints and customer service.
The story continues...
Wednesday, 1 June 2011
Monday, 30 May 2011
Read Big Dan's Story (from Big Dan's Corner)
1and1 SUCKS!
1&1 is the worst online company I have ever had to deal with. The sad part of it is I already knew this and still signed up a for another hosting account with them. It all started with me wanting to conserve some resources on the VPS where I host my DJ Forum. Figuring I’d move my blog (bandwidth eater), parked domains, and a few other sites to an another host so I decided to start a new hosting account with DreamHost for this purpose. I’ve had history with DreamHost too but overall they’re a decent host and work with their customers.
Long story short I had issues with DreamHost it took them over a week to get my domain email working properly, I was getting frustrated so two days ago I opened a new hosting account with 1&1 at an introductory price. This hosting plan was supposed to be an upgrade to my current account where I have about 50 domains registered. Here’s where the first thing went wrong, they added a new contract to my account instead of upgrading my current contract. Okay no problem so I’ll just add the domains as additional hosted domains since they’re already registered at 1and1. The hosting plan came with 100 “add-on” domains, these are domains that are registered elsewhere but hosted at 1and1. I go to add the first domain registered at 1and1 that I want to host on another 1and1 contract under the same customer number (confused yet? Yeah that’s 1&1′s plan all along.) Their control panel won’t let me select host as additional domain it will only let me move it to the new hosting package. Okay that’s fine since I plan on keeping both contracts active. I select move it to this package, now I’m hit with a little check box that I have to check “I understand that my credit card will be charged for this item”. Huh? Wait..What? I already own the domain, why would you charge me to move it? No other registrar does that. Apparently 1&1 wants to charge me a full year’s registration fee to move the domain to another account I own and then not extend the domain’s expiration date by another year. What the fuck? in plain English. So, I cancel that.
Two letters to their “support” department trying to get them to merge the two contracts goes on unanswered. A third letter demanding cancellation of the hosting package gets the standard canned response, directing me to go to cancel.1and1.com. I’ve been through this cancellation process before, it’s convoluted and deliberately confusing. Having been through this before it’s a breeze for the seasoned 1and1 run around professional. I select the hosting contract and hit cancel entire package. Please check your email for a confirmation link, okay I get the confirmation link click it. Easy enough right?
Nope I get your package will be canceled February 19, 2009. Huh? Now I realize to get the promotional price that I had to lock into a time commitment, 1 year. Not a problem but I’m well with their 90 day money back guarantee period it should of been deactivated and canceled on the spot. An email to support explaining the whole situation gets a canned response to contact the billing department. Which I just wrote, I’ll update when I get a response.
As I write this my bank account has been debited $6 on 4 separate occasions from 1&1. $6 dollars is their ghost charge, they charge it and then put the money back to confirm funds availability. Let’s not mention the fact that every other company on the planet only debits a few cents or at most $1 to confirm the card is chargeable. 1&1 has seen fit to confirm my card 4 times, thus tieing up $24 that I could be putting to good use else where like DreamHost.
If it weren’t for my VPS’s host name being tied into a domain registered with 1&1, I would take a hit and loose 50 domains and cancel my entire account with 1&1 they’re just plain bad business people.
Coming soon: A tutorial on canceling 1&1 products.
read more here
Long story short I had issues with DreamHost it took them over a week to get my domain email working properly, I was getting frustrated so two days ago I opened a new hosting account with 1&1 at an introductory price. This hosting plan was supposed to be an upgrade to my current account where I have about 50 domains registered. Here’s where the first thing went wrong, they added a new contract to my account instead of upgrading my current contract. Okay no problem so I’ll just add the domains as additional hosted domains since they’re already registered at 1and1. The hosting plan came with 100 “add-on” domains, these are domains that are registered elsewhere but hosted at 1and1. I go to add the first domain registered at 1and1 that I want to host on another 1and1 contract under the same customer number (confused yet? Yeah that’s 1&1′s plan all along.) Their control panel won’t let me select host as additional domain it will only let me move it to the new hosting package. Okay that’s fine since I plan on keeping both contracts active. I select move it to this package, now I’m hit with a little check box that I have to check “I understand that my credit card will be charged for this item”. Huh? Wait..What? I already own the domain, why would you charge me to move it? No other registrar does that. Apparently 1&1 wants to charge me a full year’s registration fee to move the domain to another account I own and then not extend the domain’s expiration date by another year. What the fuck? in plain English. So, I cancel that.
Two letters to their “support” department trying to get them to merge the two contracts goes on unanswered. A third letter demanding cancellation of the hosting package gets the standard canned response, directing me to go to cancel.1and1.com. I’ve been through this cancellation process before, it’s convoluted and deliberately confusing. Having been through this before it’s a breeze for the seasoned 1and1 run around professional. I select the hosting contract and hit cancel entire package. Please check your email for a confirmation link, okay I get the confirmation link click it. Easy enough right?
Nope I get your package will be canceled February 19, 2009. Huh? Now I realize to get the promotional price that I had to lock into a time commitment, 1 year. Not a problem but I’m well with their 90 day money back guarantee period it should of been deactivated and canceled on the spot. An email to support explaining the whole situation gets a canned response to contact the billing department. Which I just wrote, I’ll update when I get a response.
As I write this my bank account has been debited $6 on 4 separate occasions from 1&1. $6 dollars is their ghost charge, they charge it and then put the money back to confirm funds availability. Let’s not mention the fact that every other company on the planet only debits a few cents or at most $1 to confirm the card is chargeable. 1&1 has seen fit to confirm my card 4 times, thus tieing up $24 that I could be putting to good use else where like DreamHost.
If it weren’t for my VPS’s host name being tied into a domain registered with 1&1, I would take a hit and loose 50 domains and cancel my entire account with 1&1 they’re just plain bad business people.
Coming soon: A tutorial on canceling 1&1 products.
read more here
1and1 Sucks: 1&1 Will Rip You Off
by Elliot Back from his Internet & Tech Blog
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.
Please ignore the mess–a new theme is coming soon. This is just a stopover stopgap method.
Update
Here is the email they sent me three days after locking my Business Hosting account:
Update 2
OK, dreamhost says I’m using about 940 cpu minutes a day, which is about 20 times more than I should be. Looks like I’ll need dedicated hosting soon, unless WP-cache really does drop my CPU usage by the 53x it claims. Here’s a graph of traffic impact, for the bored:
Update 3
As I really want them to return my files, I’ve sent the following snarky email to the 1and1 admins:
I called them last night, and a guy said he’d give me an update before the end of his shift. Admins are apparently scarce on weekends. Guess what? No update.
Update 5
Somehow I’ve got access again. Once I rip all my files, I’m going to cancel. Images should start working again in another hour or so. I’ve got a lot (100s of mb) to transfer, so it will be just a bit more!
Here are some more resources for people considering 1and1:
1and1 Sucks: 1&1 Will Rip You Off
Please ignore the mess–a new theme is coming soon. This is just a stopover stopgap method.
Update
Here is the email they sent me three days after locking my Business Hosting account:
Recently we have noticed that your web site(s)is consuming a disproportionate amount of server resources. Due to this, we have had to move your account off of the shared hosting server to an auxilliary server host. We will now request that you consider purchasing a Managed or Dedicated Server in order to continue hosting services with 1&1 Internet.As I have received over 44,000 hits on this single website today (there are others, although they are still down), it makes sense that I might be overloading their poor shared server. However, they should at least have called or emailed me before taking any action that would impact the state of my website! If I do get a dedicated server in the future, it won’t be their’s.
Your account was moved based on a decision made by the system administrators in order to improve the quality of service to the rest of our clients on the shared hosting server you were previously hosted on. Your account’s resource needs
were exceeding the capacity of that server to capably host the other accounts, thus it had to be moved to mitigate the server load. Though we could move your site back to the original shared hosting server, it is not recommended. Your account activity has showed that it deserves its own server to better suite its performance needs.
Please visit 1and1.com to review the server products we offer. You will have one(1) month to make a decision and migrate your account over to 1&1 server or another host provider. You can choose to return your account back to the shared server systems if you wish, provided that you take steps to reduce the load generated by your websites. If the account has to be moved off the
shared server system again you will only have the option of purchasing a dedicated server account to continue hosting with 1&1 Internet.
Update 2
OK, dreamhost says I’m using about 940 cpu minutes a day, which is about 20 times more than I should be. Looks like I’ll need dedicated hosting soon, unless WP-cache really does drop my CPU usage by the 53x it claims. Here’s a graph of traffic impact, for the bored:
Update 3
As I really want them to return my files, I’ve sent the following snarky email to the 1and1 admins:
Dear 1and1 admins,Update 4
This is the third email I’ve sent you regarding this issue, three days from your initial notification, which was sent to me at least two days late after you locked my 1and1 account. I need immediate access to all of my files via SSH. Traffic has been redirected via DNS to another hosting provider, so no 1and1 resources will continue to be consumed at their former prodigious rate. As you specified below:
> You can choose to return your account back to the shared server systems if you wish, provided that you take steps to reduce the load generated by your websites.
Now that I have taken those steps, you must immediately:
1) Restore access to my business hosting account for elliottback.com
2) Notify me in writing thereof
Your response time and attention to customer service issues is terrible. If you do not restore access to my account and files in a reasonable amount of time, I may have to pursue legal or other non-desirable actions for your business.
I called them last night, and a guy said he’d give me an update before the end of his shift. Admins are apparently scarce on weekends. Guess what? No update.
Update 5
Somehow I’ve got access again. Once I rip all my files, I’m going to cancel. Images should start working again in another hour or so. I’ve got a lot (100s of mb) to transfer, so it will be just a bit more!
Here are some more resources for people considering 1and1:
- 1&1 Internet is the devil
- DRAMATIC ACTION WAS REQUIRED
- 1&1, oneandone, 1and1, one and one, sucks!
- Why 1and1.com sucks?
- When 1 & 1 makes 3
Why You Should Never Use 1and1.com Hosting
by Webmaster Tips website
I have a so-called "1&1 Premier Professional Package" hosting package on 1and1.com hosting. It's supposed to be equivalent to their so-called "Developer" hosting package.
Tonight's experience was the last straw and I'm going to give you a few reasons why you should never use 1and1.com for hosting.
I've had many problems with 1and1.com's tech support over the years. Tonight's issue was that the .htaccess file rules were not working on 1and1.
I was trying to remove the file extensions from PHP files so that a URL like http://example.com/about would execute the file http://example.com/about.php.
This is the code that works perfectly on my localhost and on Dreamhost, but that sends 404 errors on 1&1 hosting:
I spent an hour on the phone with a 1&1 tech support staff who had difficulty even finding the correct directory on the Web server. For a while he was telling me that there was no .htaccess file (because he was looking in the wrong place).
I told him that 1and1 has an unusual server configuration and that .htaccess rules like AddType application/x-httpd-php .html don't work on 1&1. (You have to use the unusual AddType x-mapp-php4 .html.)
So I called them just wanting to know how they had modified their servers so that the standard mod_rewrite code above wasn't working.
To keep the story short (the phone call was over an hour long), I will just cut to the conclusion: he told me that I needed to link to about.php and to reconfigure my .htaccess file.
It sounded like he was just repeating what his boss was telling him without really understanding what he was saying. He kept saying that I was linking to "a folder called about" when I needed to link to about.php. I tried to explain that /about is a file, not a "folder" — it does not have a trailing slash... and that I didn't want .php file extensions because I was going to later upgrade to a CMS (Drupal) that doesn't have .php file extensions.
He wouldn't put me on the phone with a manager and said "this is a scripting issue, not a server issue". He said that 1and1.com servers could read any .htaccess file. I started to explain the issue about how 1and1 can't read AddType application/x-httpd-php .html and that I had to call them to get a workaround, but after a little more arguing we got cut off.
1and1.com cannot read any .htaccess file. The following .htaccess code works on my laptop's localhost Apache as well as on Dreamhost, but creates 404 errors on 1&1 — Options -MultiViews creates 500 errors:
I like to edit more than one live file over FTP/sFTP at a time — perhaps a PHP file and a CSS file at the same time. If you try to do that with 1and1.com (or GoDaddy) you are likely to get your IP address temporarily banned.
Site5, Bluehost, and other hosting companies don't have that problem. Every cheap host has problems of one kind or another, but 1and1 is really one of the worst hosting companies that I've used in 5 years of building Web sites.
Do you have a 1and1.com horror story? Please add a comment below.
UPDATE: A few minutes after I posted this I deleted 4 files over sFTP with Konqueror and then tried to rename two files and 1and1.com banned my IP address for too many FTP connections!
UPDATE: I'm now going through another 1and1.com incident where my server has been down for over 36 hours. I don't host large sites there, but still have a few mini sites there that I didn't move yet. I highly recommend avoiding 1and1 hosting.
read more here
I have a so-called "1&1 Premier Professional Package" hosting package on 1and1.com hosting. It's supposed to be equivalent to their so-called "Developer" hosting package.
Tonight's experience was the last straw and I'm going to give you a few reasons why you should never use 1and1.com for hosting.
I've had many problems with 1and1.com's tech support over the years. Tonight's issue was that the .htaccess file rules were not working on 1and1.
I was trying to remove the file extensions from PHP files so that a URL like http://example.com/about would execute the file http://example.com/about.php.
This is the code that works perfectly on my localhost and on Dreamhost, but that sends 404 errors on 1&1 hosting:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ $1.php [L]I spent an hour on the phone with a 1&1 tech support staff who had difficulty even finding the correct directory on the Web server. For a while he was telling me that there was no .htaccess file (because he was looking in the wrong place).
I told him that 1and1 has an unusual server configuration and that .htaccess rules like AddType application/x-httpd-php .html don't work on 1&1. (You have to use the unusual AddType x-mapp-php4 .html.)
So I called them just wanting to know how they had modified their servers so that the standard mod_rewrite code above wasn't working.
To keep the story short (the phone call was over an hour long), I will just cut to the conclusion: he told me that I needed to link to about.php and to reconfigure my .htaccess file.
It sounded like he was just repeating what his boss was telling him without really understanding what he was saying. He kept saying that I was linking to "a folder called about" when I needed to link to about.php. I tried to explain that /about is a file, not a "folder" — it does not have a trailing slash... and that I didn't want .php file extensions because I was going to later upgrade to a CMS (Drupal) that doesn't have .php file extensions.
He wouldn't put me on the phone with a manager and said "this is a scripting issue, not a server issue". He said that 1and1.com servers could read any .htaccess file. I started to explain the issue about how 1and1 can't read AddType application/x-httpd-php .html and that I had to call them to get a workaround, but after a little more arguing we got cut off.
1and1.com cannot read any .htaccess file. The following .htaccess code works on my laptop's localhost Apache as well as on Dreamhost, but creates 404 errors on 1&1 — Options -MultiViews creates 500 errors:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ $1.php [L]Past Problems With 1and1.com Hosting
Terrible Customer Service
This isn't the first serious issue I've had with 1and1.com. I remember calling them once to ask them why I couldn't download their free software anymore, and the supposed "tech support" told me that it was impossible that I had ever downloaded it. I told him that it had been offered for free when I signed up and that I had downloaded it before. He told me I had to send them money to get it shipped by CD. By the end of the conversation he was angrily telling me that it was impossible for me to have ever downloaded their software. Basically calling me a liar.Tech Support Without Technical Knowledge
Other times I've called their "tech support" and had to talk with people that didn't have much of a tech background and who didn't know what they were talking about. Like the guy above who told me /about is a "folder" and that I needed to link to /about.php."Too Many FTP Connections"
Any Web host that bans your IP for editing more than one file at a time over FTP is crap. GoDaddy.com and 1and1.com are the only two hosting companies that consistently ban my IP for doing this.I like to edit more than one live file over FTP/sFTP at a time — perhaps a PHP file and a CSS file at the same time. If you try to do that with 1and1.com (or GoDaddy) you are likely to get your IP address temporarily banned.
Site5, Bluehost, and other hosting companies don't have that problem. Every cheap host has problems of one kind or another, but 1and1 is really one of the worst hosting companies that I've used in 5 years of building Web sites.
Do you have a 1and1.com horror story? Please add a comment below.
UPDATE: A few minutes after I posted this I deleted 4 files over sFTP with Konqueror and then tried to rename two files and 1and1.com banned my IP address for too many FTP connections!
UPDATE: I'm now going through another 1and1.com incident where my server has been down for over 36 hours. I don't host large sites there, but still have a few mini sites there that I didn't move yet. I highly recommend avoiding 1and1 hosting.
read more here
Sunday, 29 May 2011
From Pleasanton Web Design
After almost a month and over a dozen emails to support and billing, my recent hosting problem was finally resolved. No fanfare, or even an email letting me know that it had been taken care of. I just went to one of my problem sites, and no more errors.
Two days before that, I received this email from complaints@1and1.com:
The point of this post, though, is to share the email address complaints@1and1.com. I wasn’t aware of it until now. If I had been, I’m sure I’d already be blacklisted.
read a further 30 comments from other unhappy users that were sent in reply to this post here
Two days before that, I received this email from complaints@1and1.com:
Thank you for contacting us.That’s great, however the statement “I have refunded the account” is not true, because I haven’t received a refund. We’ll see if they follow through, or even return my email inquiry.
As a gesture of goodwill, I have refunded the account regarding this
matter.
If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us.
The point of this post, though, is to share the email address complaints@1and1.com. I wasn’t aware of it until now. If I had been, I’m sure I’d already be blacklisted.
read a further 30 comments from other unhappy users that were sent in reply to this post here
A complaint from another Web Designer (with some impressive clients!)
To whom it may concern
I find myself compelled to write and complain about yet another problem with 1&1 and their treatment of customers. Having been a 1&1 client for several years and having recommended 1&1 to several other friends and colleagues, I find myself more and more disillusioned with the way in which 1&1 treats it's customers. Your services are good and fairly priced when they work - but your customer service is appalling and I won't be recommending you to anyone else in the future.
Today I logged into my admin control panel in order to retrieve the passwords for my MySQL database as I needed them for an installation for a client. I went to the MySQL admin page as I have done time and time again to retrieve not only my password, but also the database name and other information. After about 15 seconds of scratching my head I realised that the password was nowhere to be found. I looked through several pages of the control panel to see if all of my passwords had been moved into one location, but I was unable to find anything. I then checked my FTP settings page in the control panel and to my dismay discovered this password had disappeared as well.
I presumed the passwords have been moved somewhere else - and decided to check the 1&1 FAQ in order to find them. Several search terms later there was still no mention at all of where I may find my passwords - the passwords I'm trying to gain access to having already entered my master account password into the 'secure' admin control panel. After wasting over 10 minutes of my time trying to find the password to services I am paying for I decided to call support.
Unusually, I got through to support very quickly. But as ever the line quality was awful and I could barely hear the customer service staff on the other end of the phone. I wonder why "The World's No.1" (to quote your website) can't even provide decent quality phone support? Why are you using inadequate VOIP services to pipe my call to uninterested operators in the USA, is my custom worth this little to you?
Whilst battling to hear what the customer services operator was saying I was told that due to a change in security policy, I am no long allowed access to my passwords - passwords for the services I am paying you for! I asked when this new 'policy' was implemented as never before had I been told I wasn't allowed to access passwords to a service I was paying for. "It changed last month" I was told. I then enquired why, as a paying customer I hadn't been informed of this change beforehand? The response? "Well, we've had lots of people complaints about this". Hardly the answer I was looking for. But hardly a surprise either given 1&1's track record. Following this comment I asked where I could send a complaint as quite frankly this kind of service is an insult.
Firstly, I would like to know why I am being refused access to password for a service I am paying for?
I have already entered my email address and password in order to gain access to these additional passwords in the control panel and I see this as more than enough to prove my credentials and gain access to a service I am paying for. To be told I cannot access these passwords and the only solution is to create new ones is not acceptable. I have scripts and applications on client's websites using both FTP and MySQL to access to my 1&1 account and you expect me to create new passwords and then manually reconfigure all of these scripts all because 1&1 decided to change their security policy, without having the common courtesy to give me any warning? If I ran my business like this I'd have no clients.
I was also told by the customer service operator to create new password and "write them down somewhere so I don't forget them". How is this more secure than accessing them through an encrypted website? This goes against all basic password security advice!
Secondly, I would like to know why I wasn't informed of the policy change that means I can no longer access my passwords? Why was I not notified by email, letter, or telephone and given the chance to make a record of all of my passwords before they were hidden from me?
Thirdly, I would still like to be given access to my current passwords so that I can now make a record of them. What can be done about this? Changing them all and the knock-on affect of having to edit the multiple sites that access them will cause me a considerable inconvenience and I would like to know what 1&1 will do about this, particularly seeing as the change was made without any notice.
I have wondered why the sudden change in security policy. Perhaps the 1&1 control panel isn't so secure after all? Perhaps 1&1 don't want to be liable for passwords being stolen and customers websites being affected? Perhaps in making this change you can now shift blame to customers - "We don't have access to your passwords any more, they are your responsibility so breaches aren't our fault." And yet, 1&1 is still happy to store my credit card and billing details in the very same 'secure' control panel?
I'm sure I will receive the bog standard 'sorry' response, along with some excuse about how this security policy change is in the interest of customers. But what is not in my interest in any way, shape, or form is the way 1&1 have dealt with this matter.
Regards,
James Clarke
read more here
I find myself compelled to write and complain about yet another problem with 1&1 and their treatment of customers. Having been a 1&1 client for several years and having recommended 1&1 to several other friends and colleagues, I find myself more and more disillusioned with the way in which 1&1 treats it's customers. Your services are good and fairly priced when they work - but your customer service is appalling and I won't be recommending you to anyone else in the future.
Today I logged into my admin control panel in order to retrieve the passwords for my MySQL database as I needed them for an installation for a client. I went to the MySQL admin page as I have done time and time again to retrieve not only my password, but also the database name and other information. After about 15 seconds of scratching my head I realised that the password was nowhere to be found. I looked through several pages of the control panel to see if all of my passwords had been moved into one location, but I was unable to find anything. I then checked my FTP settings page in the control panel and to my dismay discovered this password had disappeared as well.
I presumed the passwords have been moved somewhere else - and decided to check the 1&1 FAQ in order to find them. Several search terms later there was still no mention at all of where I may find my passwords - the passwords I'm trying to gain access to having already entered my master account password into the 'secure' admin control panel. After wasting over 10 minutes of my time trying to find the password to services I am paying for I decided to call support.
Unusually, I got through to support very quickly. But as ever the line quality was awful and I could barely hear the customer service staff on the other end of the phone. I wonder why "The World's No.1" (to quote your website) can't even provide decent quality phone support? Why are you using inadequate VOIP services to pipe my call to uninterested operators in the USA, is my custom worth this little to you?
Whilst battling to hear what the customer services operator was saying I was told that due to a change in security policy, I am no long allowed access to my passwords - passwords for the services I am paying you for! I asked when this new 'policy' was implemented as never before had I been told I wasn't allowed to access passwords to a service I was paying for. "It changed last month" I was told. I then enquired why, as a paying customer I hadn't been informed of this change beforehand? The response? "Well, we've had lots of people complaints about this". Hardly the answer I was looking for. But hardly a surprise either given 1&1's track record. Following this comment I asked where I could send a complaint as quite frankly this kind of service is an insult.
Firstly, I would like to know why I am being refused access to password for a service I am paying for?
I have already entered my email address and password in order to gain access to these additional passwords in the control panel and I see this as more than enough to prove my credentials and gain access to a service I am paying for. To be told I cannot access these passwords and the only solution is to create new ones is not acceptable. I have scripts and applications on client's websites using both FTP and MySQL to access to my 1&1 account and you expect me to create new passwords and then manually reconfigure all of these scripts all because 1&1 decided to change their security policy, without having the common courtesy to give me any warning? If I ran my business like this I'd have no clients.
I was also told by the customer service operator to create new password and "write them down somewhere so I don't forget them". How is this more secure than accessing them through an encrypted website? This goes against all basic password security advice!
Secondly, I would like to know why I wasn't informed of the policy change that means I can no longer access my passwords? Why was I not notified by email, letter, or telephone and given the chance to make a record of all of my passwords before they were hidden from me?
Thirdly, I would still like to be given access to my current passwords so that I can now make a record of them. What can be done about this? Changing them all and the knock-on affect of having to edit the multiple sites that access them will cause me a considerable inconvenience and I would like to know what 1&1 will do about this, particularly seeing as the change was made without any notice.
I have wondered why the sudden change in security policy. Perhaps the 1&1 control panel isn't so secure after all? Perhaps 1&1 don't want to be liable for passwords being stolen and customers websites being affected? Perhaps in making this change you can now shift blame to customers - "We don't have access to your passwords any more, they are your responsibility so breaches aren't our fault." And yet, 1&1 is still happy to store my credit card and billing details in the very same 'secure' control panel?
I'm sure I will receive the bog standard 'sorry' response, along with some excuse about how this security policy change is in the interest of customers. But what is not in my interest in any way, shape, or form is the way 1&1 have dealt with this matter.
Regards,
James Clarke
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Friday, 27 May 2011
Find out what happened to one experienced web analyst...
1and1 dispute continues
Filed under: Opinion, web hosting; Tagged as: 1&1, 1&1 Internet, 1and1, complaints, poor customer service, web hosting
I was interested to read a web page on someone else’s battles with 1and1 http://www.simonjones.info/1and1internet/, which appear to be similar to my own!
It appears that 1and1 have a POLICY of not bothering to reply to their customers as my e-mail to complaints@1and1.co.uk has also been ignored. I am now sending them a letter by normal post, in an attempt to stir them into some response! The irony is that I am quite happy to pay them any amount owed; all I want is an itemised bill showing what it is I am being asked to pay for!!!
My letter is shown below & is pretty self-explanatory:
I’m writing in connection with the appalling customer service I have (not) received from you.
I originally contacted your billing team after receiving a letter from a debt collection agency (Arvato Finance), for an amount that I had no knowledge of owing.
Since this initial letter, I have repeatedly asked for an itemised statement of account, so that I understand what it is I am paying for.
I asked for my account to be closed on 8th February 2009 after being a customer of yours for a number of years, because I was having more & more trouble with my account; domains were being suspended for too much traffic & I was told I had to have a dedicated server! I was also being told I was spamming people using the newsletter tool (which I wasn’t) & in the end, I felt it better to move all my domains to a new web host (where I have had NO problems).
Although I was closing the account, I did not expect complete access to be withdrawn immediately, as the cancellation page said that the contract would be ended on 22nd February. As a result, I was unable to access my mailing lists & lost all records relating to who was still subscribed etc. Despite asking your support teams if I could have access to the account, just to download the addresses held in my newsletter tool & to check the final balance, I was told it was not possible because the account was closed. That was it; no other help or information was offered! One of your customer service team did ask what I meant by “accessing my mailing list details”, I replied, but never got any response!
As far as I was aware, my payments were being made by direct debit throughout the whole of the time I was a customer, so I therefore had no idea of whether there was a balance due & never received a closing statement of account. I wrote a number of times asking for an itemised bill to be sent to me, but the only response I got was an e-mail telling me that I owed £187.03. I don’t know of any other business that just tells people they owe an amount & expect them to pay it, without sending a final statement/bill, so I again, requested this to be sent to me.
The next thing I know, a letter demanding £178.59 (plus £15 costs) arrives from Arvato! Naturally, I queried this, as the amount is different from what I was previously told & to be honest, I expected a reply from you with an account, not a threatening demand for payment with costs.
Since then, I have repeatedly asked for an itemised account, explaining what the charges are in respect of, which I would then be happy to pay. I am not prepared to just hand over nearly £200 (bearing in mind the actual amount quoted has changed 3 times without any explanation), not knowing what the charges are for.
I was originally receiving responses to my e-mails from Idil Ahmed, which were usually one line answers, totally unhelpful & completely ignored my requests for a broken down, itemised account, as well as my requests for the matter to be dealt with by a manager, or someone else who COULD provide what I believe I am entitled to receive, BEFORE involving a debt collection agency!
All the e-mails to Arvato were answered simply saying that I should query the balance with you, although one stated that you had told them my account was not closed, even though it was! I have been quoted three different figures & you tell your debt collectors that my account is not closed – hardly competent!
All I want is a closing account statement/invoice, which shows how much I am being charged & what the charges relate to. I do not see why this should be such a problem to provide, but it seems to be beyond the abilities of Mr Ahmed, which is why I asked for the case to be passed to his manager.
However, all I was given was your complaints@1and1.co.uk e-mail address, which I wrote to on 8th May. I have NEVER received any reply from this address & today received a further e-mail from Arvato, which stated:
“I have received information back from 1&1, stating that the account was cancelled on the 22nd February 2009. However your invoices were raised in January and beginning of February, therefore as stated in 1&1 terms and conditions the account an acount has to be cancelled 14 days prior to an invoice being raised, therefore the full balance of £193.59 is due.”
IS the balance of £178.59 up to the period 22/02/09? Even though I could not access my account, all my records & mailing list from 8th February, I am EXPECTED to pay up to 22nd February? I understand if I had to give you 14 days notice of cancellation, but why then was my account closed from 8th February? It made things very inconvenient for me & I had to pay a couple of hundred pounds to re-clean my mailing list, because you wouldn’t let me access them.
All I have been asking for is an itemised statement for my records, showing the charges & what period they are for. However, you seem completely incapable or unwilling to provide this! I now think the reason you can’t is that you messed up by closing my account too early & now can’t produce an accurate bill!!!!
As a former debt recovery manager, I would not have expected any customer to pay an amount which they had not been sent a bill for and I would be able to produce a copy of that bill should they query it, or state it had not been received. I believe this is simply good practice & do not understand why your staff, or your billing system, is unable to do this.
I can provide copies of all the e-mails that have been going back & forth for the last 4 months & would be perfectly prepared to provide them to a court, should you deem it necessary to go that far! I do hope that this will not be necessary & you can provide me with a closing account, which will show that I am being charged legitimate charges for hosting services that I am liable for. Upon receipt, I will make immediate payment!
I have said this constantly throughout the last 3-4 months, but it seems that your customer services people have a set routine of answers & cannot deviate from these in any way! Usually, they just stop replying & as stated previously, I have not received ANY response from you following my e-mail to your complaints address! However, having viewed other people’s similar problems on the internet, it appears that it is your POLICY to just ignore your customers, if any enquiry is slightly out of the ordinary!
I hope you will now be able to deal with this complaint, provide a closing, itemised statement, which I will then pay. I do not really want this to go any further, in what is really a very simple request, which you seem unable or unwilling to meet. However, I am prepared to stand my ground & will not be bullied into paying you amounts of money that you (for all I know) have plucked out of thin air!
I look forward to your response (finally) to this complaint.
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