Bloggers help please! Sink 1and1 in Google.
1and1 internet the hosting company from hell.
Please God whatever you do, don’t invest your hard earned cash with these jokers. *Apparently* on an old expired domain, I signed up for a 24 month contract (complete rubbish), and I’m now (having been referred to a credit agency to have my credit rating spat on) am now paying for a non existent service. They also refuse to talk to me at all. As a small “getting my own back” I’ve also asked for all of my personal data to be provided under the Data Protection Act, and if they refuse to comply with that within the (40 days), I’ll be going to the data commissioner.
So here’s the plea.
If you can drop this post a link, in any way shape or form please link to this with the link text 1and1…I plan on asking the blog community nicely to help me out with this, maybe some of those social networking guys can do something to..add to your del.icio.us or Digg it or stumble it. You get the picture. Have a gander at the below email…
2008/6/24 <billing@1and1.co.uk>:
Dear Paul Anthony,Thank you for your email.
The reason why your package is still active is because you went for one
of our special offers
and one of the stipulations of that offer that is
that you enter into a 2 year contract so the earliest that can be
canceled is May 12, 2009 which is what the termination is set to now per
the terms & conditions associated with the discount offer.
We can not issue a new invoice for the full amount due on your account.
You have to continue to pay every 6 months when the invoices are
produced until May 12, 2009.There is a balance of £42.23 due on your account at this time.
Ok, whatever I’ll pay when you can satisfy the above requests.
If you have any further questions do not hesitate to contact us.
Yeah, please answer the above questions marked ONE and TWO for clarity.
Surprise surprise, nothing back after this request…I have countless other emails, including a copied and pasted terms and conditions as a RESPONSE from them when I asked for evidence for this particular special offer that I signed up from – having written a physical letter. Emails dont work, Letters dont work, Maybe Google bombing will. So as I say, anything you can do to stick it to the man is appreciated. Hell, If it saves one customer from making the wrong hosting decision this post is worth it.
Also worth mentioning a few other sites here with the same sort of issues.
http://www.simonjones.info/1and1internet/
http://serial-box.net/2008/06/1and1-conclusion/
http://www.acorndomains.co.uk/domain-name-scams/32706-aravato-finance-1and1.html
http://www.chrisbeach.co.uk/view/tech/avoid_oneandone_internet
Grumbletext
1and1 internet
http://www.clintlenard.com/2007/10/28/what-the-hell-does-icann-do/
1&1
http://wwwangrypeople.co.uk/2008/03/03/1and1-web-hosting-sucks/
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Filed in: Personal
About the Author (Author Profile)
Paul is a regular 28 year old web bloke / programmer with a penchant for online marketing. This blog is a personal outlet, with an eclectic mix of articles.Subscribe
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Unfortunately if you don’t have a lot of money and a lot of time I suggest you just pay the collection agency and move on. check out my website that I linked above on my name.. I experienced roughly the exact same thing as you.
1and1 will not budge on their terms of service even they they directly violate ICANN
they attempted to renew mydomain names on an expired credit card then made me pay a collection agency for money I didnt owe them yet (following years registration) before they let me transfer to another registrar which is a violation of ICANN TOS.
Thanks for your comments Dan, I’d love to move on, draw a line under them – I do plan on paying them. Problem is though, they won’t even issue an Invoice for the remaining outstanding on my account…stating that they can’t do that, and that I should just renew my cc inside the control panel; Needless to say I dont trust much their ability to properly cancel the account, come May 2009, they’ll probably still be taking money from my account, the whole thing came to light upon cancelling a lost debit card, I hadn’t noticed they were still charging me. So all in all they will get their money..but at what cost, with the bad publicity. Thanks for the link at your site.
they are assholes. once theyve sent you to collections they wont even talk to you until they receive notification from NCO that you have paid.
If i was a rich man with lots of extra free time I would take this to the next level legally… but I dont lol and its not worth my time for the 3 domains I *had* with 1and1 which have now been transferred.
good luck!
I find that complaining to companies is often fruitless these days. However, recording bad service and publishing this material on the web has thus far always brought a swift resolution. I’ve recorded bad customer service phone calls by 1and1, British Airways, United Airlines, Virgin Trains, Village leisure, and even the vehicle tax office in the UK. Thus far all these complaint websites with the reocrded calls have resulted in the company backing down.
In fact, my recent success (BA) resulted in them not only refunding me £60 but adding a huge case of expensive wine to that. This, I should add, is in the hope I’ll remove the site, which I will after the same time has elapsed between the start of the complaint and the time it took for them to settle the matter. :-)
My 1and1 site…
http://www.simonjones.info/1and1internet/
Same issues… Love the approach you are all taking.
The problem starts in the choice of the Philippines for their call centre: No one there really speaks English properly nor understands the written word; if the 1and1 automated work flow process thingumy does not work, then you are right up the creek.
Complaints do not know what “high priority” “urgent” either mean.
Billing: “our systems are down [11.30am GMT] please call back in half an hour” – like we have time to be chasing answers.
Support: No shared language; the irony is that they are likely very talented linguistically, if only by force of circumstance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_Philippines
whereas the current generation in the UK are getting a poorer English language education than ever before.
So, what of ICANN? Do they listen to complaints?
Well, so far, NO. But I will let you know if I get them licked. It seems that their accreditation system is designed to approve registrars, but lacks a route for removal of those that infringe, hence all the shenanigans about various awful registrar situations in recent years.
Maybe we should all pay by credit card, and call the credit card company when these companies fail to play fair… but this only works for sums over £100 in the UK.
Blogging looks to be the way to go.
These people need to be stopped, this is extortion at the highest level and newbies are getting screwed every day, i happen to be one. I want to leave them and they tell me i am tied in to a 1 year plan. This is the first i heard of this. been with them 2 months and I just want my money back and run ! I get physically sick now when i see the logo of 1&1 and their cheap website builder.
I hope u publish this and inform everybody, please please please do not go near 1&1 Hosting or Domain Registration. They are crooks, period !
I will write my own blog on these shysters and go into details.
Thats all for now, over n out
They have done the same thing to me. They attempted to bill to an expired credit card to renew services including domain names. I attempted to cancel no less than three times and finally was issued a credit memo showing they owe me a balance and today, months later, I received a collection notice from NCO. Funny enough this “balance due” is, in large part, for domain names I can prove were never renewed. PURCHASING ANYTHING THROUGH 1&1 IS A BIG MISTAKE. This company is a mess. I have gone back to GoDaddy where, if a credit card does not go through, they simply cancel your services.
All the best with this mate. I’ve been plagued by these fuckers for 2 years now and i’ve simply had enough of them. I am not paying the debt collection service as it simply means they will reactivate my account and that’s the last thing I want since I’ve already canceled my account on two separate occasions.
I’d like to file a class action lawsuit against this company. Anyone with me?
1and1 is ruining people’s credit if people let their subscription expire. That’s crazy! I have plenty of hosting accounts on the internet, so I am very familiar with hosting policies. When a subscription expires, and your card is expired, your prepay doesn’t go through. That then cancels the account.
But I guess 1and1 finds that it’s profitable to send people to the NCO collection agency if they don’t prepay for the next term without clicking the ‘cancel’ button, which is not even available on your control panel!
Anyone else think this is an unfair business practice? I think we should contact the Abbey Spanier law firm and file a class action lawsuit!
I’m tired that everybody does what they want with MY money! i don’t care about 30 dollars, I care about my credit score, which was good, but not anymore/ i have allkind of proof that I canceled the account, i’m not going to pay for a service i didn’t get
Unfair Business Practice
According to 1&1 own T&C you can terminate the contract by putting it in writing. In August last year I did because due to the economic down turn my company had ceased trading and was de-solved, not owing anyone I might add. Also as the company had ceased trading I no longer had access to the email address that I set the account up in.
After not hearing from 1&1 I chased it up with an email, as per their T&C what then followed was 3 months of 1&1giving me the wrong information and the even told me it was cancelled in the end I told them I had fished with them and I did not want any more to do with them.
In April this year I was contacted by Arvarto Finance Services not only for this account but also for another account, another month went by of me explaining why I did not owe the money. I am the informed that I don’t owe the money on one of the accounts. They were however perusing me for the other one. I took some legal advice and wrote to both 1&1 and Arvarto Finance telling them I did not owe the money and to stop bully in me and if they did not respond within 10 days I would consider the mater closed. 2 months pass and nothing then Arvarto finance contact me again I am now in dispute with 1&1 for £30.00.
Recently I received a letter from H L LEGAL & Collections in association with Sampson & Co they have now given me 7 day and have threatened me with court action. I rang H L LEGAL and funnily enough they knew nothing of the case. This raised my suspicions I was finally passed through to a Mr Carl Wiltshire who not only told me he was a solicitor but I think he also told me it was his family business. Mr Carl Wiltshire then told me that his company did not send the letter but I think he said the company name was licensed to Arvarto Finance. I told him I thought that it was illegal to do that as I felt that the letter did not make it clear who the company was or their roll with Arvarto Finance As it is unfair to communicate, in whatever form, with consumers in an unclear, inaccurate or a misleading manner. Also it is wrong for companies to ignore disputes about whether you owe the money and refuse to freeze action if you dispute the dept.
I sent Mr Carl Wiltshire the information and he emailed it to Arvarto Finance.
Happy to put my name to it Phill Sylvester
Phill,
Absolutely disgusted to hear of your case, and yet further evidence of the malpractice of this company. Many thanks for sharing your story, and do let us know how things go.
Paul.
Here are my resent correspondents with Averto Finance Services
Subject: ref; 935192916911
Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2010 09:34:43 +0100
From: Collections@arvatofinance.co.uk
To: phill.sylvesterXXXXXXXXXXXX
Dear Phillip Sylvester,
Thank you for your recent communications regarding the above account.
However, unfortunately due to the fact that we have been in contact with our client regarding this and they have advised us to proceed with the collection of the outstanding £49.44.
We have done our job by contacting 1&1 to make them aware of your position, and help forward your beliefs. But as they are our client we now can only act synonymous with their requests. These requests are for ourselves to continue the collections procedure.
Any further queries or to make payment arrangements, contact us on 0870 125 8809.
Regards,
___________________________________________________________________________
From: phill.sylvesterXXXXXXXXXXXX
To: collections@arvatofinance.co.uk
Subject: RE: ref; 935192916911
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2010 11:59:10 +0100
I believe that I have suffered harassment and your company is implemented I would like details of your governing body so that I can make an official complaint.
Phill Sylvester
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
From: Phill Sylvester [mailto:phill.sylvesterXXXXXXXXXXXXX]
Sent: 06 July 2010 17:05
To: Collections, Arvato Finance UK
Subject: FW: ref; 935192916911
Dear AFS
You have contacted me regarding the account with the above reference number, which you claim is owed by myself/ourselves.
I would point out that I have no knowledge of any such debt being owed to (1 and 1 internet ).
I am are familiar with the Office of Fair Trading debt collection Guidance which states that it unfair to send demands for payment to an individual when it is uncertain that they are the debtor in question.
I/we would also point out that the OFT say under the Guidance that it is unfair to pursue third parties for payment when they are not liable. In not ceasing collection activity whilst investigating a reasonably queried or disputed debt you are using deceptive/and or unfair methods.
Furthermore ignoring and/or disregarding claims that debts have been settled or are disputed and continuing to make unjustified demands for payment amounts to physical/psychological harassment.
I would ask that no further contact be made concerning the above account unless you can provide evidence as to my liability for the debt in question.
I await your written confirmation that this matter is now closed. Otherwise I will have no option but to make a complaint to the trading standards department and consider informing the OFT of your actions.
I look forward to your reply.
Yours faithfully
Phill Sylvester
¬
RE: ref; 935192916911
From: Collections@arvatofinance.co.uk
Sent: 06 July 2010 18:14:23
To: phill.sylvesterXXXXXXXXXX
1 attachment
image001.png (22.5 KB)
Dear Mr Phil Sylvester,
Thank you for your e-mail. Please be advised that we are no longer in pursuit of the balance outstanding. Your file has been closed and referred back to the creditor.
Any further queries must be redirected to 1&1 Internet Ltd.
Regards,
Cassie
arvato finance services Limited
Block2
Willerby Business Park
Willerby
United Kingdom
HU10 6FE
http://www.arvatofinance.co.uk
collections@arvatofinance.co.uk
Hope this helps also I have reported HL Legal to the Legal Complaints concerning their involvement regarding harassment
Phill Sylvester
Phil, the manner in which you’ve dealt with this is nothing short of heroic. I have no doubt that this will help others in obtaining fair and reasonable business practise from both Arvato and 1&1. Again, thanks for sharing here.
Regards,
Paul.
Hi all,
I have just (hopefully) finished dealing with a similar case. I cancelled but 1 and 1 claimed to have had no record of it and kept trying to charge until matters went first to Arvato and then to H & L. To anyone who hasn’t yet sorted out any disputes with them tell them that you would like a full subject access request including all call recordings. Then tell the person who writes to you (usually under a fabricated name like “John Keefer”) that you look forward to seeing them personally in court.
If you would like anymore advice on how I finally got some sense out of them please feel free to get in touch.
Sanj