JeffCroft.com

02.27.2006 // 146 Comments // News Center 1&1 Internet is the devil.

Comments

1. 001 // Michael Hessling // 02.27.2006 // 12:02 PM

   That’s what I trying to get at in my comment (#9) to your last entry.

   Sorry that was so painful.

   PS: Very courteous letter. Much nicer than I would have done.

2. 002 // Justin Perkins // 02.27.2006 // 12:08 PM

   I have many of my domains registered with them, because they are cheap. But there services are terrible. Their customer server is indeed, the worst I have ever experienced.

   I am slowly moving my domain names to dreamhost, but it’s a pain in the arse because 1and1 auto-renews your domain names and I’m trying not to double up on charges.

   I have had a an affiliate generated credit sitting in my account unpaid for over 8 months. I’ve sent numerous emails (including one only moments ago) asking why I haven’t received payment for this long. I agree, they suck.

3. 003 // Brian Sweeting // 02.27.2006 // 12:13 PM

   Switch to Dreamhost. I’ll hook you up with a discounted coupon code if you want.

4. 004 // Matthew Pennell // 02.27.2006 // 12:36 PM

   I’m hosted with them (*nix shared box) and I’ve never had any major downtime or problems with them, although they did screw up a .NET account we opened at work with them.

   Their tech support sucks, though.

5. 005 // Ryan Rahn // 02.27.2006 // 12:40 PM

   Dreamhost is very good! I’ve been with them for just over a year, and their service and support is great. Their backend controls are quite good as well. They are almost always in the cutting edge (offering Ruby on Rails, etc) and constantly upgrade their plans for existing users.

6. 006 // Jeff Croft // 02.27.2006 // 1:02 PM

   Thanks for your responses, guys. I will consider the options you guys have mentioned.

   To be fair, I should point out that it’s really only the incredibly poor technical support that has me frustrated with 1&1. The hosting service itself, when it works, is great. I’ve only had a handful of problems in several years — so I can’t complain too much about that. I understand that things will break down once in a while.

   What I’m upset about is that it took me over 24 hours to get it fixed. That is a problem.

7. 007 // AJP // 02.27.2006 // 1:05 PM

   Dreamhost is nice. 2 years after a coupon to around $4 a month for more features and space than I know what to do with.

8. 008 // Lance E. Leonard // 02.27.2006 // 1:08 PM

   I would suggest that another problem would be FIVE faulty IDE cables. Can you say “canned response?” Heh, I knew you could. Seriously, these days, support is all that differentiates hosting companies. While some do offer newer technologies than others, the basic packages are all the same. Who really needs 3 petabytes of bandwidth for $8/mo. That’s all marketing hype. Companies HAVE to have top-notch support. Why put up with it when there are so many other options? (I’ve had good results with mediatemple, crytaltech and am now hosting one site with dreamhost - which has yet to knock my socks off).

9. 009 // Tony Summerville // 02.27.2006 // 1:41 PM

   That sucks dude, but I’d like to say for the record that I’ve used 1&1 for my hosting for the past few years and have never had any sort of problem. Their prices are awesome and the customer support has been satisfactory the couple of times I’ve had problems or questions.

10. 010 // James // 02.27.2006 // 2:31 PM

    FWIW, Dreamhost has sucked the last few months. I don’t know if I would start up a new site there or move an existing one there, either.

11. 011 // Jason Beaird // 02.27.2006 // 2:40 PM

    I’m going to include myself here in the Dreamhost praising for a couple reasons. They Rock! - Pricing, Service, and Support are all dead on, and I’m glad I switched to them. Google Juices = Free/Discounted Hosting - There are a lot of people singing the praises of Dreamhost because, well, they offer $97 per referral! So far, my next year of hosting is already paid for and I still periodically get random search engine visitors who click through the link in my footer and signup. So, do yourself a favor and signup for a dreamhost account. Give it a month or so, write up an honest review, and link in your referral id. Plenty of people read your blog so I’m sure there are a few out there as pissed off with their hosting company as you are right now. ;)

12. 012 // Isaack // 02.27.2006 // 4:39 PM

    If you can find a product that suit your needs within JVDS, then I have excellent experience with their service. They seem to have grown bigger lately and they aren’t always as snappy as they used to be. But that was also very impressive, it was like their CEO never slept.

    I had weird problems with Rackforce, now I’m with EV1 Servers which has been very nice so far. Quick response on support calls and quick fixes. But then, I haven’t had 4 faulty IDE cables… sounds more to me like it was never fixed to begin with! Sigh

    These days I’m considering, http://synssans.nl/ Since we are both based in Europe, latency will be lower for my own uses.

13. 013 // Jim // 02.27.2006 // 5:24 PM

    If you’ve got UNIX admin skills, then I highly recommend johncompanies.com. We’ve been with them for years, and every single time I’ve talked to them, I’ve had top notch support. You only get root on a virtual server though, so if you don’t want to set everything up yourself, don’t bother - but on the other hand, you get everything set up how you want it :).

14. 014 // Nathan Smith // 02.27.2006 // 11:03 PM

    Jeff: I feel your pain. I was with 1and1.com for awhile, on their Pro Preview plan. However, I just decided to leave ‘“ even with a year left, because I was so dissatisfied with their service. Yet, even though I canceled a few of my free dot-info domains well before the billing start date, I was charged anyway. When I talked to a tech support guy on the phone about it, he sounded indifferent. That, along with the inconsistencies in uptime, as well as limitations on MySQL databases, was enough to justify leaving. I’d rather pay for good hosting, than get bad hosting for free. To me, it seems like a preview should make you want to purchase something, not drive you away early. I second what others have said about Dreamhost. I switched last summer, and haven’t looked back since.

15. 015 // JBagley // 02.28.2006 // 12:24 AM

    In the hosting game, the only thing I see that sets hosts apart (except occasionally their specs) is support and service. What would a webhost be without support? Dead in the water. And don’t believe that bullsh*t that “an IDE cable was faulty”. I’ve only changed 1 IDE cable in my whole life, and that was because it had been abused for years (in and out of many different IDE drives..) So the uptime on your server is less than 90%? In the hosting game that is pathetic. Anyway, good luck with either switching or sticking it out with them.

16. 016 // Sebastian // 02.28.2006 // 9:02 AM

    Exactly the same with me… 1&1 was my ISP too. They kicked me cause of exceeding the volume of my dsl flatrate. I spend a lot of money for web hosting during the years. So now I quit all my contracts with them.

17. 017 // Kai Dolata // 02.28.2006 // 1:11 PM

    Jeff, I had the same probs with them, adding some pricely expensice I didnt want to bear anymore, so I now use hosteurope.de as Host. Quick support, good service and prices.

18. 018 // Jared // 03.02.2006 // 9:05 AM

    Jumpline is also a very good host. They even work on a Mac.

19. 019 // Phil // 03.02.2006 // 9:23 AM

    how can you use 1&1 as a serious blogger? ahhrk…

    I worked as a callcenter-agent and the answer “IDE cable” sounds like a give-this-answer-to-the-customer-when-you-don’t-know-what-to-say.

    I don’t want to place advertisements, but

    • • 8< - - advertisement = ON

    I changed from a german webhoster (huynh.de) to asmallorange.com (ASO), since my old provider had lot’s of restrictions and was unable to solve a problem to setup mail-to-blog-posting. After some investigation I moved to asmallorange.com 7 month ago and they’re the best hosting-company I know.

    Check them out - you’ll be amazed about their response times. It seems they have adopt some borg-like-technology since you can always reach someone and get a response within minutes.

    You can also check their forum to see what other people think of them.

    • • 8< - - advertisement = OFF

    Thanks for posting this and keep us informed - by the way Nice heading. Maybe in some more weeks a google-search for internet devil points to 1und1.de :-)

20. 020 // Boy George // 03.02.2006 // 4:45 PM

    Yo son, You be spreaded that bullshit around me and my boys at 1 & 1 will get to clappin and you and your crew be taking the long dirt nap. Brace yo’self fool cause beef be real son.

21. 021 // Chet // 03.03.2006 // 6:27 AM

    I’ll add a few thoughts on dreamhost. They’re support is nothing amazing as far as my experience has gone. They’ve given me a few canned responses that show they never actually read my email. I ended up getting answers I already knew. That said, all downtime problems have been addressed before I notice it.

22. 022 // Natalie // 03.03.2006 // 2:57 PM

    Justing - I host elsewhere but register my domains with them too. You know I re-read the affiliate agreement the other day and they actually say in there that “payments are distributed at our descretion.” That must mean any time they feel like it.

    Jeff - I’ve had similar emails… I get the same responses back no matter what the issue happens to be. I sometimes wonder if anyone there really types any email or if they hit a check box and it sends a standard reply. There’s also something to be said for a company that doesn’t have a datacenter clear across the country.

23. 023 // Nathan clayton // 03.04.2006 // 3:32 PM

    Just to add to the Dreamhost comments. I’ve been using them for a while now and have only had one real issue, which was solved as quickly as could be expected (they wer upgrading their DNS servers and I was moving a .DE domain over to them, which checks the validity of the DNS servers before it authorizes the switch).

    On that note, they did have quite a backlog of support queries earlier (when they first introduced their 1TB bandwidth/$9.99 a month deal), but they seem to have expanded their support staff and everything seems to be up to snuff again.

24. 024 // web // 03.07.2006 // 4:43 PM

    So in other words — it took about 27 hours to have someone walk over to the machine and hit the “reset” button.

    That would be good service if the support associate you spoke to flew from India to the co-location facility himself and reset it. Otherwise it’s simply awful.

    Never underestimate a scorn blogger with some SEO knowledge.

25. 025 // PaulM // 03.16.2006 // 11:56 AM

    I have not as yet had any dealings with these folks, although I am coming into contact with acquantances that are currently dealing with them. Another web host to veermantly avoid is webwaystudio.com

26. 026 // Clifton Labrum // 03.16.2006 // 7:23 PM

    Sorry you had such a bad experience. I’ve been nothing but pleased with ICDSoft. Shared server environment, never down, tech support responds within 5 minutes. Pretty nice.

27. 027 // Kevin Pearson // 03.17.2006 // 2:35 AM

    Hi,

    I have used 1 and 1 (1&1)www.1and1-uk.com for my art websites for the pass year and a half I have never had a problem with the hosting or email, my only problem being is that the 1st line customer support is India based and they can sometimes struggle to understand your issues or requests and visca versa we struggle to understand them. On the whole I’ve got to say they are far better than the other UK companies we have hosted with Legend coms VERY POOR - Business Serve POOR - Pipex AVERAGE - Fasthosts (UK) POOR.

    Many Thanks,

    Kevin

28. 028 // Lux // 03.17.2006 // 2:57 PM

    yes.. 1and1 is the worst company I have ever purchased anything from. I’m glad I’m not the only one that feels this way. I’ve called them on the phone and the techs there say that they don’t do anything over the phone. So I email, and similar to your experience, I find that the people that respond do not seem to read the emails I sent. They also send emails back full of spelling mistakes and redirections without actually solving the problem. Cancelling is also a great hassle. If you google for 1and1 cancel, you will find many people who had problems with their extortionistic tactics.
    

29. 029 // Tester // 03.18.2006 // 3:54 PM

    I just typed out my entire experience with trying to cancel 1&1 at http://tester.dreamhosters.com

    I hope that you do not have to go through this when you cancel their services.

30. 030 // 1and1.com hater // 03.18.2006 // 11:32 PM

    HOW FUNNY IS THIS: domain: ihate1and1.com created: 11-Aug-2004 last-changed: 19-Aug-2005 registration-expiration: 11-Aug-2006

    nserver: ns27.1and1.com 217.160.224.3 nserver: ns28.1and1.com 217.160.228.3

    status: CLIENT-TRANSFER-PROHIBITED

    registrant-firstname: Thomas registrant-lastname: Vollrath registrant-organization: 1&1 Internet, Inc. Online Marketing Dept. registrant-street1: 701 Leedom RD registrant-street2: Suite 300 registrant-pcode: 19083 registrant-state: PA registrant-city: Havertown registrant-ccode: US registrant-phone: +1.6105601535 registrant-fax: +1.6105601505 registrant-email: Whois Privacy and Spam Prevention by Whois Source

    admin-c-firstname: Andreas admin-c-lastname: Gauger admin-c-organization: 1&1 Internet Inc. admin-c-street1: 701 Lee Rd. admin-c-street2: Suite 300 admin-c-pcode: 19087 admin-c-state: PA admin-c-city: Chesterbrook admin-c-ccode: US admin-c-phone: +1.8774612631 admin-c-fax: +49.72191374215 admin-c-email: Whois Privacy and Spam Prevention by Whois Source

    tech-c-firstname: Andreas tech-c-lastname: Gauger tech-c-organization: 1&1 Internet Inc. tech-c-street1: 701 Lee Rd. tech-c-street2: Suite 300 tech-c-pcode: 19087 tech-c-state: PA tech-c-city: Chesterbrook tech-c-ccode: US tech-c-phone: +1.8774612631 tech-c-fax: +49.72191374215 tech-c-email: Whois Privacy and Spam Prevention by Whois Source

    bill-c-firstname: Andreas bill-c-lastname: Gauger bill-c-organization: 1&1 Internet Inc. bill-c-street1: 701 Lee Rd. bill-c-street2: Suite 300 bill-c-pcode: 19087 bill-c-state: PA bill-c-city: Chesterbrook bill-c-ccode: US bill-c-phone: +1.8774612631 bill-c-fax: +49.72191374215 bill-c-email: Whois Privacy and Spam Prevention by Whois Source

31. 031 // Shane // 03.26.2006 // 2:04 PM

    Were all of your communications via e-mail? Or did you phone them directly?

32. 032 // Jeff Croft // 03.26.2006 // 2:44 PM

    Shane-

    Did you read the e-mail messages? I called them at least 7 or 8 times that night, before I started e-mailing. i didn’t start e-mailing until one guy on the phone told me I should e-mail their complaints address.

33. 033 // Tim // 04.08.2006 // 1:05 AM

    That sounds bad, but not the worst. Check out http://www.thebishop.net/geodog/archives/2006/03/29/my_special_hosting_plan_with_webhostplus_formerly_netbunch.html for a funny story about REALLY bad hosting.

34. 034 // Dean Clatworthy // 04.30.2006 // 1:38 AM

    Jeff, I share your frustrations with 1&1. I got a visit from the debt collectors when they renewed one of my domains (without my permission) and I refused to pay. In the end after some advice from friends, I paid the fee and tried to transfer the domain (which in itself took about 10 phone calls and several complaint emails). You’re spot on with the phone support. I have never spoken to such a bunch of incompetent monkeys in the whole of my life. It seems they have hired any old foreigner off the street and put them on the phone (excuse me if i’m sounding the slightest bit racist, because that is not my intention). Not only could I barely understand the phone operators but they weren’t in the least bit helpful either. And as far as the whole “supervisor” thing goes, they refused to let me speak to theirs on all 10 occasions that I called which leads me to think they are not even supervised. This company needs to be exposed for what they trully are!

35. 035 // Terry Polevoy, MD // 05.06.2006 // 6:42 PM

    My e-mail to their director of Investor Relations

    Marcus Bauer United Internet AG Elgendorfer Straße 57 56410 Montabaur Tel: 02602/96-1631 Fax: 02602/96-1013 E-Mail: investor-relations@united-internet.de

    6 May 2006

    Dear Mr. Bauer:

    Dr Terry Polevoy’s HealthWatcher.net family of health information web sites were shut down by the abusive action of a division of your company that operates in Pennsylvania, USA.

    We are currently in the process of moving all of our files to our new ISP.

    http://70.103.140.117/~healthwa/

    Terry Polevoy, MD HealthWatcher.net

    519-725-2263 office 519-725-4953 fax

36. 036 // J. Stockton // 05.08.2006 // 11:14 PM

    ANDREAS GAUGER - 1&1 Chairman of the Board - looks like the name fits the company! (not that I want to make fun of names… but it was to uncanny!)

37. 037 // Walid // 05.10.2006 // 2:47 PM

    This is an amazing reading. I have been with 1&1 for the past 3 years with no problems.

    HOWEVER, since February of this year I had endless problems with their incompetent, impersonal and bloody arrogant attitude to customers.

    They have cancelled domains without my permission, charged me for domains even though I asked for it to be cancelled and finally which made me snap, they failed to pass me curtail documents to register my company’s domain (which resulted in 2 months delay).

    I spend hours on the phone with their HELPLESS desk and every time after I speak to one of their twats (which by the way cannot fix a dam thing), I put the phone with so much anger that if I see one of their employees I will shove a PC up their arse.

    The only way for these suckers to learn the value of their customers is to move our business away from them. I have introduced many of my family and their businesses to them and will work in the next few months to move them all away from 1&1 internet.

38. 038 // jakob // 05.12.2006 // 3:19 AM

    The only thing one can be sure about with 1&1 is that you’re not alone ‘“ plenty of others have problems with them. Here’s another for German readers:

    http://www.qxm.de/leben/20050517-135122/

39. 039 // A.E. // 05.19.2006 // 1:12 PM

    My company has problems with 1and1 as well (hence me searching for sites like this.)

    We need to change our domain cname and their ccontrol panel interface makes it impossible. They have imposed an arbitrary 32 character limit on their cname field (the result of code-crazy web designer) that makes it impossible for us to enter our proper alias via the web.

    I called their Tech support, and the first agent simply could not understand that I needed to change the cname on two sub-domains. They said they were (ha ha ha) forwarding me to tier two. I asked to speak to the tier two technician, to make sure they knew exactly which subdomains I needed aliased. I was transfered, and after 20 minutes it came out that I was STILL talkin to tier one.

    I told the person I needed to talk to the person who was actually going to do the work (after two weeks of this runaround, I was now 24-hours from my deadline). I was told they did not have that ability. I asked to talk to their manager (this was at noon on a Wednesday). I was told they have no manager.

    So then I asked if they were hiring, because a job without a manager is the best job in the world. Particularly if you can simply do nothing, as these people seem to do all day.

    I was promised it would be resolved overnight. It’s been 48 hours since that conversation. We still have no resolution.

    Thanks for letting me share. With 95 BBB complaints in 12 months, I will definitely make my company’s CFO aware of the need to change hosts.

    -A.

40. 040 // A.E. // 05.19.2006 // 1:15 PM

    I also wanted to mention that if anyone is having trouble getting a phone number for 1and1.com that is not their 800 number, I’ve had good luck calling Neil Simpkins.

    His number is 610-560-1538

    He is actually in a position (or so he told me) to go over and stand over the technician until the guy does what needs to get done.

    (although he can’t transfer to the technician’s phone. Odd…)

    -A.

41. 041 // Mish // 05.21.2006 // 8:53 AM

    Cant agree more! They are a bunch of litigious bullies that I cant seem to get rid of. I luckily only had domian registrations with them.. After cancelling my account, hoping that the domains would just expire and I would be able to just get them again from a more competent provider, they started sending threatening letters. I eventually paid for another year, and even after being FULLY PAID, i cannot do anything with the domains! The battle continues…

    My advice is the same: Avoid them at all costs, and warn anyone who is looking for any services they provide to steer well clear.

42. 042 // Jon Lusky // 05.31.2006 // 11:30 PM

    Wow, I’ve had the exact same failure twice on my 1and1 server. The drive disappears from /proc/ide, doesn’t show up after a pxe boot into the rescue shell, and about 24 hrs later the server is magically back up with all data intact. In my cases, they have refused to provide any explanation—I didn’t get the bullshit IDE cable story. A bad IDE cable would be throwing errors all over the place, both from the controller side and on the drive side, which would get logged to the SMART Error log on the drive and typically increment the UDMA_CRC_Error_Count SMART counter in the Hitachi DeathStar they used in this box.

43. 043 // John Shin // 06.02.2006 // 11:49 AM

    I work for 1 & 1 Internet, Inc., and they are fine. No need to argue.

44. 044 // Andy Marsh // 06.27.2006 // 1:56 AM

    John Shin works at 1and1 so he thinks life is fine? Right. Their support is complete BS. All USA calls are going to Asia on VoIP so they do not have to pay real money to their support staff. And the staff who support this stuff have shit for brains when it comes to any sort of technical understanding on things like DNS and how it really works. Run don’t walk from these guys.

45. 045 // Elizabeth // 06.29.2006 // 1:10 PM

    1and1.com is BY FAR some of the worst service I have ever received. They are akin to the PayPal of webhosting.

    I have about a dozen domain names with 1and1. I also decided to try out their WebsiteBuilder package because the site listed a 60 day money-back guarantee if you are unhappy with the program. No loss to me, so I decide to try it out. After less than 2 days, I really disliked the program, so I tried to cancel it. For some reason, I wasn’t able to, and after a good 5 or so emails back and forth with their so-called “support” team, they apologized for giving me the wrong url to go to for cancellation as I am based in Canada. In any case, I finally managed to cancel the package.

    This week (a month later) I get a charge on my credit card from them for over $30 for 3 months of WebsiteBuilder.

    I email them to find out why and am told the package was never cancelled in the first place. Frustrated, I email back saying I will cancel it asap but want assurance that the charge will be reimbursed as per their guarantee.

    I receive an email back telling me WebsiteBuilder is non-refundable, and that the site lists that only hosting is refundable, and that I was confused. No refund, in other words.

    I email AGAIN saying I will be transfering my domain names (a dozen of so) when they are up for renewal next year and that they will no longer be getting any of my business. I also tell them I work for a company that is a VERY large affiliate of theirs that brings them a lot of business, and that I am really unhappy with their service. I let them know I’ll be cancelling my own personal affiliate account, and will be calling my credit card company to get the WebsiteBuilder charge charged back.

    Unbelievably, I get this snarky email back from the billing department telling me how to go about cancelling my entire package with them…

    Dear _ _, (Cust: XXXXXXXXX)

    Thank you for contacting us.

    Your account has not been cancelled. We have received 2 previous cancellation requests , one for Norton AntiVirus, and one for WebSiteBuilder Plus, but to this date have not received a cancellation request for your entire package. To cancel your packge, please go to http://cancel.1and1.com, and cancel your services.

    If you have any further questions do not hesitate to contact us.

    — Sincerely Ian Morris Billing Department

    I will never give them another DIME. As soon as my domains are up for renewal, I will be transfering them to another host. Steer clear. The service here is beyond horrible!

46. 046 // 1and1.com scam victim // 06.29.2006 // 2:13 PM

    1and1.com,

    You have lured us to transfer our domain with advertised price of $5.99. Even though we had our credit card profile set up in November 2005, you had authorized that amount immedately, you now claim that the $5.99 payment has not been made. Again, without any notifications - either in email or writing, you have locked our domain and transferred our account to your collectoin agency for additional $18.95. The agent named Andy (agent no. 525), I spoke with on June 26, 2006, self-claimed the supervisor himself, was extremely rude, and claimed there were notifications for the payment. But he cannot point to nowhere, not even in my account panel on your own servers. His words and actions exemplify the very image and impression of 1and1.com: imcompent, hostage taking, bandit, and evil. My advice to you: please unlock my domain within 3 days. Otherwise I will take every means available to enforce my rights, starting with FTC, and other regulatory agencies, and take it to Clark Howard to give more exposure to your well-deserved evil and bandit business practices.

    Steak

47. 047 // KillTerry // 07.01.2006 // 6:42 AM

    1and1 did us all a favour when they shut down Polevoy’s web-heaps. Polevoy is a known liar, fraud, charlatan and molester. He shouldn’t be allowed to ave access to the internet.

48. 048 // Chris Beach // 08.10.2006 // 9:28 AM

    Jeff, I sympathise. I’ve also had a terrible
    experience with 1&1 Internet in the UK.

    It seems their various support departments simply don’t talk to each other, favouring the “hot potato” approach to account management. They are absolutely dire when dealing with billing problems, having debited my account one month after cancellation of my contract, and then giving me an incomplete refund some days later. They still owe me compensation money promised a couple of weeks ago.

49. 049 // shanyi shen // 08.11.2006 // 3:42 PM

    I had terrible experience with 1and1’s service too. Their webmail service is awful. It lost my data several times and the worst time was after I completed a very long email and sent it, the webmail asked me to re-login. But the email I sent just disappeared completely, not in any folder any more. I tried to call their customer service. As soon as the rep heard me complaining on the data loss, he immediately put me on hold without any explantion and holding time is endless. I thus decided to switch to a different company. I did not know how they got those testimony they have on their website. It’s not true at all from my experience.

50. 050 // admin // 08.11.2006 // 4:13 PM

    Crooks, Liars and Theives… still doing the same thing as in the past.

    Terrible support.

    After failing to help with a managed server, they forced us to move a root server for 1 setting in the php files… ok… so we gratiously moved….

    Too bad they can’t stop double and triple billing… go to attorney general.

51. 051 // Vlad // 08.21.2006 // 11:06 AM

    1&1 is by far the worst web hosting company I’ve ever dealt with - I had a dedicated Unix package with them and I’ve gone through numerous lengthy downtimes and spent hours on the phone with their clueless, always lying and rude support - STAY AWAY! Yes, the infamous ‘IDE cable’ excuse was given to me too. I cancelled the contract and for a good measure put a hold on the credit card that was on file - just to make sure. It’s all just a bad bad memory now but I still can’t stand any of the tracks that are played on their support lines - so many negative emotions are associated with them…

52. 052 // Brian Chappell // 08.23.2006 // 4:38 PM

    These guys did me wrong like so many others it seem with the auto renewal after cancelation, then sending your info straight to the collection agency.
    

    Not much you can do but pay it.

    Alas unless you type in “1 and 1.com” into google and click on there Google AD, thus costing them the click. Its the least I can do… I start my day off by doing this, and so should you :)

53. 053 // Doug McGown // 08.27.2006 // 4:01 PM

    Jeff, 1 & 1 Internet, inc. is a nightmare! I have been involved with Web development, etc. since Web all started. I have never experienced such a piss poor company as 1 and 1. They are worse than Dell when it comes to customer care. I say Dell because when a problem occurs, instead of taking responsibility, they route you to another country. Dell’s country is India and 1 and 1 is Filipian Islands. - how convienient! My Web site has been down over 48 hours. I called 6 times. Twice I requested they move my site to another server. Nothing was done. I did get a hold of a supervior in Germany named Liza. She promised me 2-3 hours for my site to be changed to another server. NOTHING was done (naturally). What is amazing is that all these support people say they have no idea what is going on until they get an update from Germany. Evidently, this company is too big and the little man gets squashed. There is no care or support. I would be so strong to say… they are border-line fraud. They guarantee 99.9% uptime. I know it takes 5 minutes to move a Web site to another server. These people when it comes to a shared server really don’t care about their customers. This company is horrible! - People be aware! Stay away from 1 & 1 Internet, inc. There is absolutly no communication at all between their techs and support. 1 and 1 Internet keeps their support people in the dark! Never have I experienced such ridiculous support and service from a company who says they are all this! It is much worse than your blog emphasizes!

54. 054 // healthynerd // 09.01.2006 // 8:06 PM

    Hi, may I solicit your advice because I’m still stuck with 1and1 and I’m wanting to transfer my registry to goDaddy. Assuming I have successfully sent a fax, what if they play ignorant and pretend that they never received anything?

    I appreciate your input thanks and more power.

55. 055 // Art Parducho // 09.05.2006 // 11:32 AM

    I was about to subscribe to the services of 1and1 and decided to check for comments from bloggers. My decision could not be swayed until I went through all the comments about 1and1. Where on earth did those ratings come from? Thank you for posting your comments. Let us not give 1and1 Internet any business.

56. 056 // Jeff // 09.06.2006 // 6:20 PM

    hi, Have been with 1&1 and not a problem but I am at on one of the upper packages and I am not on a root server I am with there hosting side so…I think you might of just ran into some retared support people that don’t know a thing about us computer people. I haven’t had problems with them. I have there business package so Maybe it is with there server support group

57. 057 // Jeff Croft // 09.06.2006 // 8:51 PM

    Did you read the comments? There are over 55 comments on this thread and most of them are from people on shared hosting, not root servers.

58. 058 // charles sterling // 09.08.2006 // 11:35 AM

    I thought it would be a good deal going with 1&1 but found that the simplest of human error can create a disaster.

    After getting a slow start (little done in first 3+months) I began trying to setup several domains and get some simple websites together. It was awkward getting started as it was like once a month that I had to pay any attention to start.

    Once with some time and the need to add a domain and an exchange account I made a terrible mistake. I responded to a 25% discount add of which somehow got me switched from MS to Linux hosting.

    Did I mis-select something - it would appear so. Did they give me straight and consistent instructions on resolving the issue - NO. Matter of fact - one email said that after I issued a special request they would fix it so that I could make the adjustiments. Well, once I started following those instructions the server informs me that I have to wait 30-DAYS before making this change.

    So far, they have not put forth an effort to resolve this issue. So far, I am exploring another hosting service.

    BTW, due to the above unintentional switch to Linux my Exchange account stopped working and reportedly was to start working again after I simply followed their afore mentioned instructions.

    Whatever happened to CUSTOMER SERVICE where someone would take control of an account and fix it for the customer.

    For my months of time/money/confusion - 1&1 is not worth the effort.

59. 059 // Spacyt // 09.12.2006 // 10:37 AM

    This is happening to me now. They sent my information to a credit company saying I owe them 29.98 after I canceled services and have their confirmation cancelation email.
    

    Now the credit company is saying I owe a mysterious extra 40 bucks and they have no clue what is going on.

    I just emailed 1&1 about this and now that I “googled” issues with 1&1 cancelation issues I’m now aware that I’m going to be getting now where fast. My credit is going to be ruined over this crap.

    This is absurd. Have any suggestions?

60. 060 // MikeR // 09.14.2006 // 11:32 AM

    So much has been said, not much to add, but I completely agree!!! We don’t host one or two sites, we host hundreds with 1 and 1. Let me tell you, support doesn’t get any better at this level either. We have paid them thousands of dollars in a very short time. By the time our contract expires we will have thousands of domains hosted and you can bet they won’t be at 1 and 1, unless I see some damn quick improvement in support. I can tell you this much, if Ralph Dommermuth doesn’t get his ass off that damn boat and back into the board room there’ll be hell to pay.

    Here’s to lookin at ya Domm..

    Mike

61. 061 // Dawn Matthews // 09.17.2006 // 6:12 AM

    I was considering giving my business to 1&1 (not now). I am about to start my own ecommerce business, retailing goods (some best before 3 months). I will be relying on the internet for most of my business. I need to get a marketing page up ASAP, and want it on line by November. I am so thankful for people like yourself Jeff, steering me away form the wolves! Though I am still none the wiser about whom to do my web site, hosting and serving. It’s a mine field!

62. 062 // Eric // 09.28.2006 // 3:11 PM

    Down for 7 days now with 1and1. Still getting the run around from tech support. The devil still in business.

63. 063 // AJ // 09.29.2006 // 3:18 PM

    I was just considering to upgrade my 1&1 domain registration package to the hosting package when I decided to do so more research on this company. Thank you Jeff for your blog. Blogs like this are great cause you get credible information about bad companies and so on.

    I just closed my upgrade package browser window with 1&1 after reading these comments. I’m going to stay away from them. I guess http://webhostingjury.com/reviews/1and1 had accurate info on 1&1 all along.

64. 064 // Paul // 10.13.2006 // 5:44 AM

    Our 1and1 hosted website has been down/ when it is available too slow to be useable for four days now. This is the third time in two months! Their Technical support is appalling and uncaring. We are re-hosting our site as I speak.

    Avoid 1and1 like the plague.

65. 065 // Tony // 10.18.2006 // 9:05 PM

    I started a transfer from 1&1 to godaddy.com today. I wish I had seen this page before I signed up for their service. It has been spotty on a SHARED HOSTING server ever since I started.

    The real pisser is their customer support. Emails don’t get answered with in 24 hours despite what they say and the phone support usually resulted in “we are having some problem.” I also got hung up on during my first call when the Indian on the other end clearly didn’t understand the question I was asking.

    Today, I was able to access my site about half the day. This is not the worst downtime I have had (that was 2 weeks ago when I couldn’t access it the entire weekend). I am so tired of having to call them every other day because they misconficgured something which caused my site to stop working.

    So, hopefully godaddy will be better. It’s hard to imagine they could be as bad or worse.

66. 066 // J.H. // 11.02.2006 // 8:59 AM

    Just called Neil Simpkins, thanks to A.E. He said that someone would call me within the next 2 hours. My problem is that none of my domain email is being forwarded to my personal email account. This has been going on for several days now. I have not heard back via email, either through their website or directly through my personal email account.

67. 067 // J.H. // 11.02.2006 // 9:39 AM

    Well, a guy named “Tim” called within about 20 minutes of my call to Neil. Apparently, Earthlink and SBC have “blocked” 1&1 email as “spam”, and is automatically deleted. GREEEAAATTT! But just as a reality check, I contacted Earthlink. This is apparently true! They said this should be resolved in 24-48 hours. As my mother always said, “Your words into God’s ear”. GREEEAAATTT!

68. 068 // H.C. // 11.15.2006 // 4:11 PM

    1&1 support is totally uncaring and terrible. In October I paid their collection agency, NCO Financial, $29.94 only to find out that I haven’t paid the “late fee”. I called 1&1 support (for the 2nd time in a month) and found out that my payment was for service from September to next February ‘07. Funny thing is I explicitly told them to stop my service in October. Their idiotic support person wanted me to pay for the late fee, still have my service stopped, and not refund the number of unused months remaining on my contract. I don’t know how they can stay in business.

69. 069 // junpol3 // 11.17.2006 // 3:21 AM

    1&1 support is great. I never encountered any kind of problem with. I have been a customer for almost 2 years. The one who are comlaining are those idiots that think that 1&1 tech support will help them with everything. IF you don’t know what you are doing, hire a developer or system administrator to do the dirty work for you.

70. 070 // Brett // 12.19.2006 // 1:28 PM

    Down for 3 days now with 1&1. They finally got the server back up without emailing me or anything…then I find out they “lost” my entire site! They said I should have backed it up on my own…which I did do but never needed it till this company. Bad, horrible, disconnected, read off the monitor only type of tech/customer support. Do NOT entrust your site with 1&1. The previous posters no longer seem like idiot complainers but honest people trying to warn the public. 1and1’s company is just too disconnected and spread out to offer any great customer service or even basic Tech support…even when they erase your ENTIRE site! And just FYI, I do not have my own hosting company or any other other reason to post this message but to say “DON’T USE 1&1!” The only reason they are the biggest in the world is not because of customer satisfaction. It can’t be…they must just be buying up companies is my guess.

71. 071 // boob barker // 12.20.2006 // 3:59 PM

    I have seen this disgraceful, low, heinous, debauched, and morally reprehensible article written by an unprincipled and shameless man. Should any askew or counterfactual ideas, ideals, or unsound fact be expressed in my correspondance to Mr. Croft, then I alone am responsible for them. Mr. Croft has further articulated his attacks on not only 1and1 Internet, but Joseph Quinn as well. Readers and critics can distinguish that Joseph Quinn and others had offered prudent and tactical resolutions to Mr. Croft while emanating consummate pacification. Mr. Croft assumed the encumbrance to distort, mislead, and deviate from actuality and integrity. Not only do slant and bias encompass Mr. Croft’s article, they feign warrent, and do so with pride. Mr. Croft is content and sublime with consciously deteriorating fact and digressing his own morality to assert his desponance with determinations established by acknowledged and astute professionals. Mr. Croft’s license to censure and slander Joseph Quinn and his colleagues for performing an unparalleled effort, is truly his own prerogative and his own will. I doubt they will be discouraged or downcast by the cheap and defective maneuver executed by Mr. Croft. Opinion and conjecture are essential towards safekeeping in citizen practice and governmental and bureaucratic decency. However, misuse of facts for podium value is deplorable and self-serving. I am not distraught by the defamatory and disparaging discourse broadcasted by an unsuccessful, antagonistic, embittered, sardonic, and alienated individual. I am sure that they are not aghast by Mr. Croft’s arbitrary and narrow monologue, but rather overwhelmed by the comfort and sustenance supplied in order to exert futherance and more outreach in their services. 1and1 Internet, and the assemblage that follows, have bought into Joseph Quinn’s brand of support. I am sure he is grateful for this and humbled by it in the same light. I am sure that 1and1 Internet will not torment and vex in the words of an embryonicly trifling and petulant man. Mr. Croft’s exhaustive absence of decency and respectability will not hinder their dedication and devotedness towards their work. I wish Mr. Croft could say the same. He will endure on in meaningless obscurity with a small cloud of falsified and blind followers. He will not socialize or commiserate with his own words, but rather hide from them in darkness and continue to spin reality into a lighter fashion that makes his life slightly more tolerable. I will take no such course. I’m positive that Joseph Quinn’s core character and sentiments will not shift with popular opinion. His morality will not be compromised. If my discourse here was anything less than appropriate or responsible, only I am to blame for it. I thank you for your candor, Mr. Croft. Joseph Quinn and his colleagues are not going anywhere. Thank you.

72. 072 // Anne Chism // 01.05.2007 // 11:43 AM

    Reading this stuff scares me to death! After months of great service from 1&1, we’ve now experienced the worst customer service and technical support we’ve ever come across! We have a mobile dj business and our site has been down for three days. The only “technical support” person we can reach is in an overseas call center and they can’t tell us anything except that it will be fixed “in a few hours” (that was two days ago). In the meantime, we are paying 1&1 to host our site and none of our customers can access it. I can understand server glitches, but three days??? You’d think they’d be prepared for this kind of thing and could move the affected websites to different servers. To make matters worse, I was on hold for 30 minutes both times when trying to reach someone and this morning, after asking to talk to a supervisor or administrator, I was given a phone number that requires a password! (No…my customer # didn’t work). I’ve had it! They advertise as being the best and most reliable. What a joke!

73. 073 // Steve Hards // 01.12.2007 // 4:49 PM

    And it goes on - here’s my tale of woe with 1&1 (UK), and all I wanted was to transfer a domain name to my host Clook (who do GREAT support, BTW) so I could use a private nameserver there. I only found this site after my experience and have been prompted to post this because 1&1 sent me a survey today asking how satisfied I was. So I told them!

    Here’s my email correspondence. I’ve tidied it up and changed the order to top down to make it easy to read. All I had after the first two replies were auto responses ‘We’ll get back to you within 24 hours’.

    • Initial email: 27 Dec 2006

    I’ve been trying, within the Contract section, to change my briarwood1000.co.uk registrar from 1&1 to the webhost ‘Clook’. Their IPSTAG is CLOOK but your system says it is not recognised.

    Please initiate the transfer as soon as possible and let me know progress via [one of my email addresses]

    • Reply: 28 December 2006 17:06

    Dear Steve Hards,

    Thank you for contacting us.

    Please make sure that the IPS tag is spelled correctly or is in the correct case. Please try placing the IPS tag in all capital letters.

    If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

    Sincerely, Rosalie Parnes, Technical Support, 1&1 Internet

    • My reply, a few minutes later.

    Hi Rosalie,

    I did that (see attached screenshot). Your system has a problem identifying the tag.

    Please initiate the transfer as requested or fix your system.

    BTW, Rosalie, I am trying to make this transfer because 1&1 does not allow private nameservers. Please escalate this information to a manager.

    • Second, and last human reply: 28 December 2006 17:44

    Dear Steve Hards,

    Thank you for contacting us.

    I understand your frustration regarding this matter. Let me escalate your case to our transfer department so that we can have this issue sorted out as soon as possible.
    

    If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

    Sincerely, Rosalie Parnes

    • My next email: 29 December 2006 14:04

    Hi Rosalie, Any progress? How will I know when the transfer has happened?

    I’ve just tried the automated system again, BTW, and it still doesn’t recognise CLOOK.

    • And my next, also copied to 1&1’s Transfer Dept: 30 December 2006 18:30

    Please escalate this for management attention and explanation for the delay. All I have had since my last email is the automated reply.

    I understand that .co.uk transfers can happen within an hour. Days of delay are holding up the work I need to do on my websites.

    • The next: 01 January 2007 22:19

    Subject: C61538613 - AGAIN - Please escalate

    Hmm… another 24+ hours wasted with only another automated response to show for it. It is shameful that a big company like 1&1 cannot provide support over weekends and holidays!

    …continued in next post…

74. 074 // Steve Hards // 01.12.2007 // 4:53 PM

    … rest of previous …

    • Next day, another email: 02 January 2007 17:10

    Subject: C61538613 - And another day bites the dust - AGAIN - Please escalate

    I have been trying to get this briarwood1000.co.uk registration transfer resolved for SIX days.

    Why have I not had a response from a person since 28 December? Why hasn’t your IPS tag database been updated so that I can make the transfer automatically? Why, in response to my request to escalate this, hasn’t a manager contacted me with an explanation?

    • Final email: 07 January 2007 20.23

    Ok, I give up! It is now ELEVEN days since I had a reply from anyone at 1and1. Your total lack of response to my emails means that you clearly have no intention of helping me, so I’ve made arrangements for my domains to use Clook’s anonymous nameservers. Please note that this means that I NO LONGER WISH TO TRANSFER MY DOMAIN REGISTRATION to Clook so that I can use my private nameservers.

    So that’s how you can claim so many customers - by making it damn difficult to move anything away from you! Your claim of 24 hour support 7 days a week ought to be investigated by trading standards or Watchdog.

    Steve Hards

75. 075 // Steve Hards // 01.14.2007 // 6:24 AM

    • Next day, another email: 02 January 2007 17:10

    Subject: C61538613 - And another day bites the dust - AGAIN - Please escalate

    I have been trying to get this briarwood1000.co.uk registration transfer resolved for SIX days.

    Why have I not had a response from a person since 28 December? Why hasn’t your IPS tag database been updated so that I can make the transfer automatically? Why, in response to my request to escalate this, hasn’t a manager contacted me with an explanation?

    • Final email: 07 January 2007 20.23

    Ok, I give up! It is now ELEVEN days since I had a reply from anyone at 1and1. Your total lack of response to my emails means that you clearly have no intention of helping me, so I’ve made arrangements for my domains to use Clook’s anonymous nameservers. Please note that this means that I NO LONGER WISH TO TRANSFER MY DOMAIN REGISTRATION to Clook so that I can use my private nameservers.

    So that’s how you can claim so many customers - by making it damn difficult to move anything away from you! Your claim of 24 hour support 7 days a week ought to be investigated by trading standards or Watchdog.

    Steve Hards

76. 076 // Andy // 01.14.2007 // 9:37 PM

    I use 1and1 and their customer service like their other services suckkkkkk!!!. Once I called their tech support and the person answering the phone happened to be a senior manager, as I asked the question he started spelling the words for my domain as if I didn’t know how to spell it right. Instead of answering my question this fellow tried to make me look stupid, which he was himself, I asked him if he had a rough day………….He hangged up the phone.

    I called back and asked who had my earlier call…the lady said that it was a senior staff and wouldn’t give his name, anyways I didn’t even bother with resolving the tech. problem.

    I have some domains and hosting accounts with them at the time and don’t know what is involved and how much will it cost me extra if I were to cut off with them.

    I wrote this quick, there might be some errors :)

    Regards,

    One more point. Those who are not happy with their service and or need tech support should always call them at their 1800 number and tie up their lines and maybe cost them some $s

77. 077 // Akilah // 01.19.2007 // 2:28 PM

    1and1 is the WORST. They extort money form their customers when you try to cancel and their reps wouldn’t know the meaning of service if it was poking them in the eyeballs. PLEASE DO NOT do business with this bunch of theives.

78. 078 // H. Thomas // 02.08.2007 // 8:59 AM

    It is 8:52 Central Time on Feb 8, 2007. 1and1.com is currently DOWN! My design portfolio site is DOWN! All of my client sites that are on 1&1 are DOWN! The funny thing about it is that I’m not mad. I’ve experienced enough crap with them to not be too shocked. I have my own dedicated server with another company and will just plan on spending the next week or so migrating everyone away from 1&1. If your site matters to you, don’t use 1&1!

79. 079 // Dino Delides // 03.04.2007 // 4:16 PM

    I was trawling the web looking for coverage of issues that 1and1 had experienced recently to find out if this problem was widespread, and came across your blog. We have about 30 odd customers running sites and mail through 1and1 servers and have decided to take out a new dedicated server as we were supposed to launch a new site this weekend. Needless to say, our client is fuming.

    We purchased our server last week Thursday 22nd February, and were told that it would take 7 days to set the server up. Shortly after purchase the status of the server showed that it was ‘installing’ the operating system. On Thursday the 1st, it was still installing. I contacted 1and1 support and quite apart from the usual language barrier issues I was up against a wall. The representative said that there was a problem with the automated server setup system with no eta on resolution and no other course of action I could take. Begging, pleading, cajoling got me no where fast.

    9 emails later to server247@1and1.com and complaints@1and1.co.uk and support@1and1.co.uk with no response and about 10 calls to 08702411247 the same single level of support with the same answers (installation issue, no sir cannot escalate you, no sir we are in the Philippines and can only contact the admins by email etc etc) I was told that everybody who has ordered a dedicated server recently has the same problem as me. There is batch of faulty motherboards in and it would take ‘a few days’ to sort out. My question is - surely the operating system is the first thing you install? Then the problem should have been noted over a week ago…

    The maddening thing is how resolutely the call center operatives refuse to help you any further, or simply tells you what you already know.They are completely impotent, simply apologising over and over again. I have recieved two emails which are very short and only the result of me forcing the representative to send them to me whilst I was on the phone, describing their thoughts on the problem. Their 24 hour email response ‘promise’ is clearly rubbish.

    I now have two choices – stick it out or move. Both of which cost my company time and money and maybe even a customer. How on earth can a service company build its reputation on this? It is quite unbelievable.

    Looking forward to seeing if there are others with a similar issue.

80. 080 // Matthew Millett // 03.13.2007 // 5:07 PM

    I’ve been hosted by 1and1 for almost 3 years as well and I have been thinking of switching. This post has only validated my thoughts and I will now be switching to HostGator.

81. 081 // Cathy // 03.13.2007 // 7:45 PM

    This will top all of these entries. On 3/3/2007, we received an email telling us that they were upgrading to MSSQL 2005. The important part of this message was:

    … The switch will take place on March 13, 2007 beginning at 3am EST. During this upgrade your database can be offline for up to 6 hours….

    This, in itself, is unacceptable, but it gets worse…

    It is 3/13/2007 and 5:30 pm PST and all of our websites hosted on 1&1 are still down. I have called technical support 3 times today and asked to talk to a manager each time - without success. I have sent 4 emails to the email listed in the informational email (server247@1and1.com - what a joke) - all unanswered.

    Each and every time that I have called 1&1 technical support I get someone in the Phillipines that can NOT help and upon my insistence, usually escalates the case to someone else. Typically, if I get the courtesy of an email, it is days and days later and this starts a chain of emails trying to help the tech guy that ended up with the “escalated case” try to understand the problem.

    If anyone out there is thinking of hosting on 1&1 - DO NOT !!!!

    They unargueably have the worst technical support I have ever encountered in my years and years of consulting.

    It’s comical to read about the bad IDE cables (sorry to Jeff Croft), but it’s similar to our frequent problems with “bad files”. We are always uploading files to the servers where we keep our websites and very often we can’t open, read, upload, download or delete a file. You get an error message that says the file is corrupt. When it is reported, it has never been less than 2-3 days before the problem is fixed! If the file is crucial to your website functioning properly, you can quite possibly be down for several days! You should hear the explanations for how and why a file gets “corrupt”!

    OK - I could go on for pages and pages! Their technical support personnel are bumbling idiots who don’t even know the basics of how the web operates or how to provide rudimentary guidance. I have never spoken to a tech support person who knows what a “global.asa” file is!!! When you ask for help because your DB connection does NOT work (a connection that has worked flawlessly for the previous xx months), they give the “canned” response that they don’t provide programming support!!!

    DO NOT CHOOSE 1&1 for your webhosting needs!!!! BEWARE!!!

82. 082 // Jamez // 03.22.2007 // 11:27 AM

    Glad I found this thread! Was about to sign up for a test account to evaluate 1and1 to eventually outsource part of our hosting business. Also checked the BBB site with hundreds of complaints. They had a 5 page spread in Entrepreneur magazine that was impressive, but if their support isn’t located in the data center, then stay away! If they don’t own the data center, stay away! If their new data center is in tornado alley, stay away!

83. 083 // ibm cell // 03.25.2007 // 6:41 PM

    Is 1&1 on the rocky road to ruin? I recall Registerfly really reduced its prices before it went to the wall – is there a trend in the demise of domain registration companies who shamelessly reduce their prices in an attempt to lure the unwitting and rape their credit cards? Mmm?!
    
    

    “Penny wise pound stupid” - That is what it all boils down to when customers end up getting rear ended.

    Hazarding a guess, for the UK at least, one could suspect 1&1 to be in breach of the trades descriptions act, falsely claiming to be and do something they are not and do not commit to doing, respectively.

    I consider it standard practice of any seller on the net to acknowledge by email, at the very least, that a transaction has been undertaken, successful or not, especially where credit card details have been provided.

    Surely it’s the consumers right to receive confirmation – it’s a reasonable expectation, isn’t it? That is what confidence is built on, isn’t it?

    But no, not 1&1, they appear to be exempt from ‘Standard Practices’.

    It is generally considered that there is enough doubt and uncertainty in this world, let alone on the net, without 1&1 adding to it, leaving you wondering if indeed you’ve done the right thing by even considering them. ‘Customer support’ advise they will ‘escalate your concern within 48 hours’, not action your concern within 48 hours – the devil is in the gibberish [sic].

    Not even an email to say ‘thanks for your order’ - even ‘get stuffed’ would have been a better response than nothing at all.

    If 1&1 think that by doing nothing is going to achieve anything, they can only begin to go down hill from here on in.

    Another ‘Registerfly’ looming perhaps?!

    So, once again, I sought Go Daddy to bail me out of what could have been a disaster with the prospect of losing a potentially valuable domain name and suffix for an extended business planned later in the year. Smooooooth as silk! Instant registration!! [Total DNS control and MX records – Available]

    What on earth possessed me to even think about 1&1 in the first place, I just don’t know. Well, yes I do actually – ‘penny wise, pound stupid’, that’s me, and I’m proud to admit it – after all, realizing it prevented me from the rear ending referred to earlier.

    ‘One and one’ reason alone caused this message to be drafted, and that was to raise awareness of the uncertainties surrounding just the attempt to buy a simple domain name from 1&1 – if they can’t perform on that front and at that level, how can anyone expect consistent reliable behaviour from them with greater, potentially mission critical and dependable aspects of hosting (large or small) at all levels, and for all people? HOW? The answer is, you can’t – So don’t.

    “A principle isn’t a principle, until it costs you money”.

    You have been warned! Whose reputation is more important to you, yours, or what they’ve got left of theirs?

84. 084 // John Sinclair // 03.28.2007 // 2:38 AM

    1&1 Don’t want new customers

    Nine days ago I ordered a 1&1 hosting package with two domains in the name of a Ltd Company.

    1&1 wanted a faxed proof of address which we sent immediately. But as a Ltd. Company, the address is already on the Companies House Register (which I can’t fake). I can easily fake a utilities bill - just scan it in, change the name and address and send it to 1&1!

    I have emailed several times, and spent a few pounds on their premium rate helpline.

    In the last 9 days they have:

    • not registered the .com domain (leaving it for someone else to register)

    • not registered the .co.uk domain (leaving it for someone else to register)

    • not set up an account

    In short, if they treat a new customer like this, how will they treat an existing customer?

    I’m outa here!

    The problem is, where do I go? Godaddy?

85. 085 // ibm cell // 03.28.2007 // 4:55 AM

    John: 1&1 potentially compromised domains for my (UK based) Limited company domain registration as described in a previous post - that equates to unreliable behaviour, and if they can’t perform at domain registration level, 1&1 cannot be trusted with ever more important facets of any form service they provide.

    A 9 day delay by 1&1 for a simple domain name registration in any language is unacceptable - secure your IP quickly under any circumstances.

    John Sinclair said “The problem is, where do I go? Godaddy?”

    If you go with Go Daddy that would not be a “problem”, but that decision remains your choice for the good of your company. Go Daddy’s ease of use, professional interface attention to detail and reliability are all quality areas for consideration of any bona fide business.

    Their Customer Support is IMO second to none, and on a commercial level customer satisfaction is their pivotal consideration - Believe me when I say Warren Adelman has his finger firmly on the pulse, as do the teams which support him! To that I can absolutely attest.

    I have the vast majority of my company IP stored with Go Daddy - I’ve never felt so confident and comfortable with a registrar and hosting provider before - There will come a time where I will consider shifting it all over to them.

    DreamHost would also be another good consideration.

    You choose - but make an informed choice from the link provided below, coupled with talking to friends, work colleagues, and forum opinion on the net, all perhaps with more experience than you have on the subject - it’s not as time consuming as might be thought - do your homework, make your decision, then stick with it!

    http://www.web-hosting-top.com/

    It’s like getting a car servicing quote: High, mid-range, low quotes - which one do we go for? Finally, by that time, and after price acceptability, it then comes down to personal preference bolstered by an ‘informed’ opinion of your own.

    Good luck John!

    “Happiness, Wealth, and Long Life”

86. 086 // Farheen // 04.07.2007 // 4:36 AM

    I would have loved to blog about the way EAS Design handled my case, closed my account and stole my domain name, but they closed my account, refused to hand over my data and stole my domain name.

    Never, ever, ever go with easdesign.com!!!

87. 087 // Fern Dumas // 04.13.2007 // 4:13 PM

    If you search “inv -investigate1and1” you will discover http://investigate1and1.blogspot.com

88. 088 // Trevor // 04.17.2007 // 1:52 PM

    A NOTE OF CAUTION ABOUT DOMAIN NAME TRANSFERS TO 1AND1.COM

    my experience with 1and1 thus far is limited. i initiated a transfer of my domain name from another registrar to 1and1 (actually they apparently contract domain registrations out to “Schlund+Partner”) for a website that is hosted elsewhere.

    i’ve done a handful of new domain name registrations and domain name transfers before. so my mistake may seem silly to those with more experience, i don’t know, but there are probably some people who could end up in the same proverbial boat.

    long story short: when the transfer of my domain name to 1and1 went through, they had changed my nameservers to point to their own webhosting and mail servers, thus temporarily KILLING MY WEBSITE AND EMAIL for a day or two (until i waded through their control panel to input the correct nameservers and until they propagated…) i had not purchased or requested any such services, and they had not mentioned that they would use those nameservers.

    (i did manage—using the 1and1 control panel—to immediately forward my domain to a “preview” version of my actual site, so that any link to any page of my site led to my entry page.)

    in filling out the online forms with 1and1 to initiate the domain transfer, they never requested information about nameservers, so i just assumed they would keep the nameservers that were already on register. this seems plausible and logical and i thought some previous transfers i had made were done that way. and after i hit submit and the transfer was underway, they (Schlund) emailed me a copy of the existing whois info for my domain name, including the correct nameservers.

    i will say they have responded to my emails in a fairly timely and somewhat relevant fashion so far. and i could have figured things out if i had looked into it harder and sooner. still, it was annoying that they assumed that i would assume that along with my registation transfer they would also relocate my hosting to their servers. clearly they’re just more hosting-oriented than registrar-oriented.

    and i second the comment that the control panel is lousy. partly it’s that it’s oriented around their own hosting services.

89. 089 // Ambrand Dot Com // 05.02.2007 // 6:23 AM

    1and1 never registered my domain

90. 090 // Sean Woodward // 05.18.2007 // 2:18 PM

    1and1.com is the devil incarnate. I have been a ‘loyal’ customer for 3 years also. My story is massive and very troubled. Frequently my in column forms would be dead, needing a 1and1 jumpstart. After a while they used the excuse ‘we need to apply this custom patch, just call us and we will do it’. Great. All I need is to watch my site daily, and call them just to hang on the phone an hour until a tech answered. After the first year of that crap the techs started wondering what I was talking about, ‘patch the server?’.. Apparently it is just a usual excuse. After have my site go down for 2 weeks with the usual tech BS of “we can’t do anything and we can’t move your site to another server either” (I ftp’d into my site and took all the html easily) We started shopping around for another hosting company. I chose Dot5.com in California. Well, we attempted to cancel our subscription to 1and1.com on their cancellation page. We went through the motions, responding to the “are you sure” emails and low and behold got charged 3 months later again..! So, this time I made damned sure I cancelled my subscription except this time 1and1 REMOVED my domain names I had registered with them ! Can you believe that? Who in their right mind would CANCEL their domain name registrations????? So, off we went to billing and they said to send my compaint to you know where, complaints@1and1.com. That was 2 weeks ago and after 6 emails with all of my contact numbers and other data I still have NO response whatsoever.. So I called billing today and got into a shouting match with the lady their who kept giving me the company BS of you have to contact complaints.. There was tons more and I don’t have the time to go into it, but rest assured, 1and1.com is a blatantly fake company. If your site runs it is god’s blessing and not 1and1.com’s fault…..

91. 091 // glitter // 05.21.2007 // 9:30 PM

    hmmmmmmmmm….somehow before they really are difficult to deal with… but they’re kind of improving right now…at least!

92. 092 // sander // 05.26.2007 // 5:12 PM

    I am trying to find a webhost for my newly developed website, and are browsing most of my time looking for feedbacks from different hosting company, and guess what, everyone or most of the feedbacks from everyhost has a complaint

    come to think of it, 1and1 host a number of clients, and those who are not satisfied with the service are those who really talks a lot, how acount hearing the other side of it, just to weigh the scale a little…… anyone wanna share something out

93. 093 // Jeff Croft // 05.26.2007 // 8:40 PM

    @sander: There are tons of positive reviews out there for good hosts. If you want a host that is web-developer friendly, affordable, and of high quality, I’d suggest looking at WebFaction, TextDrive, and Media Temple. These hosts consistently get positive reviews from web professionals.

94. 094 // Tony Wilson // 06.07.2007 // 7:08 PM

    I am too having lots of problems with 1 and 1. Have you seen the guarantee they offer at their website 99.99 per cent uptime! I have never yet getting this uptime in any month i have been with them. I rang their support number and asked how they backed this up, they just ignored the question and kept telling me they are doing everything they can to get it working - thats not a guarantee!

    It’s bad enough having all your websites go down, but they then put a page up directing your visitors to competitors websites! I dont know how they have been able to get away with this for so long!

95. 095 // Nigel Jones // 06.09.2007 // 6:57 PM

    I’ve just suffered from a 1and1 cutoff after a bounced payment (not that I knew anything about it or the reason why until a letter arrived on Friday - opened after billing had shut, leading me to my account being cut off!)

    Arrrggh

96. 096 // JHS // 07.05.2007 // 3:55 AM

    I have never had the misfortune of dealing with a company as incompetent, bumbling and RUDE as 1 & 1. They are, as I write this, holding my domain name hostage. I began the process of repointing my domain servers more than three days ago and am still waiting for them to complete the process, during which time I cannot access or work on my site. I have called THREE times and their employees are like robots, repeating the same rehearsed lines over and over … and calling me “Ma’am” ad nauseum even though I told them several times that my name is not “Ma’am” and I am not to be referred to as such. The last representative, Fernando, laughed at me repeatedly when I told him that his responses to my demand for service were unacceptable and claimed, even though it was 4:45 p.m. in the Philippines, that th