oneandone proves they are as deaf as a post

You know, as a customer, you take time, you send a carefully thought out (even if it is abusive) email and you expect a reply right? Remember that you have specifically identified, as a customer, that you do not want to receive canned messages. So what happens next? One and One send a canned message showing that in the Jurassic era not all corporations evolved into higher organisms with complex functions. Some simply by-passed that stage and became worms.

I am just so angry! I specifically in my email to them said:

1. I have canceled my contracts and just so I do not tax the three brain cells they collectively have I went into the trouble of giving them ALL the numbers of each.

2. You've charged me.

3. Refund the money

This is what came back:

Thank you for your email.

First of all please accept our apology for any inconvenience caused.

Please follow the instructions given below to cancel the contracts you

don't require.

PAYMENT FOR INVOICES -----------------------------------------------

If an invoice has been raised for domain names before you terminate it

will need to be settled even if you no longer require the domains. No

refund will be raised for domain names as they have automatically been

renewed under your name as they were still active at the time the

invoice is raised. Any unused hosting charges will be refunded but a

charge will stand from the date the invoice is raised until the date of

termination.

HOW TO CANCEL YOUR ENTIRE CONTRACT (including all domains and additional

features)

In order to process a cancellation we require you to follow our online

procedure.

Please go to http://contract.oneandone.co.uk and log in with your

customer id and password, when you are within here select the package

that you would like to close

1) Select the option CANCEL ENTIRE CONTRACT > Then select the OK button

2) Under the heading DETAILS OF THE SELECTED CONTRACT select the date

the contract will be terminated.

3) Under the heading DOMAIN NAME select the date the additional features

and domains will be removed.

4) Click OK to proceed with the cancellation request.

5) You will be given a summary of the your request on the PENULTIMATE

STEP page.

6) Click ok to continue.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE CANCELLATION HAS NOT BEEN COMPLETED AT THIS POINT.

ACTIVATING YOUR CANCELLATION REQUEST - (link sent to the email address

in your control panel so please make sure the email address is valid).

At the end of the process you will receive an e-mail to the address

supplied on your control panel containing a specific website link. If

you do not receive an e-mail with this special cancellation confirmation

link, please contact our expert Support Team at support@1and1.co.uk.

To activate your cancellation request and complete the process you must

follow the link e-mailed to you.

PLEASE NOTE - The link can also be activated through your MESSAGE BOARD

in your control panel. You need to log into the specific contract to see

the message.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

-------------------------------------------------------

Your cancellation will not be completed until you have activated your

request by accessing the website link and confirming the cancellation

request.

If you do not activate your cancellation request link WITHIN 7 days of

the link being sent, your request to cancel your package will be

discarded and your contract WILL REMAIN ACTIVE.!

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

Kind regards

Nushrath Mansoor

Billing Department

1&1 Internet Ltd.

Handy Billing tips - Here are a few additional tips that may help you

with your 1and1 experience.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS - Always check our F.A.Q ( faq.1and1.co.uk)

section of our website before contacting us. This could save you time.

CONFIRMATION OF TERMINATION - If canceling an item or contract please

ensure you receive confirmation your feature was cancelled, the

confirmation will be sent within 10 days of your request. If you do not

receive any form of confirmation please contact our support team. Your

feature may still be live and being charged.

CANCELLING DOMAINS- If you cancel/transfer all domains out of your

contract always ensure you cancel the contract also. The contract can

still be used even without a domain and so charges will still be

applied.

AUTO RENEW - Remember, to take the hassle out of running your account

1and1 automatically renew the domains/features unless you have informed

us in advance via the online tool.

We hope these additional tips have helped.

Obviously Nushrath Mansoor is doing his job. He pulled a canned message and sent it to me. The fault is not really his. It lies with the corporation that hired him and failed to train him.

Well I have an additional tip of my own: If I can help it you will never get another customer again!!!

One and one continues to prove it's a crap hosting provider who steals your money

For those who need a recap on 1&1 practices which directly contravene ICANN regulations it goes something like this: 1. The insist they have your valid account details on record 2. They charge you automatically in advance for packages, domain name renewal etc 3. The moment you do not want a particular domain renewed it's not sufficient to let payment lapse with them because they will take down domains you have already paid for in advance and are using 4. They will send threatening collection letters and threaten litigation Now I know all this so I cancelled a contract I had with them, moved everything to another contract still with them (but NOT FOR LONG!) and asked them to not take payment (they did) so I asked them for a refund. Bearing in mind they take your site down within ten days of non-payment, they appear to either not understand, not acknowledge or refuse to refund (or maybe all three). My latest message sent today was: "Hi. I really do not understand why I need to resort to abusive, threatening language in order to get a response that resembles rudimentary customer service. On the 20.09.08 you sent me invoice No 751XXXXXX for Contract No 15XXXXX. I emailed you through the secure form you provide online on the 13.10.08 with the following message: “Hi. I have three packages with you. Their contract numbers are: 15XXXXX, 87XXXXX, 27XXXXX.. Contract number 15XXXXX currently contains the domain xxxxxxxxxx.com. It shouldn't as this domain was transferred out of 1&1 registry almost a year ago. Please cancel this contract and issue a refund. Contract number 8776445 contains a subdomain that's never been used. Please cancel this contract also and issue a refund. The only contract that should remain is: Contract number: 27XXXXX. Please confirm that Contracts No: 15XXXXX, 87XXXXX have been canceled as requested and a refund has been issued. I look forward to hearing from you. With thanks, David” I heard from you about as much as I’d have heard if I had spoken to a brick which exemplifies the level of customer service you currently provide. You disregarded my request went ahead and took payment for packages I no longer needed and was not using. On the 27.10.08 I cancelled them myself. I then emailed you using your online form asking you to action a refund. To date I have not seen a refund. So this will also go to the file that has already been sent to the Office of Fair Trading. I do wonder what exactly it’s going to take to get a response. Do I need to get my solicitor involved? Do I have to sue you for damages, loss of time, personal stress? There comes a time when the time/cost differential no longer matters. So let’s hope this gets a response sans the usual canned garbage you habitually attach in the mistaken assumption that it shows professionalism. David" Going on their past performance I am not really holding my breath and the attention this Blog is getting is probably saving many others from suffering the same way with these guys. Running a website and working online is stressful enough without needing to get into a tangle with your hosting providers every time something like this happens. If you come across this please do two things: first never go anywhere near them. Second forward this to all your friends and relatives. 1&1 does not deserve to be in business.

1&1 service sucks and they steal money

It is never a light matter to accuse a company of stealing money. But by definition taking money which does not belong to them for a service which they do not have to deliver, amounts to stealing.

Let's take things from the beginning a little. On the 13th of October, being in the process of finally closing down and transferring websites off 1&1 (or oneandone) I asked them to amalgamate three packages into one and close the accounts down.

1&1, in the interests of exemplary customer service have a new procedure in place. All communication takes place through an email form on their website which gives you the option to contact 'Billing', 'Accounts', 'Invoicing' or 'Technical Support' - my guess is that this arrangement gives them the opportunity to divert all emails they receive to Dorothy in Cansas who will deal with each one when she gets back from her trip down the yellow-brick road.

As you guess once you click the form and send off your message there is no acknowledgment, no reply and no record of you having contacted them. I kinda got wise to that over a year ago when I finally decided I had had my fill of them and started (and admittedly slow and tedious process) to reduce the sites I have with them and take them elsewhere. So I now keep a dated text file copy of every communication I have with them.

This is the latest message I sent them:

"Hi. On the 27th I sent you a detailed message regarding invoicing and payment. I had also contacted you on the 13th. I am not inclined to repeat either because my time is precious and you just simply waste it. I assume you have some way of tracking all this, though it would not surprise me to find out you haven't.

The gist of it is your 48 hours are up. You have failed to contact me, acknowledge the email or take any form of corrective action.

So now we go public, get the Office of Fair Trading involved plus a few computer publications.

David"

What they have done is:

1. Ignored the original message, done nothing about the packages which I needed to close and have taken money for their renewal.
2. Ignored the second message, not issued a refund and ignored my request for a response
3. Seriously annoyed me

While of the three cardinal sins committed the third, is probably the least, for 1&1 it has become a major problem because an annoyed customer suddenly stops worrying about cost and time and really wants to be vindicated.

This brings us nicely to the end of this post. 1&1 are dishonest, unscrupulous and do not deserve to be in business. Unlike most vitriolic posts on them (and yes there are thousands on the web) I have kept meticulous records of conduct which redefines the words 'customer' and 'service' to bring new lows.

So this is so not over yet.

One and one (1&1) continues to offer poor service and grab your money

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