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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