Complaints procedure: one and one has dispensed with that

Here's a tip for an easy life: If you work online and don't want ever to have to deal with customer complaints just route each one you receive directly into your email bin.

:) Problem solved, see?

Let's look at some specifics. 1&1 have a policy in place (read the fine print) where if you miss a payment (bear in mind they are being taken in advance not in arrears) even on a domain name you decide you no longer need and have therefore decided to let go, they lock all your accounts, even the ones that are paid up and are up to date.

Yep, great system I know. powered by the same kind of logic that gives canned replies to individual customer emails (because we, the customers, are all stupid anyway and just send in the same kind of message, right?).

Ok, in one of the accounts the payment, for whatever reason had not gone through. I did not notice and was locked out of some 50 domains I host with them, all but one in credit.

I queried that in a complaint email which gave me the following response:

Thank you for your email. Just to confirm that we attempted to debit the credit card on the account on 12.03.07. Payment was declined. We are not given a reason for the decline as there are too many possible outcomes, Even if the card is valid it is possible there are other errors with the bank, our system , the connection , the payment, security measures that may lead to the payment not being accepted.

As we are an internet company we do send emails to customers to inform them there has been a problem. As an extra measure of customers service we also send a letter as emails addresses may not be in use or customers may not have their computer working.We sent an email on 12.03.07 to xxx@breathe.co.uk. Can you confirm if this email address is a valid email of yours,

If not please email complaints@1and1.co.uk and we will investigate further. A letter was also sent on 27.03.07 to warn you of the impending lock. The letter was sent out before the lock was in place and so the fact you have not seen the letter until a later date is actually of relevance.

Our system is automated and when a payment is declined the reminders are triggered and the customer notified, if we are not contacted the account is locked to avoid any further debts being incurred. The customer is given around 14 days to resolve the matter before the account is locked. You updated /re entered your card details on 06.04.07 and the account was unlocked 08.04.07. We aim to respond to emails within a 24 hrs time frame, As the billing department do not operate on weekends and bank holidays the reply time for your case was longer. Our average reply time is actually less than 24 hrs for the billing department so far this year.

Although we are closed weekends and bank holidays we always notify customers in advance so they can contact us. If you wish to raise a formal complaint please contact omplaints@1and1.co.uk. The system we have in place is set for all customers whether you are a journalist or not and we apologise if your account was locked and this caused any inconvenience.

In future if there is any problem with the account all contracts will be locked so please bear this in mind. There does not seem to have been an error on the system , as a gesture of goodwill however we have added 2 months freehosting to your Home contract xxxxxxxxx.

PLEASE NOTE. For your convenience we also list the answers to many frequently asked questions on our website. Please check here before emailing us as it may save you time.All billing questions are to be found at www.faq.1and1.co.uk under the contract and billing section.

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

Kind regards

Daniel Bromley

Yep, I know. You read this and it translates: we will take your money and if you do not want to give it to us and have decided you do not want a domain and have forgotten our cancellation procedure or have simply missed a payment through any kind of reason not entirely related to you, we will lock you out of accounts for which you are paying and that's it.

I did send a formal complaint to the complaints email (laugh all you want - either they are cortically challenged or their computer system is out of synch with the rest of the company because the email address they had on record was about 10 years' old!).

My email read:

Daniel

Thank you for your email and the points you raise and for your gesture of goodwill. The XXXXXX@breathe.co.uk email address has not been active for at least four years. My details are kept up to date on the system and this raises two questions: 1. Why are your records not up to date? 2. Given the fact that so many reasons could lead to a decline of payment why did no one check to see if other payments were being taken out (which they were - like specifically on the 24th and 26th March 2007) and re-attempt it? Even had I seen your letter I would have just checked my account and seeing how payments were coming out in favour of 1&1 I would have naturally assumed that all was ok. I appreciate you are now dealing with this as best as you can.

I will not try and make your job any harder than it is by being unreasonable provided you can, in turn, explain these points logically to me and reassure me that at least something positive may come from this through a review perhaps of current procedures (or even flagging it up as a point which needs to be improved in your system).

I look forward to your reply.

With thanks

David

Ok, I was nice and polite and at that stage actually thought I would get a reply which makes me a total fool.

Nine days later not even so much as an acknowledgement. Either the complaints' department was labouring under one mighty backlog or they thought that silence wa answer enough.

At that point I fired off this email to them:

Obviously customer service, logic and common sense are such valuable commodities with 1&1 that you have decide they no longer apply. I attach the dialogue I have had with Daniel on the 11th of April. I guess nine days is sufficient time to wait for a reply.

I assume none is forthcoming so this is escalating to a formal complaint and if you think I was angry with you before I am now infuriated by the "sweep it under the carpet and it'll go away approach" .Emails are part of the public domain so this is excellent copy on the bureaucratic brainlessness of a company which used to be excellent.

Fail to respond adequately and you can explain to your boss why 1&1 are getting bad publicity in all the computer magazines you advertise so heavily in.

David

My customary politeness had deserted me by then and I was fuming. Like most I was labouring under the usual pressure of work, life and now I had to deal with this!!!

Now, you would think that some bright spark at 1&1 would have had the sense to reply even if to say 'sorry, we'll get to you. we are busy'.

Sense and logic are not things 1&1 are famous for and neither is customer service, so no one replied.

On the 3rd of May I actually rang billing enquiries and got an individual who sounding like he knew exactly what I was talking about said: "Oh, yeah, you'll get a response today or tomorrow."

When by the promised tomorrow no response had arrived from 1&1 I sent them this email:


To whoever gets this email,

I am not usually in the habit of being offhanded or abrupt but then again, in business, I am used to dealing with people and companies who at least acknowledge complaint letters, even if they do not respond to them. Having forced me to call you on Thursday 3rd May (I spoke to James but it may as well have been a wall) I was promised a response the same day (3rd May) or the next day (4th May).

I know now we're getting into the weekend and in your august world you do not work weekends so I am not holding my breath that I will get a response from you any time soon or, judging by the many, many, many postings in the online forums regarding your responses, it will actually cover the points I raised in my complaint letter to you.

So I will make good on my promise (because I am not in the habit of breaking them) and take this up a couple of levels.

Eventually you will start to lose enough customers to put your jobs in jeopardy.

Kind regards

David

Ok, by now you know the nature of their response: yep, exactly!!! My pet goldfish is more garrulous.

That salvo, with 1&1 was only the beginning. I did not know it at the time but things were about to get much worse.