I have been with 1&1 for years and my experience was good although I hardly have need to contact them. I am sharing with you what is happening to me now with 1&1 just for your information.

I transferred one of my domains out from 1&1 to a new registrar about one month before the expiration. Transfer went successfully and new registrar added one year to the domain so the expiration was modified to next year, 2011. A week ago, I got an invoice charging me $8.99 for the same domain that I have already transferred out. I emailed to their support and got response back saying that they have renewed my domain before I transferred it. I called them and talked to a lady. She also insisted that domain was renewed by them, not by my new registrar. She kept saying that I did not understand it.

At the time of the transfer, there was another domain that got transferred along with this one. Both domains got renewed for one year by new registrar and I got email confirmation about new expiration for both domains from new registrar. If 1&1 renewed my domain, I should have two year expiration for the domain in question. I have everything documented with proof. So, I explained to 1and1 support lady and she started being soft and could not explain any further but asked me to send email to complaints@1and1.com.

I sent email to 1&1 complaints dept as the support lady instructed and it has been 3 days without any reply. I have sent out another email today and will dispute with my credit card company tomorrow if I don't get any resolution from 1&1.

It was clear that 1&1 charged me with the service that they have not provided. Their invoice date was about two weeks after I transferred my domain to the new registrar. There was no way for them to renew my domain in new registrar. What they had claimed was false and customer support experience I have received from their complaints dept was poor that they didn't bother to reply me.

$8.99 is not a a big deal, but it is enough for me to withdraw all my domains from 1&1 to another registrar. Being in this business for 15+ years, I only see this kind of issue handling by unknown crappy amateur companies. I am surprised and disappointed about 1&1 for this particular issue handling.

This does not necessary mean 1&1 is a very bad company and mistakes always happen. I am merely sharing with you my experience with 1&1 for this incident.

Regards,

Dragonlord

Unfortunately this happens more often and not only with 1&1, therefor we always ask our customer to make sure they cancel with their previous provider AFTER the domain is transferred, to make sure this is all handled and no surprises come for our customers.

Thank you for warning other users, so others may learn from your experience.

btw, friendly warning, you'll be getting collection calls threatening your life in a few days. i know that happened to me over ~20$ a couple of years ago.

1and1 are worse than crappy. They're scam artists! So it's only taken you 15 years to wake up to that fact. Make sure all your domains are transferred out of 1and1 before you make the chargeback. Also make sure all your domains are canceled and deleted at 1and1. It's never enough to just transfer domains at 1and1. You must cancel them. Not an easy process.

1and1 are worse than crappy. They're scam artists! So it's only taken you 15 years to wake up to that fact. Make sure all your domains are transferred out of 1and1 before you make the chargeback. Also make sure all your domains are canceled and deleted at 1and1. It's never enough to just transfer domains at 1and1. You must cancel them. Not an easy process.
The strange thing for me is: why the domain name are not deleted automatically from 1 and 1 once they have been transfered?

The strange thing for me is: why the domain name are not deleted automatically from 1 and 1 once they have been transfered?

Before i answer that question; i have to say i do not agree with this type of customer services, but i guess that is what you get when companies get this big.

The most likely reason (as we have heard many times from our clients who got in the same problems) is because a transfer is not a cancellation of services, it could be you still want to use their DNS services i.e.

Crappy answer; i agree ;) but till a certain extend i can also imagine this can happen. So ALWAYS cancel your domain after you transferred it from a company; to ensure it is all dealt with.

so basically you were charged twice - by your new registrar and by 1&1 for the same one year? Did you ask what you gaining registrar thinks about this? If renewal was made by your new registrar, 1&1 must refund you.

Sorry to hear about your experience but thank you for sharing.

Update on this issue.

I got email from 1&1 complaint dept yesterday and they acknowledged a refund. I got a PDF invoice today showing that a charge of -$8.99 (credit that is) will be posted to my credit card. I am glad that they did it before I take action. This will be the end of the story with a thumb up due to refund and a thumb down for their customer service.

Regards,

Dragonlord