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  1. #1

    1and1.com - The worst web host and registrar EVER.

    This is a vent and a warning for anyone considering 1 and 1 Internet as their host or registrar! Read On...

    1and1.com. Oh I remember that fateful day when i was one of the thousands that fell for the 2 years of free hosting offer they did when they first started out. During that process, I registered a few domains with them out of convenience I suppose. Soon after I started using their services (I'm a web developer) - I was fed up with their SLOW SLOW SLOW control panel, their seriously unacceptable, naming conventions and cryptic usernames, passwords and navigation. So, I left and moved to another host, which as I recall, was a big hassle - but their hosting wasn't even good enough to be free. Heck, geocities may have been a better option at the time. They had TERRIBLE support, and there was a time when the sites I was hosting on there at the time were literally down for 1-2 weeks. There was no support during that time, and i don't even think they had phone support back then.... and if they did, I think it was disabled or was totally impossible to actually get through to anyone... so I Googled their mailing address and found a business of the same address, which turned out to be another company that is associated with 1 & 1 - and they were able to get them on the line for me! Needless to say they were baffled how someone got through to them, and they basically gave me some quick excuse and couldn't do anything for me.

    After I finally canceled my hosting account with them, they kept sending me their pointless automated emails regarding the hosting account I no longer had with them. After contacting them about this dozens of times, i finally had to get profane and send them a ticked off email, when they finally stopped sending them.

    So, I thought I was done with them, but then my domain registration creeped up - yep, i wasn't able to easily escape that. I couldn't transfer it cause it was too close to expiring, so I re-registered it with them.

    Now this wasn't just any domain name, this was the domain for my web design company, my life blood, my baby of every waking hour for the last 6 years of my life.

    I thought about the domain every now and then, and I actually updated my contact details with all of my current info back in march..... knowing that the registration was going to be expiring again at some point and i didn't want to miss out on transferring it away from them.

    So, I woke up one day to find that my website domain had been taken up by some fricken link farm looking thing, you know the ones.... and it points to some domain called sedoparking.com. It turns out that all of a sudden, out of the blue, MY domain name whois information shows that something called DomCollect Worldwide Intellectual Property AG is the registered owner. My domain has been stolen by the looks of it.

    Come to find out, 1 and 1 claims that the domain had been expired for quite sometime, and that they sent the account to collections. I never received one email, one piece of mail, one phone call or one fax about the account or the domain name from 1 and 1 - and I wished I would have received one at least from the collection agency! And heck, at least 1and1 could have suspended my domain temporarily to give me a chance to see there was an issue and contact them to resolve it. Don't ya think?!?!

    After 4+ hours of dealing with 1and1, the collection agency, and western union so i can expedite the payment to them... 1 and 1 claims if i pay the collection agency, they can get my domain back for me, which I'm not sure to believe or not. After all, why would a link farm/domain squatter/whatever it is give it back to 1 and 1, or me for that matter?

    Another thing about 1and1. INDIA INDIA INDIA.... I was stuck on the phone with an Indian tech support rep. that i could barely understand. The kind that says "I apologize about the inconvenience sir," more than they say anything else. Terrible.

    So, i am still in the process of working it out, but in a nutshell, if you want horrible overseas support, a terrible user interface experience on an admin site, and your domain taken right out from under you without warning, then go with 1and1.com!

    Who do i use with good results:
    Hosting: Rackspace - the absolute best hands down.
    Domain Registration: Namecheap.com - never had any issues with them, and everything is easy to use and keep up with.

    That's it, thanks for reading and make sure to spread the word NOT to EVER, under ANY circumstances do anything with 1and1.com hosting or domain registration.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Posts
    647
    Quote Originally Posted by the_error_king View Post
    INDIA INDIA INDIA
    It's actually the Philippines.

    Their support is indeed lacking, but I personally had a totally fine experience with 1&1 for the little over a year I was hosted with them. I had hundreds of domains registered with them at one point, and did plenty of registrations, transfers and renewals through them without issue.

    What I suspect is that you didn't keep up with some aspect of things as well as you should have. Also, you could have transfered your domain at any time... it's not a good idea to let things like that go till the last minute... the moment you thought you'd like to transfer it elsewhere you should have.

    ALMOST every complaint I see towards 1&1 stems from one of the following:

    • Support sucks - and this is legit to a degree.
    • From the "old days". Apparently legit, but they have changed a LOT since those times.
    • Not keeping up with things on YOUR end properly.
    There ARE other legit complaints from time to time, but those three things make up the bulk BY FAR.


  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Edinburgh
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    another glorious review on 1and1

    owm
    ‹(¿)›
    Life's what you make it.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
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    1,903
    Seems they are using third party support team. But I guess they must have own team.
    ServerPoint.com - a true hosting company offering online presence solutions since 1998.
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  5. #5
    Firstly HostGator, now 1and1, who`s the next hosting company, that will be negatively reviewed ??

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Wales
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    315
    0o I think this is a tadge unfair. I'm with 1and1 now, using them for my domains, and apart from the loss of the ability to create "domain hosts" ie my own nameservers, I think they are excellent.
    The support was fast, helpful, and their UK admin panel is great, speedy, only niggle is that it's a bit more complex than the rest

    Otherwise, 1and1.co.uk - amazing job
    George Pearce | Get Started Blogging
    Twitter me - @pearce

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Location
    Lithuania
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    1,180
    Another thing about 1and1. INDIA INDIA INDIA.... I was stuck on the phone with an Indian tech support rep. that i could barely understand. The kind that says "I apologize about the inconvenience sir," more than they say anything else. Terrible.
    I think it sounds like a rasism. TCH had their support dep. in India or some Oriental state - but they were very cool. DTH has some from this region and they were highly professional and very helpfull.
    Just my 2 cents :-|

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    San Jose, CA.
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    1,624
    Quote Originally Posted by maniakaz View Post
    I think it sounds like a rasism. TCH had their support dep. in India or some Oriental state
    Heh, if you're going to speak of racism... using the word "oriental" makes you come off just as naive. The better term is Asian.

    I noticed you're not necessarily an "American English" speaker, and the use may differ slightly or be more acceptable where you are. In general, it's more correct to use Asian or a more specific term.
    Last edited by Lightwave; 10-30-2007 at 07:50 AM.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    6,884
    I think I am seeing more and more negative reviews on them recently. Seems service is degrading but I believe they will be able to make things up as they were.
    iHubNet Ltd - Premium Hosting Solutions 4 ALL
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    Matt A.

  10. #10
    It's not racism at all, the India support is just icing on the spoiled cake. I'm not against outsourcing support to people that are trained well and make your life easier (I've had good experiences in the past with it) - but if 1and1 is such a corporate giant, then they surely can train their support staff to say more than "I apologize for your inconvenience sir" - ya know?

    Also, yes i could have transferred it at any time, but why should i have had to? I renewed the domain for another couple years, and shouldn't I get my money's worth from what i paid for it? Also, i did cover my bases, I updated my contact info over 6 months ago... surely 1and1's system and or billing staff should be smart enough to notify the holder of a domain with their updated info before they totally cancel the account and terminate the domain reg, right?

    I take responsibility for my actions, and sure I could have done something different... but you know what would be far more responsible? Not letting someone's domain expire and not totally canceling their account, potentially putting their entire business in jepoardy, without properly notifying them, or even suspending their accout so they know something is wrong.

    Here's what you should do: Never using 1and1 for anything. Trust me, I've dealt with a lot of hosts, and these guys are a piece of work - both when they started, and obviously still to this day.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Ohio
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    63
    Quote Originally Posted by the_error_king View Post
    Also, yes i could have transferred it at any time, but why should i have had to? I renewed the domain for another couple years, and shouldn't I get my money's worth from what i paid for it? .
    Question for you: I used to be with 1&1 off and on for several years. I was never able to renew a domain for more than one year. Is that possible now? (You said you did for a couple of years in advance).

    Also, I wanted to add: most of my domains are with Godaddy now. They have always done a really good job of reminding me (several times!) to renew a domains starting several months before they are to expire. I also am able to print off a report at Godaddy that lists all of my domains and expiration dates... very handy
    Matthew
    WCZone -- Quality Web Design @ Affordable Prices!
    Currently Hosting with Downtownhost.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
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    Orlando
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    Congratulations on using RackSpace. They are a lot more expensive, but worth every penny, as I'm sure you have discovered. Starting out, it sounds like you went the cheap route, which a lot of people do. Its a tough lesson to learn.

    I have used 1&1 in the past for hosting (not domains, no way) and I would have to agree with much of what you say. I think if any advice-seeking newbies want to learn from this, the core lesson here is that you shouldn't shop for hosting primarily on price. Hosting is a long-term commitment, and if you want a quality host that will be around long-term, you have to be prepared to pay a reasonable fee and get a reasonable package to match.
    Last edited by everity; 10-30-2007 at 12:06 PM.
    eVerity.com
    Celebrating 9 years of customer service. Domain names, shared/semi-dedicated/dedicated hosting, SSL certificates, merchant accounts, reseller options, and referral program, since July 2000.

  13. #13
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    Dec 2004
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    Butler,TN
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    Hi!
    Uh-oh! Somebody told a fib! No..even if your name is William T Gates III...you're not going to be able to pay more than one year in advance. No way..no how..nope.

    Bryon
    Bryon L Harvey
    Soil Relocation Engineer

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Orlando
    Posts
    1,280
    I think he means he was forced to renew it once, then he waited too long, and was forced to renew it again. You don't have to wait until the current year completely ends before you renew it for an additional year. You can renew before the current period ends, so in essence that is a "couple years."
    eVerity.com
    Celebrating 9 years of customer service. Domain names, shared/semi-dedicated/dedicated hosting, SSL certificates, merchant accounts, reseller options, and referral program, since July 2000.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
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    647
    Quote Originally Posted by bryonhost1 View Post
    Hi!
    Uh-oh! Somebody told a fib! No..even if your name is William T Gates III...you're not going to be able to pay more than one year in advance. No way..no how..nope.
    That's right... 1&1 only allows for ONE year registrations or renewals.

    Quote Originally Posted by the_error_king View Post
    yes i could have transferred it at any time, but why should i have had to? I renewed the domain for another couple years, and shouldn't I get my money's worth from what i paid for it?
    Had you transfered your domain out you would have lost nothing. When you transfer you still keep the time you have, plus another year is added to it.

    Also, i did cover my bases, I updated my contact info over 6 months ago... surely 1and1's system and or billing staff should be smart enough to notify the holder of a domain with their updated info before they totally cancel the account and terminate the domain reg, right?
    1&1 accounts make you keep a credit card on file and they AUTO BILL you when you are due. YOU have the option of setting each of your domains to either renew or cancel when their time is up.

    Also, 1&1 ALWAYS notified me, and would send invoices when billing time gets near. Evidently something is either wrong with your email or it went into your spam box (though mine never did)... notifications ARE sent.

    I am not thinking that 1&1 is "the best" or anything, but your reports do not in any way resemble my experience, nor what many know to be their way of doing things (ie the multi year registrations being impossible).


  16. #16
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Posts
    647
    Quote Originally Posted by everity View Post
    You don't have to wait until the current year completely ends before you renew it for an additional year.
    I no longer have access to their panel, but I am pretty familiar with it and I do not recall any way whatsoever to renew before it's close to end time. As a matter of fact, the ONLY way I know of to renew with 1&1 is by letting it auto renew.


  17. #17
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Orlando
    Posts
    1,280
    Their system is a little bit confusing, but I contacted them by phone and was told that my client's domain would be renewed an additional year. That was about 3 or 4 months prior to its expiration date. Perhaps the tech was referring to their auto-renew system, I don't know. I never really was able to make much sense of their "control panel."
    eVerity.com
    Celebrating 9 years of customer service. Domain names, shared/semi-dedicated/dedicated hosting, SSL certificates, merchant accounts, reseller options, and referral program, since July 2000.

  18. #18
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    Nov 2003
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    0o I think this is a tadge unfair. I'm with 1and1 now, using them for my domains, and apart from the loss of the ability to create "domain hosts" ie my own nameservers, I think they are excellent.
    excellent until **** hits the fan.

    i just had to move a web development client from their servers to some other major hosting provider. their site was constantly going down and client thought it was due to something we did. when we checked, we saw that the issue was on mysql side. server down intermittently. when i informed the client, she emailed the host, and host replied there was nothing wrong with their servers. when i insisted and client actually called them, they admitted they are experiencing issues on their mysql servers for some time. so we had to move the client. also they created a number of issues with domain name transfer until the end.

    we are now even not taking projects that are hosted on 1and1 if the budget does not justify the trouble.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Posts
    34
    Never had any issues with them

    I liked the deals they had on recently, the 1 year free for the .net domains etc

  20. #20
    I had 1and1 some years ago, all I remember was sitting on phone tech support for at least 1 hour before reaching a consultant.

    I never had any problems but my account was locked down, I was able to transfer 1 domain out of there, out of like 6.
    Not really the most negative experience regarding web hosting one could have, but were they any good? Not really.

  21. #21
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Posts
    572
    Quote Originally Posted by dwrunyon View Post
    It's actually the Philippines.

    Their support is indeed lacking, but I personally had a totally fine experience with 1&1 for the little over a year I was hosted with them. I had hundreds of domains registered with them at one point, and did plenty of registrations, transfers and renewals through them without issue.

    What I suspect is that you didn't keep up with some aspect of things as well as you should have. Also, you could have transfered your domain at any time... it's not a good idea to let things like that go till the last minute... the moment you thought you'd like to transfer it elsewhere you should have.

    ALMOST every complaint I see towards 1&1 stems from one of the following:
    • Support sucks - and this is legit to a degree.
    • From the "old days". Apparently legit, but they have changed a LOT since those times.
    • Not keeping up with things on YOUR end properly.
    There ARE other legit complaints from time to time, but those three things make up the bulk BY FAR.
    I recently left 1and1.

    No, it wasn't anything on my end. This went towards my decision:
    1. Billed twice for same product, only got 1 product in return. I signed up for hosting and was billed twice. I got one account. Support refused to refund my account for this and claimed I was under a 1 year contract which my invoice states is a 1 month contract, and I signed up for a 1 month contract.

    When I said I would dispute it with my credit card company, they said that they would sue me for fraud.. ???? huh ????

    2. Broken links in control panel. THE FILEMANAGER had a broken link.

    3. Phone support stinks as well as email support.

    When I called phone support saying my filemanager gave me a 404 page and that the sitebuilder had an error message and that my account was lacking some of the promised features (all different phone calls) each time they said to wait a week and then if things don't get better, open a ticket.

    I waited 5 days. Opened a ticket and ALL TICKETS WERE ANSWERED 2 days later, which is way to long.

    4. Slow speeds. A 404 page took 15 seconds to load on a fiber internet cable, all outside sites loaded fine, including the same 404 error page on my other host.

    5. Downtime and bad excuses.

    THREE times in one week I experienced downtime. 2 hours the first time, 30 minutes the second and 2.5 hours the third.

    Support blamed this on DDoS attacks, 3 times, on one server. They refused to transfer me to another server.

    6. What downtime?

    Host-tracker (1 minute increments, paid account) and an internal script (5 minute incrememnts, ping) as well as another 3rd party monitor (30 minute increments, ping)

    reported less than 75% uptime. 1and1 denied any downtime even though the status in the control panel reported up for 2 days and tech support acknowledged server reboots.


    Bad experiences
    I'm currently hosting with: hostgator

  22. #22
    1and1 it`s such a bad hosting company?

    1and1 have datacenters in many country in all world.

    I want to know if 1and1 it`s stable and secured or not.


    It`s a good or bad Hosting company?

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    North Kansas City, MO
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    2,694
    Quote Originally Posted by lgabi View Post
    1and1 it`s such a bad hosting company?

    1and1 have datacenters in many country in all world.

    I want to know if 1and1 it`s stable and secured or not.


    It`s a good or bad Hosting company?
    It's like aby other company of such a massive size. You'll have customers with good opinions and those with bad. I can't speak for their customer service but I have intimate knowledge of thier network and it is very impressive. I'm not familiar with any stability issues.
    Aaron Wendel
    Wholesale Internet, Inc. - http://www.wholesaleinternet.net
    Kansas City Internet eXchange - http://www.kcix.net

  24. #24
    Join Date
    Feb 2001
    Posts
    651
    I've heard countless horror stories about 1and1, both with their hosting and their domain registration.

    Never register your domain with your web host.
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  25. #25
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    Orlando
    Posts
    1,280
    I wouldn't say "never register your domain with your web host." Its convenient to be able to have both in the same place. As long as you choose a company that is trustworthy, and as long as that company does not hold domain names hostage, then it should not be a problem.
    eVerity.com
    Celebrating 9 years of customer service. Domain names, shared/semi-dedicated/dedicated hosting, SSL certificates, merchant accounts, reseller options, and referral program, since July 2000.

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