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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Rootstown, OH
    Posts
    270

    1and1 shared hosting - service review - billing error

    Personal, somewhat meaningless, subjective rating of this 1and1 experience: "Meh"

    I received a bill on Oct 4th for an additional 1and1 service I wasn't aware of being on my account. Looking further into it, this was the second time I had been billed for this package which I wasn't using and didn't knowingly authorize. I could say I absolutely didn't sign up to be billed for this service as that is what I believe to be true, but I'm leaving it open-ended to be fair - I'm technical and think I would know if I ordered an additional package intentionally, but like everyone I'm a busy person and there's a possibility it was a mistake on my part.

    Looking at my invoice history, about 4 or 5 months ago I switched from one package to another. I almost immediately received an invoice canceling my old package, reimbursing me the unused amount of my old package I switched off, and billing me for the new cost of the upgraded package I switched on. Everything looked good, and I stopped paying attention as the auto-payments took care of business.

    I recognized the problem on Oct4th when I received an invoice for the original package I was no longer using, and I remembered I had just paid for 3 months of my current hosting package the month before. So I started digging and this is what happened - a couple weeks after I switched packages, I started getting invoiced separately for 3/months up front on the original package I switched off. It looks like a clerical/billing error on 1and1's side with failing to remove the package fully from my account.

    So I emailed billing, noting the exact invoice numbers, concisely explaining the error, and ensured all the details necessary were provided so that the invoices could be canceled and payments refunded. In response, 1and1 billing replied by email with a useless message basically restating the invoice number for the package I shouldn't be getting charged for and wasn't using. I replied less concisely, but with greater detail, and again requested the invoices to be canceled and payments to be refunded. I also requested a phone call rather than further email replies if further information was needed to correct this error. They ignored that request, and replied with the standard instructions for canceling the service I no longer wanted - ignoring the fact they were billing me for something incorrectly.

    Complaints:

    1. 1and1 billed me erroneously
    2. 2 emails to billing-at-1and1.com got me nowhere
    3. 1and1 billing via email did not recognize the invoices as erroneous
    4. 1and1 billing via email misdirected me to their standard cancellation link which would not have gotten me a full refund for all erroneous charges, only partial refund for the future usage I had already paid for but which hadn't yet passed
    4. Compiling the information for 1and1 and emailing it to them to get the problem fixed was a waste of my time - the details were ignored

    Upside:

    1. 1 phone call to 1and1 billing at around 9:30AM EST
    2. No wait time, answered immediately once I selected the option for the billing department
    3. The problem was rectified within 5 minutes by the friendly agent over the phone without any questions asked

    Concerning Grey Area:

    1. Is 1and1 betting on people not bothering to make a phone call and intentionally roadblocking valid billing corrections/refunds with inaccurate and misdirected email billing support? I'd rather them say you must call for billing support, than to waste my time with the expectation of actually getting useful support and receiving bad and inaccurate instructions instead.
    2. If the phone agent immediately looked at my account and recognized the problem before I finished my sentence when I started saying I had an erroneous charge, why did the billing support also not recognize it immediately and act upon the invoice numbers and errors I highlighted in my initial email?

    BOTTOM LINE

    If you have problems with 1and1 billing, skip emailing their billing department because by email they are at best a useless waste of your time, and at worst they are dangerous (they will mis-advise you, possibly costing you money).

    This is a clear cut billing error issue I didn't even have to explain over the phone, it was just understood. The problem should have been resolved in response to my initial email with required details rather than ignoring the problem I detailed, wasting my time with another couple emails, then ultimately having to call to fix the problem. Far less was discussed by phone than was discussed in email, however that was the magic button to get the issue resolved.

    EDIT: I've been with 1and1 shared hosting since January 2009, and have been otherwise satisfied with their shared hosting.
    Last edited by IMOG; 10-06-2010 at 09:59 AM. Reason: Input details at bottom

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Minnesota, USA
    Posts
    939
    Thank you for the in depth review, I had one problem with them way back in the day when I used them once and email was unsatisfactory, phone though (after a few weeks) did the trick.

    Thanks for the review
    David Byrne | Dedispec, LLC.
    Affordable Dedicated Servers | Storage & GPU Servers | Web Hosting | Colocation | West Virginia, Missouri & Texas
    www.dedispec.com - sales@dedispec.com

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Modesto California
    Posts
    6,858
    Interesting, you would think it would have be the other way around. Meaning billing issues are usually easier to solve via email, than by phone. Not sure what is going on over at 1 and 1, but this is not the first time I have read a review like this concerning 1 and 1.
    Looking for an awesome VPS Offer? CLICK HERE

    "Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do." – Bruce Lee

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Posts
    161
    there is no such unlimited traffic, i had one account with them once i received 1 million hits they suspended my account by saying account over usage when i signup with them they clearly mentioned unlimited bandwidth.

    then i moved to cheap dedicated server to www.fdcservers.net no other option left.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Rootstown, OH
    Posts
    270
    Thanks for the feedback, hopefully its helpful to someone down the road - their phone support was great, I wish the first email response would have told me to not bother emailing and just call rather than wasting my typing up the details and waiting for email responses. I had thought it'd be easier to solve in email by providing the details also, but this experience implies pretty strongly that email billing support is not taken seriously by 1and1.

    Only one example I suppose, YMMV.

    Quote Originally Posted by transformer View Post
    there is no such unlimited traffic, i had one account with them once i received 1 million hits they suspended my account by saying account over usage when i signup with them they clearly mentioned unlimited bandwidth.

    then i moved to cheap dedicated server to www.fdcservers.net no other option left.
    What is this site's policy on blatant advertising? 5 of your posts in the past week or so refer to fdcservers.net, and your comment is fairly irrelevant to this discussion. The only occurrence of the words "unlimited", "traffic", or "bandwidth" in this thread are contained in your post which has nothing to do with the topic of this thread.

    Anyways, I believe it is fairly well accepted that there is no such thing as "unlimited" or "unmetered" bandwidth - it only exists if you don't use too much of it.

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