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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    12

    my 1&1 Internet horror story

    Although this was a little bit of a trip through hell, I have to say that my recent experiences with 1&1 have been educational. Although my situation definitely wouldn't apply to the vast majority of their clients, it still showed me what 1&1 "Customer Service" is all about.

    It all happened when I applied to transfer my domain from 1&1 to my new webhost company (HostRefugee.com). Unlocked and applied for the transfer as usual. Now, the one thing I think everyone needs to know about 1&1 is that anything involving them losing money and/or transferring things away from them...well, they just take their sweet time. After a week there was no transfer. Emails and queries went unanswered.

    Now, this is where I admittedly made a dumb mistake - I cancelled my Package with them before the domain transfer had been processed (was it ever going to be processed, I sometimes wonder?). Although the transfer request went through way before, the cancel was effected immediately. Suddenly, my domain was PENDING DELETION! (Thanks to Vince at HostRefugee who had been keeping an eye on it for me...without his alert I might have lost my domain!).

    Now this part of the programme is chalked up to me learning from my dumbass mistake. For those of you who didn't know:

    - retrieving a domain name from PENDING DELETION must be done by the original registering company. 1&1 seems to keep a tight grip on domains registered as part of their free packages; if you get a domain with them, as I later read in their TOS, you CANNOT transfer it for 60 days.

    - 1&1 charges USD40 for domain retrieval. Moreover, they will only retrieve your domain if you have an active account with them to pin it on...so on top of this charge I had to RE-register for a beginner package just to get my domain back. There's a 90-day refund policy, so the latter is more of a pain in the *** than anything else.

    - To retrieve the domain you have to wait for them to email you a link to a special page you fill out, sign, and fax to them. THEN you have to call their billing dept. to...well, I don't really KNOW why since the form authorizes the USD40 debit, so...umm.....uhh... Now this wouldn't have been quite so bad were I not in Australia so I have to wait until the wee hours of the morning to call them...

    - But I was very fortunate to have gotten DAN. Dan was my "Customer Service Agent" in the Billing Dept. As a customer, I feel I should heartily apologize for calling at approx. 8:05am their time with an urgent matter...after all, they open at..well, 8am. Apparently I had woken up poor Dan, as he wasn't sounding too happy with me. Or maybe he was narcoleptic...his finger must have slipped on to the HOLD button, cutting me off in the middle of a question so he could "see what he could see." Undoubtedly the rudest, most apathetic and condescending service agent I have ever dealt with.

    And for the icing on the cake...the official notification that my domain had been restored came several days after it had come back AND Vince at my new hosting company had notified me he had seen it restored as well.

    I'll be the first to admit my own mistake in this matter, and that this is a relatively unique situation almost certainly beyond the pale of most customer issues...but both the timeframe of their correspondence with me (after having spoken to their agents in person about my problem) and the "customer service" I received are completely unacceptable.

    Never again with the cookie-cutter McWebsite-meisters at 1&1.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Sweden
    Posts
    1,061
    Thanks for sharing the story with us - I guess you're not alone regarding the domain issues with 1&1, I think there were some posts earlier about it also. Hope you've better luck with your new registrar/hosting company and that others who search for 1&1 find this thread.
    -Mr Bister

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    London
    Posts
    573
    we register domains with 1and1 ever since they opened business. we hever had any issues.
    Community Manager @ Cloudflare
    I'm on Twitter too. DMs open.
    Passionate about photography.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Sweden
    Posts
    1,061
    Quote Originally Posted by tinuzzo
    we register domains with 1and1 ever since they opened business. we hever had any issues.
    Yes, but have you tried to move your domain name an cancel the account as the customer above? As far as I can see from his posts he didn't have any issues signing up.
    -Mr Bister

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    London
    Posts
    573
    yes, many times. we transfered domain TO and FROM 1and1 without any issues. If you READ and AGREE to their TOS when you signup, you KNOW what and when needs to be done to make sure you have no errors.

    As proof, our last transferred to domain is zappcenter.com (u can check domain history) and again: NO errors whatsoever...
    Community Manager @ Cloudflare
    I'm on Twitter too. DMs open.
    Passionate about photography.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    12
    Quote Originally Posted by tinuzzo
    we transfered domain TO and FROM 1and1 without any issues. If you READ and AGREE to their TOS when you signup, you KNOW what and when needs to be done to make sure you have no errors.
    I'm glad your experience has been good, but I will reiterate what I said:

    1. Although the TOS makes the usual allowance for it, nowhere in their TOS is the fee mentioned; it's in the FAQ which as I'm sure you know is quite different.

    2. As I mentioned before, my problem wasn't so much with being penalized for my own mistake; I accept responsibility for that. However - USD40 is extortion-rate, but even THEN, fine, people shaft you for money all the time. My REAL problem is with the unprofessional, lacklustre and just blatantly RUDE customer service I've experienced with them PLUS the unwieldy bureaucracy and hoop-jumping PLUS the fact that it took them over a week AFTER the change had been made to notify me.

    Again, I'm glad your experience has been better. I am curious, though, tinuzzo - if/when you've applied for domain transfers AWAY from 1&1, do they make you wait the whole 60-day period? Or have you never had to do it within that timeframe?
    Last edited by elGordo; 03-19-2007 at 08:05 PM.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Houston, TX US
    Posts
    135
    I've had domains with 1 and 1 in the past and like tinuzzo, I transfered them to another registrar with no problems. Transfer took about 5 days and there was no charges for any of them from 1 and 1. At the present time I only use their hosting services.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    280
    Quote Originally Posted by GrandpaD
    I've had domains with 1 and 1 in the past and like tinuzzo, I transfered them to another registrar with no problems. Transfer took about 5 days and there was no charges for any of them from 1 and 1. At the present time I only use their hosting services.
    How much do you pay for your domain transfer?

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Houston, TX US
    Posts
    135
    I paid 6 or 7 dollars (it's been awhile; I'm not exactly sure) to the registrar I was transferring to, ipowerweb. They extended my registration for one year, so in effect I paid nothing for the transfer. That seems to be the norm with all hosting companies.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    12
    Quote Originally Posted by GrandpaD View Post
    I've had domains with 1 and 1 in the past and like tinuzzo, I transfered them to another registrar with no problems. Transfer took about 5 days and there was no charges for any of them from 1 and 1. At the present time I only use their hosting services.
    Sorry to bump this, but I've been "skirmishing" with 1&1 trying to find out the deal with this - it took three tech support people (the first two had no idea what I was talking about...?!?) and the third told me what others have said - it's an "ICANN RULE" and cannot be changed.

    This in mind, I'm skeptical of your claim, GrandpaD. Either you're misinformed, or I am being treated differently than other clients.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    EU - east side
    Posts
    21,920
    if you get a domain with them, as I later read in their TOS, you CANNOT transfer it for 60 days.
    Actually, that's well within their rights:

    The Registrar of Record may deny a transfer request only in the following specific instances...)

    8. A domain name is in the first 60 days of an initial registration period.
    http://www.icann.org/transfers/policy-12jul04.htm

    That seems to be the norm with all hosting companies.
    Registrars you mean...

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Posts
    570
    Actually that's a registry policy that applies to every registrar.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Posts
    314
    Quote Originally Posted by aldee
    Actually that's a registry policy that applies to every registrar.
    But it can be different in different companies.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Posts
    570
    Quote Originally Posted by butleger
    But it can be different in different companies.
    The 60 days restriction? No.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Mar 2000
    Location
    San Antonio, Texas
    Posts
    3,690
    Quote Originally Posted by butleger
    But it can be different in different companies.
    Nope thats from ICANN and has nothing to do with what registrar is being used.
    HostCaters.com - Quality Web Hosting - Under A Gig! - Since 1999

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Posts
    24
    Thanks for sharing the story with us!

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