Cancelling a Hosting Account...1and1 = Hassle

Talk about a huge waste of time...

I opened a few accounts with them months ago and never got around to setting up a site on one of the accounts. I received notification that I was going to be billed for the renewal. Since my plans have changed I'm not going to work on the site I had originally planned I logged into the control panel to cancel the account. 1/2 hour later still couldn't find anything about how to cancel an account.

Saw a phone number for billing related issues so I gave them call.

1&1 - Thank you for calling blah blah blah.
Me - I'd like to cancel an account.
1&1 - You have to go to this url to do that.
Me - Is that url in the control panel anywhere - I couldn't find it.
1&1 - No.
Me - Why?
1&1 - I don't know if you wold like to hold I can find out for you.
Me - No thanks. Let's just cancel my account.
1&1 - I can't do that, you have to go to the cancel url.
Me - I'm talking with you already...can't you just cancel it for me?
1&1 - No.
Me - Why not?
1&1 - it's our policy.
Me - ok.....click.

I went to the url they gave me and went through what seems like an endless loop of "please verify you really want to cancel" screens. Got to the end - package cancelled. Great.

5 minutes later I get an automated e-mail that says:

For god's sake...just cancel the account already! I didn't have sign/fax anything to set the account up, but they want 877 forms of verification before they will cancel it. What a hassle.

 

I just started using asmallorange after seeing it posted here a million times and I get none of that. They are actually the best host I've used yet (and I have been with more than 10).

Customer service is getting worse and worse everywhere.

 

I'm in the process of setting something up with them right now. I have more than a dozen hosting accounts (reseller and individual) and have never dealt with the level of crap I got from 1&1 this morning.

Maybe they need a new catch phrase:

"1&1 hosting, sign up for ten accounts in the time it takes to cancel one"

 

I left my other host because they expected me to split a 90 Meg mySQL database in 2M pieces so it wouldn't slow the server

WTF

I don't understand how some companies can be like that when there is so much competition.

 

I had a similar "really bad experience" cancelling an account at ehostpros.com.

Funny thing is: I was cancelling one account and about to open another...
WELL NOT NOW ST*PID!

Funny thing #2: I just added 1and1 to my site as a "high quality hosting and domain provider" OOPS!

I'm going to take a look at http://www.asmallorange.com and see what happens.

Thanks for the info.
Mike

 

I have had the same problem with my host and am in the process of switching to another, probably HostGator

But anyway, a client of mine uses Front Page Extensions and according to the Hosts website they are available. However for the last 2 weeks there have been security conflicts which means that they wouldn't work. The Host wouldn't or couldn't solve the problem so I lost two great Clients who where my largerst accounts (they were both elderly and didn't know how to use FTP).

Anyway, they come back and tell me

And then something about using FTp and it working 100% of the time.

WHY advertise something and then tell people who go to use it that they can't get it working. I know security is an issue but no one that I know has ever had this much trouble before.
Also why blame the client when there are so many alternatives out there
What ever happened to "The Customer is ALWAYS right"

 

Oh yeah and another thing my current host did was reset the uptime counter after an unplanned outage that lasted 6 hours so that the current month went from 90% back to 100%

 

That's gotta be the funniest thing I ever heard a host request. I went with colo servers years ago and never looked back. Screw hosts. At least get a dedicated. You can get cheap VPS for like $30-$60 that will give you pretty much full control.

 

Ah! The 1&1 runaround and crappy, useless no-help service. I'm assuming that's oneandone.co.uk, is that correct?

Make 100% certain you fax or write to them or this nonsense will go on and on and on, ad debt-collectum ...

I'd bought a few domains using oneand one and tried to set up a site using that rubbishy build-online-in-minutes thing they have. I managed to write about three lines of text and that was that, it stopped working and wouldn't work again. £23 (about $40) down the drain then.

I didn't bother after trying endlessly with the help system and the ever-useful 'tech' telling me he got it to work. My thinking was along the lines of if they can't get the very basic setup right, I'm not about to give 'em any more money. I thought I would just let stuff expire and transfer domains out when I needed to.

HA! Wrong! I hadn't reckoned on the we'll-never-cancel-without-it-in-writing policy! First I knew was when a letter from a debt collection agency fell onto the floor demanding payment. Grrrr!

They'd been racking up the payments on a credit card I don't normally use for domains I was going to let expire, as they'd retained the card details and when that max'd out, they passed it onto the agency.

Took a while to sort that one out. I posted three copies of the cancellation form in three different mailboxes so there could be no chance of the 'we didn't get anything in writing' scenario.

 

I'm dealing with their US based counterpart.

Apparantly stupidity and crappy customer service is not limited to any one particular country, lol.

 

I had the same issues when I cancelled and my card was getting charged. I sent copies to my bank where my credit card is, and then copied the docs and sent them to 1&1. Not only did the billing stop, but I got 1/2 months credit back to my card for one of the months I should have been charged full price.

Emailing them did not get any results, but mailing them hard copies did get their attention.

Good luck!

 

Update:

It's official - 1and1 hosting sucks.

I filled out their forms and mailed everything back...noticed this morning that they renewed, and of course charged me for, the account I tried to cancel.

 

Not surprised. That's why I mentioned mailing three copies of the cancellation form.

 

Companies don't realize what a huge dis-service they do themselves by complicating or alienating people who are trying to cancel. In this example it didn't even have anything to do with the product, the customer just didn't need the service right now.

If they could have managed and easy and painless transition they could have potentially gotten them back in the future. Now it is impossible.

Same goes for companies who like to force people to call in for something they signed up for just to cancel. That is an automatic never use again service. I have lots of different services that I may discontinue from time-to-time, but I only do that with companies that make it easy to cancel and resubscribe. Any hassle and I cancel and never go back. I wonder if they ever weigh that in their benefit analysis of asking me on the phone if they can do anything to keep me from canceling.

 

I'm also dealing with cancelling from 1&1 at the moment. Lets hope that goes well...

 

I think the issue with 1&1 is that they have no problem taking your money, but when they need to take action on something, that's where it breaks down.

Replies to email frequently take multiple days (if you get a reply) and then they do reply, it's clear that either they don't understand what you're asking or they just choose not to. FOr example, many of their hosting servers crashed for at least 4 hours. They have a voicemail greeting that said "we're aware of the problem and expect it to be back up within 15 minutes". I requested a service credit and their reply was "Your site is up now, please check it again."

Uh, yeah, "NOW" it's up, it wasn't when I asked for the service credit.

WHen my current pre-paid quarter is up, I'm moving my sites elsewhere. I just can't afford to have my sites go down once a month, and have the hosting company not care. It's a bummer, but 1&1 is a web hosting company that you are probalby best to avoid.

 

Good luck with that. You'll need it, imo.

 

I ended up just cancelling the credit card they were billing. Could not get the bastards to stop any other way.

 

Had the same thing trying to move client websites from 1and1. They are the only hosting company I actively recommend against.

One client had been on a shared server where someone other site was taking up all the server resources presumably with looping scripts. I eventually got through to the helpline who suggested my client might pay more for a bigger package. Great advice - the client who hardly used any bandwidth could pay more money for a bigger slot in the same shared server with the rogue scripts running? No thanks. Moved elsewhere (with hassle).

 

Likewise. It was the only way to get them to stop billing.