SHORT VERSION: Want a domain? Want it so cheap that customer service totally ignores you? Want to wait an average of 8 hours or longer while they decide if they should register it for you even though you have an account with your credit card on file? Don't care if someone else steals it right out from under your nose? Great! Then Use 1&1. If not use Moniker or someone else. LONG VERSION: I'm feeling both foolish and angry right now , let me explain why... The other day I used the excellent Moniker to register a dropped domain which I had been researching. Moniker registers new domains very quickly. I'm talking within minutes, which is how it should be. Okay, now for reasons I won't go into, I decided that I wanted to move the domain to 1&1 where I have the bulk of my domains. Rather than go through the transfer process I stupidly deleted the domain from my Moniker account (they support domain tasting) and then registered it with 1&1. This was last night. This morning I get a lame e-mail from 1&1 saying they were unable to register the domain. Why? Because someone else registered it two hours after I requested it from 1&1. I know I shouldn't have deleted the domain from Moniker, hence me feeling stupid. I feel even more stupid because this isn't the first time i've had problems with 1&1 registering a domain. About a month ago they took just under 48 hours to register a domain which I had deleted from Moniker. I e-mailed them and complained but it would appear they don't care. I know I shouldn't delete a domain and then expect to register it with someone else. I know I should follow the transfer process. I have to blame myself for losing this domain. What i'm mad about is the fact that 1&1 take so long to register new domains. Anyone registering a domain they like or a valuable domain could find themselves dissapointed many hours later when someone else comes along and registers it within a few minutes. It is sad to see 1&1 slipping like this because they used to be quite good. They used to register domains within an hour max. Sadly I think that in order to cut costs they've changed the way the register domains. I used to recommend them to people but am not going to from now on. I'm removing all my 1&1 endorsements from my websites and looking elsewhere for hosting. I won't be registering any more domains with them. SUMMARY: 1&1 don't care about or listen to their customers. They've decided to cut costs rather than maintaining or improving their service when it comes to domains. I'm also noticing increasing problems with hosting and customer service.
Sorry for the rant . It just really annoys me when a company goes from being excellent to crap in a matter of months. I dare say they arer trying to squeeze more profit out of their customers by changing the way they do things. I'd much rather they had put the price up a few $ on a domain than go the route of cutting their service back. Seriously, who would wait more than a day for a domain to even be "requested" let along registered? They took nearly two days to register the last domain I ordered. Luckily it wasn't valuable. They have my credit card on file and i've been a loyal customer, so why make me lose a valuable domain by taking over 8 hours to even try and register it? I called them and was told this was normal and domains could take 24-48 hours to be registered. That's bull$h*t because upto two months ago every single domain I had requested (and i'm talking over 20 domains) was registered within 2 hours. I also e-mailed them the last time this happened and never did get any satisfactory answer or apology. I'm just going to take it that they don't want my business and move on. My domains will be taking part in a mass migration to Moniker shortly. They're more expensive but they don't lose me valuable domains.
You should have transferred your domain from Moniker to 1and1. You can blame nobody but yourself now.
one of my friends 1&1 acounts got hacked and he lost 50 domains, the hacker cancelled all his domains, the 1&1 support didn't care... they didn't give them back or anything... he even got extra charged on his credit card... my advice is http://www.mydomain.com they register domains within minutes...
I know i'm to blame and I said so in my original post. The point I was trying to make is that 1&1 have gone from taking a few hours to register a domain to taking 8 hours or longer. A lot longer! Who wants to sit around waiting while someone else registers their domain? I know that for a lot of people cost is the main factor but seriously, there are a lot of better places to get a domain than 1&1 if you want it registered quickly. That's the point I was making. I'm kicking myself that I attempted to switch over a domain in this way. It was risky and I paid the price. It was especially foolish since i've had this problem with 1&1 within the past month or so. I just wanted to warn people who may try and register a valuable domain with them or a domain they would be upset to lose. I made a mistake and I fully acknowledge that. 1&1 used to be great and I used to recommend them to everyone. I'm sorry to say that in the past 2-3 months i've noticed a major drop in their reliability and customer service. I can't recommend them to anyone right now for anything including domains or hosting.
Yes this is the sad part about 1and1 customer support for their domain services. I do realize you have around 50 domains with them. But if you can, you should eventually transfer them back out. Besides I thought Moniker was a deceint registar. I guess its a live and learn situation. Especially if someone picked up the domain 2 hours after you deleted and than reg at 1and1. Sorry to hear about them be slow on the uptake.
I'm planning on moving my hosting and domains elsewhere. It sad it has to come to this as they used to be great. The domain was registered by someone using dotster.com and not 1&1. Moniker is excellent but a little pricey, especially for hosting. Great service though and the fastest domain registrations i've ever seen. You get what you pay for I suppose.
I had a horrid experience with them when they offered their 5 free .info's a while back ago. Since than I moved all but 1 of my domains from them to elsewhere. I also do not like that they do not send "Soon to expire domain" notices. They just bill your card without notification
If they start dealing with these issues i'll be the first to post back here that things are improving. However, my experiences so far are that they're cutting costs, reliability and customer service and don't give a damn about it.
I've heard plenty of stories about 1and1, I however, use them fine for the last year. I've reg'd several domains, and have yet to have a single problem. :\
1 and 1 is cheapest but sometimes cheapest is not best...godaddy screws up too but tough to beat their control panel.