Monday, March 9, 2009

1and1 Internet - The World's Worst Web Host

First off, let me start by saying, spare yourself a world of grief by not doing business with 1and1 Internet. They simply want your money and have no regard for customer service whatsoever. 1and1 is the worst web host you can ever imagine ranking last in performance and customer service, and first in deceptive billing practices.

I purchased a subscription from 1and1 Internet for a home account, which at the time renewed every six months. The performance was terrible that I elected to upgrade to what I thought would be increased bandwith, to no avail. After speaking to support and getting nowhere I cancelled the account. I spoke to them shortly thereafter, having been charged again, and they claimed to have never received the cancellation. So I let it go, paid, and cancelled again. They continued to bill me citing that the term of the contract had not expired, which was their fault to begin with. I charged back through my credit card company and ending up receiving a collection notice. Having read numerous cases where they damaged the credit report of many individuals I was concerned.

At this point I've sent them a letter demanding they write-off the balance and refrain from pursuing it further, but that's not enough. It's time that these types of companies are taught a lesson. In the past year I have been billed three times by companies that were never authorized to use my card in the first place. These are companies where you make a one time purchase and they think they can, at their discretion, continue to use your credit card, without your permission and for products you never ordered.

I am familiar with 1and1's billing processes as I oversee the billing of thousands of customers monthly and annually for similar services. Point being, you don't bill customers, give them poor product or service, ignore their complaints, and then continue to bill their credit card without their permission, hiding behind a terms and conditions. We all know these types of businesses because we've all had dealings with them at one point or another.

Fact of the matter is, if you have to continually refer to your terms and conditions on every customer call there's probably a reason why and it's not a compliment to how you're running your business. 1and1 Internet will throw their term and conditions in your face as soon as their backs are up against the wall. In 20 years of doing business not once have I ever had to refer to our terms and conditions. There's an ethical way to do business and a 'deceptive' way. 1and1 Internet is focused on deceptive billing practices. Take notice of their lack of associations to the Better Business Bureau, Etrust or any other customer service type organization.

Dont' take my word for it. Look at the thousands of complaints against their business citing deceptive billing practices, fraud, terrible hosting performance, and much worse. Just search google for '1and1 complaints' or '1and1 sucks' and you'll see for yourself.

Most importantly, never do business with 1and1 Internet. You will regret it.

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