My continuing battle with 1and1′s fraudulent activities…

After creating all of those posts yesterday, I sent a notice to all of those 1and1 email addresses inviting them to visit this blog and read all about it.  It appears that struck a nerve with at least one 1and1 employee.  Here is what I received today:

Dear Brian Gothard, (Cust: XXXXXXXX)

Thank you for contacting us.

The balance that was released to collections was for the January invoice and not for the invoice that was refunded.

If you have any further questions do not hesitate to contact us.

–
Sincerely
Brett Neally
Billing Department
1&1 Internet Inc.

Of course, since he was responding to an email I sent that said exactly that, I replied:

Yeah, that’s what I SAID!

The January invoice IS FRAUD!

FIX IT!

His response:

Dear Brian Gothard, (Cust: XXXXXXXX)

Thank you for contacting us.

I’ve looked extensively through your case history and this is what we are willing to do. You previously sent an email with a PDF attachment for domains you wanted to cancel. Please reply back to this email with that list as plain text. We will then forward a case to have those domains removed from your account. We will then pull the balance from NCO financial and wipe it from our systems. I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused and we will work to try to resolve this issue.

If you have any further questions do not hesitate to contact us.

–
Sincerely
Brett Neally
Billing Department
1&1 Internet Inc.

And my retort:

This is the 17th time I have submitted this exact same list.  By fax, by email, as an attachment, with and without signatures, to David Rubel, Damien Son, John Keefer, Complaints, Support, Billing, the BBB, the FTC, and whoever else I could find.  It is even posted several times at http://RippedOffConsumers.org.

But I will jump through yet another hoop.

And by the way, the way you phrased your response offends me.  I should hope you would be willing to correct your own errors.  I did not create this problem, 1and1 did, by screwing up the transfer for over a month in the first place and not granting me the ability to cancel these domains until almost a month later, then refusing to fix it in a reasonable time frame.  As you see below, I have been trying to get this fixed since January 10.  Your fellow employees have lied to me and given me the runaround for 2 1/2 months.  So thank you for being willing to do what should have been done in January.  I hope you mean it.

Then I pasted the January 10 email that I sent trying to fix this that included exactly the text list he is now requesting.  Remember, I have sent that same list over twenty times, in half a dozen formats.  Damion Son even made me print, sign, and fax it several weeks ago.  But now they need ANOTHER copy of it, even after he “looked extensively through your case history”.

I am not slamming Mr. Neally, yet.  He seems to genuinely want to make me go away.  I don’t get the impression he is actually sorry it happened, or even surprised, just that he wants me to shut up and go away.

And finally, at 2:18 PM CST today, I received this:

Dear Brian Gothard, (Cust: XXXXXXXX)

Thank you for contacting us.

Thank you for replying with this information. A case has been escalated to remove the account and balance from NCO financial. Please allow a few business days for this balance to be removed. I apologize it has take so long to resolve this issue.

If you have any further questions do not hesitate to contact us.

–
Sincerely
Brett Neally
Billing Department
1&1 Internet Inc.

Now, that appears promising.  It is ironic that as I was reading this email message my phone rang.  Caller ID said NCO Financial.  I let the machine get it.

Mr. Neally has made promises that I only half expect to happen, just based on history.  I will have to wait and see.

But, as of right now:

1) My account is still locked, denying me access to the 235 domains I still have registered there that were never in question. (I now make sure to move them to a competent registrar before they expire.)

His message does not address when my account will once again be made available to me.

2) The January invoice has still not been credited, revised, or removed.  It still shows as “Payment declined”.

When I faxed the signed invoice corrections at Damion Son’s request the credit was issued within hours.  I will let you know.

3) There is still a Late Fee of $18.95 showing on my account.

Although every email message I get has some form of apology in it, I do not feel apologized to, if you know what I mean.  I feel more like they are apologizing for getting caught than out of any real concern for the hours I have spent trying to get them to correct their own errors.  Please excuse my language, but I do not feel like anyone at 1and1 gives a damn about me or the problems they have caused.

I understand that companies make mistakes.  It cannot be helped.  But when they first of all refuse to acknowledge the error, then try to blame it on the customer, then continue to antagonize that customer at every turn, that company does not deserve to be in business.

1and1 is just not reliable, ethical, or competent.