And yet, they are trying to bill me! For what, I wonder, since there is no indication anywhere in my account of actual current charges!

April 30, 2009 3:03 AM:

Dear Brian Gothard,

We recently contacted you regarding a declined payment or an expired credit/debit card and have not yet heard back from you. Our records indicate that there is an unpaid balance in your 1&1 customer account: KXXXXXXXX

A recent payment may not have gone through due to a simple error, such as an expired credit card or incorrect settings in your PayPal account.

Please update or correct your billing information in your 1&1 Control Panel within the next 7 days to avoid any downtime of your package.

In order to do this, please go to https://admin.1and1.com

1. Log in to the Control Panel with your customer ID or a domain name from one of your packages and your password.

2. On the ‘Account’ page, click on ‘User Settings’ > ‘Payment Method’ and select the payment method that you are currently using.

If you are using a credit card, select ‘Credit Card’ and proceed as follows:

Check that your payment details are correct. If they are correct as is or if you re-enter the same credit card details, please send a reply to this e-mail confirming that you have checked the current information and no update on your part is required. We will then charge the outstanding balance to your credit/debit card.

If your payment details are incorrect or outdated, please update your information and click on ‘Save’. There is no need to contact 1&1 as a new debit will be attempted automatically.

If you are using a PayPal account, please select PayPal and then click ‘Go to PayPal’.

Log into your PayPal account and verify your data under ‘My Account Profile’.

Please make sure to update your information in the next 7 days to avoid downtime. If we do not receive full payment in 7 days, we will freeze your 1&1 package(s) in accordance with our terms and conditions. If your package(s) are frozen it may take up to 1 business day to reactivate them once the matter is resolved.

Please be aware that if this matter is not resolved, you may be sent to a debt collection agency. If the account is sent to a debt collection agency an $18.95 charge will be added to the unpaid balance.

For further details, please find attached a payment reminder note in PDF. It can be opened and printed with the help of the Acrobat Reader. Click here to download Acrobat Reader:

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html

If you have any questions, you can e-mail us at 1&1 Internet Inc. billing@1and1.com.

Or you can reach us Monday through Friday (except holidays) 9am to 5pm EST at 1-877-300-8316 when calling from within the US or Canada. International customers can reach us at 1-610-560-1621. Your normal long distance calling rates apply.

We will be glad to assist you in clarifying any questions you may have.

Sincerely,

Your 1&1 Team
1&1 Internet Inc.
www.1and1.com

And I forwarded it to my list of a dozen or so email addresses at 1and1 with the following reply:

And this is my reminder that once again you have not followed through on your promises.

There is still not a VALID, CORRECT invoice in my account available for payment.

There is no indication in my account that any additional credits have been issued.

There is still a Late Fee showing in my account.

There has, in fact, been absolutely no change in the two weeks since I was promised a resolution, proving that you never intended to do anything more than convince me to give you a credit card so you could STEAL money from me.

1and1 is once again proving my point that you cannot be trusted with any automatic access to my payment accounts.

This message states that you “have not yet heard back from” me. Well, you have heard from me repeatedly and loudly. You just choose to ignore me.

You are still proving either your incompetence or your larceny.

And since you still cannot get your act together and supply me with a valid invoice, I expect any day for my account to lock up again, once again denying me access to that which I legally own.

ANY limits placed on my access to my completely paid domains will be fully documented to support my case against 1and1 for breach of duty, breach of trust and breach of contract.

I suggest you familiarize yourself with:

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-breach-of-trust.htm

http://www.yourdictionary.com/law/breach-of-contract

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Breach+of+contract

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breach_of_duty_in_English_law

That is the short list. I am sure there are plenty of angles. You have done such an atrocious job of handling this problem that the hard part will be deciding which direction to come in from.

I am sick of useless promises and lies.

Is there a single competent person in your Billing Department?

Brian Gothard

Stay tuned for further developments!

2:41 AM From 1and1 Billing:

Dear Brian Gothard,

We are writing to inform you of a matter requiring your attention. We regret to inform you that your current PayPal merchant agreement limit is not sufficient to cover your recent invoice at 1&1.

Please take a moment to log into your 1&1 account and update your PayPal account limit as soon as possible, so that we can continue to offer your 1&1 services without interruption.

Please follow these instructions to update your 1&1 account limit:

1. Log into your Control Panel at https://admin.1and1.com, using your Customer ID, or a domain name from one of your packages and your password.

2. On the ‘Account’ page, go to ‘User Settings’ > ‘Payment Method’ and then select ‘PayPal’.

3. Click on ‘Go to PayPal’ and update your ’1&1 PayPal Account Limit’ by marking the ‘PayPal Billing Agreement’ box.

For any other billing-related questions, please send an e-mail to billing@1and1.com. Or you can reach us Monday through Friday (except holidays) 9am to 5pm EST at 1-877-300-8316 when calling from within the US or Canada. International customers can reach us at 1-610-560-1621. Your normal long distance calling rates apply.

We will be glad to help you with any questions you may have.

Sincerely,

Your 1&1 Team
1&1 Internet Inc.

http://1and1.com

THEY TRIED AGAIN TO CHARGE ME $341.62!

I forwarded it to billing@1and1.com

12:23 PM:

Mr. Rubel,

This is exactly why I will not allow any automatic access to my PayPal or credit card accounts. Even though you claim the problem is being addressed, your system is still trying to charge me $341.62, when I owe you a grand total of $53.94.

Whatever you are doing, it is not working.

1:43 PM:

Dear Brian Gothard, (Cust: XXXXXX)

Thank you for contacting us.

In regards to the failed pay pal debit response you got today. The system automatically tried to charge the incorrect invoice and declined today. We will not attempt to charge that invoice again.

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

–
Sincerely
David Rubel
Billing Department
1&1 Internet Inc.

Am I the only one who thinks that a COMPETENT person would have anticipated this and made some effort to stop it BEFORE the system automatically STOLE money from a customer?

He admitted yesterday that the invoice was completely wrong, but did not stop the charges?

And notice: NO attempt at an apology!

Keep reading… It gets better!

April 10, Day 123 of my 1and1 Nightmare:

7:47 AM

David Rubel, 1and1 Billing :

Please call me at 877-300-8316 Extension 2525 or please provide me with a numebr and time I can call you at so i can assist you in resolving this issue.

10:51 AM  My Reply:

No.

We tried that on January 13, and you lied to me.  I will only deal with you in writing, and very publicly.

I want your boss.

You told me you did not have the authority to fix this, and that “upper management” was looking into it.  You specifically told me Damion Son was working on it.

Well, Damion is the one who had me sign and fax documents TO YOU to cancel these domains, and is now acting like these are brand new issues unrelated to that.

I think you are both liars and thieves, and nothing you have done has proven me wrong yet.

You have had every opportunity to fix this.  You have proven that you are either incapable of or unwilling to correct your errors.

Besides, there is nothing I can add that you have not already received dozens of times and chosen to ignore.

I have submitted plenty of documentation that would allow you to fix this, and you ignored it.

I have explained it every way possible.

I have sent signed faxes and dozens of emails.

Every email, fax and explanation is now available to the public at http://RippedOffConsumers.org. And from the response I am receiving, they are on my side.

I keep getting messages from people who had similar billing problems with 1and1, and just gave up and paid the bill.

I don’t give up.

I don’t shut up.

For a very quick summary visit OPEN LETTER TO ANYONE AT 1AND1 WITH COMMON SENSE at http://rippedoffconsumers.org/1and1-complaints/open-letter-to-anyone-at-1and1-with-common-sense/

I sent you your own personal copy, but I guess you ignored that, too.

Just in case you “lose” this email and need easy access to the entire history, I am currently ranking number 1 on Google for “David Rubel 1and1″.

11:10 AM  David Rubel:

We are attempting to process refunds for any double charges and other incorrect domains but we will not be able to fully help and figure out what is going on without being able to speak to you and resolve this once and for all.

Please provide me with a number or call me at the number I previously provided so we can resolve this.

12:04 PM  My Reply:

You had your chance(s), and lied to me.

I do not trust you.

If it is necessary to deal with you to fix this, I will only do so in writing so there is absolutely no confusion.  No more runaround.

I want your boss.

Attached is the fax I sent on March 10 at Damion Son’s request, fully two months after I began sending YOU the same information.

The necessary corrections to the April invoice are available in the email I sent TO YOU and everyone else at 1and1 last night, and at http://rippedoffconsumers.org/1and1-complaints/open-letter-to-anyone-at-1and1-with-common-sense/

If you want to go straight to the spreadsheet, just click here.  http://rippedoffconsumers.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/summary_of_1and1_fraudulent_charges.htm

The explanations just don’t get any simpler.

Those documents are publicly available, and have already been spidered by Google, Yahoo, Live, and several other engines, so I don’t think you will have any trouble finding them.

No one has yet provided me with the answers to the questions raised in that document.

The only thing you could do by phone that you cannot do with those documents is antagonize me further.

Either fix it according to the provided information, or submit to me IN WRITING why you refuse to do so on a domain by domain basis.

If you are incapable of understanding those simple documents, have your boss take a look at them.

And I want an apology for the way I have been treated.

A REAL one, not just “we are sorry you don’t know how to use our broken and shoddy systems”.

12:18 PM David Rubel:

Dear Brian Gothard, (Cust: XXXXXXXXX)

Thank you for contacting us.

We are issuing a refund for the following domains totaling 179.80. Also your transfer will be activated and processed per your request. If you have any questions comments or concerns please respond to this email.

4gclick.com
broadcastyoursite.com
businesspressroom.com
obamalies.org
christiannewsreleases.com
christianpressreleases.com
churchnewsrelease.com
churchpressreleases.com
lifesavingjobs.com
myformattedresume.com
myprbuddy.com
myreputationgenie.com
petdailynews.com
prnewsagency.com
prnewssource.com
publicitygenie.com
reputationgenie.com
restaurantmojo.com
resumecircle.com
zipmojo.com

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

–
Sincerely
David Rubel
Billing Department
1&1 Internet Inc.

2:26 PM My Reply:

That only fixes a portion of the problems, and creates another opportunity for 1and1 to get “confused” about the situation.

Your $179.80 credit would still leave $423.50 worth of bogus charges on my account.

Invoice XXXXXXXXX is the original problem. It should have been $35.96 instead of $188.79, per the fax I just forwarded.

You refunded the entire amount on XXXXXXXXX. I still owe you $17.98 for that one.

Invoice XXXXXXXXX is a complete fiasco. It includes double billing for the same domains from Invoice XXXXXXXXX, plus all of the domains I canceled during March. That invoice should be credited in full.

Plus there is a Late Fee in my account that I expect to be removed.

I owe you a grand total of $53.94, and have been trying to pay it for months.

I have been running multimillion dollar companies for 15 years, and it is obvious that this mess will continue to get worse unless drastic action is taken. This is not a problem that can be fixed within normal procedures. You let it get way too far out of hand.

Here are my suggestions:

To keep from creating more confusion and screwing up the account even further, CREDIT EVERYTHING. Get the account to $0 and start over.

1. You already credited XXXXXXXXX via XXXXXXXXX. Let it ride.

2. Issue a credit for $188.79 to offset XXXXXXXXX.

3. Issue a credit for $341.62 to offset XXXXXXXXX.

4. Remove or offset the Late Fee for $18.95. I would prefer it be removed completely, because it offends me to be accused of late payments when I have tried every way I know how to resolve this.

5. Issue a brand new invoice. I have created an identical format to your invoice, so it should be easy to understand.

Continued…

Well, yesterday I complained that 1and1 had created a brand new invoice that included all of the domains I have been trying to cancel for over three months now, and were also trying to charge me for domains that I have very clear documentation of cancellation on.

I issued a public challenge to anyone at 1and1 to prove me wrong.

I received this reply from joy in Transfers this morning:

Brian,

I went through some of your invoices and you are correct as some should be refunded. The billing manager currently has someone looking into this and you should receive a response shortly regarding this issue. I apologize that this has been such an inconvenience for you.

Joy

Knowing better than to get my hopes up, I awaited the followup.
This afternoon, Damion Son sent me this:

Dear Brian Gothard, (Customer ID: XXXXXXXXX)

Thank you for contacting us.

The latest invoice that was generated on the account was for the domain name renewal in the month of March.  The previous issue was regards to the invoice that was generated in the month of January due to the during the transfer process.

Unfortunately we will not be refunding the account for the domain names on the latest invoice on the account.

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

–
Sincerely,
Damion Son
Customer Service
1&1 Internet

So, it is Mr. Son’s contention that this is a new issue.  How can it be a new issue when it involves the same domains?

Also, these domains are no longer in my account, so for what exactly am I being charged?

Several were already transferred to a competent registrar, prior to the dates 1and1 claims they renewed them.  How did they renew domains no longer under their control?

This is the most blatant attempt to perpetrate fraud I have ever encountered.

Here is my reply:

Once again, you are proving my point that 1and1 is completely incompetent, unethical, immoral and does not care about their customers.

16 of these are the same domains I have been trying to cancel since January.  They are the same domains I have been complaining about since January, and for which I have submitted over twenty cancellation requests by email and fax.  This is NOT a new issue.

The rest were cancelled prior to their expiration dates, and I have all of the documentation to prove it.  I have every email 1and1 sent me confirming the cancellations.  I was very careful to keep records correlating the cancellation IDs to the domains, because I knew 1and1 would try to pull some unethical garbage.

Four of these were actually transferred and renewed with GoDaddy prior to the dates you claim to have renewed them.  Again, I have full documentation.

And to top it all off, all but four of these (not the same four referenced above) are no longer in my account.

I am sick of being treated like I did something wrong.  I have done my utmost to follow your procedures, even submitting additional documentation that is NOT required by either ICANN or your posted Terms and Conditions, yet you still cannot get your act straight.

Your antagonistic and ignorant reply will be posted as the latest proof of 1and1′s attempt to defraud me at http://Ripped OffConsumers.com.

Anyone else interested in a class action lawsuit?  This antagonism and mistreatment is actually causing me health problems!

I was actually excited yesterday to find that my account had been unlocked, allowing me access for the first time in several weeks to my DNS settings.

I should be more careful about those optimistic tendencies when it comes to 1and1.

Today I received my latest  invoice.  Not only are they charging me for domains that I canceled and I have all of the confirmations proving it, but they added all of the domains I have been complaining about for four months now.

That means there are TWO invoices in my account for the exact same identical fraudulent charges.  Not only have they not fixed the one I have submitted complaints about over twenty times, but they have now created a brand new fraudulent invoice with the same domains!

Just how many times does a customer have to complain and submit iron clad proof of their mistakes to get someone at 1and1 to actually fix a problem?

I cannot answer that question.  I have sent them lists, signed faxes, corrected invoices, complaints and I am posting it here for the world to see, and they still cannot get their act together.

Just how much incompetence can one company exhibit?

If I were anyone in management at 1and1, I would be absolutely embarassed that a situation this cut and dried could go on this long, and generate this much negative publicity.

1and1 is incompetent.

1and1 is dishonest.

1and1 is the worst company I have ever dealt with.

I challenge anyone at 1and1 to answer my claims that they are completely incompetent.

I have to go now and generate ANOTHER correction request for this latest invoice, but when i get that done, I am going to post about even more problems with their cancellation system.  They will deny transfers to another registrar even on domains that you cancel!  Then they still bill you for them!

In November of 2008, I purchased a bulk lot of 270+ domain names from a 1and1 client.  I am going to call him Seller to protect the innocent.  I had never done business with 1and1 before, so I had no idea of the nightmare I was about to get involved in.  If I knew then what I know now, I would have run as far and as fast as I could away from 1and1.  Any benefit I get from that purchase will forever be tainted by their ineptitude.

On December 8, 2008, Seller faxed the appropriate Transfer Request Form, supplied by 1and1, to their Transfers Department.

On December 10, Seller received an email acknowledging the request, along with a promise that the transfer would be completed within 24 hours.  It was not.

Seller contacted them again when there was no transfer or further communication from 1and1, and on December 18, he received this message:

From: <transfer@1and1.com>
To: Seller
Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2008 1:29 PM
Subject: Re: CXXXXXXXXX Contract Move

Dear Seller, (Customer ID: XXXXXXXX)

Thank you for contacting us.

We currently experiencing an issue with the contract moves. Our
administrators are working on resolving this issue as quickly as
possible. We will send you an email with updates shortly.

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

–
Sincerely,
Employee Name Removed
Transfers Department
1&1 Internet

Seller contacted them again on Monday, and received this reply:

From: <transfer@1and1.com>
To: Seller
Sent: Monday, December 22, 2008 8:36 AM
Subject: CXXXXXXXXX

Dear Seller, (Customer ID: XXXXXXXX)

Thank you for contacting us.

I apologize for the delay in moving your contract over, but we had an
issue with our ability to perform certain tasks within our system.

We will be performing the move today, but before we do that, I would
have to ask that you back up all of your webspace data and any e-mails.

Once you have done this, please let me know and we will begin the move.

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

–
Sincerely,
Employee Name Removed
Transfers Department
1&1 Internet

Seller told them to go ahead and do what he had asked on multiple occasions for them to do.

On December 30, I sent the following message

From: “Brian Gothard”
To: <president@1and1.com>
Cc: <transfer@1and1.com>; <support@1and1.com>; <complaints@1and1.com>; Seller
Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2008 8:22 PM
Subject: FW: CXXXXXXXXX

Dear Sir or Madame,

As a technology consultant, I regularly recommend web services to my clients.  I am expanding my services to include more web related products and have been researching and evaluating providers for several months.

1and1 has failed miserably.

The inability of your company to complete the transfer referenced in the thread below in a reasonable amount of time has left me with a very bad impression of your service.

I fully understand how much impact software systems problems can have on a normal business.  That is my job: to address and correct issues with technology.  I can commiserate with your situation.  But this process was started on December 9, according to Employee Name Removed.

Even accounting for the holidays that is 12 normal business days.  That seems an unreasonable amount of time to me to perform something that ties directly to your core business process.  This is a simple transfer from one customer number to another.
No matter how extensive or convoluted your processes are, this cannot possibly require that much time to complete.
Keep in mind that Mr. Seller has been having extensive problems managing the domains for several weeks prior to this.  It seems your entire system is insufficient for your business.

My customer number is XXXXXXXX.  Please address this situation with your employees and let me know when I can expect some results.

Respectfully,
Brian Gothard
Technology Consultant

http://BrianGothard.com

The president account bounced, of course.  I didn’t really expect it to land, but I had to try.  More importantly; I never received a response from anyone at 1and1.  Not even an acknowledgment.

After several more days with no further information from 1and1, Seller called them.  Here is what he sent me:

From: Seller
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2009 2:44 PM
To: Brian Gothard
Subject: FYI: Re: CXXXXXXXXX – Follow Up..

Brian,

I just spoke with Dave at 1and1. He is a manager at 1and1. He confirmed to me that they have moved some of the domains to your account. The move will finish tomorrow.

Regards,

Seller

That is David Rubel.  Remember that name; he is the Billing Manager and he comes up quite often.  Notice he confirms that some of the domains have already been moved. That is an outright lie, as proven by the email Seller received the following day:

From: <redemption@1and1.com>
To: “Seller” Seller
Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2009 12:47 PM
Subject: CXXXXXXXXX contract move

Dear Seller, (Customer ID: XXXXXXXX)

Thank you for contacting us.

We are currently having issues with our contracts not moving correctly.
We are working on resolving the issue as quickly as possible. What we can do for you is transfer the domains into another contract but this requires you to back up all of your information. If this is something that you would be interested in, email us back and we can start that process for you. We will be sending you an update via email once we have this issue resolved.

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us.
–
Sincerely,
Employee Name Removed
Transfers Department
1&1 Internet

Seller replied immediately that they should just perform the transfer as requested.

So, as of January 8, we have several 1and1 employees admitting that they cannot accomplish the transfer, and that the domains are still not accessible by either Seller or myself.  That is a full month during which 1and1 was unable to provide any administrative interface to their customer.  No way to manage or control any of these 270+ domains.

The domains were not actually transferred until January 15, but I will continue the details in my next post.

Smart companies still operate that way today, but there are those which have made it their practice to treat their customers like garbage.

Disposable clientele.

They believe that if that customer is not happy and decides to leave, they will just pick up another one or three to replace them.  And sadly, many times that is true.  With thousands of new people getting on line every day, it is not difficult to replace a customer or two.

But what these impersonal monoliths do not realize is that there are those of us out here who will not simply take their crap and move on.  We choose to warn others of our bad experiences.

We choose to stand up and fight.  We choose to spread our stories far and wide in the hopes that someone else can avoid repeating our mistakes.

For that purpose, I have established this website as a digital soap box.  I have a handful of customer service nightmares of my own to post here, and I will be partnering with other consumer advocacy sites to bring you more comprehensive information, but I want to hear your stories.

I am offering you a place to voice your complaint and strike a blow against unfair practices, bad customer service, and in some cases outright fraud. I will also be providing how to articles and links to resources where you can initiate effective consumer complaints, such as the Federal Trade Commission, your State Attorney General, various Better Business Bureaus and the like.

What can you or I do as one person?  Very little.

What can you AND I do, along with a few hundred thousand like minded individuals who are sick of being pushed around?  We can spread the word about these companies who choose to mistreat their customers and convince others to avoid putting themselves in the same situation.

Together, we can strike a blow against indifference and bring customer service back!

This site is in its infancy.  I am still working on a lot of the functionality, including the submission form, but you can submit your story for possible inclusion through our Contact Us page.  Make sure to include as much detail as possible, and be prepared to back up your claims.  I am not interested in undocumented bashing, because that does not do any good.  I want dates, names, and specific details.  Don’t worry if you are not a writer.  Submit your story and I will edit it for clarity.  I may need to contact you for more information before publishing. So, go ahead, click here to submit your story.

Make sure to bookmark the site and come back often to check up on the latest warnings.