1&1 suck big time!

[tomj]

2 weeks ago I got an email saying 1&1 were unable to debit my account and they would try again.

I called last week to update my details and asked them if there were any outstanding invoices or account issues.....answer: no sir!

I log into my control panel daily to do stuff....no messages from 1and 1.

Now...guess what, I've been cut off....."account locked"

BAAAAAAAASTAAAAAAAAARDS!

This is great...no messages, no warnings...in fact confirmation nothing wrong....then snip.

I've updated my details. its 1.45 am sat morning. Their system will try to debit me in 1 hour. Then if successful my a/c will be back live within 24 hours.

Took me 30 mins to get through to their 24/7 support line. Cant manually override it because their accounts team is not back in work until Monday.......whooopie!!

I've saved the best thing till last!!!.....my PPC accounts are controlled via an ad-agency in London. No-one there is sad enough to be around at 1.50 am to pause my accounts......my admin access to my reporting doesnt allow me to pause my spend.....this SUCKS, I'm going to blow hundreds up the wall on this now.

1st thing monday I'm instructing solicitors to examine 1&1 TOS to see if I can rip them a new one for my loss, 2nd getting permissions to change PPC campaigns myself and 3rd getting a new host.


there you have it...1&1 suck....its official ;-)

[EyeOfTheTiger]

Originally Posted by tomj 2 weeks ago I got an email saying 1&1 were unable to debit my account and they would try again. I called last week to update my details and asked them if there were any outstanding invoices or account issues.....answer: no sir! I log into my control panel daily to do stuff....no messages from 1and 1. Now...guess what, I've been cut off....."account locked" BAAAAAAAASTAAAAAAAAARDS! This is great...no messages, no warnings...in fact confirmation nothing wrong....then snip. I've updated my details. its 1.45 am sat morning. Their system will try to debit me in 1 hour. Then if successful my a/c will be back live within 24 hours. Took me 30 mins to get through to their 24/7 support line. Cant manually override it because their accounts team is not back in work until Monday.......whooopie!! I've saved the best thing till last!!!.....my PPC accounts are controlled via an ad-agency in London. No-one there is sad enough to be around at 1.50 am to pause my accounts......my admin access to my reporting doesnt allow me to pause my spend.....this SUCKS, I'm going to blow hundreds up the wall on this now. 1st thing monday I'm instructing solicitors to examine 1&1 TOS to see if I can rip them a new one for my loss, 2nd getting permissions to change PPC campaigns myself and 3rd getting a new host. there you have it...1&1 suck....its official ;-)

Hi,

It's weird you should say that and very scary to a degree. You are damn right in trying to sue them for loss of earnings if it is there cock up... Funniliy enough I am a 1 and 1 customer for past 9 months running my entire operation through their servers in germany and received the following (probably the same email as you) ...on 27th of July this year..I keep everything

**************************************

Dear Mr.Me,

Unfortunately, according to our records, your account shows an outstanding balance.
To solve this issue quickly, please either check or update your credit card details in the 1&1 Control Panel

Please go to https://admin.1and1.co.uk

1.Log in to the Control Panel with your customer ID or a domain name assigned to one of your packages and your password.
2.On the My Account page, please click on 'User Settings' > 'Credit Card Details'.
3.If checked the card details remain Valid or if you re-enter the exact card details again please send a reply to this e-mail confirming that you have checked the current information and no update is required. We will then charge the remaining balance to your credit card.
4.If checked the card details are Incorrect and need to be updated with new information please update accordingly and click the 'save' button. There is no need to contact 1&1 as a new debit will be automatically attempted.

Please note that we may temporarily freeze your 1&1 package(s) in accordance with our terms and conditions unless we receive either a reply to this letter or payment in full. All website features and email accounts may be affected and it can take an estimated 48 hrs to reactivate the accounts after a freeze has been placed. 1&1 also reserve the right to cancel any account if an outstanding amount remains for a period of 14 days or longer.

For further details, please find attached a declined debit note in PDF electronic format. It can be opened and printed with the help of the program Acrobat Reader (download Acrobat reader:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html).

If you have any billing-related questions, please call our billing department on 0870 8503 305 Monday through Friday (except holidays) 9am to 5pm.

We will be happy to help you clear up any questions you may have, as quickly as possible.

Sincerely,
1and1

**************************************
It's scary for you I can imagine as you have no access to turn off your ppc. If that was me I would blow about £200 a day in ppc to a non existent site if they shut my servers down so Id want at least that back off of them, but only if I can prove that I have told them my correct card details in adequate time. I got this email because my credit card I had logged with them was then out of date. I automatically got sent a new barclaycard and entered those card details into my account details as neccessary. So far so good, over 2 months on and have not been disconnected. Good luck with trying to get this sorted, at the end of the day you could put it down to bad luck and write off the £200 you spent.

It does make me wonder why you are using a ppc agency to manage your campaings. They are hardly doing a good job if there one was no one you could call in an emergency. I guess you are paying them some sort of fee. DO you not have the time to manage your business (ppc marketing) yourself ??? I think its crazy for you to be spending money advertising and not have full access to pause your own campaigns in case of an emergency like this.....But thats just me 2 cents worth at 4am on a saturday morning.

Originally Posted by tomj ...2nd getting permissions to change PPC campaigns myself and 3rd getting a new host.

Who do you have to ask for permission to change the campaigns yourself? Arent you the boss of your enterprise. Just sack the ppc agency off and tell them its because they didnt offer a 24hr emergency helpline as part of their service to you and do it yourself.

Mike

Hope it all works out for the best for you though. Remember dont get too stressed, 48 hours seems long though doesnt it if your stressed about it....

[Bob Saver]

1 & 1 really sound like they've let you down at a lot of levels. Before going legal try and get some kind of recompense directly with them though. Those lawyers can suck your cash away! 1 & 1 might be prepared to make it up to you in free hosting or free services.

[tomj]

Originally Posted by EyeOfTheTiger Hi, It does make me wonder why you are using a ppc agency to manage your campaings. They are hardly doing a good job if there one was no one you could call in an emergency. I guess you are paying them some sort of fee. DO you not have the time to manage your business (ppc marketing) yourself ??? I think its crazy for you to be spending money advertising and not have full access to pause your own campaigns in case of an emergency like this.....But thats just me 2 cents worth at 4am on a saturday morning. Who do you have to ask for permission to change the campaigns yourself? Arent you the boss of your enterprise. Just sack the ppc agency off and tell them its because they didnt offer a 24hr emergency helpline as part of their service to you and do it yourself. Mike Hope it all works out for the best for you though. Remember dont get too stressed, 48 hours seems long though doesnt it if your stressed about it....

LOL, no...your dead right! I use some bid management software which is very complicated. Therefore in order to keep it "Tom Proof" i dont have access to some functionality (permissions)....at my request......jesus let me near complicated PPC strategy tools at 2am if I've had a few.....I think not ;-)

Its unfortunately its one of those DOH moments in life :eek:
spends rising

[eskimo]

tomj

I've have a number of clients who use oneandone and I'm always surprised how such a large company can balls up so often.

If your domain registrar is not oneandone, you could always point your domain to another host and set up another version of your PPC landing pages, until you speak to oneandone again.

[bapages]

I had this about a year ago now, and you are to yet recieve the best. One and One when they freeze your account give it straight to a debt collection agency. The letter will follow shortly.

[pricethat]

Its all well saying that 1&1 should pay you recompense but it depends on the agreement that you have with them. I am sure if you check your terms and conditions they will state that services are provided on an as is basis and that they dont guarantee that your service will be live 100%.

I appreciate that there is fit for the purpose, but that is a consumer law, not finite for business. Even with this clause they will with no doubt have a limitation of liability clause.

If your desperate to wangle some sort of compensation it would be far better to use the lines of "look, i really really want to be your customer but your going to have to help me get over this as i feel you have you really let me down blah blah blah".

Hope thats of some help

[monk-i]

Yeah 1&1 really fall down with their billing etc!!! Its fundamentally where all their problems come from! Wish they would just sort it.

Ive been with them for about 4-5 years and its definitely my biggest gripe! Im probably going to shift away from them in the future in anycase and possibly look at hosting my own stuff. Least then your in control of it all. Support = Yourself/team. Stuff aint exactly expensive these days niether. For my major projects im probably going to go with PIPEX.

1&1 definitely have issues with their billing though!

[Fudge]

I too had exactly the same thing happen to me. The only reason i could think of that could of happened is that I got a new debit card and the 16 digit number and the security number changed causing the details logged with 1&1 to be different. When they tried to take the cash they couldnt and I even made trips to the bank as well as look online to see if I could see anything that would be preventing them from taking the money. The change in card was the only thing that happened that caused them to cut me off.

I also found their telephone helpline number a little ribbish!!!

So my question would be tomj is, have you recently received a new card for the account you are using?

Non the less, it was a pain in the ass and i raised the compensation question and got ignored!

[ambi4681]

1and1 are still ****e - I had the exact same email telling me, although I had been a high spending customer for a number of years, they MAY cut off my sites if my card details were not updated!! Played telephone tag with the idiots on the billing helpdesk. I think it is now sorted, but u never know with them!

J

[purple]

They mucked about with me last year HELP 1&1 close my sites due to pressure on their server!!

interesting this thread was started in 2005