1&1 Internet Company 1&1 Internet Does It Again (this time to the wrong customer) Chesterbrook Pennsylvania

NOTE: This is the last of numerous letters I've sent after months of unsuccessful communication to the infamous consumer-unfriendly internet services company 1&1 Internet.

Scenario: The company has had a complaint history regarding the quality and effectiveness of their cancellation process.

After one month, I cancelled two hosting packages through their e-mail procedure and apparently the cancellation was not acknowledged therefore continually charging me for hosting services never used.

I was never reimbursed because I was sent to collections (NCO Financial) and was told to pay the balance "so they can take me off whatever list they have" (typed verbatim from two representatives).

I have been presumed and treated as a delinquent customer by all reps who have dealt with this case and as my domains (13 of them) are in need of being transferred, my accounts have remained active but locked and I have been disallowed from changing them over to another hosting service.

No compensation, no release of my domains, no resolution and we are approaching one year of irreparable dialogue between myself and the company. My online presence has suffered tremendously due to the domains tied up in the rigmarole of a company that doesn't honor their customers or their commitment.

Below is the letter I sent to the company and have since filed with BBB, Federal Trade Commission and will gather consumers together to add to the exclamation that 1&1 needs to clean up their consumer relationships.

Transfers/Billing/Complaints/Etc.,

I have never "hesitated to contact" 1&1 Internet during my awful and unsavory experience with this business.

In fact I have been forced to file consumer complaints with the Federal Trade Commission, The Better Business Bureau and have established a consumer advocacy group comprised of a legion of frustrated customers who are beginning to obtain signatures, create (more) personal blogs with intent to file a class action suit against your company.

Surely I receive the "domain unlocking" message the day after I go through the legal proceedings a day before (as stated by CS rep Shireen below).

First and foremost before we even approach the issue of unauthorized withdrawals, never has there been an acknowledgement that my hosting account packages were cancelled.

It is preposterous to be treated and/or deemed delinquent from a variety of negatively assumptive "customer representatives" (not one has actually been representative of a 'customer').

$89.91. It's the principle well beyond the many months of few hundred dollars of unused service that supersedes requesting the simple refund.

Business names, organizations, etc. were/are all tied into the 13 registered domains purchased along with two hosting packages I'd hope to do loyal business with the company boasting to be the "World's Largest Web Hosting Provider".

The domains and web site for my arts center, production company, cyber cafe, music label in addition to various other ventures have no online presence due in part to your account locking (and obvious private registration) which was brought on by the assumption the account was delinquent.

My businesses and brand images have suffered as your company continues to willfully deny honest customers such as myself and accuse me (in particular) of delinquency as all I wanted to do was switch my web hosting provider and at the very least continue renewing domains with 1&1 Internet.

I have the capacity and resource to cause some serious loss to 1&1 out of the emotional distress caused by blatant and unreprimanded incompetence by your disrespectful and unqualified staff, at least those I have communicated with to failure and unresolve over the previous months.

Suggesting time and again that I pay NCO "so they can remove me from whatever list they have" coupled with comments like "we froze your account hoping it would get your attention" is the kind of service that earns your unsatisfactory rating from Better Business Bureau.

Your cancellation process is flawed and is in desperate need of change.

This is where my problem began and the issue having to be left in the hands of neophytes assuming the customer is delinquent first until they eventually "cave in" is an ethics code that ultimately causes the further damage you will soon witness exacerbated by the general public's dissatisfaction and rebellion through the very internet you claim to be the World's Largest" in hosting.

No one likes to go through litigative processes, with the exception of attorneys, and as you can see in the thread of this conversation the runaround I have been given. (That's only THIS thread)

There's one Michael Quinn, after reading a thread of this same conversation writes back to me in an e-mail:

Dear Sir/Madam,


Thank you for contacting us.

We will better be able to serve you if you provide us with a customer
ID#


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

--
Sincerely,
Michael Quinn
Customer Service
1&1 Internet

As detailed and descriptive as I am (not to mention 'delinquent') there were NO ways to access my account after I had given my Contract ID's, dates, e-mail address and account name?

These three sentences lose another day of correspondence if a CS agent doesn't read a thread and I was also told by another rep "since we're an internet company, we do better by sending e-mail".

You all have given me the same story all the while shirking the most pertinent issue that caused it all, the unacknowledgment of the account cancellation:

A) 1&1: We have contacted you numerous times without a response.

I changed my e-mail address as well as other communication transfers after the "cancellation" in December. You send messages to an address I no longer have that are logging into an address like Yahoo that remains active for 3-6 months after cancellation so this explains the "numerous times" correspondence.

B) 1&1: Your packages are locked because your account is delinquent and this is what we thought would get your attention.

What got my attention were $29.97 charges which for a while I thought were overdrafts from bank activity which turned out to be the withdrawals from 1&1 for hosting packages that obviously weren't honored with my request to cancel. I have been labeled and treated as a 'delinquent customer' to this day and the issue hasn't moved up the supervisorial chain yet.

C) 1&1: I understand that the previous response might not have been the response that you were looking for. However, this is the response we need to give. There is nothing we can do at this point. I'm sorry (Michael Quinn)

Michael Quinn has the authority to speak on behalf of 1&1 Internet and then he expresses personal apology thereafter saying "there is nothing we can do"? That's so off-base you've got to expect to hear something better from a company representative you've trained to "keep" customers, not create a miniature nation of ex-consumers seeking compensatory damages from years of unethical business practice.

I don't expect to hear from anyone in the executive tier as per usual other than your typical Michael Quinn responding repetitively with A), B), or C) as mentioned above.

You should and will be hearing from Better Business Bureau and The Federal Trade Commission either today or by next week.

Mr. xxxx
Portland, Oregon
U.S.A.

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