When it comes to spending money I proudly make the ranks of the top frugal contenders. Comparison shopping, unit pricing, coupon hunting, discount obsessing, customer review prowling, –you name it I do it. So being as I am a fairly informed frugal consumer you’d think that I would have gone the extra mile to do the right consumer research on a business that could potentially hold my family jewels hostage. But no, I wanted cheap and easy because I couldn’t see past the price to see the value — and as the old mantra goes, you get what you pay for. Call it a lesson hard learned.
Related: [1and1 Complains Poll | Comments | Recommended Web Host]
In March of 2006, I came up with the hair-brain idea of logging my professional journey to becoming financially independent through a term I coined, “Millionster“, which of course led me (and my some of my friends) to register the domain Millionster.com — the only problem of course was where and how much?
When we considered the where only the how much mattered. But oh me oh my, how wrong we were to make such an assumption. Lured in by the cheapest price we could find, Millionster.com was born under the hospices of the dreaded company 1&1 Internet Inc. ( Known by many web developers as the Worst Company in the World. )
Evil, vile, dreaded, that is what you call someone who commits harm onto others with the sole intent of gain. (If you go into business, never ever, be evil — as is the mantra of Google.)
But ‘what harm hath they causeth thee’ ye might wondereth?
You may have noticed these past couple of weeks 1&1 Internet Inc. has had my precious b…s in their ferocious hands! That kind of leverage is nearly unquestionable. The good part about it all is it only cost me $5.99 to get them there!
See — I found out the hard way that 1&1 Internet Inc. and their web hosting service was a bad idea from the beginning after they refused to refund my 90-day money back satisfaction guarantee. I’ve told myself time and again I should have seen that one coming. When I figured out that I couldn’t do all the wild things that I wanted to do on their service, I was not satisfied and called them up to redeem my guarantee and cancel my service. The only problem of course was that I had 7 domains under that account, but I figured — they’re honest they won’t give me the run around. Suffice it to say I was not prepared for what they had in store for me.
Over the period of a week between being transferred to the wrong department several times and being on hold for more than 30+ minutes each call, I was promptly hung-up on no less than 5 times. I was beyond amazement; these people were pulling an AOL on me! They were going to make my cancellation as complicated as possible and charge me even more money in the meanwhile!
I called my credit card company and complained immediately. Mastercard of course gladly overturned their charges, to which 1&1 responded by sending my account to collections. OH HELL TO THE NO!
So I paid their stupid fees and I was horrified. At a time when I was trying to rebuild my credit though what choice did I have?
Once you do the rain dance and blood letting that is the cancellation process of 1&1, you are prompted to either “auto renew” your domains or “let them expire” — of course all of them I marked as “let expire” so that I would be able to transfer them to a new host when the time came. Well 3 weeks ago that time came, and on the eve of the official birthday of Millionster.com, I gave good ol’ 1&1 a call to properly transfer to Dreamhost thinking that this process was going to smoothly. Afterall, a year had passed since my previous experience with 1&1 and I had almost forgotten about it until…
So I’m talking to a Technical Support to a guy named Vergel. And “bless his heart” he tried his best to speak to me in English. After several minutes of grunting out the various letters and numbers that were the Authorization Code to transfer my domain, I rushed to Dreamhost counting the minutes before my carriage would turn back into a pumpkin — oh yes, only 27 minutes til midnight. I remember the moment explicitly.
So there I am lah-dee-dah, very pleased with myself for not having bunked the transfer of our domain. I went to bed dreaming of wonderful things and about how I was going to write an article about Millionster’s 1 year anniversary the next day.
Surprise Surprise. I woke up the next morning with a heartwarming message from Dreamhost “Dearest and Amazing Sir, 1&1 has rejected your transfer request!”
{ — this is the sound of me yelling for 10 minutes — }
It’s 5am by this time. I try several times again to transfer the domain — and each time it was rejected. So rather than waste my allocated gym time by banging my head on the wall I decide to do my morning basketball laps and go to work. Nothing I can do now. But poor me, I spent the whole day at work upset about the domain. I could not concentrate on anything else. Yes this time helped me reflect a little bit — we had built a lot of brand equity, met a lot of cool people and made some good friends through Millionster. It was worth more to me than I had realized (remember my hiatus? ) Hours of building up a load of fury to unleash upon the unwitting tech support department of 1&1 had to have raised my blood pressure..
I get off of work and the first thing I do is call Tech Support.
Me: “EITHER YOU IDIOTS GAVE ME THE WRONG AUTHORIZATION CODE OR SOMEONE IS TRYING TO SCAM ME.”
Tech Support: “Sir what domain are you referring to”
Me: “Millionster.com”
Tech Support: “I’m sorry sir, I don’t have any record of that domain”
Me: “Don’t tease me, I just called yesterday”
Tech Support: “What is your customer id sir?”
Me: “1092810..”
Tech Support: “I need to look up your account, please hold a minute sir”
***Waiting for 15 minutes according to my cellphone***
Tech Support: “I’m sorry sir, I have no record of that account”
Me: “!#@#!!!!!&*!&*@!!!!!!!!”
A full week of yelling and complaining did not motivate the staff of 1&1 Internet Inc. to do anything to appease me. Our account had been deleted, and according to them Millionster was now expired and in the “redemption period” —
“Oh how convenient” I thought — another chance for them to get more money from me.
So with my boys in their hands, I had no choice but to succumb to their unyielding leverage. Either I played their silly game or I go domainless. I fought hard — very hard — and they squeezed — yes they squeezed. They went so far as to claim that I still owed them $1.86 on my old account and that they would not do anything until I paid it.
*in tears*
So I did the rain dance and the blood letting that was their “Redemption Process” — which I had to no less fax them a signed form agreeing to pay whatever costs..
I did all this. And still nothing, no message, no confirmation. I called immediately to confirm they received my fax. I called everyday for 2 weeks. Everyday, I waited on hold. I was constantly transferred to the wrong department or the wrong person, I was given empty promises, I was misled, and worst of all I was lied to, all so that they could get even more money out of me.
Highway robbery.
Two freaking weeks I waited and called and waited.
Then I stopped waiting. My frustration led me to search on google and yahoo for various combinations of “1and1 sucks” and low and behold…
Every other person in the universe, I discover, hates 1&1 Internet Inc. for various but similar reasons — fraud, abuse, lies, overcharging, the list goes on and on.
Why didn’t I see this before??
I kick myself in the head.
So I did what everyone else that had problems with 1&1 had done.
I complained to the BBB.
I complained to the FTC.
I complained to ICANN.
I complained to the DA of Pennsylvania.
I complained to their parent company.
and last I complained to God.
** I have yet to complain to the Consumerist.com, thanks Michael for pointing that one out **
Still nothing.
I resorted to begging. Can you believe this?
I had to beg the staff of 1&1 to get them to do anything.
$50 and 3 weeks later, here we have Millionster.com again.
Which of the above do you think convinced them?
I have no clue. I hope the FTC kicks them in the ass.
There are several morals to this story — one of the most obvious is not to do business with 1&1 Internet Inc., no matter what their stooopid prices are. The second one of course has nothing to do with waiting til the last minute to get your ducks in a row and speaking to some guy who holds your world in his hands but is totally incompetent, no not at all. You get what you freaking pay for. Cheap is never cheap — there’s always a catch or fine print.
Know the value of the things that are important to you and take the proper and timely precautions to protect them.
I can tell you one thing, this will never happen again.
(While I’m talking about hosting and domain companies. Let me add GoDaddy to the list of vile companies to never do business with.)
– So if you look at the comments below — I didn’t fully qualify this article with my recommendation for an alternative, so here it is:
“At present my recommendation for a cheap service with relatively good quality, high customizability and excellent customer service is going to be Dreamhost (Use promo code SUPER40 to get $40 off and a free domain). They are quick to respond to any support/service issues and that to me is invaluable.” — see my comment below.
Given my experience, I thought it would be nice to write an article about choosing a good web host. But for now I’ve got some catching up to do!
Take our 1and1 Complaints Poll
April 11th, 2007 at 5:51 am
That is awful, you should tell the guys over at Consumerist.com. They will give 1and1 the public degradation that they deserve.
April 11th, 2007 at 7:27 am
1&1 does suck. I’ve had problems with them too. I’m in the process of transferring my bankbonuses.info domain away from them. I hope it goes smoother than yours did.
April 11th, 2007 at 7:38 am
Wow,
I just renewed for 6 months and signed up 2 new domains. Ouch. I’ve had them for a while and haven’t had any problems. But from what I’ve been hearing, the problem is with canceling and transferring.
Any ideas on what I should do?
April 11th, 2007 at 8:05 am
Man, I was thinking of GoDaddy as an alternative.
So what domain company are you using? Please, please don’t do a post like this and then not tell us who you decided to register with!!!
P
April 11th, 2007 at 9:12 am
@Michael - Oh I didn’t think of that one… hehe. I’ll send them a message and see what they say.
@TF Miser - Yeah, If you’re doing in advance of your expiration date you should be ok — that way they can’t have you by the nose hairs if you domain is already expired — they’ll try to charge you more..
@Baz L - I don’t think you could get any refund at this point even if you signed up with them yesterday they aren’t likely to honor their ‘money back guarantees’. Don’t invest too much time building up any “brand equity” on their services. I would start looking for a new host and start transferring my domains well in advance of your contract expiration and make sure you get your Authorization codes before you cancel your account which you can do from your 1&1 admin panel. Make sure you keep back ups of all your work and keep records of your interactions with them. When you are ready to cancel make sure you follow their exact process and follow up with them and your bank to make sure they don’t charge you anymore. I think the link to cancel accounts is http://cancel.1and1.com but they won’t tell you that unless you start pulling hair and teeth. Depending on your actual needs, see my recommendation for webhosts further down in this comment.
@p - See the trick is you can’t just look at the price and say oh this is a great deal. You have to look at the company attached to the price — the fact of the matter is they give you a low price so that they can stick it to you later when you need to renew or if your domain goes into the redemption time period. Your best bet is to not go with a company that has domain registration as the core service of their business, but instead register your domain with your preferred web host. (always do your research)
At present my recommendation for a cheap service with relatively good quality, high customizability and excellent customer service is going to be Dreamhost. They are quick to respond to any support/service issues and that to me is invaluable.
Plenty of people will complain about the various issues at Dreamhost which is usually downtime for a number of odd reasons including power outages, virus attacks, etc. But even despite these things it is a company you can trust.
My second recommendation would be MediaTemple.
Maybe it’s time I write an article on chosing a good web host. ^_^
April 11th, 2007 at 11:32 am
Dreamhost is my hero. I have about 10 domains with them. They answer all my questions. They’re interface is easy to use. I wouldn’t say you should call them though. I think they’re better through email.
I also have an account with Lunarpages. Their support is the BEST I’ve ever had. But, Dreamhost has more goodies available (such as shell accounts, and the ability to transfer using SSH). Lunarpages only allows FTP and that’s it (not even SFTP).
So with the pretty good service, the great tools they have, and their unlimited domain hosting, Dreamhost is all you need.
I was pretty psyched to find out 1mil used the same service as me, because I’m definitely a Dreamhost groupie.
April 11th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
OK, this is my problem and someone please see if you can help me out here.
Started with Globat.com I think. Hated them. I did register one of my biggest sites for a client at Micfo.com. When I got them the went for a bout $6/month, now I see they’re up to 10. I’ve been with expensive hosts. I’ve been with cheap hosts. I’ve jumped in blindly and done research, right now I’m just spent and tired.
Me personally, I just run a bunch of blogs right now. Using wordpress with it’s tiny little foot print. These sites don’t get a lot of traffic (although I would like them to) and right now they aren’t worth their weight in Adsense. I have it up, just because. A lot of the bigger sites also charge a LOT to host multiple domains (I don’t see the big deal since they just point). I figure if any one of my sites blows up, then I’d move it to a dedicated host later on. But for right now, 4 tiny blogs should be fine on 1 host. I just can’t justify paying $100 a year for my lil’ tiny hobby blogs, especially since they don’t give me much income in return.
I came across 1and1 in a Computer Shopper magazine, so I figure that they’d be fine for my needs right now.
Someone help me. I need a cheap host where I pay for what I get. I don’t need 300GB bandwidth a month, I don’t need 50GB of space, I don’t need shell access. All I need is a reliability, non anal customer support, and a load off my back.
Any ideas people?
PS. What was the problem with leaving the domain with them? From what I’ve seen they’re one of the only people that have a cheap flat fee for domains. Most of the other places have an introductory price that blows up to $9.99 in a year.
April 11th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Once again — Dreamhost would be the solution to that one.
the promo code still works:
http://millionster.com/articles/new/dreamhost-promo-code-super40/
April 11th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
I just ditched 1and1 too!
And to think I was complaining about the two weeks, 8 hours on the phone, and threats of legal action required to get them to release my domain to the new registrar.
My tip-off that 1and1 was bad news came when I decided to switch my blog from their built-in version of WordPress to my own install. A call to their tech support confirmed that they had DELIBERATELY REMOVED THE EXPORT FUNCTION!!!
Well, any company that keeps customers by holding their data hostage obviously deserves to be left in the dust. They made it pretty difficult to leave them, but I did it. I actually threw a party when I finally got my domain name back from them!
April 11th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
Un-be-LIEVE-able! What a horrendous experience. I am sorry for your time lost, but what an education, huh.
Thanks so much for the warning, by the way, because I was going to go with GoDaddy soon for my domain (even though I hate their sexist advertising). But I will definitely give Dreamhost a look-see now.
Good thing that people post reviews, isn’t it? Those really help out the rest of us. And I hope the FTC gets 1&1, as well.
April 13th, 2007 at 6:26 am
I guess I am one of the 6 million 1&1 global customers who actually loves 1&1. I have had a couple calls where I was on hold, but then how many hosts can you call at 1 AM???
It is easy to read negative reviews and forget that there could be millions of perfectly happy and satified customers who simply don’t take the time to share their own positive experiences.
Just my .02
Best of luck with your new hosts/registrars.
-Don
April 13th, 2007 at 7:03 am
@Kit - Good move! I hope you’re happy with your new host. It’s amazing what some company’s will do to force their unhappy customers to stay!
@Melanie - It’s about time really. If you look at all the people who are complaining about being defrauded and misled you think something would have happened by now. It is really beyond me how any business can get away with pulling crap like that..
@Don - yes my friend there are always exceptions. Like I said in my follow up post “how to find a good web host” I suggested that “it isn’t enough to look at one disgruntle customer’s review, that you have to look at a lot of them and see if there are any recurrent patterns.”
In the case of 1&1, there are many people with the same problems I explained here beyond being on hold.
I have had Dreamhost for a few months now, and I chose them largely because 1. I am a developer so I need lots of fancy coding stuff, 2. the community at large seemed mostly pleased with Dreamhost. That isn’t to say they don’t have their problems.
I think I’ve afforded room for exceptions here don’t you agree?
Thank you for your contrasting input to provide another side to this story.
April 13th, 2007 at 7:06 am
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this dicussion! If you have any more experiences to share please feel free!
April 13th, 2007 at 8:19 am
[…] How to Find A Good Web Host, 5 Steps April 12th, 2007 by 1mil [^] You never miss the water until the well runs dry. No, in the Internets we seldom appreciate the amount of work and dedication that goes into creating our beloved blogs until of course something goes wrong. And let me not be an exception to that rule. Recently Millionster ran into it’s own headaches with one of the world’s worst web host slash domain registrar’s notorious for AOLing their customers to the point of tears and insanity. In hindsight there are some steps we should’ve/could’ve taken to cover our asse(t)s, and now here I am to share this wisdom with you. […]
April 13th, 2007 at 9:19 am
[…] I came straight over from millionster.com who has a horror story about 1and1 hosting , which would easily qualify for any Dean Koontz novel. Reading it makes you want to cringe, it sure made me want to. […]
May 2nd, 2007 at 6:52 am
Hi there, I am a completely naive guy who in a rush of blood and when my brain was disconnected from my thought process actually bought £5k + worth of domain names, why? Well I was working for a Web Development company and I had what I thought was a really original idea…. Buy urls replacing the L with a numeric ie www.ro1ex.com www.1ove.com etc etc Anyway as I realised my mistake and the dawning relisation that I had blown £5k started to hit home I had the double whammy of being hit for renewal of said URLs despite my attempts to cancel them, I didnt realise that it was on my head to inform them of this as, I had been told that if I didnt want them they would automatically expire. Threatening letters and demands for payment have been the stable diet of my post since then, so what do I think to 1and1, well despite all my best attempts to amicably sort at the start of this saga and countless emails and faxes and soon to be solicitors fees, crooks and thieves spring to mind.
November 15th, 2007 at 12:56 am
Just a thought on transferring domains. I was a sys admin for years for a small ISP, and we constantly saw customers have problems transferring their domains from other providers, both big and small. My advice,and what I do: pay a little more and register your domains yourself with Network Solutions. Handle DNS however you want, but save yourself the potential nightmare that can always result from not having complete control of your domain names.