In the past I’ve recommended 1and1.com for web hosting. I’ve appreciated there reasonable pricing and overall user-friendly administrative interface. However, their customer service is bottom-of-the-barrel. My account was suspended last Thursday due to a billing mix-up. I immediately corrected the issue on my end but it took them until Monday to rectify the problem. It seems that their tech support is handled in India and their billing in the States. After repeated phone calls with promises made that the situation would be rectified quickly it finally was resolved four days later. For a hosting company, that is really pathetic. Any web host you would recommend? I may be in the market.
Customer Support from 1and1.com is Hurty
– October 14, 2008Posted in: Reviews
Hey Phil,
Sorry to hear about that. I had my run in with 1and1 a couple years back. I know some swear by them though.
For support, I’d go with A Small Orange – they have always been unbelievably responsive when I’ve needed something.
SB
Scott, you are right about the support from A Small Orange. They do a bang-up job. I personally don’t dig the CPanel interface. It’s powerful but I find 1and1′s setup to just be easier to manage. I’m sure it’s a learning curve. But hands-down they are making their mark w/ customer service.
I don’t have any beef with 1and1′s web hosting. However, I curse the day I ever listed any domains with them. Investigative journalist, Kelli Jack states: “1and1 should be shut down.”
The Pennsylvania Better Business Bureau has them listed as “Unsatisfactory” Check out Red Flag for some customer comments.
Good to know. I will definitely do a read. Thank you.
1and1 works well for my domains for s few yrs now. You should just ask them to see if you can credit you something for their mixup/delay.
the supposedinvestigative journalist appears to have resorted to spamming as many sites as he can with outrageous and defamatory claims, yet still he has not won any “case” he might have against 1and.
More proof that what my granddad told me is probbably correct: Believe half of what you see, and none of what you hear.
http://www.thebluesmokeband.com/bbb.php
I am sorry I ever signed up with 1and1.com and I do NOT recommend 1and1.com for hosting or anything else. 1and1 makes it very difficult to cancel once you join. I transferred all my domain names to another host provider and tried to cancel 1and1.com, but could find no place in the control panel that permitted me to cancel. Since my credit card date had expired and my domains all successfully transferred, I figured there was no domain being serviced and the account was canceled. Then, to my dismay, I get a bill from a collection agency for hosting nothing plus an additional collection fine. Services like this are just not worth it when they’re NOT customer friendly. There’s other host providers that don’t bill you unless you have a domain name hosted with them. I’ve read from other sites that it’s hard to cancel 1and1.com and I know now that they’re right! Beware and avoid the disappointment that will eventually come to you if you join with them.
I’ve never had a problem with 1and1′s customer service. Billing CS is definitely better than tech support, but whenever I’ve had problems for either group they’ve been able to take care of it. I’ve been hosting through them for about 3 years now, and have no desire to cancel. Hopefully, if/when I do, I won’t have the same problems others have had.
Well, post note to this topic. I finally moved away from 1and1 and never so glad to make the departure.
It’s hard to beat just having your own server and doing your own thing.