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How To Get a Refund From 1and1


Submitted by Dan on Wednesday, 17 September 200810 Comments

1and1 BBB ratingFor those of you who follow my blog you might remember two articles I wrote earlier this year about how 1and1 stole money from me, hijacked my domain names and then told me too bad so sad and refused to entertain the possibility that they messed up.  For those not aware of what happened, in the extremely short version 1and1 kept my expired domain names online and active for months after trying to charge my expired credit card and then sent me to a collection agency rather than let me just pay the renewal and transfer away.

I gave up……  I’d sent my letters to the BBB and received a less than satisfactory response.  In their letter they included a response from Joseph Quinn the manager who was dealing with my account.  The response Joseph Quinn sent the BBB was the same damn email he sent me which pissed me off so much it made me contact the BBB in the first place.  So I calmly wrote my response to the BBB advising them of just that.  At that point I had already settled for the fact that I was not going to win.  I needed my domain names right away so I caved in and after paying their collection agency for the renewals and an additional administrative fee I gave 1and1 a new credit card so they could unlock my account and I left.  End of story or so I thought.

I really never thought the BBB would come through for me.  Not that they don’t do a good job because they do, but because of 1and1’s record and past history with the BBB.  Check it out for yourself and see their Unsatisfactory rating and the number of complaints they receive yearly which is roughly 1 per day.

So what a surprise it was for me when I went to visit my parents this past weekend and I found a letter from the BBB waiting for me in the kitchen.  I opened it up fulling expecting to see another denial to my refund request but lo and behold they begin by saying that they feel that I will be satisfied with the response received this time.  Joseph Quinn wrote back via the BBB apologizing for charging me the redemption fee for my domain names and that they have refunded me a total of $40 which covers the cost of the collection agency.  I am happy that I received this refund but my problem is that Mr. Quinn still doesn’t get it despite giving me my money back.  I was not disputing the redemption fee.  A redemption fee is applied to a domain that has been expired and then placed into a “redemption period” via the registry.  During redemption my domain would be offline or likely parked by the registrar somewhere else.  The redemption period also only lasts 30 days at which point the domain is then released back to the public.  Leaving a domain name online for 3 months is not redemption.

So screw you Joseph Quinn and thanks for the money.  You should know to quit while you are ahead.  I had already written this off as a loss after what… 6 months?  I’d still never use your services again.

Moral of the story is: If you want a refund from 1and1 just be persistant.  File the appropriate complaints with ICANN, the BBB and the FTC and you will get your money back eventually.

10 Comments »

  • Warth Publishing Inc (6 comments) said:

    They didn’t release my domains. I registered 730 domains with them. They started off giving me a 42 day notice that domains were coming up for renewal. This is my story as best I can remember: They lulled me into thinking I would get an advance notice. Then I got no notice until it was too late to indicate a non renewal. They sent me an invoice for $625. I told 1and1 to give me a corrected invoice and I would pay, they refused saying their system wasn’t set up for that. I told the credit card company to charge back the fee which they did. Then 1and1 told me if I would pay the $625, they would unlock my domains and issue me a refund. I paid and they sent me the original invoice without any corrections or refunds. Then they sent me an additional $1200. Invoice for more domains I did not want. I then charged back both fees. When they unlocked my account some of the domains were not even listed, 3 pages of domains were missing, and the confirmation button was missing so I could not change any listings. Now my account is locked again. I can’t trust them to do what they say they will if I pay anything. NCO, a collection company, is calling me daily. I am not going to give in. I believe with the “unsatisfactory” listing with the BBB and all the other complaints, my credit rating will not be downgraded. I am going to collect names for a class action suit. An investigative journalist, Kelli Jack has written articles about 1and1 and has a suit pending.

    [Reply]

    Steve (3 comments) Reply:
    May 1st, 2009 at 1:14 am

    @Warth Publishing Inc

    I know your post is a few months old, but I would like to join…I had 200 names auto renew after I specifically emailed and told them I didn’t want ANY of them to renew. They told me I had to do it myself through the cancel.1and1 which is the most confusing and ambiguous process ever. By the time I got there it was too late and NCO called saying I owed 350…I paid it on the condition 1and1 would close my account and leave me alone. Now NCO is calling me saying I owe over 1400, 800 of which is the fees. It has already hit my credit record, EACH package individually (10 so far) flooding my report with the severe delinquencies. Iand1 is not a creditor of mine, never was…

    I feel so helpless right now…sometimes people mess up or forget to pay a bill or something, so be it, but in this case these crooks are out of line and I now see there are others like me out there…how is this still going on? Let’s do something like you mentioned in your post…

    Anyway, just another guy screwed my 1and1…

    Thanks

    [Reply]

    warthpublishinginc (6 comments) Reply:
    May 1st, 2009 at 10:17 pm

    Steve, I am truly sorry you got caught up in the nightmare of 1and1.
    I found out that the contract we agreed to does not permit class actions law suits. I tried to sue in small claims court but their contract specifies the claim has to be in the Philadelphia court, a 9 hour drive for me. All we can do is send in complaints and hope for the best.

    1and1 places to complain too & Numbers
    ———————————————-
    Pennsylvania Better Business Bureau
    Mr. Thomas El tel@mybbb.org dc-easternpa.bbb.org info@mybbb.org
    1880 JFK Boulevard
    Suite 1330
    Philadelphia, PA 19103
    215-985-9313 Fax 215-563-4907
    ———————————————-
    Pennsylvania Attorney General http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/
    Bureau of Consumer Protection
    Brianna M. Tetraul, Agent
    South 12th Street, 3rd Floor
    Philadelphia, PA 19107-3603 http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/complaintforms/bcp_form.aspx
    215-560-2414
    ————————————-
    Federal Trade Commission
    600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
    Washington DC 20580
    202-326-2222 877-FTC-HELP http://www.ftc.gov HSRhelp@hsr.gov
    ————————————-
    Federal Bureau of investigation
    Internet Crime Division

    http://www.fbi.gov
    http://www.ic3.gov

    [Reply]

    - 19 September 2008 at 7:58 pm
  • TigerTom (1 comments) said:

    That sounds awful. Sending in a collection agency for something that doesn’t cost _them_ a huge amount of money is excessive.

    If it was _my_ internet-based business, I’d just give ‘em their stuff, put ‘em on a personal blacklist and leave it at that.

    It’s always a good idea to search webmaster forums for recent comments about web-hosting companies and domain registrars.

    A good, inexpensive registrar: Namecheap.com
    Good, inexpensive web hosts: JaguarPC, Hostgator, ASmallOrange.

    [Reply]

    - 13 December 2008 at 3:21 pm
  • Warth Publishing Inc (6 comments) said:

    Thanks for the impute. Here it is December 13, 2008 and it is still is not over.

    [Reply]

    - 13 December 2008 at 4:49 pm
  • warthpublishinginc (6 comments) said:

    I got a letter in December 2008 saying that my account was finally cancelled. Then in March of 2009 I get 3 more invoices charged to my account. They said if I don’t pay the account will be sent to a collection agency.

    [Reply]

    - 26 April 2009 at 8:48 pm
  • warthpublishinginc (6 comments) said:

    I got a letter today from the PA BBB. They said they have given up on trying getting a settlement with 1and1 Internet. They suggest I try other avenues including a law suit. Maybe why I can’t get remuneration from 1and1 is because they owe me about $2,000.00
    Actually I could probably make a case for $50,000. in lost revenue from losing 2 websites and over 700 domain names.

    [Reply]

    Dan (51 comments) Reply:
    April 28th, 2009 at 3:41 pm

    @warthpublishinginc, its unfortunate and Im sorry to hear what has happened. Thank you for keeping me and my readers up to date as it is important to let people know that 1and1 are a bunch of crooks.

    1and1 is not an accredited BBB member therefore they could care less what their BBB rating is, which is evident by the ‘unsatisfactory’ rating they currently have.

    if you have the means to sue them, do it. me personally, only three of my domains were affected and I dont have the resources, or money to sue anyone though I wish I could have

    [Reply]

    - 27 April 2009 at 7:42 pm
  • Al (2 comments) said:

    Same story.

    I tried to cancel. I get a confirmation code for each domain and I thought that’s it. 1and1 then bills me for over $200 for those unwanted domains. The rep said there was no record of a cancellation, that I need to reply by email within a week. I never saw that email. I didn’t even know I was supposed to get an email. I thought the confirmation code for EACH DOMAIN meant that that’s all. I’m waiting for them to give my info to debt collections so I can file a complaint with BBB. 1and1 Internet has a Better Business Bureau rating of “F”. You can’t get any worse.

    1and1 should be out of business with these kind of sales tactics and so many unsatisfied customers. Never make the mistake of registering domains with 1and1. You may regret it. They are the worst domain registrar I’ve ever encountered.

    [Reply]

    - 22 May 2009 at 2:34 pm
  • Dan (51 comments) said:

    Let me clarify the last remark from Al’s comment: you WILL regret it rather than “may”

    [Reply]

    - 22 May 2009 at 5:29 pm

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