1and1.com Internet Scam Confirmed, Properties Confiscated, 4 Different Excuses

I registered a good domain (imo), made the mistake of doing it with 1and1.com


Used hostgator for years, used namecheap for years, godaddy for years, liquidweb... 0 problems in years, ever.


I registered 1 domain with 1&1, had the account for months, company CC got billed etc..
all fine.
Then out of the blue the account gets locked and it says to contact support.


I contact them, after 7 calls, I got nothing.
1st they said it was a billing issue and gave me a 2nd number to call.
2nd number said it wasn't a billing issue it was security issue, gave me a 3rd number.
3rd number connects me to a guy named Dave from Security (wouldn't give Dave a job as unpaid intern doing starbucks runs for mcdonalds but whatever) who from his answering tone was already like, yeah I get calls a lot and provide 0 answers just like my other collegues.


Dave from 1&1 was special guy, he wanted to lie but couln't really do it for the company.


1&1 Dave said my account was locked and could never be reactivated (we all know that's BS of course) because I didn't send an ID after their request, I then pointed out I sent 1&1 an Id, he then switched the excuse to "ID was sent too late, that's the reason", I point out I sent the email soon after their contact, he then switched to "Yeah but we terminated business with your European country" I pointed out that's nonsense since 1 you did business for months, 2 you switched your reason 3 times already and 3 we signed a contract prior to your newly invented policy, so he then changed to a 4TH excuse saying my name was fake!

I point out to him I sent an ID and will send any other documents he wants, he then proceeds to go into a loop where he repeats "Sir there's nothing I can do about it, there's nothing I can do about it etc" I point out they were confiscating a good domain and giving me no options or reasons, that my only way to get some answer would be a lawyer and asked for Dave's name to know who I was speaking to (I agreed to them regitering calls btw) 1&1 Dave said he can't and once I say the word lawyer he immediately hang up and ran for the hills.



My options:
1) I will be sending a letter to ICANN and provide proof, including transparent access to my laptop, I'm willing to send the laptop in.
2) I will after that get a lawyer to try and get them to act like a decent company, but most importantly want to do a PR run until it's common knowledge that this company is an outright leader in internet scams.

I wish I had googled their name next to scam before registering. I'm sure The Verge or any other tech outlet would love to have the story of a crooked Domain registrar confiscating my domain. My name also happens to get clicks easy so it'll be popcorn time for every webmaster out there.


If any of you want to do a class action lawsuit as well add yourselves to the list below and I'll get in touch.


I'm posting this on different forums as well.


Currently giving them a 7 days window to fix things with account 356185840, after that the steps above get rolled as outlined.


It's no surprise this company went public on the stock exchange and was forced to go back to being private, it's very hard to hide a scam from investors, they tend to google more than I did.


Thanks for your time and suggestions.

 

Welcome to NP!

1and1 are a notoriously dreadful company to deal with, I'm not at all surprised. ICANN seems to be the best option here along with your lawyer. I also don't know if a UDRP would be of any use here either since the registrar are fraudulently withholding access rather than infringing on your Intellectual Property.

 

Any sane (I'm not casting any aspersions here) person knows not to use 1and1 as a registrar. Their control panel is the worst in the world. Updates can take 5-7 days. Unless you cancel the hosting when you transfer your domain name, you will get billed for a renewal. If you don't pay, they attack your credit rating by giving the debt to a debt collector. Unless you renew your domain before expiry, the will immediately delete it. And you will still be charged for the hosting. Support sucks. They can never resolve anything. It's really hard to believe the owners also own Sedo.

You don't get any sympathy from me, but you have my pity. Why are you waiting 7 days? I'd make a complaint to ICANN immediately. Only you can decide whether the domain warrants the expense of a lawyer, or whether you feel so aggrieved that you are prepared to shoulder the expense to get your name back. But, imho, you brought this on yourself by choosing 1and1 as a registrar. You obviously never did any research to find out if they are a respectable registrar. Any Google search for 1and1, would have given you ample proof not to touch them with a barge-pole.

 

Old rule. "Don't chase lost money." It diverts time and energy from doing profitable things you enjoy.

I try to think of these little bumps in the road as seminars.

 

1and1 is a bad, bad, bad company.

 

First, stop talking to them on the phone - that has no value because there is no paper trail.

Locate their complaints department and file a formal complaint. In my own bad experience with 1&1 the complaints department finally seemed to be able to take action and fix the stuff the others pretended they couldn't. You may need to send a letter recorded delivery to the company offices.

Complain to Better Business Bureau if you are in the USA, or to relevant consumer protection or rights groups.

Transfer the domain out if you can get back into the account, you might in some cases manage that even without access to the account.

Alternatively, as others have said, you could give up on the domain if you can afford to lose it.

And yes, keep telling everyone to stay away from 1 and 1 and keep telling people 1and1 sucks.

 

You must have registered that domain by that $0.99 promo. Otherwise anyone who is active on internet knows well the bad reputation of 1and1.

 

1and1 spend a fortune on advertising - I think they keep attracting new victims. Especially ones that go for their rubbish pay-by-the-month-and-get-overcharged build your own trash website service.

I often see their adverts on television and in tech mags in the UK, they even get quoted as "experts" on domains lol.

 

Perhaps 1&1 is not so bad for hosting - which is their core business. The mistake is to order hosting and domains from the same provider.
You should never use a webhost for domains, instead go to a domain registrar. Not all are reputable either. Choose carefully.
The point is that 1&1 have a bad reputation when it comes to domains. Perhaps their bad reputation is somewhat offset by their aggressive and sustained advertising. They are so prominent that people give them the benefit of the doubt.

 

I have only used 1&1 for some 99 cent .com and .nets for parking test. Have not had any problem transferring out except it takes about a week to complete. Just make sure to cancel the domain contracts after the transfer is fully complete.

But yes their control panel is a royal PITA if you have a bunch of domains. Also can take hours to register a name, so only use it for something you don't mind losing out on.

 

1&1 seriously sucks.. sometimes they have good prices on domains.. and I have occasionally registered one. But like everybody else.. I have too been victim to one of the several 1&1 scams... including.. being overcharged.. made up charges.. being charged for renewals, etc. after you have already canceled.

It's a bad company.. and seriously they should have been investigated for widespread fraud many years ago. We need government to look at companies and investigate companies like this much more.

 

pls delete 2x post

 

how delete 2x post?

 

hey fellas - this could be part of the problem -

the email account
''abuse - at - 1and1 dot com lists over 5 MILLION domains owned

yes that's > 5 million.

the email acct ''webmaster - at - 1 and 1 dot com'' lists

1 - point 5 MILLION domain names owned. 1.5 milllion.

there's your issue. there's side biz going on, which is a serious conflict of interest. 6.5 million domains owned.

could be a backroom biz that the head office maybe has no idea about ....

you can't have the security dept of a registrar doing backroom deals like that. no good. it must be a seperate co entirely.

this needs to be in the open. why do 2 email accounts at 1&1 own so many domains? what are they doing with them? reselling? holding? why? no good. conflict of interest 100%

registrars should own ZERO domain accounts on their own books. . any ownership should be via a different entity.

that goes for EIG owned go daddy, EIG owned bluehost, (all bought up with ''too big to fail funding'' in 2008, direct from taxpayers) EIG owned Register, EIG owned domain.com etc etc ...EIG owned hostgator ...etc ...

sorry to be so blunt ...

 

i ordered one good available name using their website.
They halted the process and took the domain which is now showing there logo and someone else who is data