1and1 continuing to send invoices 8 months after repeated cancelations

[Paul]

I just sent the following complaint to the Better Business Bureau

I had two very old accounts under the same name with 1and1 which I canceled around 6/25/14. I received a cancellation confirmation via e-mail for one account, and was assured that the cancelation had gone through via phone support for the other. I had no outstanding balance, and both accounts were in good standing throughout their life. I made it very clear that I wanted the entire accounts canceled.

On 6/29/14--conveniently right after I canceled--I received an invoice. The invoice had a $5.80 credit for the cancelation of a single domain and a $9.99 charge for the renewal of another domain, for a total bill of $4.19. I received a confirmation e-mail that the domain listed would not be renewed on 6/24/14. This invoice was automatically charged to my PayPal account by 1and1 and went without notice.

On 9/17/14, I received a charge by 1and1 to my PayPal account for $29.97, without the usual invoice. At this point, I was unable to log into either account: neither existed, and I could not recover the password (it claimed the account number did not exist). I filed a claim with PayPal. PayPal denied the claim on the basis that they do not provide assurance for non-physical goods, including services. I figured I'd let it slide and canceled the subscription in my PayPal account, which was still active, despite having canceled my account with 1and1. This prevented 1and1 from making further automatic charges for that account.

On 10/14/14, I received a charge by 1and1 to my PayPal account for $52.38, without the usual invoice. This meant that both accounts had been left active, as I had denied one of them access to make automatic PayPal charges already. I proceeded to cancel this subscription on PayPal's end as well.

I have just checked on all of the aforementioned charges, and none of them have been refunded.

In early Januaray 2015, I received a Notice of Outstanding Balance from 1and1 in the mail stating that an invoice my account (K32██████) for $29.97 on 12/16/2014 had gone unpaid. I called 1and1 and they told me that there was no record of me contacting support at all, never mind a cancelation of my account. After being forwarded to the appropriate department, the person on the phone assured me that the fees would be waived and the account would be properly terminated this time.

Today, 2/10/2015, I received a Notice of Outstanding Balance for the *very same account* (K32██████) for $14.99, invoice date 1/19/2015--well after the date I had called 1and1.

https://www.namepros.com/threads/1a...-8-months-after-repeated-cancelations.847487/



I expect ALL of the following:

* A refund for $4.19
* A refund for $29.97
* A refund for $52.38
* Voiding of all pending invoices in charges
* Termination of all accounts and any services attributed to them
* NOT to be contacted by a collection agency
* NOT to be contacted by 1and1 for any purpose other than this BBB complaint going forward
* To be removed from all marketing, mailing, and customer lists/databases​

I'll post the outcome.

 

[mhdoc]

Good luck. I got a collection letter from their attorney. I replied to that suggesting it was not a valid debt and never heard from them again.

 

[Paul]

It took a bit, but a helpful person from their Customer Care department got things sorted out. The accounts were canceled immediately (I called support to confirm), and I received a refund a bit over a week later for $103.06, which was more than I requested. It sounds like they have several different departments for customer support--one for billing, one for complaints, etc. It's good to know at least one of those departments gets things done.

Interestingly I received an e-mail from a Solutions Manager the next business day after receiving the refund. The e-mail said that no refund would be issued. I objected in the BBB complaint, as I hadn't seen the refund yet. I was quite upset at that point. However, the representative from Customer Care responded via a phone call that the refund had already been processed. I'm just waiting for the BBB to process his response so I can close the complaint.

Here's the original response that I got:

Dear Paul Buonopane (Customer ID # 32██████ and # 16██████),

I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience associated with these accounts.



In regard to this particular matter, any services which had still been active under your name were canceled last month when you spoke to one of our Cancellation Team agents. Our records indicate that one of the accounts in question was listed as "████ Buonopane” instead of “Paul”. All charges associated with both of these accounts were under the PayPal account of: █████████, and there had never been a charge of $52.38 processed on 10/14/14. Due to this, I did an additional search finding nothing further under “Paul Buonopane”, however, there was another account found under “████ Buonopane”. Within this particular account (ID # 85██████), there was a charge of $52.38 processed on 10/14/14 through the PayPal account of: █████████. We can confirm that this account never had a cancellation request.

That being said, in order to assist you, we have also canceled this account (ID # 85██████), and will be issuing you a refund in the amount of $86.54 to the PayPal account of: █████████. Please allow 3-5 business days for this refund to be processed. Along with that, we have waived the balance of $14.99 associated with Customer ID # 32██████.

Moving forward, there are no outstanding balances, and you will no longer be billed or invoiced for any services under either name, since all of the accounts have been closed down.

Once more, we apologize for any inconvenience that has been caused here.

Thank you.

David Mattis
Customer Care
1&1 Internet Inc.
http://www.1and1.com​

 

[carob]

Just google "1 and 1 sucks" or "1 and 1 stole my domain name" or "1 and 1 collection agency".

Good for you Paul for filing a complaint. Something needs to be done about 1 and 1.

Re what you say about different departments, only when I initiated a formal complaint to 1 and 1 did I get native speakers of English (in a complaints department, who were based in the USA ), and they finally stopped the runaround I had been getting. I'd been told endlessly that no refund was possible, and been told it could only be dealt with by telephone - on a number of theirs that did not even ring. And yes I had letters from collection agencies. Systematic ripoff and runaround.

With a similar company I finally invoiced them for all the communications I had sent them and quoted my rate for each further communication. Suddenly I did not owe them any money any more and got an apology.

 

[carob]

For anyone else at risk of attack by 1 and 1, the problem is that they make it very hard to stop a domain renewing - it is an obscure procedure in a hidden part of the website that refers to ending a contract. If you do not do that, the domains you thought you had cancelled in the visible interface keep renewing and they quote TOS that support that, saying you had to cancel the "contract".

So when you leave or do not renew domains there, I'd suggest you ask them to confirm by email that no domains will renew and that you will not be billed. Otherwise, well, you know what will happen, it always does at 1 and 1.

 

[Paul]

They're applying for BBB accreditation, which made me think that was the way to go. It seems they've done a moderately decent job of responding to BBB complaints in the past. Fortunately, I never got any collection letters, but that's because they were still taking my money.

 

[carob]

They're applying for BBB accreditation, which made me think that was the way to go. It seems they've done a moderately decent job of responding to BBB complaints in the past. Fortunately, I never got any collection letters, but that's because they were still taking my money.

Hi I am not a 1and1 expert, just a responsible non-user, but I have seen people asking how 1&1 got all their BBB complaints erased. So were they a member before and hope to clear the slate by rejoining with a new account?

Seriously, I would not use any service of 1&1 even if they paid me, it always leads to serious aggravation, not worth it.