I advise people to check out web hosts and domain registers very carefully before committing. I have come to the conclusion that I made the dreadful error of choosing a company because it had a 5 page ad in a popular computer magazine. I believe I have put my trust in a straw man. In my opinion 1and1, with CEO Oliver Mauss, is a horrible company and many customers have voiced a host of complaints on various blogs. It should be a warning that when their phone is answered by a recording that tells you if you have gotten a notice from NCO, a collection agency, to press a certain number. If they are a reputable business, why do they have to send so many accounts to a collection agency? Patrick Frey (Patterico) of the Los Angeles District Attorneys Office alleges his domain was high jacked and put up for auction on SEDO. SEDO is an associate company of 1and1. Patterico: "I believe I'm facing massive incompetence, thievery, or very possibly a deliberate combination of the two. It feels like evil intent — but not for political reasons. It feels like cyber extortion — people going after the almighty dollar. Commenter's have pointed out corporate ties between 1&1, which can't seem to process my timely renewal, and Sedo/Domcollect, which stood to profit from 1&1's failure. Usually, corporate incompetence does not earn the corporation money — but 1&1 and its related companies have found a way to make money off of their own slipshod procedures." Patterico was able to regain his domain. Also Investigative journalist, Kelli Jack, has written 30 articles about this company and has a suit pending against them. Kelli alleges that 1and1 stole her domain name and sold it. Kelli states: "1and1 should be shut down." As of today Kelli is working with the Pennsylvania Attorney General. I have filed complaints with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Federal Trade Commission, Eastern Pennsylvania Better Business Bureau, ICANN, and others. I recommend everyone else having a problem consider doing the same.

The Washington DC, Pennsylvania Better Business Bureau has given 1and1 their lowest rating: "F." Read comments on the BBB why. Read some customer comments on Red Flag. Don't bother trying to access my 2 URL: warthpublishinginc.com, Migraine-Abort.com They are gone with my money and hundreds of domains I had at 1and1.

I have been using 1and1 for some time, about 5 years and for a majority of the time with them i have had very little issues. HOWEVER the last 12 months have become a nightmare.
The last straw was their "new and improved control panel" which was introduced in the last few weeks. I have been unable to transfer any domains on my account as it produces a "500 page error" i have emailed every one I can and I am always replied to 2 or 3 days (and several emails) later. with the "im sorry but it is now fixed" message. EVERY time i get this email I try and it still does not work.

Their support is laughable, i had a cloud server with them which WAS working reasonably well for some time, then it started to dissapear from the internet and streaming or large file use was impossible as the TTL was VERY poor. I upgraded the cloud to more RAM and Cores, and it never came back up. Not wanting to loose my configuration I called support, It took them 5 DAYS to rectify the issue of which by that time I had to move my clients to another server (Another hosting company) and refund my clients for their outage. I was NEVER given a refund for my problems, it was incurred that the server was "badly programmed" by me which was the reaosn for the problem.!!
I have in my latest domain transfer issue emailed 28 times (i refuse to call a 0845 at 1&1 because I would rather speak to a person that is able to log my fault and with email I gwet proff of their incompetance)

For the love of god NEVER use 1and1 or ANY of their services. You would be better of having a print out of your website and wave it around the streets than to hope their systems could promote your bisuness using their servers !!.

BTW, i would have given them a Zero in the star rating but would only allow me a 1 as minimum !!


Email extracts available on request

Gavin

I purchased 2 new .co domains as soon as they were available bolt.co and manga.co I'm hoping these may be worth some money however I had a registration error. After emailing support I find out many people are having this problem, I do not know if my domains are secured. Never again will I buy domains from them. Do yourself a favor, stick with godaddy.