1&1 internet domain overcharging/mis-sold package?

mica2

Hi, I've only just noticed that my domain provider 1&1 have been deducting bills from my Paypal every couple of months for random amounts. I used to only pay a yearly bill of around £30 but have just been receiving invoices of around £19 and then others of up to £50. I'm really confused and it looks like they are charging me for an added service I never agreed to. I wondered if anyone else has had bad experience with them? I did a quick google search and have seen they've scammed a lot of people like this and i could only find one post on this site about them: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/54391949#Comment_54391949 and also I found this: http://community.screwfix.com/threads/1-and-1-hosting-beware.181935/
Their website is very confusing so I don't know if I have signed up for something by mistake?

Whwn I spoke to their call centre they just spouted loads of technical jargon about the php system changed and I had to pay for the new service and then the phone cut off. Since the beginning of this year alone I have already paid £146.45!! !!!!!!!! Should I act quick and transfer my domain and cancel the DD before they take anymore money? I'm scared after reading a lot of really negative reviews that they're con artists and will con me out of more money. I'm feeling really anxious about it and don't know what to do.

spenderdave

Do you get email notification prior to each amount being taken? I have never had any issues with 1&1 and get six monthly invoices/payment for the hosting and domains and occasionally extra ones for domains which come up for renewal between the six month periods. Charged in my case to my credit card.

A couple of years they gave me notice that they were increasing my hosting rate because of new features - having reviewed what they were adding I decided I had no use of those things and - after a few emails - kept me on the existing rate.

I agree though that their new website and control panel is confusing.

waamo

This is a duplicate thread.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5695724

mica2

Thanks for the reply, apologies for the cross posting, I didn't know where best to post and wasn't getting any responses.
I have received emails of the payment notifications but as I was used to only being billed once a year I never look at their emails. i've been a customer over 10 years so this has come as a surprise. I cancelled a another domain I had with them 2 years ago but didn't realise they had decided to renew it and so have been paying for that too. I've also been billed for a thing called php 5.4 support which I never paid for before.
I'm sure there are a lot of people satisfied with them, I was one until now! But there appears to be a lot of unhappy customers being charged to services they were unaware of. I'm going to contact the consumer ombudsman if I don't get a response from 1and1.

paco8723

Your being totally ripped off I can assure you !! £146.45 for this year alone OMG !
If it helps I run over 12 domains for small sole traders which I have a multi package through vidahost who I would highly recommend.
Their live support is second to none and price wise for a single website you would pay around £50 per year but it really is worth it.

They even helped me transfer the content from a godaddy domain over to them all through live chat.

PS I have no affiliation with them lol... hope this helps

wymondham

move to godaddy, best for this stuff....

mica2

paco8723 wrote: »

Your being totally ripped off I can assure you !! £146.45 for this year alone OMG !
If it helps I run over 12 domains for small sole traders which I have a multi package through vidahost who I would highly recommend.
Their live support is second to none and price wise for a single website you would pay around £50 per year but it really is worth it.

They even helped me transfer the content from a godaddy domain over to them all through live chat.

PS I have no affiliation with them lol... hope this helps

Thanks for the recommendation I asked a few mates and have decided to try 123, I switched to godaddy briefly a couple years ago but didn't like their service and were more pricey at the time. Now I just feel a bit stuck. It's a waste of time calling 1and1 as I keep getting cut off and no one gives me a straight answer. I went on twitter to complain and straight away got a response to message them but have yet to get a reply. I transferred my domain to 123 becasue I freaked out and now my site doesn't work as I forgot I also have to switch over the hosting site? or have I got that wrong?! Should my site be down? I don't know whether I should pay for hosting through 123-reg now or wait until I hear back from 1and1. I'm just concerned as now is a busy time for traffic to my site and I'm worried I'll lose customers When i checked my account it says they automatically renewed my package in April for a further 2 years! So will I be in trouble if I close it all down? I contacted them admitting that I should have checked my emails but I've always trusted that things were fine as I've been using them for years with nothing changing. I also found my confirmation email from 2 years ago telling me I'd successfully cancelled one of my domains of which they have renewed without telling me and I've been paying for. i just want to cut ties with them and go straight to another company, I'm not even bothered to fight for my money back as I'd rather not have any stress.

fishybusiness

I have a multi package through vidahost who I would highly recommend

They are gradually going down the pan too!

I've recently migrated away from them due to numerous issues that didn't used to happen.

WolfSong2000

fishybusiness wrote: »

They are gradually going down the pan too!

I've recently migrated away from them due to numerous issues that didn't used to happen.

I agree. I used them and for a while they were fantastic, but then started running into issues so have switched to HiHosting after seeing them recommended. Touch wood I can't fault them. Any email queries I send them are usually responded to within hours, even if I email them after working hours which has been a pleasant surprise.

I'm not remotely tech savvy and to date have just used VidaHost and HiHosting, not any of the other big names. Both have good support.

Cirias

Are you using 1&1's website building tools? You could pay more like £6 a month for business hosting with another company and design the website using Wordpress yourself or use a semi-pro WP developer to create it for you for a few hundred quid.