[fatslug]

Here's my 1&1 love story... Many moons ago 1&1 won web host of the year award in PC Magazine. Needing a host, and not having any better advice to go on, I decided to give 1&1 a shot. So I registered my one little website and everything was fine and dandy - until I came to try and cancel the account. This is when things went bad. I followed the cancellation instructions, which was my first taste of 1&1 crap pie, because I had to not only complete the control panel cancellation procedure, but then print-out the cancellation page, sign it, and fax it back to them within 14 days, or the account would remain active. Being a basic PC user, I didn't have a printer and I definitely didn't have a fax machine/line. So this involved burning the cancellation pdf to CD, taking it to a photo developers in town, paying to get a hard copy, then paying again to get it faxed. To make a long story short, 1&1 apparently didn't receive my fax and left the account open, but decided not to tell me, just to bill me on the next due date. So I went through the process again, and spend 2 hours on hold at various departments until I could get verbal confirmation that someone had my fax in their hands. Racking-up about £12 in mobile phone charges.

How I wish I'd learnt my lesson that first time. But for some unknown reason, when my neighbour said she needed a website to advertise her B+B business, and I volunteered to make the site, I decided to use 1&1 again. It had been years since the first debarkle, so I guess I hoped they had fixed their system by now.

Again, everything was fine until it was cancellation time. I followed the online cancellation instruction and, joy of joys it said I didn't need to print and fax anything this time. Their new system just required me to cancel at control panel, wait a few days for a confirmation email, and click the button to complete the process. Fine I thought, they've made it easy. So, being a normal human being I put it out of my mind, knowing I'd get an email soon reminding me. But the email never arrived, and I was only reminded the account was still active, when I got billed again months later. I cancelled again, but this time remembered to check my emails every day for the cancellation confirmation message. But again it didn't arrive. I looked into the 1&1 help small print and discovered that by email, they actually meant they'd send a message to my 1&1 control panel messages tab, which wasn't an email account at all, and seem to be there for the soul purpose of creating exactly this confusion at cancellation time.

By now the second cancellation request had expired, so I had to initiate the process a third time. I immediately checked my 1&1 control panel messages for the confirmation, but nothing arrived. Apparently the confirmation would arrive within 2 days, and they sure as hell weren't going to make it easy by sending the confirmation message immediately. So, I had to wait 2 more days, remember to log back in before the cancellation expiration date, and then finally open my first and only ever 1&1 'email' message, and click that glorious beautiful confirmation button.

I can hardly express the relief I felt as I finally severed the last link between me and 1&1. I hate them and their money-grabbing approach so much, that I signed up to this site specifically to warn other innocent wide-eyed web users... do not ever ever EVER even think about using 1&1. They will eat your soul and charge you for the toilet paper. Run far away, and find a nice host... Google and websites like this one will help you.