Ruined My Life

So, I’m using a new URL to make my rare blog posts at for one main reason.  1and1 Hosting sucks and can DIAF.  To make a long story short, my credit card expired and 1and1 was unable to bill me for my web hosting.  What makes this so crappy is the simple fact that 1and1 never once, attempted to contact me via e-mail, phone, or postal mail that my credit card had expired.  To further worsen this predicament, I have absolutely NO ACCESS to any of the domains I have PAID for and registered in the past.  This includes my baby: ruinedmylife.com as well as a hand full of other domains that I use and have no interest in getting rid of.

So, why is this conundrum not resolved?  Upon 1and1 failing to notify me that my credit card had expired, they turned my account into collections.  My balance with 1and1 was a meager: $49.95, however they decided to turn me over to collections, which added an awesome $18.00 fee, NOT TO MENTION, I’ve been reported to collections.  The bill I’ll pay, no big deal, but I’m not paying collections when I was never notified!   So now, I’m in the interesting position of having my domains hijacked by my prior hosting provider, as well as having a debt in collections.

I contact 1and1’s billing department and am promptly shot down, (e-mail transcript on full view)  so it’s now to continue or not.

I’ve tried to pay 1and1 directly, however they will have none of it and insist on me paying collections first.

So should I continue fighting it or just suck it up and pay?

Dear xxxxxxxxxxxxxx,

Thank you for contacting us.

I am sorry for this inconvenience.  However, we had tried to contact you
numerous times regarding this billing issues.  We had sent a number of
emails to the email address on the account.  We tried to freeze your
account to get your attention.  The issue persisted for long enough to
the point that we had sent the account to NCO the collection agency.
Please resolve the issue with NCO the collection agency and they will
remove you from any list that they have.

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

–
Sincerely,
Michael Quinn
Technical Support
1&1 Internet

> Called NCO, and found out they’ve included a $18.75 collection fee on
top of
> the balance owed.  The problem with this is 1.) I was never notified
of the
> Credit Card’s expiration being expired 2.) I was never notified of
this
> being turned over to collections.  Now instead of paying the Balance
owed to
> your company directly, I am in the hand’s of a collection’s agency
that I
> had no knowledge that I was being turned over to, furthermore now I
run the
> risk of this incident being reported on my credit score.  Paying the
> required balance is not a problem, however being turned into
collections,
> being charged a collection’s fee WITHOUT ever being notified of such
actions
> is a problem.  I sincerely hope we can come to a common ground in
addressing
> this issue.  As stated I received absolutely ZERO notification of any
> problems with the credit card, furthermore I NEVER RECEIVED
correspondence
> in regards to my balance being handed over to Collections.  The
> aforementioned is very sketchy business practices.
>
> As said, I do hope a common ground can reached, however I DO NOT feel
the
> way this has been handled on your end is in anyway fair and proper
business
> ethics.
>
> Regards,
> xxxxxxxxxx
>
> On Mon, Jul 28, 2008 at 1:22 PM, <billing@1and1.com> wrote:
>
> > Dear xxxxxxxxxx
> >
> > Thank you for contacting us.
> >
> > Unfortunately since your account has an overdue balance it has been
> > forwarded to collections. To resolve this matter please call
> > 800-709-8625 and the administrator will transfer the call to the
> > assigned collector. Please mention the following #: xxxxxxxx as it
will
> > reference your account at NCO. The collector will then be able to
take
> > the payment right over the phone, or make payment arrangements.
> >
> > Once full payment is made your account will be unlocked within three
to
> > four business days.
> >
> > We apologize for any inconvenience that we may have caused you.
> >
> >
> > Sincerely
> > Christopher Flagg
> >
> > Billing Department
> > 1&1 Internet Inc.
> >
> > You can also contact us via phone at (877) 300-8316
> > from 9am till 5pm EST Monday to Friday
> >
> > > MailType=Form-Mail
> > > MailTypeFlag=Begin
> > > KundeID=XXXXXXXXX
> > > TopicPath=usbilling;General
> > > MailTypeFlag=End
> > >
> > > text=
> > > Customer ID:xxxxxxxxxxx
> > >
> > > I have updated my billing information and would like to be charged
and
> > have my Account unlocked ASAP.  Thanks in Advance,
> > >
> > > xxxxxxxxxxx
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
>
>
>

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 21st, 2008 at 11:30 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.