Following a rather bad experience from a company called 1&1 Internet (www.1and1.co.uk), I would like warn every one of the potential pitfalls hidden inside their terms and conditions.
Hidden inside the terms and conditions are clauses which allow 1&1 to automatically renew the domains/services and charge your credit card without notifying you prior to renewal, and once renewed, monies are non refundable.
This means some people find themselves locked into an unwanted contract extension, who should a reminder had been issued prior to renewal, would have cancelled.
1&1 will also renew the contract even if the card they are holding on file has expired, and will then send you a postal letter demanding you update the card details AFTER they have renewed your services. Failure to do so will result in them instructing a debt collection agency called BFS Finance to pursue you to recover the amount in question, which will then be subject to a £15 penalty in addition to the monies they say you owe. Those who have fallen into this trap will then have to face being passed from department to department, not being able to speak to management regarding the issue because 'it is not company policy' and basically being thrown on the consumer scrap heap by 1&1 who will usually recite 'we can not help you as your account has been frozen and escalated to BFS'
My problems with 1&1 began earlier this year when, in July, they automatically renewed my domains without any notification and in their full knowledge my card which they were holding on file had expired 6 months previously.
The first contact I had with 1&1 was a letter demanding the payment of £15.12, which was surprising, as I had had no previous contact with them. The letter also threatened to refer me to a debt collection agency which would incur a further £15.00 penalty.
When I asked why I had not been sent a notification Email prior to the expiration of the domains I was told this was 'not their policy to do so.'
I thought this rather unfair, as by not doing so, they were effectively trapping customers into a further extension of contract who, should a reminder had been sent to, may have cancelled.
This raised an interesting point as 1&1 are ICANN accredited and under the terms of the accreditation agreement, the registrar (1&1) must send an expiry notification Email to the domain name holder prior to the domain expiring. This is stated in the rules clearly laid down by ICANN.
Below is an extract from the ICANN ombudsman's FAQ page:
"Are registrars required to give renewal notices to domain name holders before the expiry of a domain name?"
"Under ICANN's Registrar Accreditation Agreement domain name holders have to be sent an email notice prior to a domain expiring. The email address will be the one you list on WHOIS, so it is important for you to keep it up to
date. If the email is sent to the email address on WHOIS, and that address is no longer valid, the Registrars may little other chance of contacting you."
You can view the original text from the ICANN ombudsman's website here:
http://www.icann.org/ombudsman/questions.htm
In addition to the above, 1&1 is also in breach of ICANN accreditation agreement by renewing the contract without assurances of payment for the services being renewed.
"3.7.4 Registrar shall not activate any Registered Name unless and until it is satisfied that it has received a reasonable assurance of payment of its registration fee. For this purpose, a charge to a credit card, general
commercial terms extended to creditworthy customers, or other mechanism providing a similar level of assurance of payment shall be sufficient, provided that the obligation to pay becomes final and non-revocable by the Registered Name Holder upon activation of the registration."
The fact that 1&1 renewed my domains in full knowledge that the card had expired 6 months previously has contravened the above accreditation clause.
"3.7.5 Registrar shall register Registered Names to Registered Name Holders only for fixed periods. At the conclusion of the registration period, failure by or on behalf of the Registered Name Holder to pay a renewal fee within the time specified in a second notice or reminder shall, in the absence of extenuating circumstances, result in cancellation of the registration. In the event that ICANN adopts a specification or policy concerning procedures for handling expiration of registrations, Registrar shall abide by that specification or policy."
It may be argued that automatic renewals without prior notification are not fixed term contracts, but are an indefinite contract. Indefinite contracts are non-compliant with ICANN regulation 3.7.5.
The above demonstrates how 1&1 are not fully complying with the industry best practice as set out by ICANN and in not doing so, are gaining at the customers detriment and to the disadvantage of other companies who fully abide by ICANNs rules.
I have discovered 2 websites that are worth looking at:
www.wasitfree.com (self help group regarding issues raised here)
www.bankraid.com (scrutinizing the business conducts of 1&1)
My advice is to think seriously and carefully before dealing with 1&1 Internet. Read their terms and conditions thoroughly and if you are unhappy with or do not understand any clause in the agreement, do not register as 1&1 will hold you to every clause within that agreement if it is their interest to do so!
Remember, the cheapest is not necessarily the best!
Regards, Jason

Any news on what happened, elvis1664?

I'm in a similar position. I cancelled my domain name agreement with 1&1 in December as one of my domains was coming up for renewal in January. I went through the whole process successfully (clicking one link after another to confirm) but received a letter this morning threatening legal action if I didn't pay £10.56 for my .biz domain.

I no longer want the domain and surely cancelling my agreement would have been sufficient. I don't want to renew but I also don't want to get into legal silliness over the small matter of £10. I'll be interested to see how things turned out for you.

Cheers.

I suggest an agressive approach, I've been with this company for 5 - 6 years and have notice aq rapid decline over the past 18 months. The customer service is non-existant quite often from people who don't fully speak or understand English. I pay a lot for this service and expect very little in return, I've had to pay by paypal over the past 2 years because they wont accept payment from a card which is registered outside the UK (very 21st century) the credit collection agency will accept anything though (especially if you're going to pay the extra £15). Even after you've paid they say 24-48 hours to restore your service. I'm paying afound £150 per year for the service they don't provide, I can get the same shoddy service for around £30 a year elsewhere.

My point is that 5 years ago they were excellent, I have reccomended them many times. Now they're the money grabbing bottom feeders employing under qualified and frankly, bordering on retarded support staff. I've paid this last bill purely to be able to transfer my domains elswhere. This is an overpriced, under-supported service that needs to re-examine it's position in todays market.