I couldn’t find a lot to like about 1&1.

Here are some of the reasons why I ditched them …

• Loyal existing customers can’t benefit from the same offers as new customers
• They took over 9 months to support the .me TLD in their Control Panel tools
• You can’t add TXT DNS records for domains hosted by 1&1 (so you can’t use SPF)
• They don’t renew UK domain names until the very day of the domain expiry
• You can’t register a new domain name with different registrant details
• Their anti-spam service sucks
• Their support people discuss your personal account details with third parties
• My web sites hosted by 1&1 kept suffering unexplained downtime
• They ‘improved’ their Control Panel and removed support for Macs!

I have never known their service status page show anything other then “All systems functional” even when their own web sites are failing with spurious error messages:

Finally, to add insult to injury they rip you off when you leave.

1&1 invoiced me on 12th May for six months of pre-paid hosting service from 10th May to 10th November. I finally moved over all my domains to another provider and sent 1&1 notice of contract cancellation on 3rd June.

I contacted 1&1 and asked when my refund would be processed. Their response was “the charges are non refundable“. I asked them to re-instate my account in that case and was told “We regret to inform you that your account is already terminated to which our system can no longer activate.”

I had been a customer of 1&1 for over 5 years and that’s how they treat me.

Great customer service – thanks 1&1 !