The following is a letter I sent to CEO Oliver Mauss. I am hoping for some action, but an e-mail from the company's "complaints" department suggested much the same as other customers have posted - even using the same language. Following the letter to Mr. Mauss, you will find the "complaints" department's response.
Dear Mr. Mauss:
I am writing to request assistance in resolving a customer billing policy issue with 1&1 Internet.
As background, in February I registered the domain with 1&1 Internet, setting up my account for automatic payments. The first debit occurred in August six months service at $29.99.
In October my debit card expired. Thus, in February 1&1 Internet could not automatically collect payment. I am told that, at that time, an e-mail was generated to inform me that the card expired. I am also told this is the only form of communication 1&1 provided to me prior locking my account after a one-month grace period elapsed.
My account was locked on April 1. I did not access my account after it was locked until April 16, at which point I updated my information. Prior to that time, I had complete access to my account and no indication that there was an issue.
When updating my payment information did not grant me access, I called customer service. I discovered that I was six days late in updating my information. On April 10, my bill had been passed to NCO Financial Systems.
NCO Financial Systems, as you know, is 1&1 Internet's third-party collections agency. I called NCO that day to resolve my account. I was told that I owed $30 along with an $18 service fee.
As someone who works in the financial service industry, I found this charge to be both unfair and beyond standard and customary. As such, I refused to pay the $18 fee. NCO Financial Systems has since reported this to each credit reporting agency.
I believe I have been unfairly treated by 1&1 Internet, based on the company's dysfunctional billing policies. Here are the issues as I see them:
Inadequate attempts to contact customers regarding billing issues. From my research, 1&1 attempted only to contact me via e-mail. I never received a phone call and no alert was placed on my account prior to my credit card expiring or after the automatic payment collection was attempted.
What if, during the 12 months, I had changed my e-mail account?
What about customers who use their new domain and 1&1's web mail service as primary e-mail?
I understand now that 1&1 Internet has created an automatic reminder call to customers, which I have to assume was initiated due to inadequate customer communication prior.
? What prompted this change?
? Could it have been complaints similar to mine?
Penalizing grace periods. I was billed on Feb. 28, and had paid in-full to that date. My card expired, I was given a 30-day grace period to update my account. My account was frozen on April 1. I was given a 10-day grace period to pay for six months service before my account was turned over to collections. This raises a number of questions.
Why was I charged for six months service if I only received 30 days service during the grace period (this would suggest that 1&1 has charged me for services it has not provided)?
Why is the period between locking my account and sending to collections so incredibly short (10 days? According to customer service, 1&1 does not have metrics that suggest how often the average domain owner accesses his or her site what if the average is every two weeks/14 days? Should the frozen grace period be at least 30 days?)?
Poor treatment. I signed with 1&1 Internet in good faith. I chose the automatic payment option to secure my account and focus on building my site. When I was able to determine I needed to update my account, I did so the same day. Discovering that my account had been sent to collections and that I owed an $18 fee felt punishing. My allegiance to 1&1 was instantly severed and my view of the company turned 180 degrees. I have never felt so failed by a service provider of any kind in my business career.
I have asked several times for 1&1 customer service to assist me and to address my concerns with 1&1's billing policies, but cannot reach any resolution, as this account has been sent to NCO - which is why I am now reaching out to you.
Mr. Mauss, I am not clear what you can do to help me remedy this issue. What amounts to $5 worth of Internet service has, to this day, cost me:
$25 for Internet service I wasn't provided
$18 to, in good faith, pay that combined $30
Both time and energy
And damage to my credit score.
Perhaps, if you understand my frustration, you can reach out to your contacts at NCO Financial and request that they remove the mark from my credit report. Maybe you could agree to charge me $5 for the one-month of service I was provided, which I am happy to pay.
All I ask is that you please do something.
Sincerely,
Thomas T
The e-mail response I received from the "complaints" department:
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,
John Keefer
Tom
Lakewood, Ohio
U.S.A.
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