I have read with great interest the comments about 1&1 and their cancellation policy, automatic renewals without notification and their use of a debt collection agency to enforce their policies.
I myself have had problems with 1&1. In July, they automatically renewed my domains without any notification and in 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 my 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 If the email is sent to the email address on WHOIS, and that address is no longer valid, the Registrars may little other chance of contacting you.”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...n/questions.htmIn 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 the aforementioned company)
Hope this information is of some assistance.
Regards,
Jason
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Brandon C, on Jun 6 2006, 04:37 PM, said:
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