bens

Hi Guys,

Sorry if i'm a bit late on this one.

I actually started reading this thread last year so when i cancelled my account in december 2008, i made a point of contacting the 1and1 billing department to makesure everything was cancelled. The lady on the phone assured me that there was nothing to pay on the account and so i asked her to confirm this to me in an email. Later that day (19/12/09) i recieved a email which said...

"Dear Ben S~~~~~~, (Cust: ~~~~~~56)

Thank you for your call.

PAYMENT FOR INVOICES -----------------------------------------------
If an invoice has been raised for domain names before you terminate it
will need to be settled even if you no longer require the domains. No
refund will be raised for domain names as they have automatically been
renewed under your name as they were still active at the time the
invoice is raised. Any unused hosting charges will be refunded but a
charge will stand from the date the invoice is raised until the date of
termination."
Not quite the response i was looking for but i had been through the cancellation process and was no longer able to log in to my account so case closed?

No!

I've now also recieved the dreaded Arvato Finance Letter this morning requesting a payment of £78.38 including a £15 late payment charge.

The first thing i did was to ring Arvato and told them that i had cancelled my account and had all the emails i needed to prove this. The lady said i would need to take this up with 1and1.

I then phoned 1and1 billing department and after a 5 mins on hold a lady picked up, told me the billing system was down and to ring back in a couple of hours and before i could get a word in she hung up. Charming!

I then rang again a few minuets later and held for the switch board. I asked to be put through to billing. The man asked for my account number and i spent a few minutes explaning my situation. After telling him all this he told me that the system was still down and there was nothing he could do.

I then called back Arvato and spoke to the same lady. I asked her who actually owned the 'debt' and she said it was 1and1 - Arvato were working on their behalf. I told her that 1and1 could not help at the moment which she logged on my record.

This is where the story ends for now. I'm going to write an email to 1and1 asking them to call me when there system is fixed. I'm going to ask them for proof that they have an outstanding debt on my account and details on the instructions given to Arvato.

I'll update you all with the outcome.