ComplainerMan

My Joomla forms stopped working one day a couple of weeks ago on one of my websites. The way I found out was when I checked my Google Analytics and saw a lot of hits on the contact form page, but no contact emails. Sure enough, both the standard Joomla contact form and DFContact were erroring out for no apparent reason. Of course 1 & 1 does not provide error logs for it’s shared hosting customers, but I had a pretty good idea what the cause of the problem was. Undoubtedly 1 & 1 had implemented a new email security measure without telling anyone.

Now if  you are a 1 & 1 shared hosting customer, you know how utterly useless calling their customer support is, unless you like talking to a rude american high school dropout or to someone reading off a card in a Filipino sweatshop. So I did the only sensible thing. Moved the site to another web host. Guess what? Forms are working perfectly!

Trying to find a way to reach Yahoo Web Hosing.. I mean Web Hosting customer support? Here’s how I did it. First of all, forget about searching for the information on the Yahoo site. It’s not there. I went to http://helpme.att.net, since I have DSL through ATT, but it used to be SBC/Yahoo. Next, I chose the “email us” option.

The “email us” page informed me, that in order to provide better customer service, they had discontinued their email support service. Corporate double-think at it’s finest. I could, however find my answer by going to the useless help section that I had just come from, or chat with a support person.

My support chat session started immediately, and the support person was very polite, considering I was contacting the wrong business division. She even apologized for that fact that I had been though a lot trying to find out how to contact Yahoo Web Hosting customer support. I got the impression that this was not an unusual request for her.

And, drumroll please… here is the number 866 722-9932. I have been on hold for a 1/2 hour and am still waiting because “all agents are busy helping other customers..” I hope that is true. It would be a shame to have gone through all this not to be helped. But I wouldn’t be surprised.

I’ve used 1&1 Internet hosting for about 5 years, but have been steadily moving my sites to another host for the past year or so. If you are thinking of using 1&1 Internet for your hosting needs, please consider these factors before signing up:

1. There are two layers of technical support. Layer 1 is an offshore call center. The support personnel may be able to understand you if you keep it simple. They will be able to look things up for you on the computer, and put you on hold while they ask someone else for an answer to your question. Layer two are the actual technicians who can perform operation on your site, or give you advice that will help you. You will never be able to communicate with them. Layer one will submit a ticket to them, and they will hopefully address your problem within 48 hours. It took over a month for me to resolve one problem, so don’t hold your breath.
2. Everything is so sloooowwww. To determine how long an operation will take, think of how long it takes on another web hosting company, be it a domain transfer, a database creation on your account, or someone responding to you appropriately, and multiply by 10. If you like waiting, 1&1 Internet is for you!
3. If you actually are able to cancel a service that is set up with recurring charges to your credit card, you will have paid a dear price in blood, sweat and tears. They make it impossible to cancel anything, and if you finally figure out which hoops to jump through, you deserve an honorary degree.

1&1 Internet. Just don’t do it. Please.