1and1 customer service is next to nothing

Here is why I don't recommend 1and1 hosting to you my friends. Their customer service is not good at all. Here is the latest story.

Recently one of my web sites received 50% traffic surge. The site has a decent number of regular visitors as well as thousands of new IPs coming each week. With more and more new people using my site, I decided to check what kind of backup 1and1 offers me for my dedicated server. I turned out they don't. A good thing is that they still give you some space on one of their FTP servers.

The problem is that all FTP ports or protocols are completely locked when you buy a server solution from 1and1.

Knowing from past experience that 1and1 customer service is below average, I decided to research the problem myself. I found a few manuals on my server and knowledgebase articles on the 1and1 website. All of them say that you should adjust the packet filter settings in the Windows IP security policy. Following the pictures in the manual, I ran the IP utility provided with the server, and checked the settings. It looked like both incoming and outgoing FTP services were open. So I decided to dive into the dark waters of customer service calls.

I logged into the 1and1 web site and placed a ticket. Below is an email thread between me and Eric Gunby from 1and1. (server names and login info removed from this blog)

Me:

Hi,
I have two problems.

1. I need to be able to access the pop3/smtp servers at pop.1and1.com and smtp.1and1.com from my dedicated server. Currently, all mail ports seems to be blocked. Please unblock them.

2. I am having really hard time setting up FTP backup. The FTP protocol or port is blocked from the server completely.
I can't get to any FTP server from it, even the server I have been assigned to use: backupXXX.onlinehome-server.com. Please unblock the FTP port for my dedicated server as soon as possible.
Thanks
Vlad.

Eric (next emails will have Eric's signature removed to highlight the actual information):

Thank you for contacting us.
We do not have anything set up to block your ports. De-activate your windows firewall and if that resolves your issues then you'll need to modify your ipsec. You can find information on that here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb726946.aspx
If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
Eric Gunby

Me:

Hello Eric - thanks for your reply.
You are saying that nothing is blocking the ports - but I can recall that I had to contact the customer service to enable outgoing port 80 so I can use the browser.
Anyway - this time your suggestion did not work - I turned off the Windows Firewall service, but the Email and FTP are still not working. Any other ideas?

Eric:

Server port block was set up initially when a system goes on line. Once you call and have us remove it then we have no port blocks active. Did you use the information to configure ipsec to make sure that that doesn't have something blocking or disabling ports?

Me:

I have no idea what ipsec is... sorry.
I just need my FTP client working on my server so I can do backups.
Can you help me?

Eric: (That's where I started getting frustrated of the mentor tone if this young gentleman. I highlighted some sentences below)

Unfortunately, we can not offer troubleshooting support for software specific issues such as this. Our dedicated servers are leased to customers with the responsibility of administrating the machine falling solely on the customer themselves. 1&1 does not manage nor have access to your dedicated server, unless explicit permission has been given and the administrative password has been provided, usually only for verification of a hardware related issue. While 1&1 provides various software initially included in your package for use with your hardware, our company does not specialize in software development and is not in a position to offer support for any software. If I may suggest, a good resource for reference would be http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb742429.aspx.
Me:

Maybe I haven't properly described the problem..

I am supposed to back up the server myself, as manual says. The link to the backup server was given to me by 1and1 - it's
ftp://backupXXX.onlinehome-server.com.

The FTP username is XXX, the FTP password is xxxx (I created it in the 1and1 web control panel)

I cannot reach this server via Windows Explorer or Internet Explorer - I'm getting a connection error.
Again - this is not some 3rd party software support I'm asking for - all I need is to help me reach the 1and1 backup location. That's all.

My Dedicated server IP is xx.xx.xx.xx
user: xxx
password: xxxx

Should I escalate the issue?
Should I cancel the package completely?
Should I pay separately for support? Name the price.

Please advise.

Eric:

I was able to connect using FileZilla. You will have to be remoted in to the machine and running FTP from the server itself to connect. If you're trying to connect to FTP Backup off the 1&1 Network it will not work.

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That ended the story. The next day I got a notification from 1and1 that the ticket has been successfully closed. But the problem has not been resolved!

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So, in a few words - why 1and1 customer support is a horrible waste of time? Here is why -

- 1and1 engineers do not read customer questions:
Mind that I specifically mentioned that FTP does not work from my server in the original ticket. Yet Eric in his last email says that some Filezilla (what the f#ck is that?) works from his desktop, and essentially suggests me to try it from my production server.
In the initial ticket I am also saying that FTP protocol may be blocked (which was the actual problem) and Eric did not even mentioned that in his response. Sloppy job Eric.

- 1and1 engineers do not know squat about products they are supporting:
Notice that Eric suggested me to disable Windows firewall which naturally did not produce any effect, because it is not the same thing as the Windows IP security policy. He never suggested turning off the IP security policy which would fix the problem right away. Again, sloppy job.

- 1and1 engineers treat their customers as lame dickheads who happen not to be network engineers, therefore are not worth talking to:
I asked what 'ipsec' is and received a response that essentially I should not be allowed to use dedicated server due to my lacking of knowledge what 'ipsec' is. Hi Eric, I'm talking to you - I'm a 40 year old software developer with over 22 years of experience, and I don't want to be a network engineer.

- 1and1 engineers close the ticket without resolving the problem:
Next day, I got an email from 1and1 asking to provide feedback. I did. Polite but negative, of course.

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Resume: my next dedicated server will NEVER BE HOSTED by 1and1.

Eric: you have been correct in one thing. The customers that buy dedicated servers from 1and1 are professionals. So... don't mentor your customers. This is impolite. Listen and read what your customers ask for. You realize that Google will pick up this article and keep it for a long time in its cache. Don't worry if your future job application may get rejected because someone has googled this up.

Thanks for reading.