My review of 1and1 services:
I registered a domain recently through 1&1 online. The process was quick and easy and was delivered relatively quickly. A few days later I received a call from a sales rep. The rep seemed knowledgeable and well-spoken. I explained, in detail, my needs, including two must-haves. He convinced me that the 1&1 Online Store would meet my needs.
I tried to set up the online store through the 1&1 store to my specifications. The editor was clunky and extremely limited with a weak and convoluted user interface - I've seen worse, but not since 2008. This would have been more than acceptable if it was able to deliver at least one of my two must-haves.
The cumbersome control panel with disparate systems, it's weak instruction manuals, and limited online Help section were all equally unhelpful, so I decided to call their 24-7-365 support line. After being on hold for about 20 minutes, the customer support person quickly decided that she was unable to help and transferred me to an "eCommerce Specialist." Another five minutes on hold and two minutes re-explaining my two must-haves, the Specialist said 1&1 was unable to deliver and that the rep I spoke with had deceived me (perhaps unintentionally, but I was very clear with him). I asked to cancel my contract and the Specialist said he'd need to transfer me to a third person. Thirty seconds later I was hung up on.
As I'm writing this, I'm on hold after calling back. We'll see how it goes.
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Update: I was able to cancel without too much (more) trouble, but still feel the entire experience was an unfortunate waste of time. One gets what one pays for.
