Rant follows...

Does anyone else think this is a little too aggressive/strongly worded letter for notifying me my credit card expired and I forgot to update my details?



Bearing in mind they only take payment from me every two years and their system could see that the stored card expired in Feb '08, it seems a bit OTT to send this as their first notification. Wouldn't an email saying there's been a problem with your payment been a better place to start.

I've cleared the £7 I owed (yes, that's really all this was about), and I'm now thinking about telling 1&1 to get stuffed. There's plenty of competition out there and I don't really appreciate being threatened for making a simple mistake. 13 days from the letter date (considering the date on the letter was 4 days before it arrived, so 9 in reality) isn't long at all, so if I happened to be on holiday when this arrived I'd get charged >£15 extra.
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I'd tell them to go stick it, and let them no you will be spreading the word that they are a-holes to deal with
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As you probably know, classicamiga.com is hosted on a dedicated 1and1 server.

When my credit card expired last year I did get a letter, but it wasn't like the one you have just received. About a month before the card expired I received an email from them saying it was due to expire, but after reading it I deleted it and then completely forgot about it, as we all tend to do. The next I knew was when they tried to take the following month's server costs out of the credit card and it had expired. I received a letter from them stating that my current form of payment had not gone through and that I needed to log into my account to update my payment methods. No mention of charges or legal action. Could this be because I'm a business customer paying for one of the high end dedicated servers?

Since this, to prevent me from forgetting to update my records again I've now changed my 1and1 payment method to Paypal and have linked my paypal payment method to my bank account. So each month 1and1 take the server costs from my paypal account, so any donations instantly help pay for the running costs, and then any remaining money needed is taken directly from my bank account (normally around £40 a month).
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Ironically enough I had a similar message, but since the service was a two year prepaid I am under no legal obligation to continue as cease of payment is cease of contract. so in the nicest way they can go **** themselves for the £7

There was some issues trying to get my details from the account and I wanted to move the domain over to another company but this they held back. for what apears no apparent reason.

Anyway... I registerd the company name Microlynn with them in 2004 for a two year period, the project ran its course about 18months later and expired, and as does ones credit card got renewed in 2006... because i couldnt log into the account pannel, long lost password and email had changed from the proprietary isp email retreaving ones details was proving to difficult for a defunct project. so i let it ran its course.

so now we jump to last wednesday and completely out of the blue i get a letter from Arvato Services demanding £4.68 + £5.00 for late payment.

well since my services were redundant over two years ago, they can absolutely whistle this absolute bullshit charge.... infact i may call them tomorrow and have some fun at thier expence
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It might just be a standard letter that you goty Alex. If you think it was too harsh (which for £7 is seems to be), you could always write to them saying that you didn't like it, and that you might not have been able to pay should you have been on holiday etc.

Speaking of cards expiring, my debit card will expire at the end of this year and my domain will expire next year so I will have to remember to update my details when I get my new card.

BTW, since when have 1&1 accepted PayPal? I'm sure it wasn't an option last year when I tried to register my domain with them and couldn't due to them not accepting my debit card.
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Whilst the letter does seem harsh it also did what it intended which was make you pay. And whilst for them to threaten debt recovery after 14 days of non payment is extreme it's aldo standard business practise. TBH if it's a case of your credit card expiring then if you had been charged the £15.00 once you spoke to them then they would have gotten rid of the fee as it's wasn't your fault. All in all the letter whilst being aggressive is also fairly industry standard i'm afraid.
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Actually, thinking about it I paid for the first two years on the day I signed up, and every 2 years after so I'm paying two years in advance right. In which case I didn't owe 1&1 at all (as the letter implies, but doesn't actually mention).
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@AlexJ

I'd say it is well out of order and tell them to get stuffed.
I have been in the same position as yourself with another company and certainly didn't receive a letter like that.

Despite what others here say, it's not industry standard.
It's standard to get a reminder or a request for updated payment details before sending threatening letters.
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But it looks like I've now paid for another two years so I'm stuck with them.

It wasn't the standard attitude, for example my 'phone company (who has Continuous Payment Authority from my Mastercard similar to 1&1) sent an email just before the card's expiry date and then another when they were unable to take payment. Both to the point but fairly polite.
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