Quote - I'm currently with 1and1, they're ok but I couldn't really recommend them because the tech help is crap!

Hmm. I never had problems with their tech help. I found the hosting company very reliable actually.  My site was never down and the few times I had to call for help, they were pretty good. Well, with the exception of helping me with the PayPal coding.  They didn't have a clue.

What I didn't like about them was their billing department.  Last year my PayPal account was hacked, so I went and deleted my banking and credit card information from the account.  Then I decided that since the account had been compromised I didn't want to chance using it again so I created another PayPal account. However, a few months earlier I had gotten rid of my credit cards so I didn't have a credit card to add to my PayPal account and therefore I couldn't set up a billing agreement to pay my web hosting via PayPal.

Their only billing options were:  online bank debit, which we don't have in Canada; PayPal which I couldn't use because I no longer had a credit card; Credit Card which I didn't have; and bank wire transfer which has a fee of $30.00.

I wanted to send a money order (free with my bank account) to 1and1's bank, 1and1 told me that wasn't acceptable and that it had to be bank wire transfer. I told them my situation and how they didn't have a payment option that fitted my situation, so they told me to find hosting elsewhere. I cancelled my account the next day.

6 months later I got a call from a collection department demanding that I pay 6 months service because apparently it was a 1 year hosting agreement. I  wrote them back telling them that I had no intention of paying because 1and1 were the ones who told me to go and find another hosting company because they didn't have a payment method that I could use. Never heard from them again.

I still don't have a credit card, but I have discovered Visa gift cards and they work just as well in PayPal so that the funds are withdrawn from my bank account instantly.

I will use 1and1 again in the future if I ever decide to set up another web site though.  They're very cheap and you get a whole lot of bang for your buck when it comes to band width and web space.
 

"It is good to see ourselves as others see us. Try as we may, we are never
able to know ourselves fully as we are, especially the evil side of us.
This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics but will take in good
heart whatever they might have to say." - Ghandi