I´ve been trying to register a domain name thats part of a series and for some reason when I go in and enter it in the 1and1 control panel it just comes up that the domain is not available. I´ve checked the various whois databases and it is available and has been for the last three months that I´ve been trying. I´ve also gone to a few other registrar´s sites and they are quite happy to let me register it but since 1and1´s firewall blocks mysql traffic then I can´t host anywhere else.
I tried playing around with the domain name and using different combinations, missing letters out and such, and finally determined that the control panel won´t let me register anything with "porsche" in it. Strange. I´ve also tried it in a number of contracts and accounts but can´t get it to work. So onto the next stage, contact technical support. The general phone line is useless as it seems to be one of those Asian based call centers where the staff don´t actually seeem to know whats going on. The premium support line is better but they refuse to admit that there is a problem! Emailing them just causes the same kind of replies but in an easy to read text form.
I´m gonna harrass tech support again to keep me occupied for a bit then gloomily sit here all afternoon thinking up complecated dns senarios to get around someone elses problem.
Every time I’ve contacted 1and1 on their help line they send me an email asking whether or not I got my questions answered. What’s interesting about this is that they’ve never actually answered one of my queries yet!