What Part Of NO Does AOL not UNDERSTAND

[rsmith6621]

Jeeez....

In Sept I decided to load some of the new version Aol 9.0b unto my system just to see what all the recent AOL hype was all about. As you all know you get a month free just for signing up. I was one of those who forgot that they had AOL on their hard drive as I have great DSL service with someone else.....anyhow the end of Novemeber comes along and I am looking at my bank statements and see a double charge for one month as well as a single charge for one month.....something like $66 bucks....I called AOL and brought up the issue that I forgot to cancel the service and accepted responsibility for not doing so......anyhow I mentioned to the AOL agent that I had not used the service for two months and asked for some grace for at least one month plus the month they overbilled me....he was quick in getting me a remedy BUT it involved me allowing them to continue my sevice through their Broadband service for $9.95 month I agreed with the intentions of calling back and cancelling before the next billing period......I did not get that done.

Fast forward.......

Today I called finally because tommorrow is the day that they submit a charge to my CC company and I wanted to avoid that charge....anyhow the agent answerd the call and asked me some security questions and then I told her I needed to cancel the service....I was ask why in which I responded I dont use it and it is a waste for me to spend $$$ on something I dont use. She then said she was starting the cancel process and then started asking me BAIT question and how I could view some of my interest by typing in KEYWORDS and how fast the service is blah blah blah in a since trying to get me to keep the service....then she said she could get me 6 more months for free in which I smartass replied....why not just give it to me for free forever after all AOL is paid mostly by advertisers........she continued to spew her mandated sales pitch in which I finnally told her I just wanted to cancel the account and get it over with.....she continued to spew....I told her that I do the same type of work for a major airline and am aware of the script that has to be read.....but when a customer says NO you dont insult them by continuing to follow the script you wrap things up and get them on their way.........I asked her for my cancel ### she said she was submitting it right then.......I finally got my cancel confirm ## and get this she still had the nerve to tell me about KEYWORDS.......she just doesnt get it.....But I think she was in INDIA to.....Ill be watching my bank statements.

Anyone else have this experience??????

[Hugin]

1. Who ya gonna call?

AOL Busters! That's who.

Yuppers, been there done that... (for several of my friends
too.)

They simply won't take "Take a leap." for an answer.

=)

[Dr.Phool]

2. They are notorious

For not closing the account, and keep billing people.

I had them for a few months back in 1995, and it was a major pain to cancel. I swore I'd never even think about using them again.

[underpants]

8. See post #7

Nightmare

[Zebulon]

13. Re: For not closing the account, and keep billing people.

I can top that. I used to have AOL, back when they were the only game in town. I cancelled as soon as I could sign on with another ISP.

FOUR YEARS after I cancelled my service, they started billing my credit card again. I called them, and they insisted that I had reopened my account.

It was only after they verified that I hadn't logged on for a single second of time that they agreed to reverse the charge.

[Pawel K]

3. AOL is great

ABout 6 years ago I tried the free trial. After my month was up I called them to cancel the service; they said they would give me another free month to see how it works and maybe I would change my mind. At the end of that month I called and they did the same thing; I had free internet for over a year.

[Missy Vixen]

4. Important

Write down the date, the time, exactly what happened during the call, whom you spoke with and what transpired. You will have to produce it later when they continue billing your card.

We have gone through this with both Verizon and AOHell. They make "mistakes" in their favor, then claim that you never cancelled your service.

In the meantime, I'd call the bank and fill out the form to have your money returned, snd ask the bank at the same time to block charges from AOL. Double billing is not okay no matter what.

Julie

[katinmn]

5. yes, they are like leeches that attach

and you can't get rid of them!

[benddem]

6. call your credit card company

and challenge the payment. I've done this a number of times with good results.

[underpants]

7. Oh GOD AOL "long distance" almost ruined me

Several years ago I was broke so I took advantage of the free disk thing. When I called to sign up they offered me two free months if I signed up with their long distance-$9.95 a month and 5 cents a minute. Well that is 5 cents a minute BETWEEN states if you call within your state it was 30 cents a minute or something outrageous like that.

My bank account was slammed with overdraft charges, they kept trying to put it through. The charge itself was like $50.

So I called to try to get rid of it and .....long story short they said I couldn't. Why? Well there was a portion of a month already on the account they couldn't close an open account (money owed on it) so I asked them to stop it and send me a bill--sorry they are paperless. Okay when do I have to call to end it-basically I would have to call at the exact minute on the 15th that one period ended and another began. Several phone calls resulted in no change.

Finally I signed up with another long distance carrier and even they had a hard time getting rid of AOL long distance.

BTW- the name of the AOL long distance company is "The Phone Company"-Yep one of those things were if someone is calling collect and they ask what carrier you want to use and they say "Oh the phone company" (meaning AT&T most likely) these scumbags charge them out the nose.

Seriously it was that screwed up.

I got rid of AOL. We got a new computer not too many months ago it was like pulling teeth to NOT install and use AOL and this was a Hewlett Packard computer.

[beyurslf]

9. I hate that when you buy a computer and it is like

AOL just makes itself install on the computer. You just cant escape it.

[underpants]

11. I had to call MSN help line

The girl on the other end must have been reading from a script because if I had been diligent and adament there were several points where I would have initiated the AOL on my computer.

I never did. It is amazing how difficult it is NOT to put it on a computer-it is IN our computer but we have never used it.

[aden_nak]

10. Specificly, the part where you don't give them money.

That's what calling any company for customer service is, especially if you are trying to cancel an account. It's called cross-selling or push-selling, it's very annoying, and the sad thing is that it works. We actually have knuckle-scraping morons in this country who call up to cancel their account and end up buying an even bigger package because the person on the phone tells them they should.

I usually put up with one full pass of this (because I know that if they don't push-sell, they will get fired, and often the calls are randomly monitored) before telling them that every time a company tries to cross-sell to me, I make it a point to badmouth them to friends, family, and often complete strangers. Another tactic is to try to engage the person on the phone in some inane, stupid shit that has nothing to do with the push-sell. For example, I start yammering about a video game I happen to be playing. I figure if one of us is going to bore the other person with stupid information, it might as well be me.

[Neecy]

12. this is SO true...

why not just give it to me for free forever after all AOL is paid mostly by advertisers

AOL users (I know, I'm one) are absolutely ASSAULTED by advertising: when you open your mailbox, on the welcome screen, when you do ANYthing. They now even have shit that dances across your welcome screen, slowing down the entire process.

I remember back in the early days - around 1990 - AOL users used to sneer at Prodigy users because Prodigy had a small paid banner on the bottom of their pages, and AOL was advertising-free. Now, it's all about the ads, and zero about the user.

[lthuedk]

14. If you're using VISA or other mainline corp,

request a "stop payment" & or a retroactive stop payment. Then, and this is important, file a complaint and request confirmation.

No matter how big or small a company is, they can have their charge capacity removed.

[Jazzgirl]

15. I was helping a friend with a DSL install.

While working on her computer she called to cancel her AO-Hell account. I kept hearing her say "no, I don't want another 6 months free I want a confirmation number." No, I don't want to hear about any other offers, just give me a confirmation number." "What do I have to do to get a confirmation number?" "Don't tell me about any other offers...." This went on for 20 minutes. In between that she started talking to me about how ridiculous it was trying to cancel. I couldn't believe it took that long to cancel. I think they have this long script hoping people will get flustered and just hang up the phone and keep the dayum service!

JG

[OneBlueSky]

16. when I cancelled AOL over a year ago . . .

they kept charging my credit card and presenting new hoops for me to jump through . . . although their website says you can cancel by sending a signed fax, I got a letter back saying that the signed fax wasn't sufficient because the signature wasn't original. . . and that I was, therefore, still an AOL customer . . .

so I sent them a signed letter . . . and they still kept charging my credit card, despite several phone calls . . . I ultimately cancelled the credit card and got a new account with the same company . . . the credit card company also got back four months worth of AOL charges for me! . . . apparently they'd heard this story many, many times . . .

so yesterday I get a postcard from AOL . . . they're "reviewing my account" (you know . . . the one I don't have) and will get back to me . . . if they do, I have a few choice words that I've been rehearsing . . . can't wait to talk to their rep . . . :mad:

[underpants]

17. Hahaha you were supposed to fax them and then go to their headquarters

and sign it in front of them oh but take a notary with you because they might try that one too.

I don't mean to laugh at your plight (see mine above) but that is classic. "The fax does not have an original signature on it" Tooo funny.