America Online, AOL Charged me for 6 mos. for account I never had; sent me payment due letters and had collection bureau call me. ripoff Internet

I have been receiving letters from AOL for payment past due on an account I never started! I have been using a broadband connection for years and have not had an AOL account for nearly 10 years! A collection agency called me at home this morning for payment to AOL. I called AOL billing @ 1-800-827-6364 and was told my account number and screename.

The AOL person spoke English poorly and was rude and very impatient. She asked for my pet's name as a security question and it did not jive with what they had in their records. Also, I have never used that screename that AOL says I signed up for.

I was then told to call AOL Fraud Dept @ 1-800-307-7969 and had to wait about 15 mins. to talk to a human being. This person was very reasonable and placed a fraud claim on my account which I was told would zero out the balance owed, stop all letters and collection agency inquiries, and not affect my credit ratings.

I don't know how this could have happened in the first place. The AOL account I had several years ago was for a different address and telephone number; now AOL has my current address and phone number. Go figure! Hopefully this matter is closed but since all the horror stories I've heard about AOL, I'm still worried.

Gil
Oceanside, California
U.S.A.