AOL ripoff never cancelled the account Aol Internet

I was always leary about AOL ISP from the beginning. I have seen many instances where they are misleading in their advertising. It wasn't until my brother signed up for their services that I started to find out more about their ways of doing business. As many reports on here are about the problems with AOL making unauthorized withdrawals from checking accounts after cancellation, the same happened to my brother. He had to close his account and go to a different bank in order for it to stop. He has never gotten his money back, and he had to pay NSF charges to the bank as well.

Then there was the recorded cancellation call by an AOL customer that made national headlines, and if you look on the web, you could find this call in its entirety.

There is no cancellation department with AOL, they are called the Save and Retention team. Many companies are going this route as well, a complete joke as far as customer service is concerned.

I work for a company that provides High Speed Internet to customers. When we are in contact with a customer that is using AOL as their ISP, I cringe at the fact that they are blind to the fact that AOL is charging so much for so little service. Many of their services are free with an AOL screen name, meaning you don't have to pay for their antiquated dial-up service to get many of their other services that non-AOL customers get for free. $25-30/month for what I assume is dial-up? That is a joke. You can get 10x the service for a reliable broadband with much better customer service.

I just hope that the many AOL customers that have signed up for another ISP through my company don't have the same problems as many here have reported. I say to all AOL users that see these reports, take all the necessary steps to find a different ISP, and make sure that you don't authorize any charges from AOL immediately after. Take the steps that the editor has posted about getting your money back. Its a shame to read all these reports of trouble in cancelling and being drained of your accounts after the national headlines of the trouble in cancelling AOL not that long ago. I can't believe they are still in business.

Lastly, AOL does everything and anything they can to make cancelling your service a hassle. But these days... who doesn't do that? I'm not saying it's right, but it's now the norm. Thats why they don't call it cancellations, they call it SAVES. The approach here is to make you wanting to cancel a war of attrition. They're told to be assumptive and aggressive about it. They are told to retain a certain percentage of their callers, or they no longer have a job. So as a result many will be forceful and many flat out dishonest.

Here is some advice on that:
Just remember two things here, without a Cancellation Number - there is no cancellation. And also remember the rule of threes, AOL policy is that when you have requested to cancel three times (on the same call) they are obligated to cancel your account and give you a cancelation number. They are going to try and draw out the conversation, they are going to try and convince you of how great AOL is.... just keep saying No and reiterate your wish to cancel. But the biggest and most important point is to ALWAYS remember to always get that cancellation number and confirm that it is correct (it should be in the neighborhood of 9 digits in length) Thats your documentation and your proof.

Jim,

I regret to hear of your AOL experience. As you know by visiting this site, you are certainly not alone! The same thing happened to me well over a year ago

1. It may save you future headaches by immediately changing/cancelling the credit card/banking account that AOL bills. THe banking rep that assisting me in doing this was sympathetic to my situation. While being professional enough to not come right out and say it, he implied that the unauthorized charges from AOL was not at all uncommon!

2. This site has excellent info on your rights and the procedures to follow to at least get refunded for the past 90 days. See the "administrators suggestions" laced throughout these threads. (Not sure if it is called "administrators" suggestions -- but it is something similar.)

3. I have read somewhere on this site that there is "fine print" in the initial AOL "free trial" agreement that a written request is required to cancel an account. A phone call to the company is a false sense of security that an account has been closed. The customer no-service reps actually "pretend" to process a requested cancellation.

Write a letter and keep meticulous records of all contact. This includes copies of banking/credit statements where unauthorized charges show.

3. I was successful with hooking up with a class action suit against AOL. I found this with a internet search. Fortunately, I recovered most, not all, of my losses. This was well worth the effort!! I wish you, and others, the same succcess!

and finally..

4. I would suggest avoiding any future dealings with this company, OR any of their many affiliates!!

Good luck
Lyssa

Jim,

I regret to hear of your AOL experience. As you know by visiting this site, you are certainly not alone! The same thing happened to me well over a year ago

1. It may save you future headaches by immediately changing/cancelling the credit card/banking account that AOL bills. THe banking rep that assisting me in doing this was sympathetic to my situation. While being professional enough to not come right out and say it, he implied that the unauthorized charges from AOL was not at all uncommon!

2. This site has excellent info on your rights and the procedures to follow to at least get refunded for the past 90 days. See the "administrators suggestions" laced throughout these threads. (Not sure if it is called "administrators" suggestions -- but it is something similar.)

3. I have read somewhere on this site that there is "fine print" in the initial AOL "free trial" agreement that a written request is required to cancel an account. A phone call to the company is a false sense of security that an account has been closed. The customer no-service reps actually "pretend" to process a requested cancellation.

Write a letter and keep meticulous records of all contact. This includes copies of banking/credit statements where unauthorized charges show.

3. I was successful with hooking up with a class action suit against AOL. I found this with a internet search. Fortunately, I recovered most, not all, of my losses. This was well worth the effort!! I wish you, and others, the same succcess!

and finally..

4. I would suggest avoiding any future dealings with this company, OR any of their many affiliates!!

Good luck
Lyssa

Jim,

I regret to hear of your AOL experience. As you know by visiting this site, you are certainly not alone! The same thing happened to me well over a year ago

1. It may save you future headaches by immediately changing/cancelling the credit card/banking account that AOL bills. THe banking rep that assisting me in doing this was sympathetic to my situation. While being professional enough to not come right out and say it, he implied that the unauthorized charges from AOL was not at all uncommon!

2. This site has excellent info on your rights and the procedures to follow to at least get refunded for the past 90 days. See the "administrators suggestions" laced throughout these threads. (Not sure if it is called "administrators" suggestions -- but it is something similar.)

3. I have read somewhere on this site that there is "fine print" in the initial AOL "free trial" agreement that a written request is required to cancel an account. A phone call to the company is a false sense of security that an account has been closed. The customer no-service reps actually "pretend" to process a requested cancellation.

Write a letter and keep meticulous records of all contact. This includes copies of banking/credit statements where unauthorized charges show.

3. I was successful with hooking up with a class action suit against AOL. I found this with a internet search. Fortunately, I recovered most, not all, of my losses. This was well worth the effort!! I wish you, and others, the same succcess!

and finally..

4. I would suggest avoiding any future dealings with this company, OR any of their many affiliates!!

Good luck
Lyssa

Jim,

I regret to hear of your AOL experience. As you know by visiting this site, you are certainly not alone! The same thing happened to me well over a year ago

1. It may save you future headaches by immediately changing/cancelling the credit card/banking account that AOL bills. THe banking rep that assisting me in doing this was sympathetic to my situation. While being professional enough to not come right out and say it, he implied that the unauthorized charges from AOL was not at all uncommon!

2. This site has excellent info on your rights and the procedures to follow to at least get refunded for the past 90 days. See the "administrators suggestions" laced throughout these threads. (Not sure if it is called "administrators" suggestions -- but it is something similar.)

3. I have read somewhere on this site that there is "fine print" in the initial AOL "free trial" agreement that a written request is required to cancel an account. A phone call to the company is a false sense of security that an account has been closed. The customer no-service reps actually "pretend" to process a requested cancellation.

Write a letter and keep meticulous records of all contact. This includes copies of banking/credit statements where unauthorized charges show.

3. I was successful with hooking up with a class action suit against AOL. I found this with a internet search. Fortunately, I recovered most, not all, of my losses. This was well worth the effort!! I wish you, and others, the same succcess!

and finally..

4. I would suggest avoiding any future dealings with this company, OR any of their many affiliates!!

Good luck
Lyssa

To Margaret,

The idea that you are happy with AOL and have no complaints is immaterial to the OP. The situation is that Jim cancelled and feels that his cancellation was not dealt with in a satisfactory manner.

Your response provides no workable guidance for the OP in resolving his situation. If I follow your logic, then no one, once agreeing to a service, should be able to cancel said service.

To Jim,

If you have any names, phone numbers, email addresses, confirmation numbers, etc. from your original cancellation request then forward those to AOL for reference on your account.

Good luck to Jim

Apprently it has not happened to you. I can not wait for when you tried to cancelled aol after nine yrs of service they will do it to you too. I went with a phone company for my isp if you must know. My beef with aol is they will not cancel nobody. everybody has problems with aol. They are the only company people have problems with. They are to expensive also. They don't like people canceling them for some odd reason. I am going to look at a class action lawsuit aganist aol. They will not ruin my credit over thirty dollars. like i said they need to take their heads out of their *sses and start comuncating with each other.

I have had AOL for 9 years and would not have anyone else for my ISP. Why did you cancel? What was your beef? Perhaps if you had not cancelled you would not have this problem!

the same thing happened to me, and i filed online at bbb.com and got my money back and account cancelled good luck