Aol!!

[Blackberry]

I am so pissed right now. Ok, here is background: About 9 months ago I bought a game at Circuit City. The sales person told me that if I sign up with AOL at the store that I'd get $10.00 off of the game and I could just call AOL to cancel. So I say sure! When I called AOL to cancel they took me in circle's and circle's and somehow I was talked into keeping the account open for something like 6 months or something with no charge. I wish I'd written down exactly what was said in that conversation.

Anyway, today I'm looking at my bank account online & notice that I was just charged $9.95 by AOL & for the past 2 months also. So I call them.....go through a long process with the automated phone system and finally get to a person. I tell her about the charges and that I have never used AOL & she says no problem. Then she says she is going to transfer me to some department (I can't remember what she called it) and that they would cancel my service and refund me those 3 months fee. Well she transfered me to India I believe. The connection was not as good as when I was talking to her and the woman I talked to had a very heavy accent. Well she would not refund me anything and told me that if I cancel my account now I would be charged a $25.00 fee. We went round and round and I finally just got off of the phone with her. It was pointless to continue the conversation so I finally just gave up.

I'm just so frustrated right now. I'm not sure who to be mad at, myself for not making sure it got cancelled the first time? Or at Sonja (the first person I talked to that told me that I would get my charges refunded and my service cancelled). I guess I'm mad at both of us.

Thanks for listening to my vent/whine. :(

[Eyore]

Sorry your having trouble with this. I haven't heard to many say anything good about AOL. Alot of people say the get there AOL free because when they call to cancel they give them so many months free and when they call to cancel after that amount of time is up they give them more time free.
I personally will have nothing to do with AOL like I said never heard to much good about. Hope you can get the charges removed and everything cancelled.
(((Hugs)))

[silvermist]

Call again and this time speak firmly and say you'd like to cancel and don't do it nice. I've had this problem to where id be on the phone for an hour around in circles. Than i learned and next time told them firmly i want to cancel. I think you gotta say that 3 times before they let you cancel.

[Willow]

AOL is very bad to do that. You have to nag at them before they will cancel and they they will try and bill you anyway. I don't know too many people who like AOL.

[Bud_Girl76]

I LOVE AOL and would never switch I never ever had a problem with them.. Never get bumped ect.. I think it's excellent service.. :)

Sorry you had problems..

[joni1269]

Ewww I hate AOL. I have run AOL on my computer twice, and both times ended in a crash. I got the same error both times "WAOL has cause a fatal error". When I called AOL on it, they said it wasn't their software that caused the problem, but rather a problem with my computer. Yeah - the problem with the computer is that I installed AOL! LOL

Sorry to hear about your problems! Keep calling (get a good book for those long hold times - LOL) and be firm. Don't take no for an answer! And good luck to you..

[starlynn]

AOL did the samething about about 2 years ago to me. They gave us like 3 months free but when I called to cancel they gave me the run around and finally did it but then I was sent a $96 bill months later. :mad:

[dog$]

Any limited time freebie subscription will give you a hassle when the time comes to cancelled. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Crick]

Call again and this time speak firmly and say you'd like to cancel and don't do it nice. I've had this problem to where id be on the phone for an hour around in circles. Than i learned and next time told them firmly i want to cancel. I think you gotta say that 3 times before they let you cancel.

I agree. Had a friend who took AOL up on free offer. Says no credit card required but he gave one anyway. When he tried to cancel they told him he would be billed. Since I'm the grumpy old fart and love dealing with customer service people I called and gave them the information. Made sure I wrote down everything (make sure you get the name of who you speak with). They kept offering more free months, so be firm and say no. Then do like I did and tell them that you are contacting the credit card company and informing them that AOL is not authorized to charge your card. After telling their rep that, he back peddled and said they would cancel and not charge the card. But then I'm very good at holding a company to their promises. If you are forceful and firm (don't have to be loud or rude) they will get the message that you won't be yanked around. ;)

[schsa]

The FCC has been on their tails for doing this sort of thing. Signing people up and then not letting them cancel. Call the FCC and then call AOL back and tell them that you have reported them and you are cancelling.

[slyred]

I've gone thru the runaround with AOL more than once. Last spring I bought a laptop and had three months aol free. When it came time to cancel before I'd have to stop paying, I spoke to no less than 5 people, all I believe in India, who would not take no for an answer. So up until this month I have been getting two free months every time I called. I don't use AOL, I hadn't logged on to it for a month or so. Finally I got it cancelled I was so happy. Good luck! I won't ever go thru that hassle again.

[Znith]

I hate AOL.. my uncle had the same problem. He used AOL for years then decided to dump it. They wouldn't do it, he called numerous times and they said they'd give him another free month etc.. finally I called and went thru about 10 different people of which 75% couldn't understand me. I was so frustrated I finally told them. "Cancel or you'll be talking to my lawyer as this call is being recorded. All charges are in dispute with my CC company and I refuse to pay" I think they finally got the picture

[Shann]

aol is notorious for this! I would never ever use them again. When my friend bought a gateway, he got a year free, but two or three seperate times w/in that year they charged him and he had to reak havok before he could get the money back. It shocks me at how popular they still are since they have screwed so many ppl.. like when ppl believe they have cancelled their accts and look back on credit card charges, they see they've been charged multiple months that they shouldn't have. Once you get your refund from them, you might want to cancel your card ASAP so they can't continue to charge it... b/c most likely, they will. :(

[purplerose23]

I used to work for AOL and get this, I was even done wrong (kinda funny it occured once I left that job involuntarily/they decided to contract in India)............Well, First of all...............ALL specials are only good for ONE month free, thats it. They may look attractive and say 1400 hours/120days/2months or any of those, but it only is free one month (28-31days/depends on month). They acutally tapped into my account and charged me for ONE month a total of NINE times! The ninth time occured while I was at my bank ranting! The lady said "Oh my!" and we called them again on the spot and nipped it! I cancelled that card, changed my account number, got my money back from them and never looked their way again!