UNHAPPY with AOL

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Author Message   Maplewoody Citizen Username: Maplewoody Post Number: 287 Registered: 5-2001 Posted on Saturday, August 23, 2003 - 8:35 am:        I got a new PC and had 6 months of AOL for free. I don't use it! I was being charged for the 7th month, and wanted to cancel. I called them and they talked up their new AOL 9.0, and said to try it out and if I didn't like it, that they would cancel my service and reimburse me for the monthly fee of $23.90. After being on the phone this morning (for 20 mins.) and chatting with 2 different AOL reps, they will not give any $ back. I am going to dispute this amount with Amex. Has anyone else had this kind of dirty tricks from AOL, and has anyone disputed any charges before? They are BIG Liars and they S*@K!   jamie Moderator Username: Jamie Post Number: 327 Registered: 6-2001 Posted on Saturday, August 23, 2003 - 11:11 am:        I tried to cancel AOL (I just needed it while on the road). They wouldn't let me go, kept wanting to give me two months for free. Since I had a Comcast issue this week, I decided to take the two months. The thing that was sneaky is that you have to go to this email, type in a keyword and redeem the free month's credit. And you can't get credit for the two months at once! They have to be redeemed at least 20 days apart, how many people would remember to redeem the second one. I think I may call them back and say I don't want the 2 free months.   J. Crohn Citizen Username: Jcrohn Post Number: 339 Registered: 3-2003 Posted on Sunday, August 24, 2003 - 12:44 am:        I had the same thing happen--the two month "free" trial after I quit AOL. I used the freebie only long enough to remind people we no longer used the AOL address--i.e., for about a week. What the lying sonofabitch sales rep who connned me into accepting the freebie conveniently neglected to mention was that if I logged onto AOL and redeemed their offer for the free month's extension (which I, too, was told I could extend to two months if I went to a tab on the website and did something or other, which I never did), MY SERVICE WOULD BE REINSTATED AUTOMATICALLY despite my having just cancelled it! And then, when I tried to correct the situation, AOL would claim it had no record of my current phone number or password, that those I was supplying were wrong (although they had never changed in the five+ years I had had service with AOL), and they would refuse to close my account because they had no confirmation that I was me. I would have to write a letter, they explained, and they'd cancel my account when they got around to it, I guess, and they'd bill me in the interim, and they wouldn't refund the charge for service I hadn't contracted for. I screamed and yelled long and loud enough, and perhaps threatened legal action convincingly enough, that someone decided to notice that I had not, in fact, used AOL's service since about a week after the first "free" month began. So the extra month's charge I had noticed on my credit card bill was refunded. However, I later noticed that I hadn't caught the previous extra month's charge, which had been listed at the very beginning of my credit card statement (an occasional quirk due to the number of days in the credit billing cycle), and of course the jerks at AOL only refunded the charge I screamed about, despite having admitted I wasn't using their bait-and-switch ISP during the period I was billed. Frankly, it had taken more than two hours on the phone to get them to remove the one charge, plus a fair amount of rage, and I simply hadn't the time or inclination to go through it all over again. How interesting to learn I'm not the only one who got scammed by AOL. I will NEVER use AOL again, and if a class action suit were to shape up over their fraudulent business practices, I would join it.   gemini Citizen Username: Gemini Post Number: 187 Registered: 6-2001 Posted on Sunday, August 24, 2003 - 10:36 am:        I've waited on hold to cancel service for like an hour, at 2 different times. IT's such a scam, you cannot get out of it. to join, they have someone answer the phone immediately. TO cancel, it's a long waiting game.   OK, it's Tom Reingold Citizen Username: Noglider Post Number: 396 Registered: 1-2003 Posted on Monday, August 25, 2003 - 4:49 pm:        There are bajillions of stories like this all over the net. Clearly, this is AOL's intended way of doing business. I think the quickest way of fixing this is to change your credit card number. Why fight AOL at the front door? Tom Reingold   DrFalomar Citizen Username: Drfalomar Post Number: 10 Registered: 7-2003 Posted on Monday, August 25, 2003 - 10:13 pm:        I had a problem after I bought a Dell computer and was given, unbeknownst to me, six months free service which turned into three months paid service, also unbeknownst to me thanks to Dell giving AOL my credit card. I complained bitterly and they cancelled all three charges, then I called my credit card company to make sure the charges had taken. What I love is that they have now sent me two letters saying that despite my cancellation they want me back. They don't understand that a divorce means I don't love you anymore. In addition, my credit card phone answering web had a special option just to complain about AOL charges. Thank god cable and DSL will put them out of business inside five years.