My recent experience with cancelling from AOL was brought to memory again as I heard about the problems so many are still having with their customer service department.
They gave me the customary two month free offer when I cancelled not telling me that they were going to start billing me again when it was finished. They sent me an email telling me this and when I called and told them I had cancelled two months ago and I wanted to make sure they cancelled it, after trying to get me to accept another extension I continually told them to cancel.
After finally getting them to do it I thought everything was complete and finished. Well a couple of days later I get an email telling me they would honor my request but because I was several days late past the cutoff point for the next month, they were going to charge me for the whole month. Never mind the fact that when they sent me the email saying they were going to start billing me again even after I had already cancelled, it was already past the deadline they imposed.
So they think they got me through screwing me out of $30 one final time. Because they did it I will never do business with anything connected to them in the future. All that for $30.
Another person wasn't even allowed to cancel. Here's their story.
It wasn't till after the story was publicized when AOL was even willing to address the situation from the huge publicity that came about from being shown on the "Today" show with Matt Lauer.
AOL issued the following statement, attributed to spokeman Nicholas Graham
"Many here have taken a strong interest in this episode - even going so far as to email all customer service representatives about it as an example of how we should never treat a member. We're going to learn from this - and continue to make the necessary, positive changes to our practices. This was an aberration and a mistake, and we have to manage these incidents down to zero as best we can. That means improving our already strong safeguards in place today, and maintaining rigorous internal and external compliance methods. We can do better - and we will."
There are worse stories though. Here's one from Lisa Haneberg from Management Craft. Her mother had passed away and she tried to cancel her AOL account. Here's how she says it:
"As you know, my mother passed away last month. She had AOL. My sister has been trying to get AOL to cancel her account for nearly a month. They keep telling her that only the person who signed up for the account can cancel it. She explains that our mother died and even offers to send a copy of the death certificate as proof. The phone representatives are being very difficult and uncooperative. The billing is on an account that we have left open (and my sister is a signor) to handle expenses related to the sale of her Cape Coral condo. In her last phone call with AOL, she mentioned that if they did not cancel the account, she would close the account they use for billing. They said they would find some other way to bill her - can you believe that?!?"
These aren't unique or unusual; it is the norm. Have you had these types of nightmare experiences with AOL?
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