I am sooo glad I never had an AOL account. They must have bonus for each person they talk-out of canceling.

Just keep the one simple thing in mind. He’s doing his job. Yes that includes pissing you off. You have to call them and go through their shit to cancel. If they notice that there’s no way for them to convert you back then their goal is to get you off the phone without doing the cancellation. That includes pissing you off till you hangup. You THINK you are hanging up on them, but from their perspective you just made your account last just a little bit longer in their system AND maybe just pissed you off enough to NOT call them back to cancel. He was doing his job, and he did it very well. Blame AOL as a company, not some guy taking calls doing what he’s told to keep a paycheck. His job is to answer the phone and try to prevent you from ending that account. They take classes in this, they have meetings, they have “cue-cards”, they have people monitoring them and making sure they do what they are told to prevent you from cancelling. He was just doing his job. Blame AOL, not the little guy.

I think im purposefully going to sign up for alot of aol accounts, and then cancel them all. i enjoy doing this like this, especially when thousands of people get to see what happens.

too bad if you send this to AOL, they will probably sue you becuase it’s illegal to tape phone conversations without telling the other party…or have that beeping in the background.

Absolutely unbelievable. I’ve heard about horror stories like this before. It was amazing to actually hear it first hand. I can’t understand why anyone would sign up with aol in the first place.

–
Steve – http://tail-f.net/

It’s tactics like this that got AOL sued, and why they have lost so much money. I got the same spiel when I cancelled and luckily they didn’t give me too much grief.

I got the same routine from a Discover credit-card representative. After two non-pertinent questions, I simply said, “I’m sorry. I called to cancel this account, not to answer questions.” That did it.

I saw this link on boingboing; went through the same thing with AOL. Are their reps taken out back and beaten if they have a cancellation? I point blank asked the rep ‘are you going to cancel my account?’ The answer: NO. !!!

Man what a stooge!

That AOL guy probably scored top in ranking at the AOL staff retreats, you know the ones that coach teddybear spanking and autoerotic ventriloquism.

In situations like that I just ask for a manager. If some drone gives me a hard time or starts asking stupid questions, all I say is “Could I please speak to your manager”.

What a moron. Good thing I’ve never been on AOL.

nicely done, but that guy was annoying the shit out of me as well. Bridget’s right, this could be used in one of those anti- AOL commecials. Thanks for posting it.

You mean you didn’t have to wait on hold for 45 minutes first??? After doing that twice, and getting the whole spiel about how it was in the middle of a billing period, and so I would been defaulting on the bill, so I should just stay on for another couple of weeks and then cancel, I finally had my credit card company deal with it. Only time will tell if it actually got cancelled, as it took a couple of cycles to quit showing up on my credit card statement. Kudos for remaining relatively calm under the AOL pressure

Wow that was totally wild I feel sorry for you having to put up with that crap man…

Have you had your epiphany yet? Has your Dad had an epiphany?

Good lord, you were a lot more calm than I would be.

Kudos to you for (mostly) holding your tounge and not going off on this guy. I wonder if you asked for his super if you would have eventually gotten to talk to one, or if you would have been “accidentally” disconnected in transfer.

I have 50 republic credits that say you get a bill next month AND they have no record of you calling to cancel. You proabaly also have the “irate & difficult customer flag” set on your account now.

Good luck, let us know how it turns out.

I used to work for a credit card customer serive department. This was at least 10 years ago. I can’t tell you how many calls we got from customers that were having their accounts charged by AOL even after they’d cancelled their service with AOL. So, remember to check the credit card statement that is on file with AOL, and get ready for another battle. AOL will get the last laugh.

Man…that was just ridiculous. The Better Business Bureau has some information on AOL you might find interesting/useful: http://www.dc.bbb.org/report.html?national=Y&compid=2087

It took me over a half an hour of battling to get my AOL account cancelled a few years ago. The guy was a complete asshole. He asked me, “What were you using this account for?” And I said, “That really isn’t any of your business.” To which he replied, “It is if you want your account cancelled.” I was amazed. He wouldn’t let me speak to a manager when I demanded to speak to one. I hope AOL crashes and burns and all of their call center drones are sent to Guantanamo. Do companies like AOL not understand that all they are doing is creating hostility and losing customers for life by these practices? I told everyone I know about my AOL horror story and none of them will ever become an AOL customer because of it.

I cancelled an AOL account years ago and they had the same sort of routine, asking why I didn’t want it anymore. They only asked maybe once or twice – the dude you recorded was definitely way more aggressive. I have also had AOL CHARGE me for using their free 1-month trial. This being said I think this call was a problem with Customer Service guy more than AOL. Sorry you had to go through with that…

Never having had an AO-Hell account, I thank my lucky stars for my foresight.

I suppose if they absolutely refused to cancel you could just cancel your credit card and have it reissued so they couldn’t bill you anymore – but that’s more of a pain in the ass than calling AOL customer service if you have a bunch of automatic charges on the card.

Terrible. It may be one of the many slackers, flunkies, IT-wanna-be’s and otherise a plethore of losers who work for a company called Software Spectrum (AOL uses this company to handle their tech support calls) a company that is equal to if not worse than AOL. I hope you deal a damaging blow to both of these reprehensible exucese for companies..

The only problem with sending the audio to the hi-up people in AOL is that the employees are trained to try to convince the people who whish to cancle their account to keep it.

Although the employees sound like idiots the entire time, they’re trained to do that =P

Isn’t that funny?

Being trained to sound like a jerk off!

It’s hilarious!

Also, the highlight for me is threatening to not cancel the account if he didn’t listen to the promo at the end!!

Oh man, that is great! My parents still use AOL, so one day I will get them to switch to gmail and I’ll be making that call. Hahah. Good idea to record it.

This is just about the exact same experience that I had years ago – down to the repetition and obnoxious attitude. They must still have the same script and training in place.

This is just about the exact same experience that I had years ago – down to the repetition and obnoxious attitude. They must have the same script and training in place.

I’m trying to convince my partner to dump AOL but he won’t budge for whatever reason. I personally hate them and stopped using as well. My sister tried to cancel the account when she moved and ended up with 6 months free because the idiot wouldn’t take no for an answer. Morons all of ‘em.

Boing Boing

Note to self: buy an air-horn for when I need to cancel my aol account.

“Are you going to let me speak? We can stall you all day..”

BHWAAAAAAAAAA!

omg this happend to me around 2 weeks ago, i have comcast now and i still had an aol account and when i called to cancel they kept making me so many damn offers it wasn’t funny, offers as low as 3 dollers. Eventually they gave in and cancelled the account.

That is really sad. I second the motion to forward to an AOL rep. First contact the local news, they love stuff like this.

Makes me want to get an account just to cancel it.

Awww, when I cancelled my acct, the guy went through a similar shpiel, but I could tell he didn’t like doing it, and he gave in to the inevitable much quicker. Instead, he put me on hold a lot and tried to sell me their firewall service for DSL. The phone call took about 15-20 minutes and ensured that I’d never do business with AOL again.

I went through the same **** with these losers. Even after all that, they restarted my account and started billing my CC again. I had to get my bank to block it. Then then asked me to provide them another CC number (!) They then sic’d a vulture collection agency on me for “non-payment.” It’s been over a year and they’re still leaving recorded messages on my answering machine. They’ve also ignored a written response I sent to AOL with copies of their own cancellation letter I got from them. The Feds need to shut this American icon down and end the lunacy.

You’ve been linked from boingboing.net, and I believe you’ve exceeded your bandwidth limit. Could you host it somewhere else, or maybe post a transcript?

i’d love to hear that audio…to bad the link’s broke

hmm, the file doesn’t seem to be working anymore?

I’m not able to download and listen to the clip, for some reason. Is there a transcription available?

the audio link doesn’t work.

The mp3 is gone……….

AOL has been notorious for many things. This definately ranks way up there, but for those of you that may have missed one of the other fun ones…

Some versions of AOL have installed an AOL VPN adapter along with the other AOL-specific networking components. (not sure if the latest version does, but it’s not that long ago that I learned this) The VPN adapter has the potential effect of handing AOL 100% access to everything on your hard drive, and the AOL software that includes it will not work without the VPN adapter there – uninstalling = total lack of the ability to go online.

Even funnier, I called and asked their tech support and engineers why iit was there, given the access to my computer that such a thing would grant, and they all claimed to have no idea why it was included…

I quit AOL several months ago and had no problem at all. I don’t know why this guy had so much trouble. They even let me keep my e-mail address for free and I can check my account from the aol.com website (just in case somebody finds me)

the link is down

You know what.. I didn’t even listen to it. I know from past experience what a nightmare it was, an I don’t want to relive it!

I still have clients held hostage by AOL. Mainly though it is their email addresses; they are frightened to lose them after all these years.

Isn’t that abuse? As if they have nothing better to do than to hassle departing customers. I feel that while technology has allowed us to connect with the world, it has also gotten that much bothersome.

AOL can be partially blamed for some of their ridiculous junk mail (trail CDs) and ads that come with certain software installations.

*sigh*

I used to work for a company that handled “retention” for Netzero, which is a great name for haggling people who wish to cancel their service with the company. AOL uses a different company for this service, but they use the exact same tactics.

The idea is to try to converse with the customer to try to find out why they want to cancel and attempt to remedy the problem. Unfortunately, their are very few customers that have an actual issue with the service that can be swayed to keep it. The call center’s policy is to “always get 3 NO’s” before giving in to the request. Individual employee tactics vary, but range from ignorance to straight-up deceit.

These call centers require a certain retention percentage. Many, like AOL and Netzero, give bonuses for every “save.” These bonuses increase as your save rate does. Like I said, not many customers are easily swayed to keep the service, so you can imagine the methods of the most successful in that business. I’ve seen those who will attempt to keep the customer on the phone as long as possible, denying their request, until they hang up and it does not count against them. Ignorance and misleading are also common tactics used.

As the people can freely give out a couple of months free service, I’ve even seen them credit an account with a few free months instead of cancelling. The charge stops for a few months, you go on with your life thinking your will is done…

It all ultimately lies with the person on the other end of that phone line.

And of course, the popularity of this post will be brought to AOL’s attention, they will realise the error of their ways and immediately fix their abusive customer service policies. Or maybe not. I hope they don’t and we get more hilarity from them in the future.

I am sorry, i double posted the comment coz i got an internal server error when i first posted it and then when i tried it the last time, it says something that i double posted it.

mp3 linky doesn’t seem to work

Being hearing impaired myself, I’d like to know if there’s any chance of having a transcript of this (a quick one is fine).

Can’t hear it, server error it says!

Anyone have a link to a mirror?

Hmmmmm. As of 7AM, June 14, 2006, this file no longer exists? I hope nothing bad has happened. Midnight raid by the AOL strike team? I was looking forward to hearing it.

Oh,
unable to listen to it
Can you mirror it somewhere or seed it and post a link here?

cheers.

Sorry I couldn’t hear the cancelation notice due to some internal server error. But I can imagine what it was like since I went through a similar thing some years ago when I canceled AOL. They were insulting, rude, stupid and arrogant. When they asked me if anyone else used the account I told them that my son does sometimes. Well they wanted me to ask him if it was alright. (My son was only 10 or 11 at the time and he doesn’t pay the bills.) That’s when I launched into a series of invectives that that asshole may still be stinging from. Eventually I was able to cancel but was still being billed two months or so later. That required another phone call and another round of stupidity and rudeness.

why is this audio link not working.
I hope its an innocent reason

Is the link broken?

looks like the link is broken to the MP3 file… it’s giving a 500 internal server error. I really wanted to hear this, having been CS for the last year and a half.

FYI your audio link is down.

I’m not able to open it for some reason…anyone else having trouble? It takes me to a page that says “internal service error”….

The file isn’t available here. Has it been posted anywhere else?

An effective way to cancel such auto-renewed services is to buy a Visa or Mastercard gift card, spend all but a few cents of it, and then change the billing info for the service to that card number (which can usually be done on line). Amazing how quickly these things are over when the card can’t be billed. No human contact is necessary.

The reason this was such a horrible experience was that the AOL Overlords have declared that you should not be allowed to just cancel your service, and penalize the CSRs who let you do so.

What on earth do you think AOL does to the slacker CSRs that just let you cancel? Send them to prison in Guantanamo? Electrocute them through their headsets?

Your link is dead, and it’s KILLING ME. I’m eager to hear how all this went down….

Been there, Done that – All my friends were on AOL when I got on the net so I decided to join as well. It took me 30 minutes to sign up over the phone. I downloaded and installed all their (AOL) browser and crap and it took over my computer. They told me which web sites I could view and which pictures or music I had to view/listen to. So I finally decided to cancel my subscription – HA! It took me 3 MONTHS worth of emails and phone calls to finally get rid of them – they kept billing my credit card even though I had cancelled. Not only that, I had to strip my hard drive and start all over again as AOL puts crap in every conceivable corner & niche of your computer that cannot be eliminated without a complete striping. Unfortunately, Windows Comes with AOL bundling. Never click on the AOL icon that comes with windows other than to delete it as you will start an unstoppable chain reaction and you will have to strip and reload windows again.

LOL, the sad part is not that the employee is dumb but that the company actualy encourages the employee to behave this way to preserve the revenue stream and actualy discourage the enployee to comply with the customers request. I’m almost certain that this employee will get can bacause he manage to make a fool of the company.

“Internal Server Error
The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.”

Booo. If you need/want it mirrored, I can set up a copy for you.

Years ago, I had an AOL account set up for my mom. It was fine, she was a Net newbie, and it was $22/month, which I paid for. Then my company became a partner of AOL, so we were all required to get an AOL account, albeit for free. So here was an excellent opportunity to cancel the AOL account I was paying for, so I called them up, went through the whole rigamarole, and it was cancelled. Right?

Wrong. I continued to get billed on my credit card, despite maybe 20 phone calls to AOL. I even called my bank to deny payment to AOL.

Finally, I just cancelled the card. Problem (finally) solved. AOL is worse than even the cell phone companies, if that’s possible.

Back when I had AOL as the only means of dial up it was fine. Then I got DSL and wanted to kill my aol. Well after who knows how many searches on their site to the steps to cancel the account. And the hours on hold with the cancellation number I just canceled the credit card the account was linked to. That got them quick and they call me and ask what happen. I told them they suck their program makes my computer run like crap and please do not bug me ever again. They never did anything else to me of charge me any more.

God that was a pain.

Gamekiller

PS my girlfriend some how was about to do it in no time over the phone and she has one short temper. Go fig.

The link seems to be broken now

I want to listen to it but the link comes back with an Internal Server error. Does anyone have this .mp3 file mirrored somewhere so I can check it out?

Ken

Server is throwing an exception on the audio link.

the link doesnt work

I work for a center that handles disconnects for a large dialup service that is not AOL. It’s worse. A typical story goes like this: A customer calls up to ask about some charge or a service, the rep asks them if they ‘want information on the internet’, and the customer is sent a installation kit, usually no matter their reply. If the customer doesn’t open up the letter and call up to cancel it, the 30 day trial eventually expires and the customer is charged for internet. This happened one day, and the customer called me to have it disconnected.

It was for a call button in an elevator.

(which requires a active phone line)

I’d estimate we go through at least 1,000 disconnects a day at my place of work. But we won’t argue with you. Our only requirement is to ‘show empaphy to the customer’.

Of course you realize that “Customer Service” no longer means “serving the customer”…what it means nowadays is “handling the customer”…at least as far as AOL is concerned. Incidentally, I’m unable to download your mp3 file. Probably a mime issue or something.

I went through the same thing, but with this butchy sounding woman. She asked me if I’d answer a few survey questions and when I told her “no”, she said I had to or she couldn’t cancel the account. She didn’t even wait for me to answer and started asking me all kinds of personal questions. When it because clear that I was not going to put up with her sh**, she finally agreed to cancel it (rather than put her superior on the phone), but she did so while being verbally abusive. As she was giving me my confirmation number, she cut the conversation off, so I did not get the whole thing. I called back to complain about her and found out that she had never processed my cancellation request. I suggest you call back and confirm it. AOL retention reps are a bunch of a**holes. I honestly don’t know how they sleep at night.

That guy HAD to be a Scientologist. Oh wait…that’s Earthlink…

Similar story — many years ago. It took at LEAST 60 minutes of begging, pleading, repeating, yelling, asking for a supervisor (on my end); yelling, screaming, threatening and finally hanging up on me (on AOL’s end) to cancel my service. The guy was a complete and total A$$ — condescending, abusive, smug — you name it… I now wonder if AOL may just “encourage” this type of strong-arming by their CSRs to stall cancellation requests — this guy was GOOD and used EVERY conceivable turnaround in the book to try to get me to NOT cancel.

I’m getting worked up about it all over again! Ack!

Man, I’m using AOL, thank god the account isn’t in my name. I barely use it anymore though, but man, that’s more than a little fucked up.

I had a friend in Florida that wound up canceling a credit card to finally stop the AOL billing. The free perod after the supposed cutoff was still being billed to him…………..unreal. No wonder they are losing customers!!!

A while back, I started getting requests to cancel AOL accounts.. at attrition.org, a site that is just about the farthest thing from AOL. For kicks, I started replying to them and making it impossible for them to cancel. Wild how my antics end up being just like the real AOL support staff.

http://attrition.org/postal/aol.html

Vinny, please send me a copy of the mp3 if you would!

So easy to cancel, no wonder it’s #1!

I tried several times. Then they would just say they were cancelling, and then not cancel and continue billing.

The way to do this is NOT through AOL directly. I called American Express, told them I was disputing the charge and wouldn’t pay it, and they got AOL to shut it down. You turn off the money, and it’s no longer a problem.

Unofficial transcript follows.
—
(ring)
JOHN: Hi, this is John at AOL. How may I help you today?
VINCENT: I wanted to cancel my account.
J: Sorry to hear that. Go ahead and pull your account up here real quick. Can I have your name please?
V: Vincent Ferrari.
J: ‘Kay, Vincent. And for privacy and security, can I have the last four digits of your payment method, please?
V: (omitted)
J: All right, thank you very much. Okay. Had this account for a long time!
V: Yep.
J: Used this quite a bit. What was causing you to want to turn this off today?
V: I just don’t use it any more.
J: Do you have a high speed connection, like the DSL or cable?
V: Yep.
J: ‘Kay. How long have you had that?
V: Years.
J: …The high speed?
V: Years.
J: Okay. Well, actually, I’m showing a lot of usage on this account.
V: Yeah, a long, a long time ago, not recently.
J: Well — well, the “Pops Ferrari” account was on 71 hours since the 24th of last month.
V: No he wasn’t. He doesn’t even have the AOL software installed on his computer. You’re looking at AIM usage, probably.
J: No, it’s… AIM usage doesn’t come on to this…
V: He doesn’t have the AOL software installed on his computer, so…
J: No this is — this is your father, then?
V: Yep.
J: Okay. Well, I’m looking at this account…
V: Ah, either way, whatever you’re seeing…
J: Well, what’s causing you to want to turn this off today? I mean, obviously, I mean…
V: I don’t use it and he doesn’t use it, so we’re cancelling. He’s –
J: ‘Kay.
V: I’m telling you he doesn’t use the account. The software is not even on his computer. So.
J: Well, okay, I mean is there a problem with the software itself?
V: No, I just, I don’t use it. I don’t need it. I don’t want it. I just don’t need it any more.
J: Hm. So, when you use this, I mean, use the computer, I’m saying, is that for business, or…
V: Dude, what difference does it make –
J: …For school?
V: I don’t want the AOL account any more. Can we please cancel it?
J: Well, on June second, this account was signed on. It was, it’s been on for 72 hours. On June second.
V: Ca– I don’t know how to make it any clearer.
J: Last year was 540– last month was 545 hours of usage.
V: I don’t know how to make this any clearer, so I’m just going to say it one last time: Cancel. The. Account. Please.
J: Well, explain to me what’s, why…
V: I’m not explaining anything to you. Cancel. The. Account.
J: ‘Kay. Wha- what’s the matter, man. It’s not, I mean, we’re just, I’m just trying to help here, a’right…
V: You’re not helping me, you’re– Helping me would be–
J: Yeah, I am trying to help.
V: Helping me– Listen. I called to cancel the account. Helping me would be cancelling the account. Please help me and–
J (simultaneously): No, it wouldn’t actually.
V: –cancel the account. Cancel my account.
J: Turning off your account would be…
V: Cancel the account.
J: …the worst thing that…
V: CANCEL the account.
J: Is your dad there?
V: My dad– I’m the primary paym– I’m the primary–
J: ‘Kay, let’s, ’cause, could…
V: — person on the account, not my dad.
J (laughing): ‘Kay, ’cause I’m just trying to figure out…
V: CANCEL THE ACCOUNT. I don’t know how to make this any clearer for you. Cancel the account. The card is mine, in my name…
J: ‘Kay.
V: The account is mine, and in my name. When I say “cancel the account,” I don’t mean “help me figure out how to keep it,” I mean “cancel the account.”
J: No, I’m sorry– I don’t know what anybody’s done to you, Vincent, but this is…
V: You’re annoying the shit out of me, that’s–
J: Well–
V: what you’re doing to me. Cancel the account, please?
J: ‘Kay, now that goes both ways, my friend.
V: Good. Can you please cancel the account?
J: Because, I, all I’m… *sigh* All right. Some day, when you calm down, you’re going to realize that all I was trying to do was help you, and it was actually in your best interest to listen to me.
V: Wonderful, okay, yeah, great.
J: Ah, when that epiphany happens, then ah, just give us a call back, and we (indistinct).
V: Wait –
J: As I process your cancellation request, like to tell you about a free benefit available for valued members like yourself. We will continue to provide you some features of AOL (indistinct as V. interrupts)
V: Don’t want it. I know the, I know the drill. I don’t even want it. Don’t even bother.
J: ‘Kay. If you want me to cancel this account, you’re going to let me speak and, and give this paragraph. ‘Kay? ‘Cause if not, we can just argue all day, I d- I really don’t care, to be honest with you. But, you’re going to listen to me if you want this turned off. So: can I speak now?
V: Go right ahead.
J: Thank you. Appreciate that. As I process your cancellation request, like to tell you about a free benefit available for valued members like yourself. We will continue to provide you some features of AOL service even after membership has been cancelled. At aol.com you can keep your existing email, buddy list, address book, and more at no cost for as long as you like. There is no catch. This is AOL’s way of continuing our relationship with you. We know you — We know you want to keep your same email. Just go to aol.com, log in with your screen name and password. An email confirming the cancellation will be delivered to your free aol.com email within 24 hours. To complete this cancellation (unable to make out the rest of this sentence)
(call ends)

Transcript:

[[START]]
[AOL Customer Service] Hi this is John at AOL, how may I help you today?
[Vince] I want to cancel my account
[AOL] Sorry to hear that…Let me pull your account up quick. Can I have your name please?
[V] Vincent Ferrari
[AOL] OK Vincent, for privacy and security, can I have the last four digits of your payment method please?
[V] —-
[AOL] Alright, thank you very much. Ok…You’ve had this account for a long time.
[V] Yep.
[AOL] This is quite a bit. What was the cause of [unintelligible]?
[V] I just don’t use it anymore.
[AOL] Do you have a high speed connection like DSL or cable?
[V] Yep.
[AOL] OK. (pause) How long have you had that? The high-speed?
[V] Years.
[AOL] OK. Well actually I’m showing a lot of usage on this account.
[V] Yeah. A long time ago. Not recently.
[AOL] Well the [firstname] Ferrari account was on 71 hours since the 24th of, uh, of last month.
[V] No, he wasn’t. He doesn’t even have the AOL software installed on his computer. You’re looking at AIM usage probably.
[AOL] No, it’s, uh…AIM usage doesn’t come up on this.
[V] He doesn’t have the AOL software installed on his computer…
[AOL] Well this is, this is your father then?
[V] Yep.
[AOL] OK. (pause) Well, I’m looking at this account…
[V] Either way, whatever you’re seeing…
[AOL] Well what’s causing your [unintelligible]? I mean, obviously, I mean…
[V] I don’t use it and he doesn’t use it, and so, we’re canceling.
[AOL] OK…
[V] I’m telling you, he doesn’t use the account. The software is not even on his computer. So…
[AOL] Well, OK, I mean, is there a problem with the software itself?
[V] No. I just, I don’t use it. I don’t need it, I don’t want it. I just don’t need it anymore.
[AOL] So when you use it, use the computer, I’m saying, is that for business?
[V] What…
[AOL] For school?
[V] What difference does it make? I don’t want the AOL account anymore. Can we please cancel it?
[AOL] Well, on June 2nd, this account was signed on. It’s been on for 72 hours. On June 2nd.
[V] I, I don’t know how to make it any clearer.
[AOL] Last year was 540…, last month was 545 hours of usage.
[V] I don’t know how to make this any clearer, so I’m just going to say it one last time. Cancel…the…account.
[AOL] Well explain to me what’s, what’s, why…
[V] I’m not explaining anything to you.
[AOL] OK.
[V] Cancel the account.
[AOL] Well, what’s the matter Vincent? Where’s this…I’m just trying to help here.
[V] You’re not helping me.
[AOL] Alright.
[V] Helping me would be…
[AOL] I am trying to help you.
[V] Helping me…
[AOL] I am…
[V] Listen. I called to try to cancel the account, helping me would be canceling the account. Please help me and cancel the account.
[AOL] No, it wouldn’t, actually.
[V, concurrently] Cancel the account…Cancel the account
[AOL, concurrently] Turning off your account would be the worst thing…
[V] Cancel the account.
[AOL] Is your dad there?
[V] My dad? I’m the primary paying…I’m the primary person on the account, not my dad.
[AOL] OK.
[V] Cancel the account.
[AOL] OK, ’cause I’m just trying to take care…
[V] CANCEL…THE…ACCOUNT. I don’t know how to make this any clearer for you. Cancel the account. The card is mine, in my name…
[AOL] OK.
[V] The account is mine, and in my name. When I say cancel the account, I don’t mean help me figure out how to keep it, I mean cancel the account.
[AOL] Well, I’m sorry, I don’t know what anybody’s done to you, Vincent, this is…
[V] You’re annoying the shit out of me, that’s what you’re doing…
[AOL] Well…
[V] Cancel the account please.
[AOL] Now that goes both ways, my friend.
[V] Good. Could you please cancel the account?
[AOL] Because, all I’m…alright. Someday, when you calm down, you’re gonna realize all I was trying to do is help you, and it was actually in your best interest to listen.
[V] Wonderful. Ok, yeah, great.
[AOL] Now, when that epiphany happens, just give us a call back. As a process of a cancellation request, I’d like to tell you about a free benefit available to valued members like yourself. We’ll continue to provide you some features of the AOL…
[V] Don’t want it. I know the drill.
[AOL] OK.
[V] Don’t even want it, don’t even bother.
[AOL] If you want me to cancel this account, you’re gonna let me speak, and give this paragraph, ‘K? ‘Cause if not, we can stall you all day, I don’t, I really don’t care, to be honest with ya. But, you’re gonna listen to me, if you want this turned off. So, can I speak now?
[V] Go right ahead.
[AOL] Thank you! I appreciate that. As a process of a cancellation request, I’d like to tell you about a free benefit available to valued members like yourself. We will continue to provide you some features of the AOL service even after the membership has been canceled: At AOL.com, you can keep your existing email, buddy list, address book, and more at no cost for as long as you’d like. There’s no catch, this is AOL’s way of continuing our relationship with you. We know you, We know you want to keep your same email. Just go to AOL.com, login with your screen name and password. An email confirming the cancellation will be delivered to your free AOL.com email within 24 hours. [unintelligible] complete this cancellation, a lot of important details [unintelligible]
[[END]]

Its unfair to quote AOL in the last transcript as this guy, John clearly does not represent the AOL as I know it.

Went through the same bullshit. You can forward these recordings to your Attorney General. Eventually AOL will be sued again by all states in US.

By the way, America Online recently changed it’s name to AOL. So if you submit this for review you need to look at the Better Business Bureau and they can investigate this.

You can make free AOL membership accounts at http://free.aol.com – you can make accounts online then cancel them via phone. Record the phone conversations (Phone number to cancel is 1-888-265-8004). These phone recordings will serve as proof to bad business practices.

If someone feels the same, email me and we can start the Anti-AOL Movement.

incredible!
it cant be legal to treat customers like that

it may look like
“Could you please cancel my account” is some kind of cue for the aol person.
He went from asking all kinds of irrelevant and strange questions to go through some kind of speech after that.

I wish I’d have recorded my AO-Hell…

I was moving house and phoned a few weeks in advanced to ask if I could start getting broadband at the new place. AOL said they could but only when I moved in and that they’d cut me off right away… (offering me a dial-up in the meantime).

WHAT?! I said… if I want to move my broadband you cut off my current broadband. So… I said “forget it” I’ll get broadband in the new house from someone else and leave the broadband in this rented house until I have it in the new one…

I said, “why can’t I have broadband in this house until I have broadband in the new one?”… AOL said “because of internal processes”… ” ‘Internal processes” what are those?” I asked… they said “Internal processes”.

THEN… after asking him not to say “Internal processes” ever again… I said, “If this was water I’d die of thirst if I moved house”… so the AOL person said “The internet isn’t water sir!”… to which I replied “If it was water I could get it in bottles, I can’t buy bottled-internet… and anyway… it’s more IMPORTANT than water, I use it to make a living”…

At that point the AOL person says, “Oh you are using it for business, we don’t support businesses, AOL are a family internet business….”

I then made sure they weren’t going to do anything… and I started researching other broadband companies…

They said “ok”… then cut off my broadband the next day anyway.

The story doesn’t end there though but you know what it’s like… AOL can continue to piss people off like this because customer service nightmares are quite hard to recount and make interesting, they have become part of life… unless you record them that is… well done…

wow- I MANAGE a customer support team (for a web-based application- not an ISP) and I would’ve killed any of my guys for acting that way- CLEARLY AOL is losing tons of customers and these guys are paid not to allow customers to cancel. pathetic.

Good work documenting this, frankly. I’ve done my time as a rep, and treating the customer with disrespect is the kind of crap that makes it hard for other reps further on down the line.

Dude got fired? Probably for the best, he should be doing something else if he doesn’t have the disposition for working with people. He’ll move on to something else and I hope he’s happier.

Getting canned from an AOL call center is probably often a blessing in disguise.

wow. this brought me back…this sounds a lot like my experience trying to cancel AOL. As a former CSR, I’m patient, I treat them as I want to be treated, and I understand that they’re just doing their jobs. But if they get an attitude, I am not afraid to pull out the big guns — prepaid legal, it’s great! People need to recognize that everyone’s just trying to get on with their lives.

But the AOL story is nothing on my MCI story. Way back when I signed up for a free cell phone and some dinky service that eventually got bought up by MCI. Fine. I happily used that service til I outgrew it and cancelled it with minimal fuss. Silly me.

A couple months later, I received a past due notice on my account. I called customer service, had them confirm my account was cancelled, the balance was clear, and the past due charge was a mistake. A couple months later, I get a call from collections. When I call them to tell them its a mistake, the agent blows up and starts threatening me with legal action and damages to my credit if I don’t pay. I call MCI and they tell me although their records say my account has been inactive, since it got sent to collections they can’t do anything about it. I call back collections and spend hours waiting, arguing with CSRs and managers, hanging up, calling back, until finally I got someone to transfer my account back to MCI. Call back MCI, they confirm my account is cancelled, the balance is zero, and the past due is a mistake.

Another couple months later, I get another past due notice. It’s around Christmas and when I call CS, they have a special message about the high volume of calls and they can no longer take any more. Try back later. I hear this same message for about a week before I decide to go to an MCI store and have the rep there fix this for me. Guess what? The computer system at the store is not connected to the main accounts database so they can’t do anything for me. They can’t even call CS, because they use the same number as the public and would just get the same message about how they can’t take any calls.

After the holidays, after hiding from daily calls from collections, I try back again. I go through the same process with getting my account transferred back to MCI, call them up and talk to an incredulous CSR who can’t understand why I’m still being charged. Yes, my account was cancelled and paid in full, and yet I was still being charged monthly, although I never got any statements, just past due notices. Kind CSR put strongly worded comments into my account saying that I was being wrongly charged. I thanked her and suggested she get into another line of work because MCI was obviously a poorly managed company and she deserved better.

A couple months later…another past due notice. Finally, and it’s a good thing I kept all the notices and took notes on my phone calls, cuz I forwarded it all to the FCC and filed a formal complaint (this was all several months before the Worldcom scandal hit the press). They responded that they were looking into it. Nearly two years after I cancelled my account, I finally got a letter from MCI HQ apologizing and confirming my account had been cancelled, my balance had been paid in full, and all the charges following the cancellation were a mistake. And then they asked that I keep them in mind for my future telecom needs. Yeah, right!

I just listed to this, and, like the other comment, I was getting red-mad just listening to it. It reminded me of the time a couple of years ago when I cancelled my AOL for about the third time (they kept billing me!) and when the girl asked why i wantedto cancel, I just said, “Just because.” I didn’t want to go through a whole big routine. Then she got pissy and said something much like the guy says to you at the end, that I better tell her why or she won’t cancel. I hate that fucking service.

what program did you use to rip the phone call?

I went through the same thing with Earthlink last year. Had to tell them ‘I’m breaking up with you’ for them to finally listen.

So the user on the other end was you?

If anyone is still masochistic enough to stay with AOL after listening to this, check out your credit card company’s options for virtual cc numbers. At the next AOL renewal provide a new (virtual, cancellable) billing number that can easily just GO AWAY anytime you need it to.

Put a stop on the bill with the credit card company and AOL cannot bill you.
Darn, problem solved

To all of you who say “don’t blame the little guy, he’s just doing his job”, I say

I DO BLAME THE LITTLE GUY.

If your job requires you to do unethical things, you must refuse, or quit. Otherwise you are tainted.

For example, the U.S. military has a principle. If you are given an unlawful order, you are not only allowed, but REQUIRED, to disobey it.

For another example. Can anyone count for me how many defendants in the Nuremburg trials tried the “It was just my job” defense? How many succeeded?

Granted, abusing a phone caller is a few orders of magnitude lower on the ethics scale than killing people, but the individual is still culpable.

Happy to help,
–JMike

I just saw this story on CNBC. That behavior is so offensive. I hope the recording of that conversation forces AOL Customer Service to treat people like human beings.

Hey bro I feel your pain. Back in Febuary the video card on my laptop died and I no longer had a way to log into the internet. Febuary 7th i called to cancel my service with them. They refunded the charge because i was just billed the day prior to my call. I no longer had a computer and i wanted to cancel my account. I pretty much got the same run around as you did. The billing was withdrawn from my checking account 5 aditional months after I canceled the service. The other night I had to call up to cancel again cause the first time I called aparently they never canceled my account. The guy told me that i was logged into aol each of those months even though i never installed aol on my computer, just instant messenger. Those service reps really can shovel it like the best of them. I only noticed my account was still active when the motherfu#%&@’s almost overdrew my checking account.
I am very upset with aol and im sure many other people share stories very similar to this. Iamstupideatme@yahoo.com

I had a similar experience with them and other shady internet companies as well. The kicker with AOL though is that a few months ago my account was mysteriously reactivated and I was charged 25+ bucks for a month of service that I never even signed on to! They cancelled my account (again!) but refused to refund the money. After a few calls to my credit card and some conversations where they actually confirmed this very shady practice, I was credited the full amount. CRAZY!!!

Way to go!
Glad you’ve been able to bring so much attention to this most dishonest business practice.

From the BBB information in the link posted above:

“The company agreed to eliminate employee bonus incentives involving retention of subscribers, to record all cancellation requests, and to verify cancellation through a third party monitor. ”

Obviously this didn’t take though, as this post is from far after August of 2005.

Oh, and as for people saying that the guy is just doing his job? Evil pays well, but that doesn’t mean you should do it.

Soul first, Money second.

same thibg happened to me a few years ago frm aol. the woman would not let me cancel. hopefully, this bad rap will punish this ungreatfull co. and serve as a warning to others. it is not isolated with respect to aol.

I know from having worked with AOL that it is hard to cancel an account. The department you called is paid commission on keeping you as a customer. “John” was above the top. I do not agree that you should have to lie to close an account.
My own experience was that I had high speed already. They gave me a price that did not tell me if I cancelled anytime after the end of the call that I was going to be charged $50. I told them I would not pay it because I had the dsl before them at a good price. I did not use AOL at all, so it was a waste of money. After 2 calls the amount was “forgiven” since they did not want to take the time to listen to the call or look up the letter they sent. They are liars and a waste of money. Just get aim and you can do everything on aol for free. Stupid that they shot their self in the foot.

Also, look out for the 90 day trial. It is a paid trial.

. At least AOL is getting better that you can actually speak to an American CSR. When I tried to cancel my account last year, I spoke to an Indian-sounding gentleman who went through a similar routine like “John.” When I raised my voice a little trying to insist that he just cancel my account, he hung up on me. That caused me to wait for another month before I called back, this time I was determined not to get hung up on, so I endured more than 30 minutes of silly questions before they finally cancelled my account. Even then I was not sure until I verified my credit card statement sometime later.

It took me 5 months to finally cancel my aol account. They kept transferring me to different people who relentlessly would go on and on trying to convince me to stay. Then they’d give me a free month of service to stay, so I’d finally give up and wait a month and then call back. They’d just wear me down and I’d get so sick of arguing that I’d give in (stupid, I know). I did this 5 times before my husband finally got on the phone and basically yelled at the service rep to cancel the service once and for all. I thought I was just not being assertive enough (I probably wasn’t) but I’m glad to see that I wasn’t the only one who had a hard time.

It took me 5 months to finally cancel my aol account. They kept transferring me to different people who relentlessly would go on and on trying to convince me to stay. Then they’d give me a free month of service to stay, so I’d finally give up and wait a month and then call back. They’d just wear me down and I’d get so sick of arguing that I’d give in (stupid, I know). I did this 5 times before my husband finally got on the phone and basically yelled at the service rep to cancel the service once and for all. I thought I was just not being assertive enough (I probably wasn’t) but I’m glad to see that I wasn’t the only one who had a hard time.

Had an even worse experience canceling my Earthlink account of 8+ years last week. They try to trick you up front by saying they “are experiencing a severely high volume of calls and the wait may be lengthy. You may want to try your call again later.” However, somebody picked up the call in less than 10 seconds after the message. They go on and on and on. Offering discounts, etc… Then at the end, after you have painstakingly made your point, they tell you they will cancel your service at the end of the month. I instisted they do it immediately and that I be credited for the balance of the month, which they begrudgingly did. I’ll never go back to them, or AT & T, but that’s another story.

I too had trouble cancelling and they hung up on me so I called back and told them I was terminally ill with cancer and had 3 months to live, please cancel my account. Would you believe they tried to offer me 3 months for the price of 2? Evil Rat Bastards!!

Kathy, now a satisfied Charter High Speed Internet Customer!

I tried to cancel my father’s AOL account after he passed away. It took about one month and was an absolute nightmare. Without his password they refused to help. I finally had to get my father’s credit card company and my mother on the line. To top it off, I found out they were charging him over $120 a month for one dial up account. It was showing up several times each month on his statement. This company is a disgrace!!!@#$@#$

I went thru a similiar experience. After faxing, phoning and emailing them to cancel my account they said it would be cancelled effective before the next billing cycle. Well they didn’t cancel charged me my fee and when I called to see what was going on they refused to refund my money eventually they sent me to collections for the $23. The kicker is that this was all occuring during one of their supposed free trial periods! So I had to pay $23 for a free trial they wouldn’t cancel. I probably spent 3 hours dealing with them between phone, email and fax.

Ok, I haven’t heard the audio, but I’m familiar enough with the tactics not to need to hear it. Enough is enough. I had to go to my bank a short time ago to put a stop-payment on a check for another dishonest company that apparently decided that such tactics were the new business norm. At that time, the lady at the bank told me the stop payment would be enough…unless they happened to be like AOL and changed their vendor number in order to keep putting through the automatic payments.

So, here’s my new personal strategy: Call the CEO. Sure. Just hang up, call the company, ask to speak to the CEO and tell THEM that you don’t appreciate their tactics. After all, they get the big bucks.

Of course, you probably won’t get the CEO, but I bet if everyone trying unsuccessfully to cancel their AOL account let the executive secretary know about their dissatisfaction, AOL and the rest of these companies would finally realize that we’re just mad as (AO)Hell, and not about to take it anymore.

I had a horrible experience trying to cancel AOL about 6-7 years ago. I called frequently for several months. They never could find my account (even with the account name, number, email address, everything); or they would hang up on me. It was a nightmare. I finally paid off the credit card and cancelled the credit card just to get rid of AOL. They somehow managed to bounce the AOL charge to another cc I still held with same cc company. I called the cc company and finally got it stopped. I tell everybody I know NEVER SIGN UP FOR AOL!!! NEVER USE THEIR FREE CD’S. NEVER TOUCH AOL WITH A 10-FOOT POLE. It was a nightmare I never forgot!

In the summer of 2005 I worked at the AOL call center in Jerusalem, Israel. I was an AOL Retention Agent, the official title for the person you reach when trying to cancel. Before beginning training we had to sign a complete confidentiality agreement, so I really can’t tell you the secret goings on, but it’s nothing you couldn’t figure out yourself. I can tell you that John’s conduct went against everything AOL mandates. At the center of every callflow is “3 no’s and a go”. The salesperson can pitch any three ideas, but if the customer is still not interested then the account is canceled. If you don’t like the phone routine you can always cancel by fax or mail, information on these are available at keyword “CANCEL”. And yes, the faxes and mail do get obeyed. I saw them properly entered on many accounts.

If you hate AOL, like I now do, the best way to hurt them is not to bitch to fellow consumers or agencies like the BBB. AOL has been thwarted at every turn by the FTC, which is just itching to shut down the entire concept of retention. If can complain to them enmasse, this would be over.

I am more then stunned after hearing the recording of that call. I’ve had AOL for over 7yrs and I must say and admit that their customer service is by far, the worse I have ever experienced. I do use my AOL a lot so (for now) I have no reason to cancel my acct but I can assure you that when and if I do ever cancel my acct, I now know what to confront and how to approach it. As far as the rep, I am flabbergasted at how rude, nasty and condescending he was. How dare he? I mean yes, I am sure AOL pressures their reps to act a certain manner when a customer calls in to cancel their acct but come on, being rude, I hope is not one of them. I am more then digusted by what I heard and read in the transcripts posted on the CNBC website. Vincent, I more then admire the fact that you kept your cool throughout the call despite of you using just one “fowl word”. I would have used a countless amount of them and would have been yelling at the rep at the top of my lungs. Again, I more then admire your way of keeping your cool despite of having someone talk down on you when you are the customer calling “customer service” for “assistance”.

I listened to the recording, and I feel that the whole thing is an unfortunate situation. While the CSR was trying to do his job, he had no way of knowing that the caller was 1.) Recording the call for the purpose of broadcast, and 2.) Approaching with a one sided opinion that no matter how hard he tries to address the customer’s concerns, he will not be able to overcome. This practice of convincing the customer that they don’t need to cancel the account is not an act of evil. If the account has something to offer that the customer was unaware of, it could be of benefit in the future. This is the case with the closing paragraph of the call. The CSR made the caller aware that he could still keep his email address and such, at no additional cost. As little as the caller wanted to hear that in his angry state, the CSR delivered the message anyway. I am not saying that the CSR is blameless. I don’t think he handled the call as well as he could have, but I also don’t think he needed to be fired over it.

As for comment #47 by awesomeo… You need to quit, get fired, or otherwise lose your job! It is not good for the company, the customers, or even the disgruntled employee to have people in the organization with such a lack of pride in their work. Find a job that your heart is in, and you will have a happier life.

YES. I work for AOL.

YES, I am proud of the massive technical marvel that makes up every small part of the AOL service.

YES, there will always be a certain section of the population that will hate AOL no matter what. For these people, I am sorry you feel the way you do.

For everyone else, and our customers especially… You are the reason I go to work each morning. So think of this as you read all of these negative posts… For every person within AOL who feels that it is an evil corporation, there are many people like me who are proud of what we do, and will be with the company until the end.

No company is perfect. It is not hard to find things to be angry about with any company if you are looking. If this post only gets a few hundred negative responses in comparison to the tens of millions of people who we work hard to serve every day, I still think we are doing pretty well.

Have a good day.

Oh, what an amazing piece! We can all relate. I remember where I was when I dumped AOL. I just wrote about it on my video blog… http://www.willvideoforfood.com.

Then I ended up staying up well past my bedtime to make this tribute to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JYIXzfhel8

Hope you enjoy the video version (2 minutes)

Well since vincent was probably the last aol member and this guy couldn’t keep him it is no wonder he was fired – no need for him any more

Having worked for AOl just recently I have read all the posts. Most of the people responding w/horror stories are idiots. I was in Retention and the guy that mentions Netzero is exactly correct. Most customers call to cancel. Its the retention specialist job to find out why? Are you satisfied w/the service? Is it too expensive? Do you realize that by giving up AOL that if you don’t have Secutity installed on your computer that your giivng that up? Do you have DSL or Cable modem? AOL does offer AOL highsoeed in some areas. Ever heard of TIME WARNER CABLE? Well people AOL OWNS TIME WARNER!!!!!! In most areas they have special rates with other cable companys and DSL carriers so they can offer AOL Highspeed for 25.90. This price includes the price of the highspeed connection. Most customers have no security or they did but decided that it was not needed. Big Mistake! Some posts mention cancelation fees. Well again most customers don’t read the TERMs OF SERVICE and the cancelation fees are told to the customer when they agree to the special rate. Its amazing how many people “forget” that when they call. Some AOL plans have cancelation fees. BE responsible for your actions people. I am not a fan of AOL but it is a ggod company that has a strong customer loyalty, the problems with most of these posts are that alot of customers DO CALL with a chip on there shoulder. I think AOL should go after this Vincent guy for taping the call without first informing the retention specialist. In most states that is against the law. If you care as to why I quit, well it was due to dealing with a bunch of assholes that would not allow me to do my job. Allow the AOL reps to hit there “marks” and most will go ahead an cancel your account. There are always “bad seeds” but this John guys only mistake was at the end when he was reading the confimation of cancelation. He should have never said we can keep you on the phone all day..That was wrong! and last but not least don’t call from work to cancel your account…its just stupid. Most employers don’t pay ther employees to do personal business on company time….

I recently cancelled my AOL account after taking advantage of a free trial. It took me 30 minutes to get it through the rep’s head that I was NOT going to change my mind. I think that the FTC needs to crack down on these people once and for all. AOL is like the Hotel California (You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave).

Had the same problem!
Spent 30 minutes on the phone and my office mate thought I was talking to a machine because I kept repeating “No thanks, I want to cancel my account” over and over and over again

My aunt tried for over 6 months and kept getting “free months” everytime she contacted aol support to cancel, finally she decided to stop her account
I, on the other hand, have also experienced “free months” from aol to stay, finally letting cancelling the charge card that aol had on file so they could no longer charge me . after numerous mailings(snail) to my apartment, finally aol got the hint…but i also moved in the mean time with no forwarding address to anyone LOL.
Aol…the anti-christ ?

Hi, now that Vincent Ferrari is a celebrity, who knows if this message will ever be read! I want to preface that I am not siding with the AOL CSR, I’ve been through the same thing and I feel for Vincent to have to go through that. HOWEVER, I believe the CSR was simply trying to determine the discrepancy as to why there were hundreds of hours logged when Vincent said he never used the account. Why does this even matter? Well, maybe there was a relative or friend that WAS using this AOL account, and you can argue that the CSR *MIGHT* have helped Vincent by noticing this, and having whoever this mysterious user keep their internet access.

Now, I know it got out of hand, because Vincent was very clear in saying that it doesn’t even matter who used it, that he just wants to cancel it, and at this point the CSR should have just obliged.

So I’m sorry if this isn’t a popular opinion, but I think there was SOME merit in the CSR’s questioning, albeit the last half was completely ridiculous on AOL’s part. Curious if anyone agrees to my thoughts?

I’m surprised at all of the people that believe that John was in the right and just “doing his job”. If, as a customer, I simply want to cancel my account without enduring the Spanish Inquisition, so be it. To believe, as a business, that you have the right to impose your will on your customers is arrogant and “biting the hand that feeds you”.

I had a free six month subscription to AOL when I bought my latest PC. I tried it and found that I disliked AOL which was nothing more than personal preference. While I didn’t have a tremendous amount of hassle canceling, my problem was the barrage of phone calls at every time of day and night trying to get me to re-up. I continually reminded the callers that I was on a national no-call list and they were violating that. It wasn’t until after 3-4 weeks of several calls a day that I explained to an AOL caller that they were violating the no-call list and that I had documented 38 cases of this violation, that I was able to force AOL to quit calling me or risk huge fines.

Because of their arrogant actions and disregard for their customers’ desires, I will never again subscribe to AOL.

It’s the supervisors of the CSRs that need to be strung up.

Now about that employee. I’m sorry but the a-hole got what he deserved. Just who the heck does he think he is to tell a customer “we can argue all day long”? He practically threatened NOT to cancel the account if the customer refused to listen to his paragraph!

I think Vincent handled this well. People who know me would tell you, I would have been screaming profanities at him about two minutes into it.

Anyone defending aol or even the CSR on this really needs to wake up. Yes, a CSR is practically forced to follow certain rules. But again, to tell someone “we can argue all day long” is enough to make many people seriously think about catching a flight just to meet you face to face.

Before anyone points a finger and says I don’t understand customer service… I’m Senior Systems Admin at an ISP, and direcly deal with hundreds of customers a month, in varying states. So, yes… I too deal with customers. And at my height of frustration, I have never started having that sort of disrespectful tone with a client.

That’s not to say I haven’t run outside muttering incomprehensible curses, after hanging up the phone.

Amen let me tell everyone here that I will NEVER use AOL again. I had cancelled(or thought I had) my aol account, but they didn’t cancell it like I had asked a million times and charged me next month which made my bank account go under. I don’t like the way they run things and I know 3 other people that this happened to . When you tell them that you want to cancell they do everything to keep you (including lying to you).

Keep up the good work and I am glad that you recorded that call.

….Is anybody going after these clowns legally?? I had to use a 3 way phone call with a FRAUD INVESTIGATOR from my credit card co. ( Chase ) , and they lied, THEY LIED to the FRAUD INVESTIGATOR..!!! Finally, after about an hour of being transferred litterly around the world, we wound up with someone in oklahoma city ( I think ) that finally cancelled the account..!!! Obviously, the get paid for waht they sell, and GET DOCKED if they cancel someone, so you have to find a “new-bee who’s “stupid enough” to actually cancel you.!!!

Saw you this morning on Today. Way to go.

A lot of fuss going on here about a persistent AOL customer service rep who was trying to do his job but took the wrong approach. Having heard part of this illegal recording on CNBC TV, I have no doubt that the customer service rep should have understood earlier in the call that you were curt and close minded and did not want to engage in any conversation and just wanted to cancel the account. I can understand your frustration however the issue at hand leads me to many questions as to how you handled the call including its recording. If you were the customer service rep, I wouldn’t have enjoyed talking with you either.

I have been an AOL customer since 1996. I have cancelled my account a few times for various reasons but most often to save a few dollars when another ISP offered 6 month specials. I always returned to AOL because its value, due to content, always exceeded the competition. I never encountered a rude AOL rep however I disliked talking to reps in Indonesia for various reasons. I also recall speaking with a rep or 2 that may not have handled the call properly in terms of fielding a technical question. Such types of customer service problems exist virtually everywhere. There are many other companies that are far worse with respect to customer service both on the front line and their supervisors. Your incident, in my humble opinion, is overblown and should be extended to the real culprits out there, both on the phone and in the stores.

I think CNBC should be directing their energies and resources by assigning their journalists and correspondents to corruption on wall street and to investigate the real reasons WHY crude Oil is stuck in the $65 to $75 trading range. If they reviewed the increases in the price of oil futures with corresponding headlines and reasons for those increases over the the past 5 years, they would realize traders bid up the price of oil over the same headlines over and over again with little regression as those issues dissipate. I believe CNBC does not want to spend the time or step on toes in the insane world of trading at the NY Mercantile exchange. Pretty weak in my opinion. I will CC this to AOL and CNBC.

Good Luck with your 15 minutes of fame.

I tried to cancel aol June 19, 2006. The first time I called I also got John. He kept telling me I was the boss but kept butting in with this offer and that offer. After 20 minutes I was finally told he would connect me with my confirmation number only to be hung up on. When I called back I was on hold for 20 more minutes before I talked to another person. If John was fired I don’t know when because I caught the Today show June 21st and I recognised his voice on the tape playback.

I worked for the cancelation department for AOL in Orlando Florida. And as with all sales jobs we went though 2 weeks of extensive training on keeping customers. Out on the floor you are set up in teams you had goals and other incentives. Being the moral person I am when you were confronted with people like Vincent all you really wanted to do is cancel his account. They told you that you were suppose to after three definate request by the consumer. But that wasn’t the truth. If you didn’t do what John did you quickly lost your position and livelyhood. I feel sorry for him. He sounded like he was under alot of pressure to meet his sales quota. AOL does alot more underhanded things then the cancelation department. Which reminds me I better get on the phone right now and cancel the 6 months free trial for just buying my DELL even though I never installed it AOL will start billing the credit card I used to purchased it with. Hows that for morals.

Hey everyone beware of AOL. Don’t buy into this free 90 day trial. I tried this out about 2 months ago. I got my credit card statement in the mail and it had a charge from AOL. when i called them the guy told me it was because its a 25.99 cahrge for the FREE 90 day trial. Thats pretty missleading if you ask me.

I must have had the same operator when I tried to cancel my account a year or two ago. My experience was very similar to yours. They fired this operator for his handling of the situation but after hearing this it reaffirms what I thought: this has to be a company policy. Since my bad experience I hate AOL and refuse to use any of their products!

Just saw you on the Today Show. Thank you for recording the call. I had the same experience, but your customer service rep was much nicer. It took me three times and over 30 minutes to cancel my account as the first two reps refused to cancel the account, would not let me speak with a supervisor and told me I needed to “think” about what I was doing since I had been a customer for 6 years. They wanted to know the reason, why would I want to leave such a great company, etc. I told the third customer service rep that this was my third time, did not want to have a conversation and just cancel the account. I went on to say that I was recording the conversation and that if they did not cancel my account immediately that I would use the tape to take legal action as my time was valuable. They immediately cancelled the account. Took less then 3 minutes. I will NEVER use AOL again and have dicouraged other from signing up. Thanks Vincent!!!

I’m so happy to hear I’m not alone. I’ve had this experience with AOL not once, but TWICE. It was a horrible experience. I swear I must have talked to the same customer “service” rep. I even asked to speak with his supervisor (which he wouldn’t allow me to do). I submitted remarks to AOL about the experience, but of course, never heard from them again. Thank you for recording it–I wish I had!

I don’t have an AOL cancellation story but a “forced signing up” story. My wife and I never had AOL, and we had recently moved to a new apartment. One of the first pieces of mail that shows up is a bill from AOL for $24.99 for their internet service. It was totally ridiculous considering that we don’t even have a land-line telephone to connect to the internet and we used TWC cable internet. The funny part was that letter was directly addressed to our new address, with no forwarding from a previous one.

To get back at AOL, I pick up their free installation cd’s from Walmart and use them to play frisbee. Atleast my game has improved thanks to AOL.

After signing up for broadband with a new company I cancelled AOL and then noticed that months later I began seeing charges on my credit card statement again. AOL claimed that someone had once restarted my AOL program and since AOL had kept my account on file, it reinstated the account, and charged my credit card, although no one had been actually using it. It took a while, but I finally got AOL to completely CANCEL the account meaning I would now have to supply them with new credit card information if I wanted to use the service. I had to go through their fraud department to get reimbursed. So, just make sure you really are cancelled and not just put in limbo land until something starts you up again.
Terri

I had an account for 5 years and when the account was hacked and someone started getting me TOSed for stupid garbage I called AOL to try to straighten it out. What happened was the Indian guy on the phone said that the United States Consitution and Federal laws do not apply to them for computer crimes and that they would be cancelling my account for me. Nevermind that I had resumes and such out there with my AOL address on there for employers to contact me on, and I lost contact with most of my friends because of it. AOL, you do fall under the US Consitution and US laws. Stop kidding yourself, you are NOT the greatest thing since sliced bread.

I had terrible luck with canceling AOL, and so have a few people I’ve spoken to. I spoke to a guy who was th rudest customer service guy I’ve ever spoken to, who threatened to ruin my credit and harass me until I paid $48 he said I still owed. I then spoke to a really nice helpful woman, but in spite of her efforts to fix my account and credit money back to me for the abuse I suffered, AOL ended up charging me more than twice what I was to be credited. AND, I still get notices saying I owe $48. Not only are they ruthless, but there service isn’t even any good.

I saw your story and can relate to you although my experience took only 20 minutes. It should not have taken that long because people have the right to cancel services when they choose and the strong armed tactics at AOL are horrible. I will never use AOL again. I hope that their PR people are reading these messages and realize that they (AOL) have a credibility issue.

Wow, I can’t believe this, the exact same thing happened to me. If I didn’t know better I’d swear I had the same AOL rep. I was only being charged $2.95/month just for email service, I had it for years and never used it. The rep would not let me cancel it, he gave me the same bull story as Vincent. I finally gave up and agreed to keep it but I planned to call my bank and have them dispute it. I hadn’t called the bank yet but in a couple of days I got an acknowledgment letter in the mail from AOL stating that I had agreed to keep their service but on the back of the letter was a form that can be faxed back to AOL if you want to cancel the account. I sent it in and voila, it worked, they finally canceled it.

OMG!!!!! This exact thing happened to me yesterday! First, it took 8 minutes to actually get a human. I know this because Im trying to keep 3 kids quiet and entertained while I was on the phone. Finally a lady, Mary, comes to the phone and gets my info and then says about our being a customer for 8 years and how she sees I just used their site today (duh, where else do you get their phone number?) she tried to sell me many things and offered free service for a month among other things. She then wanted me to sign on and check out their Spyware keyword to prove they were blocking all of my spyware, I was polite at first then became angry and loud with her to no avail. I asked if she had a supervisor that could get me through the process quicker and she still kept going. Needless to say we were over 15 minutes at this time and my patience with her were gone. She could clearly hear my kids in the background and was being totally disrespectful to me at this time. She then said there was one more piece of info she was legally required to read to me and I told her she could read all she wants and it would do nothing for me. All said I spent 28 minutes on the phone with this ‘witch’. I dont care if AOL bought everyone out and was the last company offering internet, I would go without!

Lesson learned from these comments:

If AOL won’t cancel the account in a timely fashion, go to your bank to have the charges refused.

As for Jon being “fired” (btw- love the use of the tem immolate!), I’d really like to see what REALLY happened to him. He obviously was operating under AOL’s retention policy.

I stopped using AOL when I realized how invasive the software was on my computer. I eventually dumped that computer and vowed that I would never install ANY AOL software again.

As for the comment about how rude you (Vincent) were, I disagree. You were very clear and concise about what you wanted. My opinion is that ANY internet provider should allow you to simply cancel on line- the fact that AOL forces you to call demonstrates that they want you to talk to someone that is a trained retention specialist.

I think that AOL’s practices are improper and insulting to human dignity. Kudos to you Vincent for getting them in limelight and exposing them for what they are.

Thank you.

I am so glad I am not the only one who has had this problem. I cancelled my AOL account but continued to get billed on my credit card for about six months. I would call each month and spent hours on the phone with AOL trying to cancel my account. Finally my only option was cancelling my credit card. Thank you Vincent maybe now AOL will cancel accounts.

UNBELIEVABLE – I watched the Today Show this AM (6/21/06) and could not believe it – someone had just as bad of an experience with cancelling their AOL service as I had!!!

I had an AWFUL time cancelling my TRIAL AOL service last Spring. My conversation was longer and worse than Vincent’s – the AOL Rep could barely speak English, but was JUST as pushy and irritating.

It got to the point that I told her I was going to hang up now and to send me confirmation that my account has been cancelled. Like you, I repeated this SEVERAL times. My husband couldn’t believe what he was hearing – and he was only on my end of the phone call!!!

I gotta tell you – I was red in the face, shaking with anger and upset for HOURS after this call. And, I vowed to NEVER use AOL or let any friends use AOL from that day forward. And, this was a simple 2 week trial!!!

Glad to know I am not alone!

I just went through the same thing with aol just 2 weeks ago. If you really believe this guy John lost his job I have some swamp land to sell you. This practice is appauling

I HAD THE SAME THING HAPPEN TO ME. IOT WAS AWFUL. THE GUY KEP ME ONLINE FOR 1 HOUR WITH ME SAYING OVER AND OVER, JUST CANCEL MY SUBSCRIPTION. THEY ARE IDIOTS

I also tried to cancel my AOL account last October, was talked into a free month of service to try to keep me, then when I confirmed the cancellation as asked by December 2, my account was turned over to a collection agency for Decembers charges and I am still receiving bills for that month even though I had no Aol service! I am so sorry I ever signed up in the first place. Thay always called me a “Preferred Customer” because I had the account for almost 5 years.Never again!

I went through the cancelling bit with AOL… LAST APRIL!! They kept taking money from my checking account inspite of the fact I received my cancellation letter and number! They were NOT suppose to charge me after 04/25/2006 however managed to get away with another $55 on 06/07/2006 stating “there is a window in posting charges for early cancellation.” My bank said “it looks like a ligitament charge, it’s an early cancellation fee,” but from the date of cancellation and according to the letter “NO FURTHER CHARGES WILL BE DEDUCTED AFTER 04/25/2006″ however..now, verbally, AOL says “we have a window to the time allowed to charge you that early cancellation fee.” Several phone calls later to AOL (all of which I got a different excuse for each phone call as to why they did this and over drew my checking account to the tune of $145.00), a few phones calls to my bank AND a visit to my bank, all of which they apologized, but couldn’t do anything, but as a courtesy, they will note the acct not to let AOL withdraw any more money for the next 6 months, I STILL had to pay the returned check fees and the over draft fees! AOL SUCKS BIG TIME!!!!

I had a similar problem with AOL…I called and cancelled the account. I told the guy I was divorcing and moving and that maybe in six months if things were better, I would come back to AOL… only to find four months later they billed me for four months of service on my credit card. After getting no where with a customer service rep who insisted there was no one above him to speak to, the better business bureau got me my money back. Then I found another charge on my account and they told the BBB that it was because I have to give 30 days notice to cancel. I was tired of fighting with them, so I gave up trying to get $14.99 back and instead let everyone know what happened, and was happy to hear nearly everyone I know who uses AOL cancelled their accounts as well. The way they treated me has caused them to lose me as a customer for life as well as those around me. It’s sad to see after so many people having the same experience, they haven’t learned a thing.

AOL has done this from the very beginning. I had AOL way back when there wasn’t many other choices. It took me months to cancel my account. Luckily I was getting billed every month and paying by check, so they didn’t have my credit card number. The only way I got them to cancel was to stop paying, which I would encourage everyone to do, who is unfortunate enough to be in their clutches. These people are crooks and always have been. Besides being the most expensive ISP service in history, their software infiltrates your computer, and even if you are lucky enough to stop being charged, you’ll never be rid of AOL until you get a new computer. Whatever you do – NEVER install those “Free” service disks they send through the mail.

Just listening to the audio brought back flashbacks of my own experience on the phone with AOL about 8 months ago. I, too, had an AOL account for about a month on a free trial deal. I decided I was more advanced than most of the basic services AOL provides (I can surf the web reasonably well), so I wanted to cancel before they began charging me. My experience was a virtual mirror of yours. I don’t remember the rep’s name, except that it was a male. He absolutely refused to cancel the account after probably 15-20 minutes of effort on my part, trying to be as nice as possible. Out of anger, after he refused to cancel, I hung up. Several days later I received a letter from AOL saying that to cancel my account, I had to return the letter with my reasons for cancelling. I dutifully filled out the letter’s questions and mailed it back. Then a customer service rep called me back and wanted to know why I wanted to cancel. It was as if he had never read my written response, which he had in front of him. After arguing for a good ten minutes, I finally just yelled, “cancel the account, I refuse to pay” and hung up. Since that time, I’ve received too many to count requests to restart my service. Incredible. Absolutely incredible. I wish I had had the presence of mind to record my phone calls.

I had the exact kind of hellish experience with AOL, repeated several times, with multiple represetatives.

I also would find myself repeating, in the most measured, polite voice I could muster: “Cancel the account. I’m done. Don’t like it. I don’t want it. I don’t need it. Have a high-speed connection with another ISP.”

And would actually hear things like, “How can you do this to me? After all I’ve done for you?” from multiple representatives.

Furthermore, they continue to try to reinstate my account. I’ve never experienced such ridiculous harrassment.

I had the same experience with AOL about 4 or 5 yers ago. I only got AOL temporarily during a temporary absence of my regular provider. Used it for 2 weeks, after which it was almost impossible to cancel. Yuk. Congratulations on showing them up.

I totally see the frustration! When I tried to cancel they denied that my credit card was on file even though they charged that card. They made it very difficult to cancel. It was about 2 hours on the phone. I will never use the service again!

Thank you so much for finally showing AOL for who they are! I had a very similar situation three years ago. I was on the phone with the rep for an hour while he tried to give me everything but the kitchen sink. I thought he had cancelled it and while we were getting ready to hang up he said he had me set up for two months of free service. I am a very nice person, but I had to yell at him I didn’t want ANY service.

I agree with Ken too, they sent me a letter to confirm my cancellation and I was charged until I received the letter. When I finally got the letter ( I can’t remember exactly what it said but it sent up a red flag for me to call them), I called back they said that they had no record of me cancelling my account. Finally after months of dealing with them it was cancelled.

What a crock. AOL are lying about customer service. I am finally glad someone has hard proof of it. Good for you Vincent!!!

Comment 259 says that the rep did not know he was being recorded. Each and Every call center employee who works in a call center has to sign a statement with their HR staff allowing their calls to be monitored by their company. The recordings you hear before you get to a rep says, this call may be monitored. If there is such a recording then THEY ALREADY KNOW it is being recorded, so the customer recording is covered since the company makes that disclaimer at the begininng of each call!!!

Saw you on the Today show this morning. Great Job!! So glad this is getting some attention. I had the same experience calling to cancel my brother’s account. I called as him ( he had a terminal illness ). I recieved the same treatment. If I were near that phone person at the time I would have beat him senseless! I don’t remember ever beeing so mad! You rock Vincent! Keep up the good work!

I have a horror story for you regarding AOL. I tried out their service on a free trial. After a few months of having the service and rarely useing it i decided to cancel my account. i was given the same runaround as to why i wanted to cancel my account and yadeeyadeeyadee we went on for 10 minutes. A few months later I received another AOl disk and decided to give it a try one more time. I only had it a few weeks when I had to cancel again due to moving. when i called in the Cust. Service person informed that I never had cancelled my last account(which I did) and that I would be billed for the time which I never used. sure enough a few days later a bill arrives in the mail for roughly $130. i couldn’t believe it. I called AOL and spoke with this very rude girl and she confirmed what I was told before. lets just say that conversation was not pretty. I have not paid that bill and never will. My advice for AOL users… RUNNNNNN Thanks Kenny

I know I am number 300 and something, but I saw your appearance on the Today show. I had a similar experience with AOL. I decided to cancel them after they charged my credit card twice a month for a couple of months. When I called and questioned them, they blamed it on my credit card company. When I called to cancel, the customer service rep gave me the third degree about cancelling, then informed me that I was cancelling in the middle of the month and that I would need to call back at the end of the month to remind them to cancel me! I said to bill me for the rest of the month and get the hell out of my computer. As I talked to other people, I heard other horror stories. I have a friend who cancelled and it took two years for them to stop billing her.
I can’t believe how this company can get away with this!!!!

HOW FUNNY! We had an AOL account years ago and it took months to cancel the darn thing. I hate AOL and would never have an account with them again especially after this validation that it wasn’t just us having a hard time cancelling

I had an incident with AOL myself. I had AOL a few yrs ago and I cancelled it. My bank account was charged 2-3 months every month after that. I called AOL back and told them to stop and that I had cancelled it and wanted a refund. Well they told me they could only refund me for 1 of those months because I did not say I wanted it cancelled IMMEDIATELY. It has been 4- 5 yrs since this has happened and I STILL have not received the refund they owe me.

I see where AOL apologized and stated that this was in violation of their policy. Well, when I cancelled my AOL account I had the same experience as Vincent. I would venture that AOL is lying thru their teeth when they say it was a violation of policy. Based on what I have heard from others and my own experience, it is “policy” for their customer service reps to do everything in their power to discourage the customer and get them to give up on canceling their service. I have been in the customer service side of business for over 20 years and am totally appalled at the outright gall of AOL and how they treat a customer who wishes to cancel service. They are despicable in their customer service practices and should be sanctioned for it. I will never use them again and I encourage everyone I speak with not to use them either.

I am so glad that you caught them in the web of s*ht that you have to go through to cancel it took me a total of 10 calls 4hr 25 min to finally get them to cancel my account but would not credit from the 1st day i called to cancel but kept saying they don’t show any other calls about this matter. Thank goodness for cellphones it logged all my calls to them.

At first i was sad that the guy got fired but hey he is an adult and knew what he was doing and wouldn’t like that done to him or his family. (they probably got NETZERO) last note check your credit card

Had this same issue a couple of years ago. Mine took about 30 minutes to cancel. The funny this is I let the guy go on and on about how great the software was, and then still told him to cancel it. He kept pushing so I let him talk He was kind of upset but if he had just cancelled the account in the first place he would not have had to waste time.

Aol Brutally canceled my account , only to bill my credit card the next month with fraudulent charges which resulted in overdrafts , what a nightmare, to this day I am still awaiting credits from there fraud dept , everyone who cancels should also request that any screen name with their account payment info should be canceled as well

I went through this same exact phone call with whom I am 99.9% certain was the same John. I run a restaurant that carries the local news rag and every couple of months, they are stuffed with the AOL CD with the 1001 hours of ‘free’ service(would take that long to download a few songs on AOL). In my efforts to be a good samaritan, I pull out the CD’s and put them where they belong, in the trash. I don’t want my customers going through the same thing that we and so many, many others have gone through.

Vince for the most part employed the “Broken Record” technique. Let the other party dodge and weave while you keep repeating your request over and over.

John hung in there longer than most customer svc. reps.

I cancelled AOL in Jan. ’06 after 7 yrs of svc. My disconnect episode was much, much easier.

U.F.B.! ….. Approx. 10 years ago I had the very same type of problem with AOL removing their monthly charges from my credit card. It took ONE YEAR to get it resolved. Ever since that time I have told as many people as I possibly could to NEVER use this company. Actually I have caused several to change providers, which to this day makes me feel GREAT! I was only made to feel better when I heard of this case getting national attention. WHO WAS THAT PERSON on the AOL side of the call???? Instead of going to India, does AOL have a phone center in a mental institution somewhere???? It just sad to think that even if AOL terminates this person he will probably work somewhere else dealing with the public.

I cancelled my AOL almost a year a half ago…and it took me 3 months before they finally cancelled it…

I tried to cancel it on February…but would still get billed the following month…then I would call again, and be given what I thought was a reference cancellation number…then…get billed again the following month…the reference number I would get is always the same…it’s like a generic number, they issue just to satisfy the customer…but if you bring that number during cancellation process…they don’t have a clue what it is…

I did ask for a supervisor…who got irate with me…because of my insistence on cancelling the account…

AOL finally stopped billing me in May…after calling them continuously for 3 months…

I think my cancellation experience with AOL was worst than any other customers…I should have taped my conversation with AOL and sent it out to the media, also…

AOL’s apology letter…is faked because…all those people who work in the cancellation department are trained to give you as much trouble as possible if you try to cancel…

I’m hoping more people will come to realize that AOL is a rip off company…and more people will cancel their account.

I had an experience just like that about a year and a half ago. Just like your experience, the guy kept trying to keep me on the line as long as possible. And then, just like your experience, when he finally relented and decided to go ahead and cancel the account, he turned into a total dick, making smartass remarks for another couple of minutes before he finally gave me the damn cancellation number.

Long story short: AOL sucks.

Thank you for having the presence of mind to record your conversation; hopefully other people won’t have to put up with the same garbage that we have.

Listened to the interview with Mat Lauer – and the recording. Glad you went public.

AOL started to bill me for service when my free year supplied with the computer was up — even tho’ I had switched to another ISP from the get-go. ( Hmm – I guess they got the card # from Gateway) When I called to stop it –I had to argue with the rep but they did stop it – after 2 months @ $25 each — and w/o my knowledge or OK, the “customer rep” signed me up for their buying plan – a bill which showed up on my next credit card bill. I was not as calm as you were the next time around.

It seems pretty clear that aol tolerates or encourages this. I lost about $50 — multiply that by a few million, and pretty soon you are talking big money.

In NY, I think Eliot Spitzer’s staff had looked into aol…
Anyway, thanks for going public. But I don’t believe it was solely an individual at fault.

Bravo!

I tried complaining to AOL recently about the large and incredibly irritating banner ads that just recently started to appear on EVERY email window and slow down the computer. These ads are flashy with too much motion, and keep changing every 30 seconds or so.

A few months earlier, AOL made the big banner ad at the bottom of the mailbox start changing every 30 seconds or so. Just as you click on a message and then will hit delete or enter, the ad refreshes and takes the focus of the mouse to the ad and away from the message you clicked on. VERY FRUSTRATING.

All these ads make the use of AOL software virtually unusable.

I was unable to get even one reply from all my emails to AOL. The account cancellation people claimed ignorance of these ads. Tech support claimed nothing could be done and also said they had not seen them.

I called AOL corporate HQ in Virginia but continually got transferred to people who could not help.

As a paid customer, I feel these highly distracting and intrusive ads are insulting. It’s like the old NetZero free access where you had to have ads take up a big chunk of your screen–except that I PAY for AOL!

There simply is no way for an AOL customer to communicate a message to anyone in AOL that cares what customers think.

Only by going public like you have will AOL listen!

Thank you for going public. Now maybe they will listen to their customers and act to please them, not just please their advertisers.

I’d appreciate contact info for the AOL executives who finally contacted you to apologize, maybe they can help me.

If this is not Class-action lawsuit waiting to happen I don’t know what it.
somebody should forward this link to a lawfirm ungry for a very large case against one of the bigest companies(AOL/Time Warner) in the country.

I would love to be part of it. What they are doing is organize rapacious crime.

Come on people you are all idiots man. It’s the same with EVERY DAMN INTERNET COMPANY OUT THERE! Are you all really thinking that AOL is the only one like this. I tried to cancel People PC and went through the whole thing as well but I just drove the guy crazy instead and he was DIEING to get my A$$ off of HIS phone. So you put up a blog about it who gives a rats a$$. I’m really sick of people crying about there bad experiences like a bunch of cry babies. Get over it man really, so you had a bad customer experience you say? I dont really car because we’ve all had it happen so listen to me play the worlds smallest violin. Your a grown man act like one you pudd instead of trying to get others to feel sorry for you.

After a half hour on the phone with aol trying to cancel my account I called my husband into the room and told him that they were refusing to cancel. We laughed at the guy on the other end. It took a total of 45 minutes to cancel. What the heck is wrong with these people. I’m sorry this happens so frequently. Thanks for listening.

I saw your piece in the Today show this morning. I have the perfect solution for any would-be AOL cancellers – and it works.

Last year I called to cancel my AOL account. Knowing of the horror stories ahead of time, I was fully prepared. When they asked me why I was cancelling, I told them I had only a short time to live (which was a lie). This worked and shut down the phone agent immediately. He was tongue tied and the rest of the call was short and to the point.

I can believe this because the same thing happened to me. I ended up closing down a checking account because they wouldn’t stop charging it & then when I thought I finally had it all straightened out they said they had to have a card number to credit what they had over charged. Stupid me, I fell for it & a few months later they started charging my credit card! When I called to complain the guy on the phone was just plain rude and basically told me “too bad” so I ended up having to cancel that credit card account as well. Those crooks basically stole about $200 from me. If anyone here decides to start a class action lawsuit against those bastards, i’m in.

All I can say is, I thought I was the only one who had experienced the difficulty in cancelling AOL. Thanks dude!

Chris

My cancellation of AOL was a night mare, they would not listen and I repeated Cancel my accoutn at least 30 times. They continued to offer be better pricing, even free service. I was so irritated I was screamming at them. Finally, they completed the cancellation…but the night mare continues…..I get phone calls from AOL every other week with them trying to get me to sign up. On the verge of harrassment. I am close to changing my phone number. I wish I would have recorded it. These nightmares are not one off situations. AOL needs to get with it out they will be out for good.

I was actually an AOL employee – at the same Ogden Call Center where this employee John worked. I heard the PR response on this “the employee is no longer with us”..what a weak way of handling this. Unfortunate he is an example of the culture the company has brewed…it is instilled all day long “what is your saves rate?”…it is the number that matters. There is so much pressure in saving the client rather than servicing the need…I certainly believe in a certain level of retention but the expectation that is provided is so unreasonable…if you don’t make 3 attempts to save an account, you can get terminated. I was really hoping the company would have come forward and said “We apologize and are embarrassed by this level of service…The company is doing everything in its power to review its processes”. There is more Sales Pressure in an AOL Consultant job then there is selling cars on any day. Consultants who have done the job eventually become immune to it and don’t realize what they are doing to people. So AOL execs, this is your chance to step in and change the procedures….don’t fire the little man who just fell into the company’s culture.

Oh wow. Read the statement from Scott Falconer for a pure example of what I am talking about. Not only does it shift responsibility for this occurence from the company to the call centre operators, it manages to imply a threat because operators may not be upholding their ‘Member Advocacy Commitment’. It also makes it clear that it was the way the call centre employee dealt with this, not what he did.
There’s also so much meaningless jargon in this statement (“World-class member experience” anyone?!) it defies belief.
Bonus points to the person who posted Scotty’s ‘missive’.
Good to see AOL follwing the coporate credo of covering it’s arse first, then threatening employees, and then saying nothing for the rest of the statement. Good work Scott, your bonus is safe.

I just tried to cancel Aol after my free 6 month of service because we decided to go with yahoo DSL. I am not kidding I was on the phone for 20 minutes and my husband counted at least 10 or more times I said could you please cancel. He finally cancelled it with hesitation and after the computer gave me my confirmation number I pressed 0 for an operator. When the next lady came on the phone I immeditely asked to speak to a supervisor. When I state the reason of being keeped on the phone for over 20 minutes to cancel. She then tried to say she didn’t understand why I was so upset. Put me on hold for 10 minutes then came back on the line and said they were currently on the other line and unfortunatly there was nothing they could do but offer me a free month. I then was very angry and basically told her where they could stick there free month.

This is not a new problem. I attempted to cancel by phone back in 1994. They simply would not do it – kept billing my card. I called five times, each time waiting on hold for more than 30 minutes and was told they would cancel and didn’t. Finally, I went onto the tech support chat area to try and address the issue and was told I had to call. So I strung together every vile profanity I could think of. My account was canceled for violation of terms of service by the end of the day.

I never even got to talk to the idiot at AOL, the system hid so well the process for cancelling. So, I called my credit card to cancel my monthly charge from aol at that end but they wouldn’t so I had to cancel the whole damn card. What a nightmare.

I think I’m gonna get a free trial and cancel it an hour later without ever logging on.

What I say will go along these lines:
AOL: Hi this is John, can I help you?
me: Hi, I’m Bryant and for your information, I’m recording this call for quality control purposes…I need to cancel my account.
AOL: [insert save attempt number 1 here]
me: My daughter used my private information to sign up without my permission. I do not want AOL, I do not want another free month, I have free high speed internet that my uncle pays for, and I do not want to pay for a service I did not sign up for.
AOL: [insert save attempt #2 here]
me: [like a broken record]My daughter used my private information to sign up without my permission. I do not want AOL, I do not want another free month, I have free high speed internet that my uncle pays for, and I do not want to pay for a service I did not sign up for.
AOL: [insert save attempt #3 here]
me: Do you want me to sue AOL for knowingly participating in credit card fraud?
AOL: [insert save attempt #4 here]
me: [like a broken record]My daughter used my private information to sign up without my permission. I do not want AOL, I do not want another free month, I have free high speed internet that my uncle pays for, and I do not want to pay for a service I did not sign up for.
AOL: [insert save attempt # 5 here]
me: Let’s make a deal, OK? If the supervisor who is listening to this is not available right now, you cancel my account. If he is available right now, let me speak to him.

blah, blah, blah.

I wonder how many man-hours they’ll spend on me.

Then in a day or so, I can try again and cancel again, with more man-hours wasted on me. I’d just repeat the exact same line, except this time say that “once again, my daughter has used my private information to sign on.”

I wonder how many times I can sign up and cancel before they stop offerring me more trials.

I’m rofl just thinking of the potential fun I could have.

I have heard from a reliable sorce that the CSR get a bonus for getting you not to cancel your account. It should be a crime. I heard that the rep got fired but if it is true that it’s AOL policy I think the CSR could have a law suit for wrongful termination. AOL is terrible has always been terrible and looks like they won’t be around much longer.

I had the same bad experience about 5 yrs ago, and wish I had taped it because I couldn’t explain it well enough to my friends. It was so unbelievable that I felt like I was in some kind of desperate verbal nightmare from which I couldn’t wake up. It was so bizarre, and I’d never heard anyone else talk about it until the Today Show this morning.

AOL Cancellation. hahahahahahaha!!!!

I sent an email to cancel aol. They said I had to have it in writing. I put it in writing and mailed and faxed it. Not good enough. They still kept taking the payments out of my bank account. I wrote, faxed and called (spent 20 minutes on the phone)…still not good enough. Sent another letter and fax from an attorney…still not good enough. Had to put a stop payment on my account. Got a note from AOL that they were going to send me to a collection agency because I had not paid them. I think they finally stopped…mmmmm…maybe not. Since I couldn’t get through to them, I got through to all my friends. Poor AOL.

I just heard about this from MSNBC’s Countdown program. They played a small section of the tape. Yes, the CSR is rude. I’m glad I never had to worry about getting on AOL.

finally, someone can speak the truth about AOL. When we signed up for AOL
my kids were both UNDER 18. I wanted one account with 4 e-mail addresses, they gave me 3 seperate accounts and charged my phone line for each account. when I finally realized what they were doing my phone bill was for over $500. I tried to call AOL and explain that they had made a mistake, and the accounts were for two children. I asked that they stop charging me for the accounts. They kept charging me, told me it was my fault( that my children were minors). I kept trying to cancel the account and each time it was a new excuse, they would tell me I didn’t want to do that, as if threatening me, they would transfer me to other people to a dead end, meaning the line would just go dead, put me on hold for long periods of time, so that I would just give up, when you work who has the time to make trying to cancel your AOL account another job. I finally had to have the phone company cut off my phone service so there would be no account to charge. I tried to tell them I would bring action against them for giving two minors accounts and they laughed. They knew exactly what they had done one account with one payment or setting up three accounts with three payments, and it was my fault, right

To all of you that say that you terminated AOL with no problem:

Don’t be so sure until 6 months has passed. The experience I described above unfolded over several months. First a call to a guy who gives me the hard sell but that call only lasts about 10 or 15 minutes. He agrees to terminated, we hangup. 3 months go by and WHAM there are AOL charges out of my checking account. Then the fun begins… 30 minute phone calls. Accusations that I never closed the account. Final step…terminated my debit card… Bank employee says “everyone closes their debit card or checking account to escape AOL”

I work for a Financial Institution and believe me I have had my fair share of people wanted to put stop payments on drafts after numerious phone calls to try and cancel their accounts.. To top it off.. when AOL or any company sends in a request to draft a checking account it comes in with a ID #… well it was almost guaranteed that once AOL got their notification that there was a stop payment issued, they would change their ID # so the draft would try and come through.. That’s why I told our customers to still keep an eye on their account cause they could still draft because they will go to no end to try and collect that money.. So not only is it in the call center but in other depts within AOL….Shame on them….

Yep. Typical AOL tactics. They lie like dogs. Anything for that short term gain of sucking money out of some poor sucker. Funny thing… no matter how much they screw you over… after you have finally broken away… AOL will continue to send those darn AOL disks. They got straight into the trash.

Verizon does the same thing. I called the other day to cancel my dsl with them and it’s like “What’s the problem? What’s wrong? What’s the matter? Why do you want to leave?…” I made the mistake of trying to explain to this guy that everything was fine with my dsl, it wasn’t broken, but I decided to go to cable because it was faster. I just wanted a connection with more bandwidth than what dsl could provide.

He wouldn’t listen. He kept trying to spin it as if I had a complaint he could resolve or something. He tried connecting me to tech support to see if there was something wrong with my bandwidth. I told him no. The bandwidth I had was what I was promised and what I was paying for. It just became this whole thing. I’d say I want to cancel and he’d say. “O.k. let me set that up for you. I’ll transfer you to tech support. One minute.” I’m like “No, that’s not what I said. I just want to cancel it.” Then he repeats himself. He’s like “One minute, I’ll set that up…” And I’m like “Sir you’re cancelling it, right. Cancel it. That’s what I want. I don’t want it anymore. ”

It starts getting all personal. The thing is I actually knew better. I went through this with aol before, and with other companies and people too in my life. I actually knew the drill. Problem was I was feeling in a good mood and didn’t want to have to play the asshole to get what I want, although I knew I should have. I regretted that I didn’t. I must’ve spent 10 minuties on the phone going back and forth with this guy just to cancel my account. I didn’t need that badness in my day.

When I cancelled my aol, I knew exactly what to do and it worked fine. This was a couple years ago. I didn’t get into all that bullshit I did with verizon recently. I had advance warning. I told a guy at work I was going to cancel them, and he said “good luck”, and told me his own horror story with them when he cancelled his. But I knew I hated aol already anyway, because they spam you and call you at home to try and sell you more stuff. I only had the account through the trial period because it was my first new computer and I used aol to search for other isp’s. (by the way, if you want dial-up and none of this kind of bullshit, go with “Sysmatrix.net”. They are everything a dial-up company should be, and nothing it shouldn’t. I had two hassle free years with them before going to dsl. Even then I kept the account for awhile, just out of sheer devotion. I loved my sysmatrix.)

When I cancelled aol, I was ready. I know where people make their mistakes here, and why you got into trouble. It’s because you gave a reason for cancelling. I did that too with verizon. I told them why. I said I wanted to try Road Runner for the better bandwidth. When I did that, I opened up the floor to argument. That’s what you did too. You said you didn’t use it anymore. He picked a fight with you because you said you didn’t use it anymore. You gave him a reason, and so somthing he could argue about. That’s where you made your mistake, and anyplace else you gave him a reason for your request.

What was pissing you off was the guy was arguing with you, that he was putting you in the position of having to satisfy him with a good explanation, but you don’t owe him that.

What would have made the cancellation go off without any of that would have been if you didn’t offer any reasons, or any explanation, not even to say that you aren’t going to explain yourself. That means calling up and saying “I want to cancel my account”, and when they ask you why you just say either “I just want to cancel it” or “I just don’t want it anymore”, “I just want to” and stick to it. Then he’ll try again most likely to get a reason out of you, but instead of ever giving a reason, you just keep saying ” I just don’t want it”, and you say it like it’s the simplest thing in the world to understand: “I don’t want it. I just don’t want it. I want to cancel it.” If he askes you why you want it, you say you “just do”. Only state what you want. Dont’ say why. Don’t justify or explain or give reasons. That’s all.

Your mistake was in letting him get something out of you for him to argue with you about and to attack you for and try to discredit your reason. But just saying what you want without offering any reasons for it is the way to go. It’s not a situation where you owe a reason.

The right thing for that guy to do, was that if he wanted to know why you wanted to cancel, he shouldn’t have used it as a condition of cancelling it. I think it’s fine for someone to want to know why, but that’s something they should ask for once they already agreed to go ahead with the cancellation. Then you can tell them or not, but no one is trying to make it a condition of doing what you asked. It’s your money! They don’t have the right to do that.

Also, at the end, I think I would’ve told the guy to take his “paragraph” and shove it. I felt like telling him to go “F” himself, as I was listening to it.

f.y.i.

i just heard this clip played in birmingham, al 6/21 on the 9 oclock news (nbc 13, birmingham). maybe if it spreads far enough across the nation, companies will figure out that customer loyalty is absolutely vital to the success of their business and they will put more emphasis on it.

AOL flat out does not want to lose customers. When you reach a customer service representative to cancel your account they are supposed to save that account at all cost. Now being rude is not one thing they are encouraged to do but saving the account is key. Our daughter worked one week in that department — no she is not in India, she is in Oklahoma — she was fired because her loss rate exceeded the accepted percentage, which is if remember correctly was very low.

AOL could fix this problem by simply allowing people to cancel their accounts when they want to and not firing their representatives when people want to cancel the account. The thing here, as we all know, is the customer wishes to become a former customer most often because they have found a better deal. This is usually the reason people give something up. It is no one’s fault, it is life.

Contrary to popular opinion, closing your card doesn’t always work. I know a lady who tried the free trial, cancelled early, started getting billed, cancelled the card, got her bank account charged, She froze the account, aol still charged more to that account, She closed the bank account and still got charged on it again. Then aol turned her over to collections. 6 years later still nothing fixed and she is out thousands of dollars for charges aol customer service cannot even explain. They are almost as bad as Direcway A.K.A Hughesnet.

Another way to put is that when you give these “retention specialists” information, you give them ammunition. He asked you why you wanted to cancel, and you say “I don’t use it anymore”. That “I don’t use it anymore” is ammo. It’s information you offer just like giving bullets to someone with a gun aimed at you. You can’t do it. They will just shoot you.

That’s what he did too. He used that to shoot you. He said “You have account activity…” That was a bullet, and you loaded his gun with it. He’s using that information to belittle you. It’s belittling because he’s keeping your account active with it. He’s judging your reason as not an adaquete reason for what you asked. So he’s making a decision for you with what you gave him. Information you give him is what he’ll use to make the decision for you to do what he wants you to do. No reason will be good enough because he’s deciding which ones are, and to him, none of them are. It’s not what he wants

So, if I may presume, the lesson is that reasons are ammunition in a situation like this and they’ll only work against you. Getting free of the situation without the humiliation means not giving them anything they can use.

Like I said, I don’t personally mind giving anyone pretty much, my reasons for anything, but not on the condition that they have to accept my reasons for me to get what I have the right to, wether they accept them or not.

It would have been fine with me to tell the verizon guy why I’d decided to cancel. They can actually use that information to maybe do better. That’s fine, but that’s not what he wanted it for. He wanted it in order to wrestle with me over it. That’s what he preceded to do too.

Having a connection with aol or verizion, whomever, means them having some power over you. When you try to leave, they don’t want to give it up and resort to unseemly tactics to keep it. They use that bit of power, like charging you’re debit, to try to get you to justify why you’re leaving and then they decide wha’ts justifiable and what’s not. They spin the relationship that way to make a sucker out of you.

They can pretend that it’s up to them to be the judge of your reasons for a decision. If you fall for that, that they are the ones who decide if you know what you are doing or not, and of course if you are leaving them, you must not know, like “John” said, that he was trying to save you from a bad decision, then you don’t get out of the contract painlessly.

So giving reasons and information in respect to your decsion in a situtaion like this always works to counteract your decision. It’s self-defeating.

Im sorry but you were a jerk to begin with to that poor rep. People can be such asses just because they cant see someone they think they can treat you the way they want. NO THE REPRESENTIVE wasnt in the right in fact he was very annoying but you were just an ass you can hear in your voice
You knew what you were doing and you were fishing for a bad call. Im sure there are a lot of people with bad experiences with aol and other company but you brought that one on yourself buddy.
I am so sure that the rep wasnt just making up that it was beeing used wether it was you or someone else. Come on he was just doing his job and you were making it difficult seriously how hard is it to just be polite. Sure the rep could have handled it differently but you didnt help matters. You went into that call knowing what you were doing and knowing you wanted a bad outcome and that is just as wrong if not worse then the way the rep handled the call.
In no way am I defending AOL in fact I think the company is a piece of crap but that doesnt meen you should call up and be an ass just becaus you can. Their cancelation process sucks in fact im surprised it was so easy for you to cancel then again you were an ass. One good thing that may come of this is maybe aol will take a hard look at what they put their emplys and customer through just to cancel but exposing and employee for that is wrong if you really wanted to hurt aol it should be aol not someone who is just doing a job.

So you illegally recorded a call with AOL, and you are a hero? wow, I have to say your moxie is amazing. Wonder when they will file a law suit against you for that, since they supposedly have protection against a recorded call. When I went to cancel I told them I had the call recorded and I was put in touch with their lawyers, All I know is I turned off the tape after they told me what they were going to do to me. You have some brass fucking balls if they can do half of what they said. But maybe you can afford the attorney fees for years that I can not.
Netzero much better FYI

AOL – the Wal*Mart of ISPs

As a former employee (albeit short-lived because you have to be an incredible liar, a robot completely immune to customer wishes and needs, and pathologically oriented towards your own, escalating commission rate) of Streams, Inc., one of the many contractors AOL uses (and many other industries use) to perform customer retention, which is what they call the department you reach when you call to cancel your account, I can tell you without question, the ordeal this Vincent Ferrari was subjected to is typical. You cannot cancel an AOL account online except by providing a method of payment which does not remit your monthly fee. Even then, AOL will suspend your service, continue to compile monthly charges if you are on anything other than a month-to-month contract, add interest, and mail you a bill ad infinitum.

AOL JONATHON–although AOL says they fired him for this incident–was more likely fired for failing to stay on message with the dogmatic four point schtick (value, security, yadda yadda, blah blah), or for failing to retain Vincent Ferrari as a member in the first place. Streams spends a month indoctrinating new reps into feeding this load to the subscriber (AOL prefers the term member, likening you to an appendage).

This renders the remark from Nicholas Graham, Executive Vice President of AOL Corporate Communications:

At AOL, we have zero-tolerance for customer care incidents like this

total bullshit. It is company policy. Moreover, it is a science.

At AOL vis-a-vis Streams, there is no freewheeling such as AOL JONATHON did by saying, “it would be the worst thing you could do,” or by asking to speak to Vincent’s father. There are 4 minutes of required dialog, that is scripted such as to browbeat (and rudely overtalk) the member into submitting to continue the account for at least one more month, whereupon the representative garners minimum commission. A retained member is called a SAVE and is recorded by hand on chit sheets, which supervisors collect daily to compare to reports of member records whose accounts were accessed and either retained or canceled that day.

Further, AOL JONATHON did begin to utilize the script, to wit: “Do you have a high speed connection like dsl or cable?” Yet, he did not mention the hokey encryption feature for the debit/credit card number you register with them? to make online purchases, the crappy anti-spyware and LE version of McAfee anti-virus AOL promotes, the leaky parental control obstruction; nor did he offer the member a reduced monthly rate, or one or more free months of service.

AOL likes to keep their hold time higher than 11 minutes, anticipating you will hang up in frustration and forget about canceling until the next month. Incidentally, the 4 minutes of propaganda the representative is required to utter must be effected within 8 minutes of average talk time per call, else, the call should be considered a loss, so they can answer another call.

For the record, one other AOL company policy is that once you have adequately identified yourself to the representative as the subscriber, or as someone else who is authorized to make changes on the account, all you have to do is say: “I want to cancel my account,” and hang up. You do not have to hear them agree to cancel, ergo, you don’t have to listen to all the crap Vincent (and gawdnose how many other millions of sufferers) was (were) subjected to (although it does appear Vincent had fun doing so, and even more fun publicizing it).

AOL records and retains every phone call, every keystroke by phone representatives, and every incident of access to individual member records for at least 90 days. If the representative fails to terminate your account and you call back the next month because you have received a continuing charge rather than a final, that customer retention representative is fired, summarily. Most firings, however, are due to attempts to fudge Saves, in order to boost commissions.

JR Ford (formerly AOL JON)
UP (Unsubstantiated Press)
St. Petersburg, Fl.
sixtimeseven@aol.com
forty-two
Bushisms and Other Ridiculous Ideas

Fantastic that you recorded it. If it was illegal, and I am not sure it was if they informed YOU that your call may be recorded for quality assurance I suspect you were entirely within your rights to do so as well… but even if it was, good job.

Amazing tactics. I wonder if that rep will hear the call and bring a recording of it in to his next salary review?

Why do you all care about this so much…All business’ want to keep their customers. They ask you questions so that they can understand if you are having money probs and really want to keep AOL they will offer a better rate. So many haters. They still have millions of happy customers, me included. I’m not so dumb that I don’t understand them wanting to turn a profit. Go figure. If you want to cancel, put up with the damn phone call and keep saying no, that’s how that works. Are you all telling me that no one has ever been pushy to get your money?

Jaime, you shouldn’t ever have to say more than once that you want to cancel something. It shouldn’t take a 30-40 minute phone call to cancel service. And those millions of happy customers, such as yourself, need not worry though since you most likely will not be cancelling your service. And if they don’t want so many people cancelling maybe they should offer better service where you can actually stay connected long enough to use the internet that you are paying so handsomely for.

My connection works. And I called in and got a cheaper rate. It’s not hurting my wallet. I just don’t understand why people are surprised at the “retention” efforts. I don’t think calls should last 40 minutes either, but I think people probably call in all ready for a fight, when it doesnt have to be, thats all.

You’re conspiracy theories are great!!!hahaha Someone wrote “that it should be a crime to get a bonus for not cancelling accounts”…If you have ever bought a car then that damn sales man should be in jail for lying to you and taking a commission. I used to sit in on sales meetings and they talk about getting a car sale as another kill and laugh and laugh about all the money they took you for.

I just think it’s funny how the name of the web site here is “insignificant thoughts” yet everyone here is spending the early hours of the morning bitching and complaining about AOL. Here’s an “insignificant thought”, get a life and go to bed dumb asses.

Hey Marsha,
Are you saying that you can’t handle a phone call without making up stories (lies) to get what you want. Stand your ground when you want to cancel something, that’s all it takes. Be more confident.

I agree, the phone call was not handled with the best customer service. The customer service rep. could have took a different approach on trying to convince Vincent to stay with AOL, Rather then just repeating over and over “there was usage on your account” However, What is the deal with Vincent? He calls to cancel and doesn’t even tell the Customer service rep, He’s recording the call. I thought that was illegal, I’m sure this guy, “John” will press charges against Vincent for releasing the audio footage. On top of it all, It sounded very clear to me that Vincent was provoking the Customer service rep. Listen to the call and see how rude and short Vincent is with the customer service rep. Vincent sound like an 8 year old, yelling “la, la, la, la….I can’t hear you!!!!”
Furthermore, I have high speed, DSL.. I also called AOL to cancel my service when I got my DSL hooked up and I got a customer service rep that convinced me to keep AOL with my highspeed. I didn’t like the idea of paying twice, but the rep explained to me, that when I cancel AOL…I would have to surf the web through internet explorer, which was true. She explaine to me, “It’s kind of like cable, when you get the extra channels like, HBO or Cinemax, You pay extra for it…..Because It makes it better” Thats when It made sense to me. She also dropped my price down to 4.95/mo because of the fact that I already have DSL through Qwest. I am glad she convinced me to keep it because in all honesty, using inernet explorer is really dull and I didn’t have to change my e-mail or any of the settings I had with AOL. I like the XM radio with AOL….Oh and I love the fact that when I sign on to AOL, I have it programed to where Madonna greets me and tells me I have mail! What other internet provider does that! hehe

Vincent is trying to get as much publicity out of this as he can, He had it all planned. Poor little ol’ AOL guy (John) who got fired and will probably sue Vincent.

# james Says:
June 13th, 2006 at 3:26 pm

too bad if you send this to AOL, they will probably sue you becuase it’s illegal to tape phone conversations without telling the other party…or have that beeping in the background.
–

actually that’s only in some states, most states only 1 party to the conversation needs to know it’s being recorded and since you are the one doing the recording, you know…

I work for an AOL contracted company calling people to reup there accounts … i need the money i know… and all I hear is do you know how hard it was to cancel, glad i heard this call.. They have to rebutal about a thousand times.. I only have to do a couple thank god.. I would have got fired for talking like that… this guy is a prick…..

Man, competing ISPs should offer complimentary AOL cancellation as a sign-up bonus. The ISPs could just train their reps to say “Cancel the account” then repeat “no” over and over. In fact, they could just have a recording say “no” for about half an hour then come back to see if it’s been done or not.

Are you people crazy? This is NOT ACCEPTABLE. Don’t whine about Vincent’s “bad attitude