Comments on: Whirlwind Time:

By: Trish

Trish — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 11:24:00 +0000

I just cancelled my service in May, due to the fact that I hardly use the account, and because they raised rates AGAIN, without me ever receiving the notice they claim to have emailed to all their customers. I signed up for basic dial-up (unlimited, up to 6 email accounts, free web pages, etc.) through my phone company for $5.95 a month, which makes more sense if I’m only going to sign on from home once every month or two.I got the same run-around as everyone else. Also, since I cancelled TWO DAYS after my billing date, they charged me for a full month instead of prorating the bill for that month. I then told the CSR that I would rather suffer without internet than to EVER use AOL again. So far, I have not been charged for service past my full month of canceled AOL. Glad everyone in America now hopefully knows how AOL treats their customers. I have told everyone I know, especially AOL customers, about how they did me. If everyone gets as mad as you did, AOL could stand to lose quite a few customers. Poor AOL….

By: amber

amber — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 02:03:00 +0000

Hi, I have been following this AOL catastrophe and the same thing happened to me. In fact, that guy sounded like the one I spoke to-it was about 1 1/2 years ago. They made me wait 2 hrs on the phone before actually canceling my account. The problems didn’t stop there, I was still being billed on my credit card-and month after month I called and they kept saying we can’t find that cancellation number, and they would issue me a new one and the same thing continued for 3 months. Finally, the fourth time I was yelling and screaming and losing control and then finally I authorized my sister to take over and talk to them. She endured the same frustration for 45 minutes and when she asked for a Supervisor the CSR actually said “there’s no supervisor to speak with right now”- unbelievable!!! Finally my account was cancelled. I swear those customer service reps are like possessed by the devil!!!

By: Debby

Debby — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 17:00:00 +0000

So long AOHELL!!! Vincent, I know you will find a better internet service. I did.

By: Debby

Debby — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 16:55:00 +0000

I CAN UNDERSTAND,HOW MR.F. FEELS. I WENT THROUGH THE SAME THING.AOL JUST KEEPS BLA,BLA,BLA, UNTIL YOUR’E READY TO EXPLODE,ALL THIS TYPE OF SERVICE WANTS FROM YOU,IS TO KEEP THEIR SERVICE,AND CONTINUES TO TALK ABOUT EXTRA FITURES. I WAS A MEMBER OF AOL,FOR A FEW YEARS,I JUMPED OUT,AND NOW,I AM SO HAPPY WITH MY NEW SERVICE. NO INTERUPTIONS,AND THEY CARE ABOUT THEIR CUSTOMERS.

By: Kisty Engel

Kisty Engel — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 15:00:00 +0000

Hi,
Same story as those above. Only my cc company told me that I could not put a stop to their charges without going through the AOL company. I finally closed the cc account / changed the number. The AOL charges transferred to the new number!!!! All the while talking and emailing to someone with the same script as “john” I still wasn’t able to cancel. In the end I finally quit paying the credit card bills(only aol charges on there) and the cc company turned my account over for collection and inevitably ruined my credit. After the cc company wouldn’t apply any more of their charges on my account AOL actually found another of my credit card numbers and started charging the same charge on that. Of course then I had to start all over with the CANCEL MY ACCOUNT!! I WANT NICHOLAS GRAHAM’S EMAIL address so that I too can email him. Can you please provide that to me????
The best part of this all…!!! I don’t know who set up the account in the first place. The “john” would not give out that info. He told me that i had to cancel on line… which was impossible because I didn’t know the password to the account!!
Way to go!! I hope that this story of yours don’t end here. If you ever hear of an attorney wanting to press charges regarding this please let me know.

By: Omicron

Omicron — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 19:45:00 +0000

Just one more reason we refer to it as AOHell.

By: Vinny

Vinny — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 17:35:00 +0000

Sandy, this is my site… Welcome aboard!

By: sandy

sandy — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 17:34:00 +0000

Mr. Ferrari I would love to know if you have a website. I have had more than my share of bad customer service experiences. And I have found that the squeaky wheel gets the oil. If no one speaks up nothing gets changed. I am an avid couponer. Try using coupons and see the cs reaction.

By: Bob

Bob — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 20:32:00 +0000

What would happen if say, several million people went to this link:

http://free.aol.com/tryaolfree/wr6_cntrl/non_qualify.adp?error=-2&rsd=promo%3d713557%26service%3daol%26template%5fid%3ddefault%26page%5fset%5fid%3dwr6%5fcntrl%26session%5fid%3d1150592671%26soap%5fsession%5fid%3d34723%2e1150935660%2e1148300%3aREGISTER2%26offerPeriod%3d3%26offerPeriodType%3dmonth%26offerHours%3dunlimited%26

and requested the free AOL cd – Then threw it in the trash where it belongs. Repeat daily. Many times.
Not a major economic impact for them but hey, you’ll feel better!

By: Carol

Carol — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 19:36:00 +0000

I had the exact same comments made to me when I tried to cancel my AOL account in September, 2005. The conversation recorded and shown on Today was a carbon copy of my conversation. If AOL actually fired John they shouldn’t have because he read the script exactly as it was written by AOL! Shame on AOL!

By: Kathleen

Kathleen — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 19:33:00 +0000

Very similar experience.. I had AOL for 4 years. I cancelled my AOL account to sign up to Netzero. Only problem is I could never download Netzero. evidently AOL put in a firewall I could not delete..Same thing happened with Juno… finally got disgusted and returned to AOL.. I’m so sick of speaking with reps with thick accents that I cannot understand and being on hold only to hear “have your credit card ready.” My computer still does not work well… I figure I’ll just buy a new computer to get away from AOL…. Unfortunately, it’s the company policy… not just 1 individual.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 15:25:00 +0000

Just wanted to let you all know, especially those who are rejoicing in that CSR losing his job. I can tell you from experience on his side of the phone. He was following company policy. AOL decided to scapegoat him, but if anyone out there has worked in a call center, they KNOW that I am tellng the truth. He probably was reprimanded before this incident for not trying hard enough to save accounts, he was merely following the script to keep his job, and now the public is busy blaming one of the victims. I think it should be noted that he was not in the Philipines or in India, which is a miracle, considering the off-shoring of call center jobs. I also think that discussion needs to focus on the Call Center concept, not just AOL. THEY ARE NOT THE ONLY ONES DOING THIS.

By: Kate

Kate — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 14:52:00 +0000

I was so glad to see your interview exposing AOL’s ridiculus “customer service”. I had the very same experience, except after canceling they tried to continue billing me for two more months. After numerous letters and inquiries they finally droped it but it was truly a nightmare. Thanks again!

By: Deje

Deje — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 14:14:00 +0000

I had the same experience and frustrations with AOL! I couldn’t believe how nasty the rep was and then expected me to continue service. Finally he got frustrated with me and said “F— it!” and hung up on me. I tried to get ahold of some sort of supervisor, but that didn’t work. Evidently my service was cancelled since I have not been billed since. I seriously doubt they “fired” John for being rude to a customer. If anything, they might reprimand him for getting recorded and then use your recording for training purposes.

By: Maureen G.

Maureen G. — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 14:08:00 +0000

When your AOL challenge was brought to my attention by a coworker, I just had to find your blog and add my experience to the big giant heap! It was probably around 1995. I had signed up with AOL, it was my first internet experience. However, I did decide to cancel it for some reason. It took me 4 months, with probably 4 to 5 phone calls that lasted one hour each. And each month, there was the debit again on my credit card. I can tell you that this was deliberate and they knew exactly what they were doing. I told them I would call VISA and have them reverse the charges back to AOL and AOL promptly told me that I would be liable for 3-months worth of the dispute anyhow. They are completely evil, utterly worthless, dishonest, and pray in the innocent. Thank you for bringing this to everyones’ attention. –Maureen,
Washington D.C.

By: Heather

Heather — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 13:34:00 +0000

sorry mistake in first comment You are so right. I called the first time and they talked me in to keeping it until Feb. 2006 for free. When I called back in Feb.I was on the phone for 10 mins trying to cancel. Then my husband got on the phone and was on there another 10 mins. Almost just like your call. All we kept saying was CANCEL PLEASE CANCEL OUR SERVICES. I would not care if they were the only ones out there now I would NOT go back with them.

By: Lynda

Lynda — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 13:33:00 +0000

Two years ago I had the same thing happen to me trying to cancel AOL…I ended up cancelling the credit card so they could not charge their fee anymore and told my credit card company that was why I was canceling my card because I couldn’t get AOL to cancel my account. I spoke with a woman who would not let me speak to her supervisor after I repeated my request…had to hang up on her and turn to my credit card company. So when I saw you on the am news I was thrilled you got on first of all to tell the world and also can now let go of my anger over the way that AOL’s “customer service representative” treated me!
P.S. Try dealing with Direct TV….yike!

By: Heather

Heather — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 13:31:00 +0000

. You are so right. I called the first time and they talked me in to keeping it until Feb. 2006 for free. When I called back in Feb.I was on the phone for 10 mins trying to cancel. Then my husband got on the phone and was on there another 10 mins. Almost just like your call. All we kept saying was CANCEL PLEASE CANCEL OUR SERVICES. I would not care if they were the only ones out there now I would go back with them.

By: Janice Poole

Janice Poole — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 12:53:00 +0000

Hi Vincent,
I work as a computer tech in Zephyrhills, FL. Lot’s of older people and alot of long time customers of AOL. I have cancelled many AOL accounts for people when they switch to high-speed.
I have heard many calls like this before from AOL reps. I just never recorded them. Most of the horror stories for AOL is people cancel then get charged for months and get double billed, etc. Reps must be taught never to take no for an answer. Thank you for doing this and bringing it up. AOL needs to fire alot more reps than Jon. AOL sucks!!!
Do a thing on all customer service reps!!! Some are good, and some are just plain awful.

By: Nard

Nard — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 09:31:00 +0000

Excellent job man!
I just saw your segment on NBC.
That will teach AOL!