 SandSharkLong may you runPremium,MVM
join:2000-05-23
Santa Fe, TX
kudos:3
2 edits | reply to Lauriel
Re: What a troll... said by Lauriel:I remember repeating over and over that I wanted to cancel my account. The representative just kept going on like she never heard a thing. She asked me who my new ISP would be. I didn't feel that was any of her business, although I'm sure AOL likes to know to whom they are losing business. She asked me questions about whether or not my new ISP had "7 layers of protection." Before I could say anything, she added, "They don't." I finally asked her why she was making it so difficult, after about 15 minutes of trying to cancel. She said to me, "Ma'am, I'm not being difficult, I'm just doing my job." I would absolutely hate to be an AOL representative. I couldn't stand driving people crazy like that, and dealing with the responses that come with it. AOL probably loses a lot of customers who get some skills and no longer need training wheels and the high price that goes with them. I'm sure that's why they offer all the freebies. Then they called a few weeks later to try to get me to sign up again. Like someone said, customer retention techniques are one thing, but AOL is like a bulldog--grabs on and doesn't let go. Back in the day, before there were many choices, I had AOL. Even then, seven or eight years ago, I had the same thing happen to me when trying to cancel. It was worse than pulling teeth. Finally, after convincing this person I was cancelling (my blood-pressure must have been off the scale), I was so relieved to get off that phone! Guess what, they kept billing my credit card for another three months afterwards, even though I never used the account again after cancelling.
On a side note, I had the same type of problem cancelling my DirecTV account. The guy on the phone kept asking me question after question until I got so frustrated, I asked to speak to his supervisor. Even after the supervisor got on the phone, she wanted to offer me free months not to cancel. It must suck having a job like that!
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| reply to Dennis
Re: No kidding Hey, those cancellation people do have their uses...
I've had so many problems with AOL's tech support (trying to help my mom solve issues and such) because their Tier I tech support people don't really know anything and are just reading a script..."What version of Windows are you using?" "How much RAM do you have?" I called to ask why I'm getting "permission denied" on the toll-free access line I'm paying for..what does my version of Windows have to do with anything?
So...I don't call tech support any more, I just call the cancellation line, and when they ask why I want to cancel, I tell them what the problem is, and lo and behold, it gets fixed. See? They're useful.
Of course, not if you really want to quit... |
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 winkyTurn Left At The Moon
join:2001-02-11
Saint Louis, MO | reply to Goldman
Just think of how much that adds up to if everybody who cancelled got screwed out of just one more payment. AOL could make as much money going out of business as they do staying in.:D
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 khc987
join:2001-08-22
Jacksonville, FL | reply to SRFireside
said by SRFireside:AOL goes much further than having a reinstate account button. They truthfully keep an account open well after you have it cancelled. They continue to bill you for the account you no longer access and requested cancelled. They tend to "forget" those phone calls where you said you wanted out. Then (at least in the early days) they call you incessantly getting you sign back up again. I know this from personal experience. But didn't you get a cancel confirmation number? Did you read the notice sent by US Mail stating that your account was canceled or remained open or did it go straight to the trash? mabee you got no letter because you never updated your contact info. No confirmation number means no cancelation and member was told the account is still active. |
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 DaveDudeNo Fear
join:1999-09-01
New Jersey
kudos:1
 ·Vonage
·ViaTalk
| said by khc987:said by SRFireside:AOL goes much further than having a reinstate account button. They truthfully keep an account open well after you have it cancelled. They continue to bill you for the account you no longer access and requested cancelled. They tend to "forget" those phone calls where you said you wanted out. Then (at least in the early days) they call you incessantly getting you sign back up again. I know this from personal experience. But didn't you get a cancel confirmation number? Did you read the notice sent by US Mail stating that your account was canceled or remained open or did it go straight to the trash? mabee you got no letter because you never updated your contact info. No confirmation number means no cancelation and member was told the account is still active. Thats lame, if someone calls and cancells it means they dont want the service. Your sound as bad, as those people against do not call.
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| reply to anonpronman
said by anonpronman :
Explain what? get a dictionary.
troll - One who posts a deliberately provocative message to a newsgroup or message board with the intention of causing maximum disruption and argument. |
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 avantareGo Tribe
join:2000-02-16
Warren, MI
3 edits | reply to anonpronman
For anonpronman,
Hmmm... You must be all the reps I talked to at AOL. Please explain to me/us in a logical and concise manner how leaving is a gross injustice to AOL? Make sure you weigh both sides of the debate here. Bet you can't convince me or anyone else here for that matter.
Oh, and if you're worth your word here try getting an account and stop posting anon. Else you really are a troll.
EDIT: spelink
Chuck |
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| reply to khc987
AOL comes pre-installed on many machines, CD's arrive in the mail, it's on the driver install CD's for lots of unrelated products, and you can sign up for AOL online in any number of ways.
But to unsubscribe, you can't do it online and have to call and wait usually for an unacceptable length of time, to talk to someone who's main goal is to revent you from doing what you were forced into calling them on the phone to do.
If you can sign up online, you should be able to cancel the same way. |
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 jtudorXm 60's On 6 FreakPremium,MVM
join:2002-12-07
Morganton, NC | reply to anonpronman
Sorry but I have to disagree with you here. I have heard of customer retention, and I know how it works. However there is ethical customer retention, and unethical customer retention.
Its ethical to offer a customer a discount, or a free month to get them to stay.
It's questionable when the CS rep makes it almost impossible for you to say no, or nearly refuses to take no for an answer when all you want to do is cancel.
It's unethical when the company is deceitful in their practices and continues to bill you when you have asked to discontinue.
And by the way, retention is not preventing you from cancelling, it is attempting to convince you to give the product another try by offering you an incentive. Way different from "preventing".
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| reply to Goldman
"Retention is one thing. After you've asked to cancel and AOL still charges you, it becomes theft. AOL has done this for years. They shouldn't get away with stealing from customers that wish to be former customers."
they did that very thing to me in late 1996 when i attempted a trial dial up run.
they actually got an additional 2- months of charges out of me after i cancelled. i had to call them a total of 3 times to cancel before they stopped accessing my billing account. |
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Roop
join:2003-11-15
Ottawa, ON Reviews:
·voip.ms
 ·Cybersurf Corpor..
·Caneris
| reply to Anonymous
customer retention is not something unique to AOL. I read time warner does it on their cable and internet service (rr, earthlink, aol).
my old isp (bell canada) has a retention helpdesk. if you ask to cancel, they transfer you to the retention folks. they said "if you cancel, you may not be able to get your unique email again" and "you have to be careful switching to cable, some of our cable competitors have many hidden fees unless you get their bundled services. cable internet is shared and not as fast as dsl".
i then told the retention agent that i had both dsl and cable. dsl got 1.5mbits and cable got 5.0mbits. that was the one and only reason i wanted to cancel. |
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| reply to 8744675
said by 8744675:If you can sign up online, you should be able to cancel the same way. I remember way back in the day when you could do just that. I guess I can't blame AOL for taking that option away since it was SO easy to cancel after signing up for a "trial" membership when on vacation away from home for a week.
But still that is no excuse to make it ridiculously difficult to cancel on the phone. I got so fed up with the tactic that I stopped using AOL for internet access during vacations and just went with tollfreeisp.com and pay by the minute. I never use the internet that much during vacations anyway, so it comes out a whole lot cheaper and with no anti-customer support representatives. |
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1 edit | reply to kapil
actually the account is cancelled on the day before the next billing period is what they say.
I just cancelled and they locked my account saying Password Invalid so i can't see if they cancelled mine. But i do have the cancellation number and the guys employee ID number if its true---but i'll be calling the bank to have charges sent back if they try and bill again.
got charged $50 in 800 number charges for dialing a local number using a guest account at my step sisters house... but they offered 2 free months if i paid $10 which wasn't supposed to been charged to begin with! LMAO
the rep even started to ask me why i used AOL--such as websites visited and such. I told him it was none of his business.. and he asked me what to put in the box that he had to fill in. told him to put none of the computer's business. other wise without the questions being answered and them being nosey it doesnt cancel. |
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| reply to khc987
said by khc987:But didn't you get a cancel confirmation number? Did you read the notice sent by US Mail stating that your account was canceled or remained open or did it go straight to the trash? To be honest I do not remember any confirmation number. Then again I have NEVER had to see confirmation numbers or mail notices when cancelling other services, including other ISP's. Oh waitaminit... AOL did everything online. They never mailed statements anyway. So that avenue is out. Are you sure you know what you're talking about? When somebody calls in to cancel their service that's all the confirmation that is needed for just about everybody else.
If AOL indeed was using your methodology on cancellation then they would definitely be in the wrong since it would be easy to "just forget" to give the confirmation number and "lose the mail" for any postal statement. That would help AOL with their continuing to bill because those would be handy excuses. Too bad they don't do that. Just listen to actual ex-AOL users who had to deal with this. There are thousands of them out there... at least. |
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 eliasPremium,VIP
join:2000-07-24
Miami, FL | reply to Dennis
Are you allowed to cancel in writing?
It seems as though they have a call center full of David Spades:
-- Elias
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My Webmaster Gig | Crunching the Midnight Oil |
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| reply to Dennis
Only idiots use AOL in the first place. Why computer makers even put AOL pre-installed on your computer in the first place is beyond me.
Getting rid of AOL is almost as hard as getting a divorce. Uninstalling it requires basically reinstalling your computer since it is a "virus."
I did have AOL (1999-2003) and every other month called to cancel and got 3 months free. If you work AOL's "system," these idiots will basically give it to you for 3 months paid and the rest of the year free. |
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