morbo
Complete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000
clubs:
 ·Charter Pipeline
 ·AT&T Southwest
1 edit | new law: REQUIRE CANCELLATION VIA WEB
here's something that has bugged me for a long time: no company has "cancel" service option on their online account administration. some don't even have "downgrade" service options, yet everything else under the sun is offered.
requiring companies that have a certain level of account admin online to also have a CANCEL or DOWNGRADE option would solve this problem (and cut down on the endless cancellation stories from the consumerist too). It would potentially cost you all the goodies from the retention department, but keeping 40+ minutes of your life is worth it. giving consumers the choice is what it's about.
of course, corporate lobbyists will be out in force if a law like this ever makes it to the hill...
edit: to the parade of idiots (should be arriving soon) chanting "no new laws", just leave. |
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Pizz
Hi
join:2000-10-27
Astoria, NY
·Verizon Online DSL
·RoadRunner Cable
| By making it on the phone, they're hoping their retentions department will make you stay. they'll keep you on hold to try and drag out as much as they can out of you, so you'll eventually hang up. its a old trick used by shady businesses for years.
you just gotta file complaints with your BBB or the state they're operating in, contact the FCC as well, and make a huge stink about it. |
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kinabrew
join:2002-02-01 | reply to morbo
That's a great idea. |
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wilbywilson
join:2001-02-24
Arlington, VA
| reply to morbo
I've sent this exact request to numerous companies before, particular DirecTV. I can go on DirecTV's website and add a package, but if I ever want to unsubscribe from that package, I need to call in. It's just a field in their database!
DirecTV is one of the shadiest companies when it comes to these tactics. They also will charge your bill at the *beginning* of the month. So if you had subscribed to say NCAA March Madness (starts in mid-March), they will charge your bill on March 1st. You might notice this in your credit card bill online, and you when you call in and say:
Customer: "I don't want this package this year...I in fact told you to discontinue it last year".
DirecTV: "Sorry, we bill at the beginning of the month. And we see no record of you cancelling that package."
Customer: "The hell I didn't cancel that package, over the phone and with a followup email! Besides, the coverage for that event doesn't even start for 10 more days from now...so just cancel the package and refund my money please."
DirecTV: "Sorry, we bill at the beginning of the month and cannot reverse the charge, even if the event has not yet started."
Customer: "Jesus Willy. Transfer me over to the customer retention line, please."
That's about how all of my conversations go with DirecTV. And I wish to God I didn't have to threaten for the Customer Retention line, but they honestly leave no choice. |
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PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium
join:2005-01-03
·CableOne
| 
Base Package Selection | 
Premium Movie Package Selection |
said by wilbywilson  :I can go on DirecTV's website and add a package, but if I ever want to unsubscribe from that package, I need to call in. It's just a field in their database! I don't know about you, but I can go to DirecTV's website and select ANY package, including a smaller, cheaper one that what I currently have, and I can select or DESELECT any premium (HBO, Starz, Showtime, etc.) movie package I want.
Sounds like you have been doing things the hard way.
--
A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any other invention, with the possible exceptions of handguns and Tequilla. -- Mitch Ratcliffe |
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linicx
Caveat Emptor
Premium
join:2002-12-03
United State
·CenturyLink
| reply to Pizz
Amen, Lou Cifer! I did and they credited my card with over$100. Then they sent some smarmy SPAM calling me a valued Vonage Alumni inviting me to come back. Come back to what???.. I still don't have a telephony device that works.
For three months these idiots tried to convince me the telephony device failed due to latency issues. Maybe, but it didn't fail the previous nine months. Neither did the latency. There's been a bottleneck at D-FW for 12 years. DSL and cable is rarely bothered by it.
I traveled the four state WWW super highway for almost 15 years in three states with a multitude of generally substandard Internet providers (they are all defunct). These ISP's were, to a service, all routed in and out of D-FW. Nothing much changed for me until I broadband came to town.
The moral to the story is that while this guy was pinging my number when my phone was disconnected, he was trying to convince me it was latency at the same time. Now how could I be on the Internet with him, if the backbone was nicked??? In this area, the answer is "no one has service." It's up to a telco like Bell to reroute Internet traffic - which is something it loathes to do and never did. Service to ISP's was never a Bell long suite.
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Mac: No windows, No gates, Apple inside |
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othas3
join:2002-07-15
Los Angeles, CA
| reply to morbo
I like telling this story, so I'm going to tell it again! I was an OG AOL user. I had AOL 3 times and after the 3rd time, I vowed never to use them, ever again.
1. When AOL no longer met my needs, I simply clicked on the cancellation button and I was gone!
2. After my 2nd go round with AOL no longer met my needs, I went looking for the cancellation option, but could not find it. After digging through all of the menus, I found it hidden. Click, gone.
3. After my 3rd go round, I went through all the customer service related menus and couldn't find it. I did a search and found the option....that then told me I had to call and cancel. When I did, I found myself playing 200 questions with a dialbot who would ask a (1 for) yes and (2 for) no question. If you answered wrong, the sphinx would kill you...I mean, you'd hear "Whew, thanks for not cancelling, good bye.", and you'd have to call back and start all over again. It took me 3 tries to cancel the service, with the other two times leaving me staring at the phone looking like Daffy Duck after he had said, "It's duck season, FIRE!"
I would deal with them one more time after they decided to start billing me for my compuserve account that I hadn't used in 5 years, since I had sent a cancellation later. They claimed that I could only cancel over the phone. I said let's see what the BBB and the Florida AG say about that. They agreed to stop billing me. |
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