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AOL Charged me for a free account that was cancelled
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

ONLINE -- I opened an account 7 months ago to get my home computer, which was very old, to work on AOL dial up. I did the free trial run. I cancelled the account 1 week after opening it because I figured out how to get my broadband to work with the old computer. A few months ago I began getting calls from AOL asking about my account from AOL. I told them it was supposed to be cancelled, I have not used the account. I do not know what the last 4 digits of the credit card was used, so, they refused to cancel it again. They began calling every couple of days saying the same thing, until I finally said to take me off your list to call, I am tired of it.

It is very easy to check and see if the account was ever used, but they are saying they can't do this. Any hacker can do it. I did not even know the email address on the account. I have since found it out through spending hours on the phone with AOL. I got a bill in the mail stating that I owe $103.60, for an account that was cancelled and forgotten until the calls. The people at AOL know this email address was not used and refuse to take the charge off. How are they still in business charging people after they opted out of the free trial, and then harassing them? I have heart problems and this is going to cause me to have a heart attack.

If I have to go to court, I will be filing for damages from the stress this company has caused me. The worst thing I have ever done was open a free account with AOL, and then cancelled it a week later. Between the phone calls, and getting a bill over $100 in my mail, I don't know how much more I can take. AOL is saying that they have no records of their company calling me. I have records through my phone company. I am tired of being billed and harassed for a free trial run that was cancelled. My heart can't take much more, and I am at my wit's end. I am to the point of getting a hold an attorney and filing for damages!

I will be going to every forum on the internet and let people know what this company has done to me, and how I have had to calm my heart rate every time I call to have it fixed, because this company just wants to charge people no matter what. They have made it very hard to cancel an account with them, even after the account was canceled, they refuse to cancel it and keep billing. I can't take it anymore.

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Pointless
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

NEW YORK -- Wipes an account clean I had it for 8 years. Did this multiple times over the past few years. I didn't use my account for about a week and was told I was gone for too long so in order to protect my account they wipe it. How is wiping everything going to protect it, there's nothing left to protect? The first time I had precious photos of a pet I kept because I have memory problems and I wanted to remember the pet. They're all gone & I don't even remember what my pet look like anymore.

Any email sign up or contacts I had are all gone. Which again sucks for a person who has memory problems. I had stuff saved as a backup on here for my business & it's all gone as well. After this happened the first two times I knew to never keep anything important on my AOL account. The first time I thought it was a fluke and was willing to tolerate it. But when it happened a second time I was done with that. Now I only use it to kept recipes in it. Their customer service is terrible. They never want to own up to their actions and reply.

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AOL is the WORST Company in the WORLD
By -

CALIFORNIA -- I helped my mom sign up for AOL years ago. I cancelled my account in summer '05 and went through the same things written about here. But when my mom tried to cancel a few months later, the customer service, or lack thereof, was ridiculous. She couldn't get through online via the keywords "cancel" and/or "billing" so eventually she just cleared AOL off her computer and set about trying to phone AOL to cancel her service. When that proved futile, she thought, "well, my card expires in April, so they can't bill me after that anyway." She was wrong.

AOL was the ONLY vendor who she had automatically billed to that credit card who kept billing her on an expired card. Every other company contacted my mother and told her she needed to update them with a new expiration date in order for them to bill her automatically. Finally after trying to call them for months, we decided we would search on the web for a way to cancel AOL - assuming someone out there had gone through a similar experience and written about it. We were shocked to find this site and read so many stories that were eerily similar.

We used a phone number someone posted on here and did get through to Customer (lack-of) Service and were treated like complete idiots.They used phrases with us such as, "okay - once again - to reiterate, since I don't think you are understanding me" etc. They were so demeaning and rude my blood was boiling. They kept asking when we had tried to call before. I finally got on the phone and told them that NONE of that mattered. The history of us trying to contact them was insignificant, we want it cancelled now. He then said, "Okay - well please listen to my instructions so you don't have to call me and scream at me again if your account isn't properly cancelled."

Scream at him? Please... I was reserved considering how angry I was. We were told that if we didn't listen to his "instructions" we might "accidentally reinstate the service and void the cancellation." What the flip does that mean? Finally he started to hang up without giving us a cancellation number. When we asked for one he THEN said, "do you want an immediate cancellation?" AAAHHH! "YES!" So THEN and ONLY THEN did he start the cancellation process. I asked him how many months he was going to reimburse my mom for and he said that he was going to reimburse nothing because the account hadn't previously been cancelled.

He told us it was OUR responsibility to get them the correct credit card information and the credit card company's fault for letting an expired card go through. He was so rude and condescending that I asked if I could speak with a Supervisor. He said, "well this call isn't "escalatable." I said, "Oh really? Well, I'd like to speak to him anyway" and he said, "well I can see if he 'wants' to get on the phone." WANTS???? OH MY GOD! Finally a Mr. ** got on the phone and was ten times ruder than the first guy. He kept talking down to me, and acting like we are the only customers to ever have this problem - basically calling us idiots.

He then said they would email us at the AOL address with a confirmation. I was so frustrated I said, "SIR! She hasn't used her AOL account in over six months - so emailing her there won't help." To which he replied, "well, I said it was going to be emailed there, I didn't say she had to read it." Finally he was so rude I grabbed the phone and told him all about this website and about the Attorney General's decision in New York which was to reimburse thousands of previous AOL customers millions of dollars for their cancellation schemes and tactics.

I told him we were NOT idiots even though he was talking to us as if we were and I told him he could act like this is the only time this has happened with AOL and a customer but really AOL Is known for being shady and sneaky. I said, "We will take up the reimbursement issue with our credit card company" and I hung up. I am incensed. I understand that they don't care about us now b/c we are no longer customers, but that was beyond bad customer service. I can't believe those people get paid to talk like that. What jerks. I've seen dozens and dozens of similar reviews on tons of different consumer complaints websites.

It's truly sad that AOL doesn't care about any of them. The guy I spoke to was so rude and acted like I was crazy and was so patronizing. He acted as if this was the first complaint of this sort he had ever heard. Give me a break. AOL is never going to be my choice of any type of service provider. Period. You can't make up for this kind of horrible customer treatment. Too many companies appreciate my business for me to put up with how AOL spoke to me (and SCAMMED me AND my mother).

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AOL makes it easy to sign up but difficult to cancel without a price!
By -

SOUTH HILL, VIRGINIA -- I should have followed that inner feeling which almost "said" that I should not bother with AOL, but there I was with a brand new laptop, my first laptop after having had several desktops, including a good looking eMachines desktop which blew out, about a week after the warranty. OOps! That is ANOTHER story. Back to AOL; there it was beckoning me to give the FREE FREE FREE trial subscription to its internet services (blah, blah) a try. I could have resisted the temptation, but I did not.

I went for it, although I have been "around the block" so many times and for soooooo many years that I know (?) that the word "free" usually means that if I fall for it, I will most definitely get a bite in the butt or in the pocketbook! And after all that KNOWING and YEARS of experience with "stuff" I still got caught. Anyway, shortly after signing up with the FREE Free trial, I realized that I did not want AOL. It was too aggressive, took over my computer it seemed, made decisions for me. I even wondered if it would make the payments on the laptop. (meow) I wrote, emailed, that is, customer service and indicated that I did not want AOL - the FREE trial after all.

I got a nice email back extending my trial usage if I wanted to stay with it a bit longer: blah, blah, again. I thought "what the heck" and said that I would try it a little longer and maybe it would grow on me. A couple of weeks later, I knew that my first decision was right - get rid of AOL! I tried to cancel online, using whatever information they provided for cancellation, all to no avail. Finally, found online a snail mail address and fax number, both for cancellation. Mailed a snail message to address provided; sent a copy by home fax and sent email to customer service at AOL.

Next, found myself another ISP and went about my merry way until Monday when I went to the bank to check my ATM balance and discovered that my account had been reduced by almost 26.00 on that day and I had bought nothing, nor had I used the ATM and I had ordered nothing online. "So where did the almost 26.00 go?" I asked my bank customer service. "To AOL" came the reply.

I spent hours explaining and explaining and listening to AOL tell me that they had not received the Fax or the snail mail or the customer service email because all the numbers and addresses I used were not REAL AOL information, even though I got the information from AOL sites.

By the way, I had only used the FREE FREE FREE trial for 60 HOURS - all total. But because they claimed that they did not know I wanted to cancel the FREE TRIAL, since they did not receive any of my correspondence, they assumed I was keeping the account which by now was past the FREE FREE (ha!) stages although it had not been used since late December 2005 or early January. Like some other disappointed consumers, I too closed my account for fear that I will not get the cancellation confirmation number AOL promised, but instead they will get more of MY money! I could not sleep that night for thinking about what they could do.

Needless to say, the next morning, bright and too, too early, I was waiting at the bank to close my account. What frauds! Another lesson reminding me to listen to my inner voice even when I do not understand. And for anyone else who is vacillating about signing up for AOL, DON'T!!! Spread the word about AOL - a personification of deception!

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AOL REPS ARE TRAINED TO LIE
By -

I have to say that after I found this website and read all the complaints about AOL, I am now even more disgusted. AOL simply has no respect for people's money. They play with your bank account and don't care if you complain. Last June 2005 I called to cancel my AOL account and was on the phone for almost half an hour with a rep named ** who insisted on giving me a free month to prevent me from cancelling. After listening to his list of reasons why I should not cancel, I decided to accept his offer and stay one more month "for free". He specified that I must call back on or before Aug. 2 to inform them if I wanted to continue my membership.

A month went by and I called AOL on Aug. 2 like I was instructed to. I had decided to stay with AOL so I told the rep to please continue my membership the way it has always been (unlimitted for $24.00). She said she had entered the information and that my billing date will continue as always. Almost at the end of the conversation she said that the charges of the previous month will be charged to my method of payment. I was confused and asked her "what charges?". She replied that the charges were for the month of july 2005 (the month I was offered for free when I called in june).

I immediately explained to her that I was not to be charged for that month and to please look at the history of my calls to them. She said that for the month of july (the "free" month) I was placed on a limited price plan of $4.95 that only gives me 3 hours of internet use and I was being charged $413.26 because "of course" I went over the 3 hours. I of course explained to her what I was really offered and she then said not to worry because I was calling one day before my billing day and that she would take care of that mistake. She assured me that I would not be charged that ridiculous amount.

I was so relieved and so glad that I remembered to call that day and that we caught the mistake on time. On August 5 AOL placed a charge on my visa check card the $413.26 which was immediately deducted from my bank account. I cannot explain with words how furious I am with AOL. I have called more than 12 times and every time have spoken with a different person who gives me a different story. I was promissed by every single one of them a refund and I still have not received anything. All of them have refused to email me a confirmation that I will receive my money back (it's a policy according to them).

Finally this morning I was able to speak to a ** in the billing dept. Who had no problem in sending me an email confirming that I will receive a refund (I guess the policy magically disappeared). He specified that it will take 7 to 10 days in order for the credit to reflect in my bank account. I sure hope that AOL does credit my bank account. Needless to say, as soon as I get my refund I will cancel my membership. I don't even want to see AOL commercials, they make me sick. In the mean time I have already contacted the bbb. AOL has to stop doing this to their customers.

A class action suit should be filed against them and every one who is a member should cancel their membership because they will be victims of this fraud sooner or later. AOL steals from their members. No wonder they are a multi-billion dollar company (duh..because of people like myself who became members). I hate AOL!!! If AOL was the only internet service available I would rather sell my computer and not use internet at all. That's how much I hate them.

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AOL is a good ISP until you want to cancel, THEN BEWARE!
By -

COLORADO -- On March 9th, I spoke with an AOL representative and advised the gentleman that I wanted to cancel my account. I explained to him that I no longer needed AOL because we have Comcast High Speed. He started to push our security services for $14.95. I told him that I did not need that either. He had a hard time taking “NO” for an answer. He pushed me and finally I had to be just as aggressive in a negative, angry manner to make him understand I no longer needed AOL. I accessed my Credit Card statement online today and discovered that AOL had charged me again on April 3rd for my monthly fee.

I called AOL on April 6th and spoke with a lady named **. She did have record of the phone call but no notes were made in AOL's system about my March 9th cancellation. Again, she pushed for me to agree to services for $4.95 that would cover another AOL feature. Again, she didn't want to take “NO” for an answer. Finally, she cancelled my account and advised that I would receive a cancellation number via a recording.

When I placed my first cancellation on March 9th, I did not know what AOL procedures was. But, I was billed another $24.95 because of AOL's pushy representative taking advantage of me being irritated by not following through with my cancellation request on March 9th. Please note the following that I pulled from the cancellation information in AOL Billing Main Tips for Managing My Account. There is nothing about receiving a “Cancellation Number”. The only thing I should have expected from my March 9th phone call was a cancellation letter. I obviously did not receive that because the cancellation was never processed by AOL's representative.

We have been using AOL for almost 6 years. I no longer needed AOL's services. Prior to this cancellation issue, I had no problems with AOL. I do not appreciate being taken advantage of for a measly $24.95. Obviously this is how AOL trains their representatives because I had two of them treat me in the same manner. If a knowledgeable customer wants to cancel, just let them do it. The aggressive, forceful sales pitch did not work on me and I would assume that the majority of people do not appreciate it.

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Poor service and unethical business practices of Netscape
By -

I originally signed up for Walmart Connect ISP and that service was later taken over by Netscape. From the outset it was evident the service was actually being handled via AOL. The service was extremely slow. A fast connection speed would be 34bps, and often connection speed would be down in the low 20 range. This made searching the web extremely time consuming, and I was even unable to update my Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4 due to the slowness of the connection. Microsoft would eventually drop the download due to the length of time being taken and the amount of download information.

I tried another service (People PC) and found it even more objectionable and eventually got out of it. When I recently decided to try local LAN connection, and found it to be much more satisfactory, I began to try to get out of the Netscape ISP contract. They used many delaying tactics. First it was extremely hard to find the information on exactly how to cancel the service. Then when the page was found that had links to forms to used to email or mail in cancellation of service requests, I was met with page that said my account was denied access to these pages due to lack of authority to access those pages!

I then emailed a terse message to their e-mail address and advised I wanted to discontinue the service at the end of the current billing cycle that I had paid for. This brought a response that Netscape did not provide for "pending" cancellations and that when I notified them of cancellation that the service would be cut off at that time. Further disclaimer about this said to give them at least 72 hours notice. The last e-mail contact I had with them was within the 72-hour time frame. I decided I should call them on their cancellation number to be sure I was not going to be billed for another month on 1/28/08.

Expecting them to take a day or two to cancel thus giving me time to retrieve any email messages I had not already gleaned from my archives, and expecting that it would not be cancelled until the end of the time for which I had paid for service 1/30/08, I came home to find that the service had already been disconnected. The night prior to this I had been unable to connect...probably due to their sabotaging my account, due to "no dial tone" which was absolutely wrong! There most definitely was a dial tone!

Other problems with their service were deletion of emails, emails being unable to retrieve due to their deciding to no longer allow downloading or forwarding of messages being saved in archival files. In short, I would not recommend Netscape to anyone due to poor service, unethical delays in providing information and cancellation avenues, and blatant theft of services already paid for! It is a shame these big companies can rip people off in this manner.

I see no reason whatsoever a large "computer" information company could not program a cancellation of services at the requested date thus allowing customer access to their files for the duration of time purchased. I guess this is fast becoming the AMERICAN WAY of big business ripping the public off!

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Cancellation Saga
By -

Trying to cancel a trial membership over the phone turned into an extended sales pitch by the representative, ** in Toronto, in an attempt to stop the cancellation. Realizing ** is only an employee who is trained to behave in this way by AOL, is progressively aggravating. I asked twice to speak to his supervisor and my request was completely ignored. When I asked repeatedly for the cancellation confirmation number, ** responded that it was necessary to follow a script 'procedure' before he could give me the number and began asking me a list of questions. I told him, I was extremely busy and I just needed confirmation that the account was closed.

** then tried to make small talk and asked me about the weather where I was. Again, I repeated "I simply needed the confirmation number that is all." He proceeded to create a sort of 'guilt' trip scenario, saying that while I was waiting we could at least have a friendly conversation. "I'm sorry **, I don't know you, I don't want to have small talk with a customer service representative from a company that I no longer want to do business with." Will AOL ever realize, that their customers should be treated with respect? Respect for their time and their choice in internet service providers?

I still don't feel confident my account was actually cancelled even though I retain a physical confirmation number. An automated voice assured me it was, after ** and I were finished talking and that I should receive a confirmation letter in the mail shortly. I'm posting my confirmation number: ** March 18th 2005 12 pm -- for possible recourse should AOL attempt to 'know nothing of the cancellation' and charge my card on file. AOL has serious customer service, policy and procedural issues and still chooses to think they're a monopoly that can control people's free choice. I highly discourage anyone from subscribing to AOL.

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AOL Impossible to Cancel
By -

STEWART, TENNESSEE -- Today Feb 18 2006 I ONCE again have tried to CANCEL my service with AOL. We signed up with AOL in April 2005. We tried to use it with our MAC for the webcam, and it didn't work the way we wanted it to so we called and cancelled it in June 2005. In Nov. 2005 I noticed that it was still debiting out of our account, so I called ONCE again to cancel it.... I was told that it was not cancelled in June, that the screen name and info was NOT verified, but I clearly remember having problems with them for over 45 mins, and then after going through everything they cleared the info, and cancelled the account.

SO THEY SAID "Well NO the account was still active" and I asked them to look and see if our screen name and e-mail was accessed, they said "no." So I asked for a refund from June-Nov 2005, they said "NO because when you order cable and you do not watch it, you still have to pay for it". BUT I CANCELLED AOL IN JUNE! Well I looked online at the many people complaining about continuous charges after they have cancelled services, and decided I would call again to see about a refund.

So I called Dec 2005 and spoke to a nice Rep (so I thought) - he told me that he would refund 60.00 back to the account, but he was going to reactivate the account, refund the money and CLOSE the account. I was REALLY hesitant about this! But, I did it.... mistake!!! He OPENED it, refunded the money... but did not close the account, So again I was charged 23.90 for Jan and Feb 2006. I called again to cancel and to ask, demand my money back from these slime balls, and they gave me an address where I am going to have to pay 39 cents and my bank statement and a letter stating that I cancelled in Dec, and how I feel that I need my money back! SLIME BALLS!!!!

I know that I will be billed again next month, I KNOW that I will never see the money that I am out, even after I pay 39 cents to mail a letter to them to tell me they NEVER received my letter will I still be charged!!! This company needs to be put to an END!!! TOO MANY people have the same complaints, and the bank drafts to PROVE this problem. WHY doesn't anyone fix them for good???

Then on all of your phone calls to them they keep you on for FREE for 30 days, and they are so nice when they tell you this and SO sad to see you go. Well you can KEEP your 30 days or lifetime free to AOL and shove it up your **. I want my 200.00 back!!! I WILL NEVER have AOL!!!!!!!!!

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Insensitive to Customer's Needs
By -

LEAGUE CITY, TEXAS -- I have had an account with AOL for many years. My husband died two and 1/2 years ago and the account was in his name. One weekend recently I was having problems getting on the internet and to my email. I called in to tech support and thought the problem was solved so I hung up. When I signed on again I was able to get to my email but could not read it so I called in again. After few failed attempts to solve the problem the person I was speaking with said he would just start the process over. When we reach the need to put in the password, I didn't remember what it was because my husband had set it up quite awhile ago.

Since my name is not on the account they would not reset it so I could use my email and computer and they were to mail me a form to change ownership of the account. After a few days I called and ask them to either email or fax the form to my work but they wouldn't do it because the form had already been mailed. A few more days went by and still no change of ownership form so I called again and explained to them that I used that email for my business and was losing money because I couldn't get to my email or even on the internet. Once again I got nowhere, even a supervisor was no help.

I told them that they had a problem with taking money from my checking account that he was not on but wouldn't help me with my password. I am very upset, frustrated and angry with all of this and when I get that paperwork to change ownership I plan to complete it and return it to them and as soon as my emails are switched to my new email I will never use them again. I cannot believe that there are no provisions for situations like this. Surely I'm not the only widow/widower to experience this. They just showed me that they have no regard for their customers and couldn't care less. I wish everyone would drop them then maybe they would care.

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