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Nov 20

What Was Your Experience Cancelling AOL?

This article was written on July 12, 2007 by CyberNet.

AOL had a choice, either they could go to court and fight or they could settle. The reason? They were accused of refusing to let customers cancel. To anyone unfamiliar with AOL, this accusation seems absurd. What company in their right mind would refuse to allow a customer to cancel. For those familiar with AOL, you know how plausible and true this actually is.

Not wanting to have to go to court and fight, AOL decided to settle for $3 million dollars which will go to 48 states and the District of Columbia to pay for their investigation, not to the customers who were affected. Customers who were affected however, will receive refunds from AOL for any fees that they incurred after trying to cancel their accounts.

I never did have AOL as an ISP, however Ryan did several years ago. When he called them to cancel, the AOL representative offered three months of free service. Ryan took them up on their offer, and after the three months was up, he called back to cancel. Again, he was offered three free months of service. This happened at least 4 times before the AOL rep finally cancelled the account! Of course, they were hoping after the three months of free service was up that he’d just continue using their service and get billed for his use.

It’s been reported that employees at AOL would receive bonuses up to a whopping $3,000 if they were able to convince a customer to stay with them instead of cancelling. So my question for you is, what was your experience cancelling AOL? I’m sure there are stories to tell…