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-   -   Cancelling AOL (https://pirate.planetarion.com/showthread.php?t=192572)

All Systems Go 5 Oct 2006 11:12

Cancelling AOL
 
Would it be unreasonable to claim that AOL purposly puts people who wish to cancel n order on hold to put them off?

I phoned up AOL to ask a technical question regarding broadband (which will be with me in 14 days!) and I got through fine.

I then phoned up again to cancel paying for dial-up (I don't pay for broadband either! whoo hoo!) strait away and they put me on hold for about three minutes with the worst hold music I've ever heard.

I thought this delay strange what with the rapid response I recieved just moments before.

Has anyone worked at an AOL (or any other similar) call centre and what is the procedure for dealing with cancelling subscriptions? Are there less people to deal with cancellation or is it some type of delaying technique?

Phil^ 5 Oct 2006 11:19

Re: Cancelling AOL
 
no.
its commonly done by them from what ive heard, though its usually those free trial things they do. They get your bank details during the signup for it, and unless you cancel the trial they start charging you. Ofc they make you jump through lots of hoops to cancel before the trials up.

thankfully the wonderful thing that is the internet has recently come up with a list of key combos to press while on hold which makes their software bump you to the head of the queue
according to this, you simply hit 0 and it should sort it. If not im sure a googling around will come up with others to try

furball 5 Oct 2006 11:22

Re: Cancelling AOL
 
Yeah, I read a thread on SA a few months ago that basically said that they were absolute ****s - for example, telling people that they couldn't cancel even though the minimum contract term had expired.

jt25man 5 Oct 2006 11:57

Re: Cancelling AOL
 
It could also be you got through quick signing up because most people have realized AOL is crap, and therefore not many people are in line. Yet there's probably a ton of people trying to cancel after realizing that AOL was crap, so that's why you had to wait longer to cancel than you did to sign up.

Tomkat 5 Oct 2006 16:41

Re: Cancelling AOL
 
Gosh, a company putting more resources into profit making departments.

Who would have thought it?

Dace 5 Oct 2006 17:18

Re: Cancelling AOL
 
SHOULDN'T YOU BE ON A TRAIN SOMEPLACE BITCH?!

Mistwraith 5 Oct 2006 19:20

Re: Cancelling AOL
 
*if u have a touch tone phone press a button*

dont .. you get a human almost straight away

further aol cancelations:
http://insignificantthoughts.com/200...ancelling-aol/

Yahwe 5 Oct 2006 19:53

Re: Cancelling AOL
 
just have your bank cancel the payments ffs

s|k 5 Oct 2006 21:21

Re: Cancelling AOL
 
aol are jerks, no reason to do business with them ever

_Kila_ 5 Oct 2006 22:22

Re: Cancelling AOL
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Yahwe
just have your bank cancel the payments ffs

Easiest way ever.

Malice 6 Oct 2006 02:53

Re: Cancelling AOL
 
The first time I saw AOL I knew I would never have them as a provider. So, in my infinate wisdom, I went with Verizon.

Go me. :rolleyes:

Little Timmy 6 Oct 2006 14:18

Re: Cancelling AOL
 
I used to set up call centres for a living. Its logical that there will always be more people maning a new business revenue generating number, than one where they are going to lose business. It feels worse because your on the phone and you can not see what is going on. However, you could really liken it to a major department store. The customer service or "returns" till is normally tucked away in a corner somewhere and the tills doing new business or new sales are in the majority.

Its the way business is done.

KaneED 6 Oct 2006 17:26

Re: Cancelling AOL
 
Little Timmy should die

Shyne 6 Oct 2006 20:54

Re: Cancelling AOL
 
Indeed.

And it isnt really logical. If you have a decent support team which resolve problems using their initiative rather than just following a paint-by-numbers sheet then you might even keep some customers for more than a 12 month minimum contract.

roadrunner_0 7 Oct 2006 09:52

Re: Cancelling AOL
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Yahwe
just have your bank cancel the payments ffs



yahwe in breaking off a contract incorrectly shocker

_Kila_ 7 Oct 2006 13:54

Re: Cancelling AOL
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by roadrunner_0
yahwe in breaking off a contract incorrectly shocker

What more is there to do when they aren't letting you break it off correctly?

jt25man 7 Oct 2006 14:08

Re: Cancelling AOL
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by _Kila_
What more is there to do when they aren't letting you break it off correctly?

Just remember, if you try to dispute the payment, AOL may have something in your wonderful contract that if you do this, they'll charge you for it, add a ridiculous fee for "frauduantly disputing payment", and if you refuse they have the right to sue you for it.

Yahwe 7 Oct 2006 14:23

Re: Cancelling AOL
 
Any such terms would not apply in the Law of England and Wales

Pilgrim 7 Oct 2006 14:48

Re: Cancelling AOL
 
I have an aol connection, and have to say its quite good if you dont have what they call the bronze one which kept cutting out every 3 hours. There platinum one i think its called is great though.

jt25man 7 Oct 2006 19:00

Re: Cancelling AOL
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Pilgrim
I have an aol connection, and have to say its quite good if you dont have what they call the bronze one which kept cutting out every 3 hours. There platinum one i think its called is great though.

Gee, what a surprise, the more expensive one works better.

Phil^ 7 Oct 2006 19:03

Re: Cancelling AOL
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Pilgrim
I have an aol connection

I really dont think theres anything more to say then that :rolleyes:

Mistwraith 7 Oct 2006 19:55

Re: Cancelling AOL
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Yahwe
just have your bank cancel the payments ffs


then they send your debt to an agency .. killing your credit rating

Alki 7 Oct 2006 21:53

Re: Cancelling AOL
 
I work for orange broadband,, when a customer comes to cancel, what often happens is i get the account details loaded, ask there reason for cancelling, put them on hold so i can get hold of a 'broadband care team agent' who deal with cancellations, tell them any information i know, go back to the customer transfer him, on the other end basically he gets offered better packages at reduced prices to keep him as a customer, or they just cancel him. Im guessing AOL are different though

Tomkat 8 Oct 2006 12:13

Re: Cancelling AOL
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Mistwraith
then they send your debt to an agency .. killing your credit rating

Then you pay off the agency, and AOL cancel your subscription, and you get what you were after in the first place.

Also I don't think it affects your credit until (at least) it goes to court. I had quite a few debt collection places asking me for money on behalf of various bills I didn't pay at uni. I paid them off quickly and it isn't on my credit rating.

Dante Hicks 8 Oct 2006 12:37

Re: Cancelling AOL
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Tomkat
Then you pay off the agency, and AOL cancel your subscription, and you get what you were after in the first place.

The problem is that depending on how they operate, you might find yourself paying for 2-3 months of service that you don't use.

I had a similar issue with one of my old phones. It was past it's year contract period and so I phoned to cancel. Twice I was placed on hold to the cancellation department for twenty five minutes and then cut off. I then wrote in, but they denied receiving the letter and then in another phone call cut me off again while on hold to the cancellation department. In the interim I had cancelled my Direct Debit, but they reckoned I had 4 months of line rental until they eventually cancelled it. I got letters from various debt collectors, it may have been to court by now (I doubt it). My credit rating is already destroyed though so I wasn't worried.

Obviously I should have challenged the eventual bill but contacting these companies is made such a deliberately annoying task that I didn't bother. I've moved since this happened so I'm not sure what's going on at the moment.

roadrunner_0 9 Oct 2006 09:57

Re: Cancelling AOL
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Yahwe
Any such terms would not apply in the Law of England and Wales


yahwe in being wrong twice in a thread shocker


if you break off payment without cancelling the contract they WILL keep charging you for 2 or 3 months ATTHE VERY LEAST before they send it to a credit agency, who will then charge you not only the original AOL bill, but also their costs on top.

TheShadowMan 9 Oct 2006 17:21

Re: Cancelling AOL
 
lads,

used to work for aol. The only way you cancel with them is if you

a) are in prison or on the way to prison
b) can convince them that you really really need to cancel and that if they offer you one more free trial you will report them to Oftel (sp?)
c) your next of kin can fax in your death certificate.

just a quick edit. The cancelations team are called Member Save Dept. They get more comission than a sales person gets for selling you the account to save you from cancelling. The reason being is that AOL make all their money from advertising and marketing. This works out at about 1000 pounds per annum per account. Your subs pay for the callcentres and the salaries associated. So they will do everything within their legal right to keep you a customer.


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