I HATE AOL RANT

[LuLu550]

Ok, I know I've been an idiot and been with AOL way too long...had young kids etc. So I tried to cancel a month ago, told them it was political, that I hated how right wing they had become blah, blah, blah.
The guy tries to talk me out of it I keep saying "yeah, but you are a bunch of right wing nuts and I don't want to use your service anymore...blah, blah, cancel me, cancel me...."
So I go to make sure I'm canceled the day after they said it would be canceled and guess what???? The ACT OF CHECKING TO SEE IF IT WAS CANCELED REACTIVATED THE ACCOUNT! BASS-TIDS!
I had a heated exchange with a customer service person who said I'd have to pay another month...I am furious!
So I told them they would get more than $23 worth of bad press over this. I'm writing to my attorney general, and putting this on a bunch of message boards and blogs.
If you still have AOL dump the bass-tids and tell them they are right wing nuts!
Thanks for letting me vent.
:grr:
LuLu

[SoCalDem]

1. cancel your credit card..

call them and tell them you lost it.. They will issue you a new one and when aol bills you./......:evilgrin:

edit...if it's already on your card, write them a letter ..paper and snail mail ...detailing the fraudulent charge.. They will "suspend" it and aol will not get their money :) until it's resolved :)

[Not a robought]

2. I knew AOL sucked before the general population knew about the internet

back when being online meant AOL, Compuserve or Prodigy, or various other small dial-in BBS's.

They sucked then, they suck now, they suck forever. AOL sucks, I agree with you.

[LuLu550]

3. I was young and foolish

I started with AOL in 1994...I was "too scared" of the one other ISP that served my area that didn't have a graphical interface...too black and scary for me. AOL had pretty pictures! What a young fool I was!
:dunce:
LuLu

[Warpy]

5. I was young once, too

I went with AOL when I got my first computer because they were the first service to go unlimited. I'd already heard horror stories of people who had tried to cancel and couldn't, but knew all I had to do was claim my checkbook had been stolen and get a new account to get the bastards off my back when the time came.

When the time came, I told them exactly what I planned to do to get rid of them should another charge appear on my bank statement. They countered with 3 months free. I said forget it. They countered with 6 months free. I said forget it. At that point, they knew they'd lost me, and that was the end of them.

Of course, I still periodically get new AOL CDs overpackaged in tin cans, which I'm planning to use in the garden to keep the birds out of the bean patch.

It is possible to dump AOL, but only if you don't show them any weakness. I'm proof it has been done.

[samsingh]

4. i had the same experience with AOL

i cancelled, they said i cancelled over the phone. Three months later i got a bill. i called in and they said there was no record of a cancellation. They out and out lie.

i was ready to go to the major newspapers, 60 minutes, etc- afterall a leading ecommerce company destroying faith in online transactions is juicy stuff. VISA intervened and refunded my money.

this experience has kept me and many of our friends off AOL - as i'm sure yours will. AOL is slitting its own wrists - observe there continuing drop in membership.

[Liberal Classic]

6. Funny there are no file traders on AOL

It is the largest ISP in right now. Why isn't the RIAA suing one single solitary user on AOL? Maybe Time/Warner is behind it?

I think maybe the RIAA file-trader suits are meant to consolidate the ISP industry.

[Clete]

7. I had a hard time getting their tentacles out of my computer

after I cancelled, but persevere it can be done.

[RummyTheDummy]

8. AOL's popularity dumbfounds me

For one, just get a cable modem or DSL and use Netscape or Explorer. You don't need them. What's even stranger is that I know people who have both DSL and cable modems and they still pay $25 a month for AOL.

On edit: You probably shouldn't have told him why you were cancelling. It's none of their business. I make it a rule to not divulge my political beliefs to cooks and people who have access to my credit card number. Either they're going to love your opinions and take care of you, or they're gonna be on the opposite side of the fence and might try to fuck you over. 50-50 at best.

[TreasonousBastard]

10. I dunno...

what's on people's minds.

I had AOL as a backup ISP, and got the billing of $5 a month for 10 hours usage, or something like that. Then I finally dumped them altogether. They called me for a few monthes, and finally gave up.

Some people don't have much else for internet access without long distance charges, and are stuck with outfits like AOL. Some people have given out their email address so many times it would be miserable to change ISPs.

The only real aggravation with AOL is that you are stuck with their proprietary mail and news servers and have to use their software, which really really sucks. You can, however, get a real news server and POP3 mail accounts and bypass their software altogether once you get online.

[rabid_nerd]

9. Never liked or used AOL

except to idiot test websites...

I do use AOL IM though - it's free...

[Dem2dend]

11. Same here

I made the mistake of signing up with them when I was testing a computer for a friend. I used one of those free minutes CD's and didn't realize I had to cancel the thing.
Long story short they charged my credit card for a month even though we only used AOL for about 15 minutes 2 months earlier.
I paid it and have signed friends up to my (old) provider whenever i learned they had AOL.
I got many months free over 5 years just from the referrals.

[LuLu550]

12. Help me out here...

I am filing a FORMAL complaint with my state's attorney general (Spitzer!) to see if he can do anything about this. AOL has gotten away with this crap for so long, they must think they are untouchable.
If you have had a similar experience with AOL, will you post it here so I can inlcude it in my complaint? Let me know if you want me to include your ID and/or e-mail address. Unless you tell me yes, I will block out any references to DU and your ID.
Thanks,
They messed with the wrong hippie!:hippie:
LuLu

[BlueJazz]

13. I have a little side business fixing and configuring

computers. I can't even count the number of times I've cussed AOL (under my breath) when working on a customers computer, at their home.
AOL puts hundreds of the most intrusive files I've ever had the displeasure of trying to clean out.
I've almost gotten to the point of just backing up the customers important files (on another partition) formating the c:\ (root) drive, installing the OS and starting over.
Stange enough, it actually saves time!...AGGGG!

[Egnever]

14. AOL is da debil !!!

My hate for them knows no bounds!

They have been screwing people over for years!

I get a perverse joy from taking free disk from the grocery store or wherever i run accross them and promptly throwing them in the trash!

On the other side of the coin you can jerk these guys arround a bit on your own if you are still a user and keep track of when your "free" months expire. when you go to cancel they inevitably offer you more free months so really you can do this repeatedly a few times before they will actually stop begging you to stay and after that they pretty much leave you alone :P

[jamesinca]

15. I hate them also

My wife and I dumped them several months ago. We sent in the cancel stuff etc. After 3 months they send us a bill for the monthly fee. We call them and they say that we did not fax something. Calling them and sending an e-mail and a letter in the snail mail was not good enough. So it was faxed, I ate the 20+ dollars for the month and I hate them. I nevr liked the format they gave.

[LuLu550]

16. keep 'em coming

I want a bunch of anicdotal messages like this to attach to my complaint to Spitzer. Hopefully, he will get on this one. AOL is defrauding tens of thousands of people!:mad:
LuLu