How can I ensure that AOL will cancel my account upon request?

Call again today and see if your account is still active.

Yup, call your credit card company and ask them to not honor any more AOL charges. It really is the easiest way.

Surprise! wrote:

Yup, call your credit card company and ask them to not honor any more AOL charges. It really is the easiest way.

I work for Visa. There is no way to stop a merchant from charging your account. You can only have a charge disputed. This applies to all credit cards. However, you have every right to dispute the charge if it appears on your bill. Best bet is to send a cancellation letter to AOL and keep a copy for your records.

If you absolutely must be sure, call your credit card company (the company whose visa number you gave to AOL to charge) and tell them your card was stolen and you'd like a new card. They'll change your number and the next time AOL tries to charge it, it won't work.

Either send a reigistered letter with delivery verification OR cancel the credit card.

Bowner wrote:

Surprise! wrote:

Yup, call your credit card company and ask them to not honor any more AOL charges. It really is the easiest way.

I work for Visa. There is no way to stop a merchant from charging your account. You can only have a charge disputed. This applies to all credit cards. However, you have every right to dispute the charge if it appears on your bill. Best bet is to send a cancellation letter to AOL and keep a copy for your records.

Good to know.

Even if your credit card company stops paying AOL, AOL can still send you to collections. Then your credit can be negatively affected if you refuse to pay.

The best way to do this is to call and insist that you want to cancel and that you want them to give you a cancellation number. They'll fight you tooth & nail. None of the reps will want a cancellation on their record so they'll try to sell you everything in the world. Tell them you're not interested in any free months or upgrades, that you just want the cancellation number.

Then write a letter reasserting your cancellation and include your cancellation number in it. Send and fax the letter. Call the cancellation department again to be sure it's actually been done. Lastly, do NOT log on to any aol property with your former username/password. They'll deem this to be reactivation of your account and will start charging you again.

AOL are freaking Nazis. Even if you cancel your account (good luck) your computer has been hijacked and the only way to truly get rid of that mess is to do a complete restore or just buy a new freaking computer.

this is on a related note...

WTF is up w/ these media companies!!!

I have not once used any kind of mass media provider without the same sort of issues...SBC, Comcast, Time-Warner, AOL they all hose you at every possible chance. Its impossible to know what you are actually going to pay and what services the idiot on the line signed you up for...your monthly bill can easily be twice what they quote you and if you try to cancel, it costs you even more...

there is no better way to describe these practices than immoral and deceptive.. why do they get away w/ this.!!!

when customer have to go on an internet message board and ask how to ACTUALLY close the account...and the best thing anyone can come up with is to pretend to lose your credit card!?!?!

EFF!

Well I called back this morning to cancel my account again in case they didn't get it right the first time. Altough I didn't ask specifically about my previous cancellation, the representative made no mention of it, indicating that my account was still active and that the previous cancellation was not on record. This time I recieved a cancellation number and an email confirming my cancellation (which I did not recieve the first time). So, it appears that AOL is still jerking its customers around and refusing to take NO for an answer. It's incredibly irritating how much shit they give you when you call to cancel. I can't imagine that their policies are legal???

You have to tell them you want it cancelled immediately and take away login privelidges immediately. I told them I didn't want my son to be able to get online anymore and the only way to do this was to disable all AOL accounts. You can then verify that they did it by trying to login. If you can, they didn't do what they said they'd do.

If they don't cancel from your plan, you can send a quick complaint to the better business bureau at www.bbb.org. A representative might be more helpful if you inform them of this decision too.

Now, I again suggest you call tomorrow and see if your cancellation is on record (you will again get someone else to talk to). AOL will bill you through the entire length of the billing period (runs from when you started on a monthly basis), so your bill will not stop immediately unless you are now at the end of your billing period. Just don't let them try and give you 3 months free access or reduced prices (they will). We had this problem and it took 5 calls to finally get things done correctly. When you are satisfied they have done things the way you want, check your credit card transactions for the next two months to make sure they don't bill you any further than this final billing period.

They, just like Ford Motor Co. will be history in a few more years....

Ford aint going anywhere for a while, they actually are looking much healthier and are cutting away fat.

I pray that AOL dies tomorrow. They make a business out of selling bullshitt to people who don't know much about the internet. Their new antivirus is bs, you could get a comparable program for free.

Check this one out. When I called to cancel mine I got a recording and I actually recorded it on my tape player. It walked me through it and confirmed that my account had been canceled. On my next CC bill 2 months later they were still charging my account. I called them and the rep stated that you can't cancel unless you speak to a rep. I told them I did and recorded it. They would only give me 30 days credit. I was going to send the recording to the AG's office but like a fool I had recorded over the it. Anyway AOL are a bunch of unethical thieves that will rip you off anytime they think they can.

As for you I would keep a close eye on these bums and don't be surprised if you continue to get charged. I would call back like others suggested and make sure they've granted your request. Ask them to send you confirmation in the mail also.

Someone should send this thread to their president because I had the same problem years ago. Things never change.

They have CSR's who get their pay docked if they allow someone to cancel. I cancelled a few years ago and it was tough, but not this bad. I was on hold for 32 minutes after I said I wanted to cancel. So I guess they were hoping I would hang up and never call back to avoid the hassle. I stayed on the line and ended up cancelling, and I vowed I would NEVER use AOL again.

What a horrible service anyhow. The worst part is that they claim to have such great customer service. The funny thing is that the execs have such blinders on, they will pay some marketing consultant to find info on how the company is perceived among users, and the consultant will wrap it up into this pretty package and they will never know the truth.

HERE IT IS, YOU DON'T HAVE TO PAY ME, I WILL FLAT OUT TELL YOU YOUR SERVICE SUCKS AND I WOULD NEVER USE IT AGAIN BECASUE YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE PEOPLE ARE CROOKS AND LIARS.

Someone send the thead link to AOL. Please.

One thing you can do, is ask for the employee's name and employee number. If they know you have that, they might be less apt to ignore your cancelation request.

I had a buddy who worked for a collections agency, and he said they would just harrass the hell out of people b/c when they called back to complain, they couldn't pin it on anyone. There were too many employees, and the manager never cared about anything but the bottom-line anyway.

I assume the same applies here.

There are ways around it though. Get their name while things are going well, not after there is tension between you. If you wait until they know you are cancelling or pissed, that will only warrant them to give you a fake name.

Isn't this sad? What kind of corporate ethics allow for this type of thing...

real nice. apparently, that no-scam agreement only applies to New York residents; AOL is still free to f*** the rest of the world over.