Called to cancel my account back in March because I had cable hooked up. They offered me the infamous "free month " and I refused it. The lady kept pushing it so I told her to do whatever she had to do, but make sure I am not to be billed again and my account was canceled at the end of the free month. She guaranteed it.

Here it is July and dummy Heather has only now realized that I've been getting billed since then.

Called and spoke to someone about it and they said I would not be reimbursed but they could transfer me to someone who could cancel my account. I'm on hold forever, so I hang up. Called back later and got a recording that said my time was precious but they couldn't take my call then.



I emailed them and insisted immediate cancelation and removal of my credit card information and reimbursement for four months. They email me back and say that they can't help me over email.



I called today and spoke with someone who again said they could arrange my cancelation but not a refund. So I take care of the cancelation part and then ask for his supervisor. This ahole gives me the standard song and dance about asking for the cancelation number to prove I was told that it would be canceled. Of course I didn't have it. "Ms. Heather, we have record of your last call in March and it does not say you canceled."

"Oh really, what does it say? That I called to squeeze a free month out of you?"

"No ma'am. It does not."

"Well what does it say was the reason for my call?"

"Competition. It just says that you were given a free month for competition."

"The reason I called was for 'competition'? I want reimbursed for the money you stole from my credit card from March to now."

"No. We won't do that. We'll cancel your account. That's all."

"I want to speak to your supervisor."

"I don't have a supervisor."

"I want to speak your boss."

"I don't have a boss. I'm the highest you can go."

"You have a boss. I want to speak to them."

"My boss doesn't come to the phone for customers."

Oh really, ahole. This really angered me.

"I'll be contacting the Better Business Bureau."

"I suggest you do that, Ms. Heather. "



I could breathe fire I am so pissed right now.

Next time just use more expletives and insults. You may not get different results, but at least you'll feel better at their expense.

You really think so? I always felt I got further by being reasonable, calm and sticking to the facts without getting emotional or personal.

Guess not in this case.

Call your credit card company and request a chargeback. Dispute the charges. You might not be able to get the whole 4 months but at least you can challenge the last charge. Merchants hate chargebacks.

Next time.........

look at your monthly credit card statement......


sheesh..............

Since they're using your credit card, couldn't you file a claim disputing the charges?

Just wondering, because I've still got two old ISPs taking money from my checking account via a Visa Check Card every month for ISP services I no longer use and I'm considering trying that route.

P.S. GMTA! Yoss have you ever tried that? Does it really work?

No, I was being sarcastic.. but maybe if you were a little more flirtatious and suggestive you could get better results. Feel free to test it out on me.

Actually, it does B. But you have to show proof to the CC company. Such as duplicate billing, documentation of a phone call or email, or letter. Names, dates of conversations. Return Merchandise Authorization numbers, anything that will prove your case that you shouldn't have been billed.

I think most CC companies place limitations on how far you can go back, 60 or 90 days or some such. But the amount will be credited back to your account until the issue is resolved. Causes the accounts receivable department of the billing merchant no end of headache too!

It depends on how strong your evidence is against the merchant and your standing with the CC company as to whether or not you'll win in the end.

It's not all that difficult and sometimes can be well worth the effort.

Like others said if you use a credit card call them ASAP. Usually they more then willing to work with you.

Heather, that conversation sounds just like the one I had with both Ebay and Earthlink about different account issues.

I think the strategy is just stall and hope the customer gives up!

The only reason I stay with my ISP is that sooner or later they all goof up but a longtime customer gets to play the longevity card. After the usual runaround I ask - "Do you REALLY want to lose a customer who has been with you since 1998?" No, they don't.

The extra cost has evened out over time since I've gotten anywhere from a month free (for their poor account recordkeeping) to six months free (for service that came with a new computer even though I didn't technically qualify because I was already a customer).

Earthlink is a major PITA to cancel is took many tries from both my dad and me to get his account cancelled. They had an excuse for everything. Too bad CVN.net didnt warn their users before they sold out. I guess they would have all cancelled then. LOL

just call and dispute the charges, tell the card company just what you told all of us, they will do a charge back , same thing happend to me , about 3 months later, the card company wrote and told me every thing was ook and the charge was removed from my card for good, i breath fire every time i get gas, there sticking to us to.

I was 'grandfathered in' when Earthlink bought Mindspring.

I refuse to give them access to my credit card or checking account and still pay by check via snail mail.

I had a problem cancelling MSN. I just kept repeating:"Cancel the account". Over and over and over and over. I think I must of said for about a full minute The guy on the other end just kept up his "speal",and I just kept saying " No thank you,cancel the account", and so finally after about 5 mins of it I hung up. I called back a couple of hours later and checked and it was cancelled.
I had just a tiny bit of trouble with AOL,until I finally told them the reason why I was cancelling was because they suck(word for word,honest!). then I gave examples and I had no problem getting it cancelled.
What is it with these companies? Do they think that people won't bash them over the net and warn people? I mean, come on! I just don't understand how/why a comany would treat their customers this way!????

i couldnt get rid of aol, my brother thought he got rid of aol to, he canceled years ago, a few months ago he got a bill for over 10,000 , this is true.

Unless my math is wrong, help me out here....

Assuming AOL costs $25/month
10,000 divided by 25 gives you the number of months which is 400 months.

400 months divided by 12 (no. of months in a year) is 33.3 years.

Okay... maybe they're throwing in some late payment fees.

But wait... doesn't AOL charge credit cards? So wouldn't the credit card company be the one charging the late payment fees? And if AOL wasn't getting paid, wouldn't they suspend the account?

I'm confused.....

no offense....

You're assuming "normal" accounting practices.

I had the basic all you can use $19.95 monthly from Earthlink for several years when one day a bill arrives for over $700! That was for ONE month. A simple accounting error - HA - ISPs are never wrong! and the customer always is!

Both my sister and I had trouble with canceling AOL. Seems like they always wanted to give you free months just to stay. Now that's not saying much for AOL

I called to cancel, which they did at first. Only to charge me again, a few months later.

I just call the number on my card, and told them it got stolen. That's sure did stop them from charging me anymore.

I've been having a similar problem with AT&T. AT&T, for heaven's sake. Since I almost never make long distance calls, I bought a phone card and called to cancel my long distance service. This was five months ago. The service has been cancelled (I tested it several times) but they have continued to bill me. When I call to complain, the telemarketers practically laugh at me. I am sure that they have been instructed to just ignore the complaints and continue the billing. It's only $10 per month, but it is so dishonest.

So I am about to complain to the Federal Trade Commission and the office of the Maryland Attorney General. Some years ago, a company was bothering me illegally; I saved all of my records and submitted it all to the Maryland Attorney General. I had evidence and I had a case. The AG's office delevered the coup de grace, thank you very much.

"my passionat hate" I love that, Heather!

Anyway, I've also had the same problem with aol in the past. Trouble getting through to a human, being put on hold a million times, then charged out the a$$ for service I didn't want

i dont get it myself, but he got a bill from aol for that much, i wll let you know more when i find out more , i know its a mess.

If you can view video, check this story out from CNN.

Just Cancel My Account!

If you have trouble canceling your account start with your credit card company and instruct them not to pay the bill anymore. then call aol and cancel and inform them that you have already told you card not to pay. A written e-mail will prove that you are telling aol to cancel.

As an asside my aol soft ware keeps putting upgrades on my computer every time i sign off and keeps installing port magic on my computer after i remove it.

I miss the good old days of AOL when it was easy to expose all kinds of security holes in their system. Free access, knocking people offline, masquerading as an AOL employee or other users, mail bombs, punts.. that was fun stuff!

Then many of the notorious hackers were either offered jobs by AOL or somewhere else in the software industry.