How to cancel AOL

[Jason Roehl]

In case you hadn't heard it yet, here's the link:

http://media.putfile.com/AOL-Cancellation
(warning: one instance of mild profanity)

I first heard of it yesterday on WLS-AM out of Chicago yesterday, but apparently, when Mr. Ferrari first posted it on his own blog, it shut him down and several other sites that had picked it up.

It's just more confirmation that AOL is...wait, I can't break the TOS here.

Enjoy. :D

[Don Baer]

Many Many moons ago when there were not very many choices (I belive there was AO Hell and compuserve) I had AOl. I had it for several years. Then when I was able to get high speed cable I terminated my AOL account but they continued to try to charge my credit card. I called and protested the bill sighting the fact that I had cancelled on such and such a date. They apologised and tried to get me to stay a member yada yada yada. They agreed to credit my credit card and cancel but continued to try to get me to stay on offering me "free" incetives. No credit was ever issued and the next month a charge was again on my credit card, another phone call and the same old routine. I next contacted my credit card company and had them cancel the charges as well a block any further charges from AOL. They next turned me over to a collection agency which I proptly refused and told the credit company I would deal only with AOL (you can do that, it's legal and prevents the collection company from taking any further action) AOL continued to hound me for 6 month until I threatened a law suite after which they finaly went away.

[Jerry Olexa]

Unbelievable...I had similiar deal (not that bad)when I dropped and went with cable...

[Mark Pruitt]

Stories like this (and I have no doubt there are thousands) need to be shouted from the rooftops. I continue to be amazed at the masses of people who are willing to pay such a high cost for such third-rate service. Yea, they did me dirty when I dropped 'em too....

[Bob Childress]

Believe it or not, I had almost the same experience with AOL as this guy. A few years back I bought my Dad a computer and an AOL account so he could learn e-mail. When he passed away in 2004, I tried to cancel his account and got the same kind of runaround. Even the fact that he was deceased made no difference, the customer rep just thought I ought to use it myself. I explained I lived in Arizona (then) and had a high speed connection and who cares anyway, just cancel it. He finally said he would but I got two more bills before it was squared away.:mad: :mad:

Ironically, my son-in-law's sister is married to the number 2 guy at AOL so I can only vent here and not at family gatherings.:D

[Keith Starosta]

This thread is starting to show all the signs of getting spinning out of control and getting yanked. :rolleyes:

Wouldn't want to upset the sensitivities of some folks....

- Keith

[Christopher Pine]

:p Yes we wouldn't want to offend an AOL employees here....

[Allen Bookout]

The situation is so bad that they had a special on TV a few days ago about AOL. I do not remember what station as I just watched it for a while out of a non users interest. I find it incredable that they can get away with what they have tried the last few years.

If I am not mistaken, I think that AOL was the one that disabled all of their users instant messageing a while back. I am not sure about that but if it was they should have been put out of business at that point. Another reason that I do not go on line with my Windows computers.

I don't think that a thread would be pulled for speaking the truth, but what do I know.

Allen

[Randy Meijer]

I had a similar experience with AOL and never was even a customer. Signed up for their free 30 day trial and had a heck of a time getting loose from them. To be fair, I had exactly the same experience with Netzero when cancelling out on them after a years worth of service to migrate to DSL. It took 3 months to get loose from them. My GF switched from NZ to DSL at the same time and had exactly the same experience. I'm not sure any of these companies are as customer oriented as we would like them to be!!

[Curt Fuller]

I also had much the same experience when I cancelled my AOL a few years ago. But what's even more difficult is gettin all the AOL versions or the various softwares off your computer.

[Mark Pruitt]

FWIW, AOL ain't the only ISP doing crap like this to customers who want to cancel "service" (if "service" is what you call it). When I left AOL I went to PeoplePC and was fairly happy for a couple of years, but when I got a better paying job and could afford DSL, I called to cancel my PeoplePC and the guy litterally begged me to stay. He finally offered me four months of continued service free of charge, followed by unlimited access at $7 a month. Because my wife was still using the PeoplePC account and wanted to keep it until her graduation in May, I agreed. A few months later, they went back to billing me at the old rate. I immediately called them and said firmly, "I am calling to cancel service. I no longer will be using PeoplePC. I am not willing to negotiate this." The guy got the message this time and did not give me any crap.

Oh, and one more thing I learned was that when I buy a new PC I specifically instruct the dealer NOT to install ANY AOL software.

[Jim Becker]

Oh, and one more thing I learned was that when I buy a new PC I specifically instruct the dealer NOT to install ANY AOL software.
You can do that if you're having a local builder supply the machine, but if you buy any PC from any of the production PC companies, (Dell, HP, Lenovo (formerly IBM PCs), etc.) that software will be on the machine no matter what you ask for. Fortunately, it's not activated and easily removable these days.

The worst thing you can do in any case is "take advantage" of "free hours" from any of the "pre-loaded" ISP offers from AOL, MSN, Earthlink, etc...'cause once you activate them, you get yourself into that situation of "discontinuation greif". And BTW, you can still use AOL IM and web EMAIL for free without an account and for the former, do it ad-free by using a client like Trillian which will allow you to run AIM, MSN, Yahoo, Google and other IM systems with a single client.

[Mark Pruitt]

You can do that if you're having a local builder supply the machine, but if you buy any PC from any of the production PC companies, (Dell, HP, Lenovo (formerly IBM PCs), etc.) that software will be on the machine no matter what you ask for. Fortunately, it's not activated and easily removable these days.

Well Jim, looks like you're right on there. Nothing new about that. I just did a Search of my hard drive for "AOL" in the file name and/or contents. I'm looking at 21 items including a couple of folders. Attached image below.

When I go to control panel-add remove programs, nothing AOL-related is showing. So I figured there wasn't anything there. Obviously I was wrong. SO.......how do I get this junk outta here?:confused:

[Jim Becker]

Mark, check the AOL folder that is probably in your C:/Programs folder and see if there is an un-install. Otherwise, it's probably best to just not worry about it. (Your graphic is too small to read...)

[Roberts Joseph]

both myself and my parents had similar problems, cancelling service, and still being charged again and again, I guess ethics are not in their training manuel:(