Never go with AOL!

[WurkAnimal]

http://www.break.com/index/aolhell.html

Never go with AOL.

[Cromulent]

ROFL. Love it .

[Dean C]

That is hilarious, I think the only company that tops this as far as cancellations go is 1&1 Internet

[Quillz]

Wow. The guy really had an attitude, too. "IF YOU WANT ME TO CANCEL THE ACCOUNT, YOU'RE GOING TO LISTEN TO ME READ THIS PARAGRAPH!"

[Creepshow]

Wow, unbelievable.

[Joe Gronlund]

Wow they just never give up, do they..

[Lurk]

Lol, nice one.. Gotta love it.

[Vile]

That was pretty funny, but didn't surprise me at all.
Although I never worked at AOL, a few friends of mine have, and calls like this are all too familiar from the horror stories I've been told about AOL from their own employees.

AOL has an entire department (huge building) dedicated to a department called "Saves" or cancellations. This department is solely responsible for saving accounts and stopping customers from canceling their account by various methods such as asking lifestyle questions, and then attempting to keep the accounts active by offering special offers, discounts, etc.
The people in this department work on commission, and they get a kickback for each account saved. Apparently it's one of the most stressful departments at AOL, so they are given toys to play with (Arcade machines, PS2, Xbox, etc)

Technically speaking, IIRC AOL's SOP states that the customer must state that they want their account canceled *3 times* and only then must the employee cooperate and start the cancellation process. In this recording the customer obviously asked multiple times, so the employee was wrong to keep it going.

Either way, bottom line is AOL does indeed suck.

[Quillz]

That was pretty funny, but didn't surprise me at all.
Although I never worked at AOL, a few friends of mine have, and calls like this are all too familiar from the horror stories I've been told about AOL from their own employees.

AOL has an entire department (huge building) dedicated to a department called "Saves" or cancellations. This department is solely responsible for saving accounts and stopping customers from canceling their account by various methods such as asking lifestyle questions, and then attempting to keep the accounts active by offering special offers, discounts, etc.
The people in this department work on commission, and they get a kickback for each account saved. Apparently it's one of the most stressful departments at AOL, so they are given toys to play with (Arcade machines, PS2, Xbox, etc)

Technically speaking, IIRC AOL's SOP states that the customer must state that they want their account canceled *3 times* and only then must the employee cooperate and start the cancellation process. In this recording the customer obviously asked multiple times, so the employee was wrong to keep it going.

Either way, bottom line is AOL does indeed suck.

I think it's terrible that AOL won't cancel your account until you tell them to do so three times. If you want your account canceled, it should simply be canceled. I had a similar experience trying to cancel a subscription I had with Real Media once. They told me that they would send me a cancelation e-mail, but it never arrived. I had to call again, upon which they finally deleted my account.

[GamBun]

Re:Never go with AOL

Wow! I've never had, liked or wanted AOL that convinces me even more. I'm also not surprised about this happening. It was funny but also sad at the same time. I felt so bad for the person who wanted to be rid of them. So, I agree: Never go with AOL!

[Chroder]

Wasn't there a lawsuit about this a while ago? I think it's a bit easier now

[DirectPixel]

I signed up for AOL when doing one of those free iPod offers about a year and a half ago. When I called them to cancel, everything went extremely smoothly. The customer support rep asked me why I wanted to cancel, and then offered me an extension of the free trial. When I declined both, he canceled my account right away.

I called back two days later to confirm that it was canceled, and indeed it was. Took me less than 15 minutes total.

[Kimmi]

I hate AOL . you pretty much have to yell at them to cancel your stuff..it took my mom over a year to cancel her account. and once she did they still took money out she had to block them from her account..

[Kimmi]

you know if that guy told me to you gonna listen to me first i would say i dont thinkso. and hang up and call back and ask to speak with some higher up.. that guy was rude and it was very uncalled for..im known tohave a mouth on me and he wouldve got an ear full when i was done

i wouldve said look it here buddy you either cancel my account or your going to have a law suit on your A$$

[WurkAnimal]

Is it true they have their own street address? 'AOL Road' or something like that.