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It's been said that canceling AOL is harder than eradicating the common cold. It seems that AOL wants to be your Internet-service-for-life.
Orvis of Houston TX (07/23/08)
requested my service to be discontinued everytime I would request termination, they say I was entering the wrong information, but the same account thatthey are automatically drafting the money from every month was the same one I was submitting, lso says my password for the account was incorrect, and they are still drafting the account, the service is for the birds.
Christopher of Saint Leonard MD (07/21/08)
We have been trying to cancel AOL for over a year and they are still debiting our checking account. We wrote letters to cancel and yet they refuse to contact us to resolve this. We want our money back from all the months since we first cancelled service with them.
It is a terrible financial loss to us and it has caused other bills to not be paid and fees from the bank have been added to our checking account. The bank says they can't stop AOL either which is crazy. No one knows how to stop them.
M of Albuquerque NM (07/17/08)
Can I be insulted anymore by the news AOL puts on their site? If they stopped the guessing game, would anyone visit the site? Are we this dumb? When does it stop? I will surround myself with people who use their intellect and big brains from now on. People who read. Know how to read. I will never do this again. I will turn the computer off and Read.
I will benefit from turning off the computer and actually conversing with human beings.
Janet of Long Beach CA (07/15/08)
I moved from my residence in South Gate and tried cancelling my AOL numerous times but everytime I searched for a phone number or some other contact online I was unsuccessful. At one point I emailed an email that was under AOL Help and it was for an adult website. I also tried sending an email to tech support and never received a response. AOL has been taking money from my account for over 1 year (since I moved) and has made it completely impossible to cancel.
The company has been withdrawing over $30 per month and has significantly affected my monthly budget. I would like to receive a refund for all the money that was taken from my account while my AOL was inactive. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Teresa of Albany GA (07/12/08)
We have AOL internet service that my husband and I have been paying for, at least 1 1/2 to 2 years. This is billed through our phone service that cost $16.95 per month. Our son picked up a free disc in order to have internet on his computer. Our son is a soldier who had to go overseas to Iraq. He called AOL and spoke to someone and said he wanted to cancel his part (using the disc) because he was not going to be in the states. He was told it was cancelled. Unknowingly to him, AOL did not cancel his service.
After our son realized what was happening, he called AOL and was told that if it had been cancelled they would have sent a letter to him as well as it would be noted in the computer. He asked for them to send a copy of the letter that they said they sent (which he did not receive). He was then told they knew nothing of a letter nor was it in the computer as being cancelled. Another thing I do not understand is how can AOL charge both my husband and I as well as our son for the same service on the same phone number. Our son who is a veteran was fighting a war during this time. Our son was being charged $30.00 and we were charged $16.95 for the same service.
Our son's bank account was being charged by AOL $30.00 a month for 2 years. That equals to $720.00 they took out of his account. This cost him to have insufficient funds which in turn cost him alot more that the $720.00 he had already lost. He also had to pay for anything that had bounced as well as all NSF fees.
Collette of Bremerton WA (07/11/08)
I canceled AOL REPEATEDLY and they are continuing to take money from my account every month. I can't seem to stop AOL from taking money from my account. When I call AOL they say that the account is canceled and they have no record of moneys coming from me to them.
The economic damage is paying for something that I don't have. I haven't had a computer in my house for over 1 year!
Terry of Denison TX (07/09/08)
After 16 years they canceled my services for no reason.
It has ended my internet service and caused me to get another provider.
Debbie of Louisville KY (06/27/08)
I was an American Online subscriber and cancelled my account in March 2006. In August 2006 AOL contacted me with free offers, and I turned them down, since I was using NetZero for internet service. They charged my credit card $1 (credit check) in August 2006 and kept my account open anyway. No monthly charges were incurred until March of 2008 and April 2008 was not charged, then I was charged in May of 2008.
I do not have or use their service. I did not authorize this. They fraudulently charged my credit card out of the blue almost 2 years after cancelling their service. I think this is very bad business etiquette, and consider it a crime to be able to charge my credit card without my knowledge or so much as a phone call to solicite their product.
Shelley of Malden On Hudson NY (06/25/08)
AOL has been trying to extort money from customers by using devious tactics. I switched from pay to free service. Everything was fine and then I needed a CD for 9.0 upgrade which I had asked for while still a paying member. They told me I had to take out a contract for service in order to get the CD and it didn't matter that I had requested it while still a paying member. So I took out a month of service and then cancelled before the due date.
My AOL service was frozen and in order to have it restored I had to get back the membership in for technical support. They also deleted all my information in my file cabinet. I now have the tech support service and am terrified to cancel again for fear of what else they might do to force me into giving them $10 a month. I don't need this service. I have AOL through Road Runner and get free tech support there. AOL is saying they are free but when you try to use them, they force you to buy a $10 a month tech support contract or they will stop you from using them..this is illegal. I don't know where to turn to but I bet I am not the only victim here.
$10 a month, loss of time, lose of valuable information and I am sure I am not the only one.
Raoul of Pembury, Kent OTHER (06/19/08)
I used to have an account with AOL when I owned my flat. This was cancelled when I sold the flat and I thought the service terminated. I now work oversea's and my post goes to my mothers address, hense noticed fairly late in the day that one of my credit card bills had a subscription to AOL broadband? I only ever had a dial up connection when I was with them so it was news to me that I now had a subscription on my credit card with them? I did used to pay for my dial up connection with my MC but changed cards. I contacted mastercard and have sent them a statement saying the charge is false but they require that I contact them with a policy number and confirm AOL's end termination of the service.
I don't have a policy number as I never asked or had AOL broadband, or have any paper work, and I seem utterly unable to contact AOL in order to try and sort this out. I'm curretnly oversea's now and my only comms with the outside work is the internet. What can I do in order to stop AOL from charging me and how can I get my money back. Mastercard say they can only look back 3 months, and I don't have access to my files to see how far back this goes?
High blood pressure....
Gloria of Elkton FL (06/16/08)
I have tried all morning to cancel my AOL Internet Service and for some reason cannot.
It is automatically coming out of my checking or Visa account and I want to stop before they deduct again
Virgil of Chesterfield MI (06/11/08)
I conceled my account Sep. 2007 and they are still billing me.
$233.10 they owe me.
Eliana of Deerfield Beach FL (06/11/08)
I had problems connecting with the internet. I called Technical support a couple of times to fix my connectivity, but they didn't know how to fix it. I waited for a week to be connected and they didn't do anything to fix my connectivity problem. I got tired waiting and I cancelled my service. When I tried to cancel my service they put me on hold for 8 minutes and I end up hanging up and calling again. When I called the second time and talked to one of the representative to cancel my service they put me on hold again and they hang up on me.
I called the third time to cancel my service they transfer me to different departments, I had to wait another 6 minutes waiting for someone to assist me until finally I got the chance to talked to somebody and I cancelled my service. I also requested them to refund me the week I didnt used the internet and they told me they cant do that because that was my responsibility. I think AOL LLC likes to rip off peoples money. If I didnt use my internet connection for a week, its AOL responsibility to refund me that money.
Michael of Aberdeen OTHER (06/09/08)
Lost my broadband connection in February, 2008, spoke to various engineers around most of the continents for two hours on three occasions, also had an IT expert speak to them, tried to cancel my contract even htough it was ending as AOL could not reconnect me.
Canceled after contract finished, AOL took further payments from my bank after cancellation. Had very heated discussions with them as they were taking money from my account beyond cancellation date. This has also happened to two of my friends at about the same time, disgusting, will never use AOL again. I was paying for a service that they could not supply.
LOTS OF HASSLE AND TIME
Justin of Apo,Ae NY (06/04/08)
My wife and I are a American couple living in Germany since Oct 2003, On 12 August 2005 we contacted AOL to cancel our account since we have a hard time acessing and using the account here, and wanted it closed, it was being billed thru a secondary account we have back in the states, Apparently the CSR gave us a month of 'FREE SERVICE' which did not close the account, We have never received a billing statement of any type thru AOL, Again in early 2007 we again contacted AOL to cancel the account, Which they did not do,
Again in May of this year we contacted AOL to cancel the account and we wanted a refund for each and every month the account was not accessed. Aol states the account was accessed as of 04 March 2007, Which is nonsense as neither my wife or I had the account screenname or password, It was the last time we tried to cancel it, at which time AOL accessed it. We have filed a complaint thru the Better Business Bureau and at this time have the account closed 'Hopefully' AOL thought that 68.40 was fair compensation, Which is what they stated in the 2 reponses they have sent to the BBB, No further compensation is warranted, the exact words.
I am writing this after receiving the second response i received from AOL thru the BBB, I have filed a complaint thru the Federal Trade Commission also, I think that one was a waste of typing, I had requested a log of session activity from AOL, They want a notarized request that states the request, 'which waives any and all rights to claims and compensation I may have as a result of AOL releasing such information' My question is, Is there a Class Action Suit being started against AOL?
Emotional stress and international long distance phone calls to someone who doesnt speak english
Nilsa of Bronx NY (06/04/08)
In August of 2006, I got an email that AOL would be free as long as you had a broadband connection. In September of 2006, I called to cancel my account with AOL an they said it would take about a billing cycle for me to see the change. November 2006 still no change. I was going through some hardships, had 2 deaths in less than a year including my mothers so I wasn't looking at my statements until now, still no change. I have been billed $16.95 per month since September 2006 till June 2008.
My financial situation has not been the best especially with the burial expenses. My bank account has even charged me over the limit fees. I would like some type of compensation and AOL is giving me a hard time especially when I have been such a loyal customer.
Nilsa of Bronx NY (06/04/08)
In August of 2006, I got an email that AOL would be free as long as you had a broadband connection. In September of 2006, I called to cancel my account with AOL an they said it would take about a billing cycle for me to see the change. November 2006 still no change. I was going through some hardships, had 2 deaths in less than a year including my mothers so I wasn't looking at my statements until now, still no change. I have been billed $16.95 per month since September 2006 till June 2008.
My financial situation has not been the best especially with the burial expenses. My bank account has even charged me over the limit fees. I would like some type of compensation and AOL is giving me a hard time especially when I have been such a loyal customer.
Edgar of Jamaica NY (06/03/08)
I had called AOL wishing to cancell my membership in 2006 because I ONLY need to use AIM which is almost like using MSN which is used to chat with whomever is on your list. When I mentioned to the AOL rep that I was cancelling AOL because I didn't want to pay what I believe at the time was about anwhere from $14 to $21 the AOL rep told me that I can have AIM for only $9.95. It sounded like a great deal but since AOL doesn't tell you that AIM is for FREE I ended up paying $9.95 per month for the last 2 years. Upon learning how I was decieved I called AOL and cancelled everything though I can still use AIM as it is FREE.
To sum it up, I paid over $200 for a service that is for free that AOL deceivingly made it seem it was a service that required being paid for while it's a service that is for free. Economically this is an embarrassment and to be honest not surprising of AOL knowing their history of how they screw over customers. I WANT MY MONEY BACK!!!
Terry of Fair Oaks CA (05/31/08)
Our AOL service had disintegrated to the point of only momentary online activity before shutdown or freeze-up during the last three months of service. America Online Customer Service could not be reached before internet interruption. Could not upgrade from AOL version 7.0 to version 9.0 because of download failure. Made decision to discontinue service with AOL. Several attempts made to do just that, but we are forwarded to a myriad of AOL Customer Service deparments.
Hard to believe, but we can't seem to end service. Giving up in frustration perhaps several times. Now we're into our third month of absolutely frustrating internet service and pretty much discontinued internet use for months. During my Christmas break I tried to contact AOL Customer Service via E-mail. Moments before I sent my letter of intent to discontinue doing business with AOL, our internet connection is lost and the computer freezes up. Typical. That was the only time anyone in my household had logged on in the month of December. Mind you we have been trying on and off since October to end service. We we're routinely run around on the phone. We finally had to contact the credit card company and stop automatic payment to AOL.
Finally, in January '08 my wife gets the attention of someone in one of the many departments obviously designed to confuse AOL cutomers and she ends our relationship with AOL! They gave us a confirmation to that effect! However, now they want us to pay for another month of service for the forty minutes I was online trying to contact AOL to end service! We had tried to explain all of our frustration and substandard service to AOL but apparently thay are not interested in anything but ripping off their customers to the very end. We have decided not to pay for this last insult, and as a result AOL has decided to send it to collection services. Please Help.
Bill has gone to collection service, and we are concerned that this unfair billing will affect our otherwise hard-earned perfect credit.
Tina of Highland Lakes NJ (05/26/08)
I request that AOL stop billing me for an account that was cancelled 10/1/07. I spoke with AOL representative Amanda who cancelled my account and assured me my credit card would no longer be billed. I received a statement dated November 8, 2007 at which time I called again and was told my account was closed. My credit card was then billed for three months in February of 2008. I filed a dispute with my credit card company and was credited the money back. See attached letter. I now have received another statement stating I owe $87.15 and my credit card was charged again. I CANCELLED the service back in October of 2007.
I DO NOT want my credit card being charged again and want the $87.15 to be written off. I no longer use AOL service. If I continue to receive past due statements and if my credit card is charged again I will file a report with the better business bureau and seek legal representation for harassment. It is quite ridiculous that I have to go to such an extent to cancel service that became free. I was a loyal customer for many years and do not appreciate this.
I ENDED UP PAYING AN EXTRA MONTH CHARGE WHEN I FIRST CANCELLED BECAUSE I WAS THREATENED WITH BEING TURNED OVER TO A COLLECTION AGENCY. I NOW JUST GOT ANOTHER LETTER SAYING I OWE $145.25 FOR MONTHLY SERVICE.
Linda of Hollandale MS (05/26/08)
i called and told them to cancel my account in October of 2007 i just took a good look at mt account and they are still billing me. i have dsl with bellsouth but are getting money taken out of my account from aol. i want my money back they took from me.
i have had checks bounced because they took money out of my account.
Samantha of Ayer MA (05/22/08)
I had my mom call and she told the guy that my account has been closed for 2 years and I had my daughter look at my bank statements and I have been charged 11.95 a month ever since! They said she called 2 months ago and reconnected, he took off 2 months and told her she now has free AOL-again she does not have a computer. They owe her years of monthly charges and said she had to fax over the years in question! My mom has been ill and cannot afford this every month and has not had a computer for 2 years! This is nuts they know she has not used her account, so why charge on a closed account.
My mom is in pre forcloser and this little bill is nothing compared to losing her condo, but as I go through old statements she keeps getting charged each month. They do not want to help and just want money from her account that they have on file. Thanks for your help.
Chfristopher of North Aurora IL (05/21/08)
The bottom line is that I cancelled my account in February of 2007 because I no longer wanted AOL services. I keep getting charged on my credit card though! Last year, both my wife and I made several phone calls to AOL, speaking to representatives about the account we cancelled our account in February of 2007, but we were still getting charged on our credit card. AOL representatives were telling us that we were not getting charged and that we did indeed cancel our account. But it kept happening, our bank statements kept showing withdraws from it and we kept calling.
Until I lost my credit card in October of 2007. We did not see any more charges from AOL and we did not realize that it was from our credit card being lost, but thought it was because we talked to one of your representatives and it finally worked. So, AOL could not collect on a lost card, so AOL says that I owe them $103.60 from 10/07 thru 02/08. Now AOL is saying that I am 130 days delinquent and AOL is going to have to send to collections for payment.
The way I see it is AOL owes me $250.90 for charging me for 8 months of membership that I cancelled back in February of 2007. AOL also needs to correct the credit damage that they have caused because AOL did not fully cancel a membership of a member back in February of 2007. Nor did any AOL representatives notify us about another account on the numerous phone calls we made regarding being charged each month when we called regarding being charged for an account we said we closed.
This has been a very big hassle for our family and we cannot believe that a company as big as AOL would do something like this to people. I was double charged for how long? AOL should be sending me a check for $250.90 and clear up the credit damage they have done.
George of Sarasota FL (05/17/08)
I along with many others have had difficulty cancelling my AOL account. I suggest a class action suit be initiated against AOL for unfair practices.
Jonathan of Lutherville MD (05/14/08)
My service was cancelled by AOL for terms of service violation. I've been a paying member for 8 years, in good standing. On 5-13-08 My son attempted to sign on and was denied, after contacting the number listed(Customer Service) three times and getting disconnected twice. I was informed that I violated terms of service for using the word idiot on an open blog. A blog, that on any given topic contains works deemed vulgar and personally offensive by common accepted standards, however I have never seen the word idiot, in what ever context, considered offensive on a common moral/legal standard.
After several attempts to speak with somebody regarding reinstated my paid account, I was enformed to write a letter to the community standards team, Mesh. Nobody I spoke with could tell me the context of the word, or even the posting in whole, just that the word idiot, and that it was offensive. However, 4 lettered words are common, and the posters continue to post uninhibited. No list exists to specifically identify such words, and no methode of notification, clarification, or response exist. This action was arbitrary, capricious, and without merit. P.S., I do dispute that I may have typed in the word Idiot, however I don't recall the context, and AOL's representative could not say what the post was, or the context it was posted in, only that I used the word idiot. I do dispute that it is a violation, and that the action was arbitrary.
Loss of access to personal documents and records stored on AOL, a paid service. Loss of resources as a reasult of the groundless action. Unable to performs work (in addition son's school work) that is normally done throught this paid service.
Kenneth of Independence MO (05/14/08)
I called and cancelled my aol account over a year ago. I am still getting billed $32.90 a month for a service that I don't even use anymore.
Are needlessly taking money out of my account each month.
Igor of Brooklyn NY (05/13/08)
It is been extremely difficult to cancel the AOL service.
Bill of Aurora CO (05/12/08)
It is true, trying to discontinue AOL is deliberatly difficult.
Diane of Rome NY (05/04/08)
We've subscribed to AOL for many years but I can't deal w/it anymore. [They] have NO one who monitors the responses to news that [they] print. Because I'm plan- ning a trip to Burma, I was most inter- ested in the devastation it just experi-enced. What do the comments about it say? Read it, [people] are using it to discuss politics. Another person complained of it in that column but [AOL is] unaware of such. [AOL] incompetency forces me to subscribe to a different server.
Alston of Tampa FL (04/29/08)
I cancelled aol subscription 2 years ago after getting verizon dsl service. When Suntrust Bank replaced my credit card in March( Sweetbay supermarket card thefts),I was surprised that AOL wrote for a new billing number. Apparently, they have continued to auto bill us for two years, and my wife who pays that credit card, didn't notice. Now AOL wants$25.90. I dispute this, and AOL owes us TWO YEARS FRAUDULENT AUTO CARD BILLING. It should be primafacia evidence that anyone will DSL service wouldn't any more use AOL.
dollars and aggravation
Kimberly of Oxon Hill MD (04/23/08)
Back in 2004, I used a CD I received in the mail to try AOL's service. I liked it and continued to use it for a few months. Well, I decided to change banks, go from Telephone Credit Union in OH, to Navy Federal Credit Union, so I switched everything over to Navy Federal and at that time, I found a cheaper email service so I called AOL to cancel my service. At that time, I had approximately $30 in the Telephone Credit Union account. So, I decided that I would leave it there for a rainy day. Well, because I didn't close the Tel. Fed. Cred. Union account, I continued to get my monthly statement (or so I thought). I did not look at the supposed statement because I knew that I cancelled everything. Well, about a year or so later, I decided to actually look at my TCU statement to see how much interest I had accumulated and saw that I had a huge negative balance! I now owed TCU approximately $300! And they came from AOL!
I called AOL to cancel the service again and told them what happened. They said they would and that was the end of it. Well -$661.00 later, I still owe this amount to TCU for AOL charges and overage charges. I've called TCU numerous times trying to get them to at least close the account because those charges were unauthorized, but was told that they could not close the account until the overdue balance was paid. I asked them how is it that the bank will still allow the charges when there isn't any money coming into that account. I was told that someone would call me back. After calling AOL numerous times, they finally stopped charging my account. In the meantime, Telephone Credit Union became Taleris Credit Union. I've called both TCU and AOL numerous times to see what could be done and to no avail. TCU states they've lost money on this so they want me to pay it, I told them that if I pay it, so have I because I didn't even use the service.
This has tremendously affected my credit rating! I've been denied when trying to open a bank account at my current place of employment because of this account as well as I've been denied for credit many other places (over the years) because of this blemish on my credit report. To make it even worse, to pay it now still leaves the mark on my credit report for 7 more years! I don't know what to do.
Carolyn of Mesa AZ (04/15/08)
I called the billing number to cancel an account. When I told them My Mother had passed asway and I needed to close her account they said I had to transfer the account to my name first and then cancel it. I do not want to do that so they refuwed to cancel the account.
First it took me 20 minutes searching the web to find a billing phone numver to call. Then the agent I spoke to (Cole) spoke such poor english that I had to ask to speak to her supervisor. Unfortunately that supervisor (Alvin) was not much easier to understand. I was placed on hold several time and forced to listen to heavy metal rock music which was not pleasant. Then they refused to cancel the account. How can I get help with this? Thank you very much.
Sally of Willis TX (04/15/08)
I have been notifying them to CANCEL my account since Dec. 2006-2007 and again this month.... via email ... and they are still charging my bank card. My bank (Wells Fargo) won't stop it because they say I initiated it originally. I have emails to substanciate my claim that I've attempted to close my account.
I live outside the US (in the UK) because I have remarried. I can't just pick up the phone and call them (toll free) and no one has given me a US number to call on. They certainly don't answer emails!
Lee of Winslow AZ (04/05/08)
I tried to cancel my AOLaccount after signnig up only after 3 weeks. I signed on to the $9.95 month plan and cancelled on line. I had recieved a letter fom AOL confirming my cancellation and no charges were billed. I then recieve a bill for $25.90,in which was rejected by my cedit card. AOL had decided to put me on a $25.90 amonth plan,rejecting there 1 month free trial service and stating I had signed up for there premium plan. Contated a represenative in which I could hardly understand his language, and he defied me and stated i could not cancel on line and my credit card would be billed or sent to a collection agency.
Excesssive stress and cancelled my credit card,in which several personal account are linked for billing for personal monthly bills,in which will cause a delay in payment proccessing.
Michael of Phila PA (04/05/08)
I cancelled my AOL account in mid February 2008 that was billed through my VERIZON telephone bill and AOL.COM did not cancel the account with VERIZON. I now have a delinquent bill and cannot reach a PERSON to speak with at AOL.COM. I get an automated voice menu system or no response on the internet since my account is closed.
I now have a delinquent telephone bill that was always paid in advance due to the porr billing services of AOL.COM
Rodney of Bakersfield CA (03/28/08)
Today is March 28th. I canceled AOL on 8-1-2006. I just looked at my statement and they're still billing me. I went back over the time frame and find that they missed a month but they've been billing me ever since. Jeffery tells me they stopped billing me in August when I canceled but it's being taken out of my account. He says to send them my account statements for the time frame and he will turn it into there fraud department.
I'm out $32.90 for the last 2 years for something I'm not even getting! I had to go to my bank and pay $12.00 to put a stop on their account!
Karen of South Bend IN (03/21/08)
I called December 18, 2007, to cancel my AOL service; and after going through a lengthy automated system, I was given confirmation #936293618. I thought great! But, oh no, they continue to withdraw funds monthly from my bank account. I tried another phone number, and after 15 minutes they told me my plan did not have phone support of any kind and that I needed to go to the website to figure out how to do it.
They are taking funds out of my bank that I don't have! And my going through there automated system makes me want to throw up. I wish I would have saved my info from the several times before December when I tried to cancel and couldn't get through to anyone.
Sharon of Summit NJ (03/16/08)
I have been trying to cancel my aol account since march 12, 2008. I called to cancel that day and understood from the phone rep that they would cancel but that it took some time to process. Then she shifted into asking why and had I called for tech support and what else aol had to offer, ie. a sales pitch quickly evolved and finally I just told her I had no time to listen and hung up. Several days later an email from aol showed up referring to the call as a request for tech support and asking me to fill out a customer satisfaction survey. There was also reference to a cancel.aol.com website to cancel your account. I went to the web site to cancel and none of the options allow you to cancel entirely your contract with them for internet access. I then went to the survey site, ready to give them a piece of my mind. No chance. None of the questions allowed for anything resembling accuracy about my experience with them nor the basic problem I encountered. The only avenue to express dissatisfaction was about the performance of the phone rep, who was only following orders I am sure.
It is costing me Money every day as they continue to charge my credit card for their uncancelable, unwanted service.
Camille of Houston TX (03/10/08)
My daughter, who is a US Airman, was stationed in the UK from 2003 to 2005. She has been back in the states for three years and we have all been trying to get AOL to quit taking money out of her account. Three Years! We've written letters and emails to AOL, we've written emails and letters to the bank and it's still going on.
The damage is that AOL has taken a lot of money from my daughter who is on a fixed military income for three years.
Owen of Dubai OTHER (03/09/08)
I have been trying for months now to get my AOL paid account cancelled. There website does not allow you into your account area stating you do not have site permission even though you are signed on. There electronic cancellation link also does not lead anywhere, if you click on it it takes you to a copyright infrigement complaint form. There phone system sends you around in circles and you never get to an operator. Being desperate I downloaded a cancellation form in PDF format, completed it as required and fax it as instructed.
They are continuing to bill my credit card, now 2 months after sending them the fax cancellation I get a postcard in the mail stating YOU ARE STILL A VALUED AOL MEMBER !! and gives me a sting of instructions to follow to cancel if I wanted too. These instruction are exactly what I have done 2 months ago.
Ruby of Abingdon VA (03/08/08)
I have been trying to cancel my account for about two years, and AOL still takes money out of my bank account each month ($9.94 + $24.95). It adds up. This month we didn't have enough to cover it, and the account bounced, plus the bank charged us $22 for each withdrawal. This i sjust making me sick. We have enough to deal with just keeping our heads above water paying our mortgage and other bills, plus buying food. Please help us. I looked at other complaints of AOL customers, and there must be 100 of them.
HARDSHIP, TO SAY THE LEAST!
Gwendolyn of Lansdowne PA (03/07/08)
I called AOL on March 4, 2008, to ask for my dial up to be canceled. I had been with AOL for at least the last 7 years or so. I finally got DSL/Verizon this month. So I didn't want to be paying for both services. I spoke with a guy named John. I even got a confirmation of the cancellation. Well to my surprise, the next day I get an email from AOL saying they were happy they resolved my customer service issue. I immediately went into my account online and see that they are not canceling my account and that it is due to be charged again next month, April 3, 2008.
So.... I immediately filed a report with the Virginia State Attorney General's office and the BBB. I am determined not to let them continually charge my account. It's very important to contact The Virginia State Attorney General's office. That is the General for the location of the AOL Corporate Office. This is how companies get exposed who are engaging in fraudulent practices, if enough people have legitimate complaints about them. It's great to come onto the message boards and post to get the word out about these companies, but in addition to doing that you have to get the complaint in the hands of those who can stop these companies. If you need the State Attorney General's address: Virginia Office of Consumer Affairs P.O. Box 1163 Richmond, Va 23218. Good Luck
Reading some of these horror stories about how people on limited income were taken advantage of by AOL makes me physically ill. There really needs to be some regulation and consequences for AOL's bad business practices.
Pedro of Brooklyn NY (03/05/08)
I recently had difficulties with my DSL service and called AOL to rectify the situation. I was then informed that we were being billed for a service that was no longer provided. This problem had never been notified to us in the past, and we had been making our monthly payments as usual. We also discovered that we were still being billed for dial-up service, which we had not used in years since we were using the DSL service. We always wondered why we were paying so much for AOL since we never received any statements, and we had automated payments. This time we asked if there was any way to rectify the situation and possibly receive a refund for the services that were paid for but were not being provided. We were told that this could not be done because although the service was not being used or no longer existed, it was still our duty to contact them for cancellation.
Now, if we would have previously been informed of this matter, we would have immediately corrected the situation and would have continued to use AOL as our internet service provider. The issue now is that they will not immediately cancel our service as requested. We were told we would still have to pay for this month, and the service would be canceled by the next billing period. Does this seem fair? No person in their right mind would think so.
Arthur of Rising Sun MD (03/05/08)
I canceled my account with America Online on 11/27/07. I have been billed three times since--twice to my credit card and once to my checking account. This caused overdraft charges on my credit card.
Nicole of Country Clu8b Hills IL (03/05/08)
I tried the 6 month free trial service on 11 Aug '07 in Canyon Lake, CA. I was unable to get on line and ultimately had to use T-Mobile to connect. I contacted technical support at AOL and was told to contact my phone service provider. I called on the 12th of Aug. and spoke with a lady who assured me that the service would be canceled, and I would not be billed. I noticed on a week ago that my bank account had been over drawn and was at a negative balance. Turns out that AOL made a withdrawal, and it resulted it another check bouncing. I tracked the charge down and called AOL. I was told by Mark that he showed no record of my canceling the service. I asked him if he showed any activation of the account or usage, and he said there was no record of that. If I order cable and never turn my TV on, I would still have to pay.
At that point I requested his supervisor, and she (Heather) confirmed what Mark had said; and she stated that she REFUSED to refund me the money they had taken, and I was subject to additional charges because I requested she changed my mailing address to IL. This AOL company should be investigated for questionable practices and billing concerns. Shame on me for not keeping the information on who I spoke with in Aug. I threw it away after Christmas because I felt secure that it had been resolved. They are rude and unprofessional, and I will never, not ever, deal with them again.
I have been debited $68.00 plus the $25 for AOL because of over draft fees and a bounced check. I have been upset by this, and I am a disabled veteran who thought I was dealing with an honest company. I never called AOL with anything except the facts. I did agree to the service, and I did give them my credit card. I never used the service (never could), and I did cancel the service the next day (OR SO I THOUGHT). I feel that if they can confirm that I never used it, and I called upon my first discovery that I was being charged, that they should return my MONEY. They should not threaten to bill me further because I never got this cancellation letter or asked them to ensure they had the correct mailing address.
Virginia of Rodeo CA (03/04/08)
I canceled my account on 12/20/06 with AOL. I received a letter confirming the account had been closed including confirmation number. One year and later, they continued to charge me since they still had my bank account number. The bank could not stop payment coming through my account. I tried calling the company several times and talked to machine after machine. Got lucky and talked to a representative about the problem; she said the account had been closed but did not know about the charges. She asked me to send her a copy of the letter I received and copies of banking statements showing the charges. I sent them, and the charged continued without hearing from the company.
After several months I again tried contacting them. I talked to three different people--all not knowing anything about the problem. One of the representatives told me that she could not credit me for the charges and needed to send her again copies of the banking statements. She said that account was closed and that there would be not further charges because that account was closed. I told her I knew the account was closed because I had the cancel confirmation number. Yet the charges continued. I told her I would send the banking statements to them again, but I wanted a name and number of a supervisor who I could call and check to see that it was being taken care of. She refused and said they were not allowed to do that. She checked on her computer and found an old account back in 2002 that I had with them which was closed but owed $57 dollars on. I told her I had received their bill not too long ago and told her that I had relocated and had forgotten to close the account. She then told me that I could forget sending her my bank statement because I owed them money, and she would not give me credit. One account has nothing to do with the other I told her. She said that there would not be any more charges made to that account.
I asked about the charges AOL made that total over $300? "Just be assured that there won't be anymore," she said. I then asked for a supervisor. So I got Mike who I guess didn't have a last name because he would not give it to me. Also, he said that there would not be anymore charges. "Fine," I told him, "but you owe me over $300". Here is the best part. He said "You owe us $57; I will go ahead and forget that charge, and be assured you will not be charged again." So AOL owes me over $300--but they will forget about the $57 if I forget about the $300? He said, "You won't be charged again," and right after that I lost contact with them. Whether they hung up or we were disconnected, I am not sure. I did go to the bank and close that account and had to call all the companies that get paid through that account just to stop them. To be honest, at the time I had ATT and thought that maybe AOL was part of those charges. When I realized that it was not, it was over $200. Getting the run around by AOL, the charges went up to over $300. That is where we are now.
Besides canceling my credit card account and all the work involved with that, this has been a major headache trying to deal with AOL.
Ena of Sacramento CA (03/01/08)
I initially called on 1 Feb 2008 to cancel AOL services. Then I went on-line and performed the cancellation as suggested by the operator. Today, 1 March 2008, I checked my account and it was debited $25.95 for AOL services. I called again to cancel and to receive a refund of the misappropriated funds, and Issac (no last name given) stated that there was no record of my cancellation attempt, but he would cancel the account and gave me a cancellation number.
I want to verify that the account was indeed closed and if possible to receive my money back - $25.95, as I am on a fixed income, and every penny has been accounted for in my budget--no money to arbitrarily throw away. Thank you.
Patricia of West Yarmouth MA (02/29/08)
When my husband Francis died, I canceled his AOL account. I recently realized that for the last 3 years, AOL has been billing me for an account they closed in March 2005. When I contacted them, they agreed with me it was THEIR mistake. However, I have not received any forms or rebate on the $14.95 per month charge (had a senior rate) for over three years.
My AOL account was over charged by more than $538.00 for an account that was closed.
Angela of Saint Francos, MN (02/29/08)
I called AOL to cancel my service. I'm still not sure that it was canceled as I was so angry after 9 minutes on the phone, I hung up. I called on 2/28/08 and finally got a live person that kept saying "you have been with us for 8 years and 11 months lets see what I can do for you".
I kept telling her to cancel my service immediately. This went on for 6 minutes. Then she tells me I will cancel your service as of March 5th, I said no you are going to cancel it now and refund 6 days of service. After repeating myself over and over all she wanted to do was to see what see could do for me. I wanted her to do, she would not do.
Anthony of Peoria, AZ (02/27/08)
I was charged $51.80 on my visa. I called to have it refunded because the account was not mine.
I was told, by a person with an accent when I asked to speak with a supervisor, that if I wanted to speak to an American I should call back and he hung up on me! I called back and without even knowing anything the CSR was rude by tone alone. So, I asked to speak to her supervisor who called me rude and told me several times to shut up. She stated I was ignorant.
When I asked for a complaint department, she refused to give me the number. I asked for her customer service ID, she refused to give me that. Then being so upset I told her that I didn't want my card charged anymore and that I would go through my card company to have it refunded. She told me I was a liar and that because I wanted this account canceled to prevent further charges, she now had it documented and I cannot submit a fraud claim.
THEN, she read some statement about canceling the account and that AOl would love for me to come back as a customer!!
Jane of Kershaw SC (02/25/08)
They refuse to cancel my service and keep charging my checking account. They have bullied us on the phone and keep sending a bill for $19.95, even though I canceled last year!
Lorri of Harper Woods MI (02/25/08)
If I had an address or phone number for Aol I would give it, but I do not. I have been trying for over 1 year to find a way to cancel the Aol Internet service, and there is no place on the search to find out how to cancel! Please, tell me how to cancel AOL service. On the AOL welcome page there is a help on the toolbar; it has AOL account billing which takes you nowhere.
AOL internet service is slow, cuts you off while on-line, and performs extremely poorly.
AOL HAS BEEN DEDUCTING $32.90 AUTOMATICALLY FROM MY CHECKING, AND I AM UNABLE TO CANCEL THIS SERVICE AND OBTAIN CHEAPER SERVICE WITH AT&T WHICH CHARGES $19.90 PER MONTH FOR DSL & DIAL UP INTERNET SERVICE. I HAVE SPENT DAYS, HOURS SEARCHING FOR A PHONE NUMBER TO CANCEL AOL.
Roxana of Grand Prairie TX (02/20/08)
I canceled my AOL account several years ago, and TWO MONTHLY CHARGES ARE STILL BEING DEDUCTED FROM MY ACCOUNT. I have not used AOL in years. I do not even remember my login or passwords. I should be paid over $1000.00 reimbursement from AOL.
Samuel of Brooklyn NY (02/17/08)
For the past year Aol Service, has been billing my Credit Card I've canceled my credit card 4 times. I put blocks on the Aol from charging me with the credit card company. I have taken many steps with the credit card company as well to take care of it. Dealing with all their fraud departments and supervisors. Yet still every month a $9.95 fee shows up. I've had Aol once in my like like 3 years ago. I did not even sign up with this credit card though.
Howard of Tulalip WA (02/14/08)
My wife uses an undisclosed distribution list to send emails to her friends. Our emails are for personal use only; we don't use them for advertising or any related business need. AOL threatens to block my service provider using the excuse that someone is complaining about SPAM. AOL does not give us any information about who complains, even though they would have to have that information if true. We have communicated with everyone on the list with an AOL address and none know what is happening. It is our belief that AOL is using the SPAM complaint as an excuse to threaten us in disclosing the distribution list so they can send SPAM and send junk mail out.
My service provider, tulalipbroadband.net, won't or can't fight AOL, and we are going to be canceled.
Karen of Surfside Beach SC (02/03/08)
We switched from AOL to Time-Warner DSL cable. Time-Warner said that since AOL was a part of their company, we should not be billed separately by AOL and that I needed to contact AOL. We are still being billed separately by AOL. I have double billings on my credit card every month. I have repeatedly tried to contact AOL to resolve this problem, with NO LUCK.
This causes us to have charges on our credit card of $50.00 each month that SHOULD NOT be on the card.
Marty of Thornton CO (01/29/08)
In May 2007, I canceled AOL DSL service when they were unable to repair it (stopped working). I changed to a free AOL account then and got a Comcast account. The AOL billing continued in June, and I was unable to cancel via the 800 number. The representatives kept telling me that I owed them nothing and that my account was a free email account. This continued through December, and I could not find a way to make them stop. I finally disputed through my credit card company, but the billings STILL continued. I finally canceled the card and got a new one. Now in Jan. '08, they are threatening to turn the debt over to a collection agency. The billing was for dial-up, which I never ordered. Their claim was that it was started under another screen name.
They have billed me for $25.90 each month, and I'm not sure how long ago it began. I suspect that they were billing me for the DSL service and dial-up at the same time, but I did not detect it due to confusion over billing cycles. The $25.90 charge may have been made over several years, and I will have to research my bills to determine how long it has been going on. If the debt is turned over to a collection agency, this could affect my credit score and will cost me additional expenses in the future.
Diane of Maytown PA (01/27/08)
I have been trying to cancel my account for a year now. I am getting the run around; I write where I am supposed to and am still getting billed.
Money is withdrawn from my account when I am not expecting, and this has caused overdrafts and charges.
Jane of Columbia SC (01/27/08)
I have been trying to cancel my AOL Internet Service, and I cannot find any way to do so. We have a new service, and I need to get this bill off of my credit card. I have tried every way and every number I can call to try to cancel this account.
I have a limited income, and I cannot afford to pay for a service that I do not find satisfactory.
Sheila of Sunnyvale CA (01/20/08)
I attempt monthly to discontinue services, but only automatic help is available and they continue to bill me monthly for 1 year. This is taken from my checking account.
Michael of Cherry Hill, NJ (01/14/08)
I had been a subscriber of AOL for over 10 years. After experiencing problems with their DSL service that no one could resolve, I terminated my service on 8/9/07. It was very difficult to cancel the AOL service, but finally I was allowed to do so and was given a confirmation number. I was on an annual prepaid plan and was told that within 7 to 10 days, I would receive a credit on my card for $179.55, which represented the unused part of my annual charge.
However, the credit never showed up on my credit card. Instead, I got a form in the mail from AOL, dated 8/15/07, thanking me for reinstating AOL service on 8/9/07, the day I canceled. The back of the form allowed me to inform AOL that this was a mistake on their part and that I did not want to reinstate the service. I faxed the form back to AOL. When the credit for $179.55 did not appear on my VISA at the end of the month, I called the bank.
The bank issued me a credit but informed me that if AOL contested the credit, it would have to go into a dispute resolution process. AOL never challenged so I thought the matter was over, until I got a letter from a collection agency on 1/12/08 indicating that I owed $179.55 to AOL.
I spoke to a number of individuals, including supervisors that all indicated I was owed the $179.55 for the unused portion of the year, but that I did not follow the proper channels in having the $179.55 credited to my VISA account. According to the supervisor, the process takes two months, and I should have waited this long before filling a dispute with Chase. I was told to resolve this matter now, I would have to pay AOL the $179.55, and that this amount would then be credited to me. I refused to do so.
Jay of Aberdeen OTHER (01/14/08)
I had canceled my account, but they have no record of it and took 3 payments of 15.99 pounds: the 1st one on 01-01-08 and 2 payments on 02-01-08. I talked to my bank, and they were no help. I phoned AOL, and they said my account was still active based on an old debit card number that was canceled; and through this they still took payment. When I phoned they didn't have any record of my address, etc., but they just had old card information. Since they said I had failed to cancel it (i.e. they had no records of the cancellation), it was all my fault even though I was dully diligent in phoning to cancel.
As a Result of this I am very stressed and have next to no money to pay my bills. This affects my credit rating. Also, were it not for the generosity from those close to me, I would have barely been able to eat or have heating and lighting. I need a warm house at this time of year, too; I have back and hip problems that affect my joints.
Maryanne of New Ort Richey FL (01/03/08)
After 3 requests over 4 years to have my service discontinued , and assured that it was, has cost a very disabled woman, who depends on the church for support and survival, was cheated and lied to. She can't even buy food. The charges continue to be debited even afte reassurmnet that a reimbursement would be credited to her ch acct. or a check in the mail over 2 yrs ago.
Cleveland of Kansas City MO (01/02/08)
I am very upset at AOL. They made it very easy to start my account but when I tried to cancel it they kept giving me the run around. First I followed the instructions on how to cancel and then I am at some screen about how to upgrade my account. I can never seem to get in where I need to in order to stop payment from my banking account. Is there anyway to make them (aol) pay their customers in a law suite for all the practices that they have even when they have been ordered to stop these type of practices?
It is costing me money every month that I do not have anymore, And besides that, this is the worst service I have ever seen in my life.
Sylvia of Raymondville TX (12/27/07)
I have canceled my AOL service for over 6 months, and I am still being charged. Check my account and phone number. I have not used it. I thought It had been canceled, but I recently noticed my bank statement and have been charged every month. My number has been disconnected, and I no longer live at the address. AOL has been charging me for a service that I canceled and haven't used.
I would like it stopped immediately, and I'd like my money back--that taken from my bank account. AOL has taken advantage of me and my bank account.
Shirley of Las Cruces NM (12/27/07)
I had AOL for a brief time in 2005, when it was time to cancel, I could NEVER get through. When I finally did, I got a letter in the mail with my confirmation #. I thought I was done with them. Eleven months later, on a fluke, I happened to check one of my bank accounts (it was used only for my life insurance drafts, and had no reason to check it on a monthly basis) and discovered that I had been charged every mo. for AOL fee. I called them immediately and was told they had no record of my cancellation. I found the letter from them and called them on 10-31-07 and was told by the agent that I would get a refund of $239.00. After 2 or 3 weeks I saw no refund , and was then told that the refund was denied because they can only go back in the records 6 months. As of this date (12-27-07) I have yet to be reimbursed!
I gave them 1 more opportunity to have my business; I got the free AOL, with my new computer; I activated the service on 10-11-07 then canceled on 10-13-07. At the time of cancellation I was told they don't give out confirmation #'s because that was no longer the procedure. After much pressing to the agent, I was given a #, obviously a bogus one at that. On 12-26 I noticed that my bank acct. balance was off; I contacted my bank and was told that AOL had taken monies from me again! This organization, in my opinion, is a total rip off and should be shut down! I know that I am not the only consumer that they have ripped off, and would like to see them pay EVERYONE back, every penny, plus damages!
I am currently behind on my house payment and had just enough money in my acct. to cover my mortgage payment. Since AOL has debited my acct, my mortgage payment has been returned unpaid, leaving me with additional fees that I simply cannot afford. They should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law!!
Victoria of Berwyn IL (12/23/07)
I've been paying $6.95 a month for email services which had been free since 9/06. AOL never notified me that email service became free and now will not refund my money. They said I was paying for internet connection, which they knew I was getting from AT&T dsl, when they changed my fee from $23.95 a month to $6.95. I'd say they owe me $104.25. They won't pay.
Bradley of Menomonee Falls WI (12/17/07)
I tried to cancel AOL internet service several times, and all of the AOL representatives told me the same thing: "I assure you that your account will be canceled." I was double-billed three different times in 2005. They flat out lied to me when I asked them to cancel my account. I refused to pay it, and it went on my credit report as overdue.
This cost me $200 in payments that I shouldn't have had to make. I ended up having to pay the amount that I didn't owe; that affected my credit, too.
Marylin of Nashville IN (12/04/07)
I had heard rumors about the cancellation horrors of AOL internet service. They are all true! Even after the lawsuits.
Multiple forms walk you through the cancellation process only to end up back where you began without a way to cancel.
Used live help - they could not assist me only gave a toll free number to use to cancel.
If you can sign up on line why can't you cancel on line??? What a scam! Are there any other alternatives others may have used to quit AOL? Help!
I thought I had cancelled twice by internet with a notice that we will cancel this service within 72 hours, yet still is not cancelled. It is costing 25.90/month and being billed directly to my credit card. The credit card even has an outdated expiration date (according to their records) yet they continue to bill it. I am calling my credit card company to refuse these charges but they should not have the responsibility to do so if I have done my part!
Walter of Fort Worth, TX (11/30/07)
I called AOL in January, 2006 to cancel my service. I was told that I needed to submit the request in writing and when they received it, my service would be terminated within 72 hours. I mailed the letter on 2/17/06. I assumed the termination took place.
When I checked my bank statement in June, I noticed that I was still being charged for AOL. I called them and was assured that I would not be charged any more. I called my bank and told them to not honor any more charges from AOL.
I recently checked my bank statement and noticed that I am still being charged!
Ben of London OTHER (11/25/07)
This is to alert your readers that difficult to cancel and double billing scams are being used by AOL in the UK through a billing affiliate based in Luxembourg. I have canceled the service on several occasions dating back to 1999 when my use stopped. The last time, I canceled, I did this on-line through the AOL system in 2003. I have the cancelation code from that date which AOL does not recognize. I have been double billed for a service which I do not use dating back to this 2003 date. Since that time, I have written to PO Box Numbers to no avail. AOL does not properly identify itself. I have instructed my bank not to make payments but AOL finds another way of billing. On two occasions I have closed my accounts, debit and credit cards and re-opened new accounts with the same institution. AOL has found a way to extract money from these new accounts. I am told that AOL bills dead customers in the UK for as long as they can get access to accounts or for four years.
AOL have taken funds from my account to which they are not entitled. The amount fraudulently collected is in excess of $2000. My bank now has to manually do a cat and mouse dance each month to reverse transactions which re-appear soon after reversal.
Coleman of Marion AR (11/25/07)
I've complained to AOL until I'm weary of messing with them. I've been on AOL for over ten years. Using AOL is like going back to dial-up. I'm thinking seriously about canceling my AOL subscription.
Susan of Sarasota FL (11/23/07)
I signed up for AOL services and immediately cancelled them. They deducted 52.80 from my checking account in July of 2007. When I had an online chat, I was told that it would be a couple of months before I get it back. At that time, I was told that they did not have a phone number for the corporate office, but gave me an address, which I wrote to requesting the money back. It is now four months later, and I still have not heard from them or received the money back that they deducted from my checking account.
I live paycheck to paycheck, and cannot afford even that amount to be deducted. I know that it can seem like a small amount to some, but because I had only about $100.00 in my account, it left the account low, with 2 of my checks still outstanding.
Kat of NM (11/23/07)
On 8-11-07 I called to cancel internet service with AOL and was told that bank account had already been debited, but that a refund would be issued. To this date no refund has been received in spite of several phone attempts to resolve this.
Service was paid annually, $244.44, so I was short grocery money.
Gene of Ft. Walton Bch. FL (11/20/07)
Some time in Dec. 2005 I tried to cancel AOL services, but had difficult time doing so. Finally they convinced me that I could use certain AOL services for $10.95, and if I did not want it I could cancel anytime. They continued to charge me $15.95, and I literally had to fight with my bank to cancel the authorization. We have not used AOL services as we no longer had land line. We bo longer required AOL services; our children graduated and are using other sources. We recall calling cancellation in May '06, Dec '06, and again June '06.
They still insist on charging $15.95 when I have a letter confirming that they were to charge $10.95. That is another reason that I wanted to Cancel AOL SERVICES. I am now receiving collection notices for $15.95 until June 2007. I would like my refund and an apology for trying to make the unwarranted and illegal collection by OSI Recovery Solutions, Inc., 800-862-1707.
George of Durham NC (11/20/07)
I canceled my AOL account in May '07. They sent letters trying to collect for 3 months. No help when dealing with AOL; they have no records of account being closed.
They sending bills of $77.70; this might affect my 800 credit score.
Kay of Union City GA (11/18/07)
I got an AOL account for my mother's computer and charged it to my credit card. This happened more than two years ago. My mother's computer died during the week we got the AOL account so my mother never got to use AOL. Since then I have been trying to cancel the account. I have called AOL so many times and been told this account has been canceled. However, as of October 28, 2007 my credit card is still being charged the $17.95 that was supposed to have been stopped. It seems for a few months they stopped charging my account and now the charge is back.
The AOL charge is accruing interest on my credit card and they have literally been stealing this money from me. The stress and strain of trying to get this canceled and never being able to get it done is causing me untold grief and frustration.
Tony of Hamilton OTHER (11/14/07)
i canceled my aol service june 29th they persuaded me to stay gave me 1 free month to try a 9.95 service i did not use this service or ever log on again but they continued to bill me 24.38 per month until now. i am trying to get back the year plus they billed me for nothing but they could care less.
they billed me for 15 or so months $365 when there was no activity on the account.
William of Matawan NJ (11/13/07)
I canceled my account with AOL. They would not cancel my email,however. They have given me a free email account (the same as if I am a paying member) which I do not wish to have. I want that email account to be disassociated from me. I have a new email account and service. I understand that someone might believe that AOL is doing me a favor. I however have different opinion.
I no longer use the service and will not go to the AOL site, free or otherwise. I am being held hostage to bolster the ad sales potential of a company I no longer wish to use. I do feel like this is fraud. The AOL business model is unfriendly to the consumer and defeats the flow of fair trade and business ethics. I wonder how many people would continue to maintain free AOL accounts if they knew they could not permanently get rid of them? AOL is unfairly profiting from my former membership.
Shanyn of Oceanside CA (11/13/07)
I canceled AOL on two different occasions. The first was July 16, but AOL continued to withdraw $24.95 from my debit card account. I then canceled again on Sept. 18 and changed my card number. AOL has now sent me a bill for October even though I have attempted to end services for three months. When I contact AOL the recording says I do not have live customer support services so I cannot speak to a customer service representative.
When I got a collection notice with a working number, the agents tell me they bill a month in advance. The last withdrawal from my account was on 917/07 which should pay for October, but somehow AOL says the payment is for services I did not pay in September. AOL continues to state I owe them money when I can clearly prove I do not; but no one wants to handle my complaint competently.
I am out $74.85 plus the time spent trying to reason with these jokers.
Bedelia of San Jose, CA (11/06/07)
For 1 year AOL took out $23.99 monthly out of my account. I never noticed but when I contacted my bank they said, "Good luck in canceling your AOL. They're terrible to work with."
They immediately put a stop to the charge but I was out $287.88 that AOL refused to refund to me.
Merijean of Indian Harbour Beach, FL (11/05/07)
I canceled AOL in June 2007 and went to another internet provider. AOL did cancel my account as I checked it. All of a sudden in September, I received a paper bill from AOL claiming I owed $77.70. When I called, they were rude and told me my excuse was not valid as to why I canceled this account. Therefore, they said they will send this to collections and hung up.
I am still trying to resolve this account with no end in sight.
Juan of Boise ID (11/03/07)
I was stupid and stuck in a free AOL cd for a free trial. I was investigating their offer. I had previously signed up for a very short period in 2003. I canceled fairly quickly because it was a horrendous service. Now, I hadn't reviewed my checking account statements. I got zero notice from AOL that I signed up for anything, never once used their service, and I get a notice this week that they were not able to withdraw money from my account. I was livid at this technological theft. Of coarse I'm gong through hell trying to cancel. After all this time they can still rip people off.
My checking account is overdrawn, my phone bill increased, my time wasted, and I've been on the phone going round and round with AOL. Can't anyone help.? This is crime against consumers.
Valerie of Knoxville, TN (10/30/07)
After subscribing to American Online for several years, my family decided to switch to Comcast for our internet service. I have repeatedly called AOL to cancel our service with them and have never been successful in doing so. I have called several different numbers, often being kept on hold for up to an hour.
Our last attempt to cancel was a few weeks ago. Today I received another bill stating I owed them $77.70 which was due IMMEDIATELY. Upon called the 1-866-859-0176 Member Services number, I was told that our last attempt was unsuccessful because "it had not be validated prior to the end of the call"!!
Aster of San Diego CA (10/29/07)
I am still being charged by AOL/Time Warner $25.90 per month for service that I canceled in February, 2005. I have changed my credit card more than 3 times to keep from getting billed, and AOL/Time Warner continues to track down the new card and charges me. I have called their Billing Department many times and have been routed, rerouted and hung up on too many times to count. I have written to the Better Business Bureau and now am writing to you for help. Please help.
So far this has cost me $854.70 for 33 months of unauthorized charges, and I will probably get charged another $25.90 next month.
Christina of El Cajon CA (10/28/07)
I canceled my AOL account in May 2005 but have just found out that they continued to bill my debit card for services. I have contacted my bank to halt the fraudulent charges and will contact AOL to seek restitution....I am furious with myself for not catching this sooner, but even more so with a degenerate company that continues to cash in on an account that has long since been canceled.
Best guess estimate is that AOL owes me in the neighborhood of $700.
Frank of Los Angeles CA (10/26/07)
Despite verbally canceling an AOL account on more than one occasion, AOL continued to bill me monthly. Each attempt to cancel the account involved an extended, time-consuming process of a long sequence of automated telephone prompts followed by even longer waits on hold. At one time I waited over 30 minutes on hold before hanging up. After informing the bank to stop payments, AOL followed suit by reporting to a collection agency. I'm willing to just pay the $50 to extricate this AOL parasite, although I am fairly certain this is part of their strategy. Would like to warn future potential customers to avoid AOL if they would like to avoid this annoying scenario.
It is the principle of their business practice that angers me. They apparently did not allow me to terminate my account so they could continue to bill me.
Jeffery of Suwanee GA (10/22/07)
I have been trying to get unauthorized AOL charges canceled and off my credit card. I am not, nor have I ever, subscribed to AOL Service and did not request or authorize them to charge my credit card.
I have been billed $25.90 monthly since February 2007. I want AOL to cease charging my account and to reimburse me for the unauthorized charges to my account.
Leslie of St Ann MO (10/22/07)
I signed up for FREE AOL. I couldn't get it to work so canceled 16 minutes later. I was then billed $25.90 twice. This happened in June '07 and have yet to be refunded this amount, even after numerous calls to AOL.
Rose of Wiggins, CO (10/20/07)
I have been billed for the use of AOL that I canceled 6 months ago.
I use another service to get on the internet. I ask them to credit my account back and they would not do it.
Noel of West Orange NJ (10/16/07)
I purchased a new computer, and AOL was supposed to stop billing me for the past 6 months. However, they billed me $30 per month and said it is because I did not change my existing screen name.
Edward of Belleville MI (10/15/07)
I was in the process of moving from Detroit, and told AOL I no longer needed the service they were providing. I closed my account at my credit union, and moved out to Belleville. One day I decided to run a credit check when I was denied a checking account at my new local bank. Come to find out that AOL billed my former credit union approximately $250 after I closed both accounts. Ruined my credit rating, and I can't even open a bank account now.
Credit is ruined, tougher to get a job with BAD CREDIT.
Connie of Sierra Madre CA (10/14/07)
I cancelled AOL service about a year ago when I went with high-speed cable internet. Now this week (October 2007) I get a call from collections (the person was clearly from India) saying I owe $50+ and they were unable to charge my account because it wouldn't take the charge. I was upset because this always seems to happen these days. I told this guy that I had not heard anything about owing them anything until today and that I cannot pay him or anyone without receiving a statement, and he said they wouldn't send one. Do they really think we can just pay someone who phones us at the drop of a hat, without even knowing for sure we are really talking to an AOL employee? There's a lot of dishonesty in business today!
The stress these encounters cause is critical, and knowing that a company can charge you for things you don't order or even know you have, randomly and at will, is scary.
Suzann of Somers Point, NJ (10/12/07)
Until spring of 2007 our personal e-mail was through Compuserve, which was automatically billed to a credit card every month. We canceled that account and began seeing a new and different amount charged to our credit card from AOL. At no time did we ever subscribe to an AOL service nor did we give them permission to bill our credit card.
I have tried repeatedly to discuss with AOL and the one time I was able to get through to a person he said he could not discuss the account with me because it was not in my name, even though the credit card they were billing to was in my name. He wouldn't even tell me who opened the account or the name of the e-mail address.
Ron of Brevard, NC (10/12/07)
AOL shut down my "blackvoices" e-mail service when they acquired it. As a result, I can't get to my address book to retrieve my e-mails and messages. I had been a customer with blackvoices e-mail for over 5 years and during those years I communicated via e-mail with several customers. I have tried and tried to contact AOL but they will not respond to my e-mail or telephone calls.
AOL caused me to lose most of my customers.
Eva Rivas of Anaheim CA (10/10/07)
AOL fraudulently was taking money out of my checking account after I was promised and sent a letter confirming confirmation that it was cancelled.
It caused a lot of frustration , over draft and hardship on me and my family.and stress and a lot of my hard earned money to be just taken away and that according to them is legal, I think they are bunch of crooks and take advantage of good people and hope one day they get what is coming to them and get out of business for their fraudenlent ways of getting illegal money from customers!!!!
Peter of Loveland CO (10/08/07)
I cancelled my AOL account on September 25, 2007 a t9:35pm EDT and received a confirmation via email from AOL Account Billing Details Account. . I was told by the AOL representative that I would receive a refund and that I would no longer be billed. I have NOT received a refund and my checking account is still being billed. I have called to complain numerous times and have been assured that the problem would be fixed. I just called and asked to speak to a supervisor but never was able to get ahold of one. The representative told me that it would take 2-3 billing cycles for this to be taken care of. I have written numerous emails to AOL Billing as well as their Legal department but they have not responded. When I reach a customer service agent I can tell they are reading from a script. My complaint is not with the customer service representatives themselves as i know they have a difficult job. My complaint is with AOL's business practices. I understand that they have promised to make their billing practices more transparent but this has not been my experience. I feel extremely frustrated that all the cards seem to be stacked in AOL's favor. They have the use of my money for several months. Even though they might eventually refund, these funds will be unavailable to me until that happens. In addition, AOL stands to profit big time from the interest they make by being able to 'borrow' that money from me and thousands of other consumers. I would be very happy to be contacted by an attorney in this matter.
Besides the fact that I do not have access to my money my blood pressure goes through the roof every time I try to resolve this matter with America Online. It takes me several munites to get through to a live representative, and I often hang up in frustration. If I DO succeed in talking to someone it appears to be a complete waste of my valuable time.
Madeleine of Santa Rosa CA (10/06/07)
i loaded the 90-day free trial cd, and before a month was even over AOL charged my checking account 3 times.
By AOL charging my checking account 3 times it made my account become overdrawn. Now for each day being over drawn the bank adds on fees. it is well over $116 now. i called AOL, and they said they would credit my account those 3 charges they charged my checking account. It has been almost a month and no credit yet. Now I'm overdrawn at the bank and cannot use my checking account.
Nancy of Mt Airy NC (10/06/07)
After my free AOL trial, they kept billing me, even after I cancelled. They don't show records of any times of me calling them or E-mailing them to cancel my so-called "account". They won't cancel my account no matter what I door say. The bill keeps getting bigger and has gone on my credit now for non-payment.
My credit has a bad mark on it now. I'm out of work due to an injury and can't pay this fake bill.
Ruth of Rockledge FL (10/05/07)
AOL. I have tried a number of times to cancel it. I have never used the account and I tried a couple years ago to cancel it & they wouldn't cancel it so I've paid on it for approx 3 or 4 years for nothing but couldn't get them to stop! Today, I even went to the cancel AOL link shown in an article about a lawsuit that was supposed to be settled and AOL was supposed to allow you to cancel online, but the link it took me to a sign on page then when I logged in, the page that came up had nothing on it but 3 different levels of paid AOL service and one was already selected, no way to opt out of the page either! Nothing about canceling! I have called them 3 times and spent 30 to 45 minutes on the phone with them and every time they want some other piece of information that I don't have. The credit card I used was reissued when my bank merged with another bank so now they want money and I have no intention of giving it to them! I no longer have the old credit card & they now they say they won't cancel it without that number. At least that's the latest story! AAAAAHHHHH! I HATE AOL!
Char'lette of Columbiana OH (10/05/07)
On September 1, 2005 my husband died. His AOL account came up for renewal in April of 2006, since I did not want to deal with cancelling it and finding another internet provider I extended his account for one year using my credit card. My husband's name has never appeared on this credit card. In April of 2007 the account came up for renewal again and I did not realize until I receive my credit card statement that AOL had charged my credit card without my permission. The master account had been closed since my husband had died and I was using my e mail address only. I called AOL and they cancelled my account. However, I have been trying since May of this year to get a charge for $239.40 taken off my credit card. This is their charge for the entire year. They also charged me $19.95 for the 189 minutes was was signed on. I am not disputing that charge. I have called repeatedly and their employees have lied to me, saying this was being taken care of etc. Then I sent a correspondence including a death certificate to the address I was given. When I called again to see if this was taken care of they said to resend and this information. I do not feel I should have to do this. Just how difficult is it to credit back a charge on a consumeers credit card?
I have a $239.40 charge on my credit card that I will not pay off since I do not owe it and I am paying 9.9% interest on it. I am widowed, living on a fixed income and do not have extra money to pay for something I did not receive.
Bernadette of La Jolla CA (09/29/07)
Two years ago I cancelled my account with AOL to switch providers, and I continue to be billed for the AOL service.
I have lost close to $1,000 in payments for a service I don't use.
Joyce of Bronx, NY (09/26/07)
I have been attempting to cancel both my accounts with aol.com. There are no clear cut directions only circular paths to nowhere.
Although there are no physical or economic damages, the strangle hold they have on users that want to extract themselves from AOL's email service is ridiculous! In this age of electronic technology, it should be a click of the mouse. Instead AOL plays cat and mouse with those who want to cancel their memberships.
Noreen of Red Lion, PA (09/21/07)
I continue to be billed by AOL after receiving cancellation confirmations twice. The last time, on August 29th, I was assured it would be canceled but I did not get any kind of cancellation # which I now understand is necessary to assure cancellation.
I went to the website listed in on this site to cancel and found there was no cancel options, only AOL plans you could sign up for.
I'm out $60 and feel pretty darn frustrated especially since AOL has promised to remedy this problem for users many times before.
Janet of Boynton Beach FL (09/19/07)
The person I spoke with could not find me in the system I advised them that I used to have Bellsouth and I never had aol. I would like to cancel that transaction and get a refund. They told me they would. It has never happened.
Dina of New Smyrna Beach, FL (09/11/07)
I called 2 months prior to cancel my account. They continued to bill me so I changed my credit card number. When they still continued to bill me, I called and told them that I canceled and they could not continue billing.
AOL stated that they had no record of my cancellation, therefore I did not do it. I then told her to cancel again and she stated that she could not cancel until I paid the past due amount.
I have made several phone calls to rectify the billing and with no avail.
Joel of Mission Viejo, CA (09/11/07)
After canceling AOL's service in August 2006, they still continued to charge my checking account $10 a month until today. My bank statement used to show AOL800-3536196T RAVLADV SE as the company or entity that charged me. Early this year, I received a note from Traveler's Advantage stating that fees will now be procesed by Trilegiant rather than AOL.
Nancy of Frankfort, IN (09/09/07)
I purchased a computer in November 2005. One of the rebate stipulations was to sign up for AOL service for one year. I gave them my debit card and checking account information to take the payment.
I have made numerous attempts to cancel my payments and here it is Sept of 2007 I am still paying AOL. Every time I access their phone number and key in my information it proceeds to tell me I have no acct with them, but they are surely taking my money.
After speaking to a consultant in Dec. of 2006 to cancel the service I am now being charged two amounts on my bank statement!
Brett of Bellevue, WA (09/07/07)
I used AOL service for about one month, until I got Comcast service. I canceled my AOL account. Several months later I was shocked to find my bank account over-drawn. My bank told me that AOL was charging me $25.90 every month.
I disputed the charges and my bank reversed the last two charges. A rep from AOL left a message saying he would reverse all fees. He only reversed one month out of five.
I thought the nightmare is over until a couple of months later the same thing happened again! They never quit charging me!
I called AOL, and they said I had no account open. Eventually the bank was able to clear up my account, and AOL was no longer charging it. I even got some overdrafts reversed. Then AOL sent me a bill for a collection of $155.
Amanda of Wilmington, DE (09/05/07)
I called the cancellation number which was quite frustrating. I went through a maze of phone trees before I got to a service rep. I saw that AOL had been subtracting $30 plus from my checking account, since March of 2005.
I never used the service and this was confirmed. I asked about being refunded and was told that the answer was no. I had been charged for nearly two years without my knowledge.
Penny of Missouri Valley, IA (09/05/07)
I canceled my AOL service two years ago. I just noticed on my August bank statements that I am still getting billed $30.90.
$30.90 for two years = $741.60
Jamie of Lodi, CA (08/29/07)
In May I signed up for aol for a 90-day free trial. About 3 weeks later I had to redo my computer and when I reinstalled aol it said I owed $75. So I canceled my account.
Now they are sending me urgent bills saying I owe them $29.85. I called and they said that I had to PAY to get the 90-days free.
David of Keswick, VA (08/29/07)
We canceled our AOL account 2 years ago. We moved and noticed a $9.95 charge on one credit card, then a $24.99 charge on another. We called to cancel and was assured it would be done.
Six months later we realized we were still being charged. We called to cancel again. We recently moved again and noticed another $24.99 charge on our Visa AGAIN!
We have back tracked and found that we have been charged every month for the past 2 years. That is $600.
Debbie of Lexington, KY (08/08/07)
I recently found out that AOL has been billing me $9.99 on one credit card (that I did not give them) and $25.90 on another card. When I attempted to cancel my account, the agent told me he couldn't find the credit card on my account. He gave me some double talk about contacting my credit card co. to find out if the number has changed recently.
My account has still NOT been cancelled.
I have been paying almost twice what I should have to pay each month for at least 3 months, probably longer.
Eldon of San Francisco, CA (07/18/07)
I canceled my AOL membership but AOL did not stop billing me and taking money out of my account for over a year. I have tried to get a refund but they will not pay me back any of the overcharge.
Anyssa of Parma, OH (07/12/07)
I haven't had service from AOL in about two years. I just found out that they are still charging me. I recently received two bills from them totaling almost $200.
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Jacob of Columbus, IN (07/11/07)
I have been billed for services after I canceled. I called to dispute the problem and they refused to take the bill away - said I was suck paying the bill. I told them I was not going to pay and they said I will pay or it will go to collections .
They were very rude, and they could clearly see that no services were used.
Suvondra of Winston-Salem, NC (07/11/07)
I tried unsuccessfully multiple times to cancel my service. At one point they finally agreed to cancel the service, however, months down the line I realized AOL was still charging me via my Bellsouth telephone bill.
I again called and asked them to reverse the charges. I have been back and forth with AOL and Bellsouth, but no one has removed the charges. Bellsouth informed me that I would have to handle this situation with AOL, however, AOL always respond with they are "researching" my account and I will hear something soon.
Christina Parry of Elwood IN (07/10/07)
yes i keep calling aol to cancel last time i called they said they did. now i called again and i have three open accunts and they are taking money from are savings again and agian 3 month in arow.
Valerie of Lake Mary, FL (06/23/07)
I received a "risk-free trial disk" in early June for aol internet service. I attempted to set it up and it worked fine for one day. The next day, I couldn't access it so I called and ask to cancel my acct. The second person I spoke to said he stated he would. I asked if any charges would occur, he stated "No".
About 10 days later, I got a charge of $25.90. I called and was told "don't worry, we will refund this amount in about 1 or 2 billing cycles, which is about 60 days". I asked, "why did you charge my card if i didn't get to use your service, the acct was cancelled the previous week". He said, "It is how we do the billing". I was also told it may occur up to two more times but it will be refunded.
I immediately requested a supervisor, this made the customer service rep burst into laughter!
Gwen of Fort Washington, MD (06/20/07)
AOL refuses to cancel my account and stop charging my credit card. I canceled my AOL account Nov 2006. At the same time my credit card numbers were stolen and used. So the credit card info AOL had was not valid anymore.
I received a new credit card in Dec and AOL starting charging me for services from Dec on to April. They had convinced my bank that these were valid charges. I convinced my bank otherwise and they removed all AOL charges.
On June 20, 2007 I received a bill for two months of services. I called the collection department and after several all circuits busy messages I finally reached someone. The rep would not listen and insisted that I still owed the money. I asked him to check the activity on the email account to see if it had ever been used and it hadn't .
I am sorry I signed up for the free trial offer - it has been a nightmare to cancel.
Fernando of Chino, CA (06/12/07)
I received a collection letter on a service that has been canceled over a year ago. Collection letter's number is no good and I am unable to reach anyone at AOL 1-888-265-8008. Voice Mail prompt does not allow you to reach an operator.
I believe this letter to be a scam. I just want to have the opportunity to dispute bill.
Michael of Las Vegas, NV (06/09/07)
I am sick and tired of loosing connections in the middle of a conversation. I have an aunt that is plagued with many serious health issues and was once again cut off in midstream!
Sheila of Chico CA (06/07/07)
AOL has been billing my father's credit card for the past 3 years of $23 upon cancelling the account. He recently noticed that AOL has been continuing to bill his credit card and when I talked to service representative from AOL, she said that the account was never actually cancelled. I no longer had the confirmation number that was given to me, but I am positive that I had called to cancel the account over 3 years ago. AOL needs to refund my father's credit card for $23 for the 3 years that they continued to bill him.
My father has sufferred both from emotional and physical stress over this matter. This amount is approximately $828. I have tried calling AOL billing department but they refuse to give me any more information and request that I send a letter out to their billing department.
Bryce of La Vista NE (05/31/07)
I called and cancelled my AOL account over about a year ago. i also wrote them 'snail mail' about the same time; AOL never cancelled my account, and I got tired of dealing with their misdirecting automated phone support. I called the automated teller at the begining of April to cancel my account AGAIN, but they still charged my account at the end of May...
I also reviewed my bills from over a year ago and noticed that I was double-billed for just 2 months in a row, but that's still another 50 bucks out of my pocket and into theirs!
Overall, AOL has charged me a total of 19 times over the past (almost) 2 years (totalling almost 500 dollars); Basically, I've been double-billed, and wrongfully billed for about a year now, which has just been piling onto my credit card month after month after month.
Joelle of Virginia Gardens FL (05/30/07)
5/30/07
I cannot believe the stress that trying to cancel AOL causes -- it is absolutely not worth signing up. They charge way too much -- and you could grow old and die before you can get them to accept the cancellation. I hope that anyone seeing this will not even sign up --- they need to be shut down. It is impossible to get the refund like they promise and they start billing before they are supposed to. I wish I had checked this web site before I used that disk that came in the mail.
Helen of Seattle, WA (05/29/07)
About 2 years ago I received a free 1000-hours of AOL service in the mail and decided to sign up. In order to activate I had to provide my credit card info, however was assured that no charges would incur if I canceled before my allotted free time expired.
About 600 hrs into my free usage, I had called to cancel. I was told not to worry, my account had been cancelled and AOL will no longer bill me. 3 months after my initial call, I was still being charged!! Every time I tried to get my money credited back to my account, a rep would tell me that there was ABSOLUTELY NO RECORD of my previous calls or requests to cancel my account.
Vince of Indianapolis, IN (05/29/07)
I called AOL in March of 2006 to cancel my AOL Service. The man on the phone was nice and gave me no trouble at all. I asked if that was all I needed to do to cancel and he told me it was taken care of.
A month later a 1 year payment was taken from my checking account, but I didn't notice. Now March 2007 comes and they billed me again. This time I caught it and called AOL. They say that I called them only to change my credit card. I went back and forth but they wouldn't budge at all.
My only recourse is to write to the AOL Billing operations and services dept. I expect to get the same lousy service there.
Terri of Lincoln Park, MI (05/29/07)
I cancelled AOL in March. After numerous steps, I was finally told that my account would be cancelled and I would receive one more bill for March. I was given a confirmation number and told my conversation had been recorded.
My credit card has been charges 3 more times!!!!!! AOL says they have no record of our conversation and unless I find my confirmation number I am being charged for March, April and May.
Dennis of Piedmont, CA (05/28/07)
I called and cancelled my dial up acct to continue with the free access to my AOL acct with DSL. The operator stated that he cancelled the paid service.
Now, I notice that I have been billed the last 3 months since I cancelled.
Anndrea of Phila PA (05/22/07)
I cancelled my AOL service in February, they did not bill my credit card in March or April but in May they are billing me for April and May. Also it is under my screen name and not my son's who set up the account under his screen name.
Tim of San Bernardino CA (05/21/07)
I've been tring for over a year to cancel my aol account I can't get a hold of any one on there end as soon as I mention cancellation I get disconnected they are taking money out of my checking account twice per month equaling over $40.00
They some time over draw my account not once but twice which my bank charges me 33.00 per transaction. I have 5kids and when this happens they suffer it sometime means aol get my grocery money.
Tamara of Lower Lake CA (05/19/07)
I signed up for AOL's free trial by placing a disc in my computer. Unbeknownst to me, I was unable to get connected online after signing up because there had already been a previous account on the second-hand computer that I was using. I later tried the disc at least one more time. Each time I tried to sign up (even though I never connected) AOL began an account for me and began automatically billing my Bank Account.
I needed to cancel the original AOL account (my first try to connect). It was very difficult. I kept getting transferred to different reps, the excuse being that they needed to make an attempt to get things connected for me. Finally after many phone conversations and hours on the phone, I insisted that they cancel my account. Many months later I realized that I was continuing to be charged for multiple accounts. If I figure all the overdraft charges that incurred due to the unexpected charges by AOL, it is over $3,000.00.
Helen of Gretna NE (05/13/07)
A six month free service came with the Dell computer I purchased in Jan, 2005. I continued with this account until July of 2006 when I subscribed to a high speed service through my cable company. The automatic billing didn't stop. Now they tell me there is no record of a call to cancel the service. I finally got a confirmation number after calling twice today and being lost once before it could be completed. When I got through the second time there was again no record of my previous call. Some guy named Sam in India pretty much told me too bad for the charges, all he could do was cancel the next month's and future charges.
I was wrongly charged from July, 2006 through April, 2007 for services I had requested to be cancelled. That is 10 month's fees at $25.90 per month for a total wrongly charged amount of $250.90.
Kelly of Berry AL (05/10/07)
Our house was robbed in October, computer being stolen. We called AOL the next day to cancel service. Was told the account was cancelled. In December, I noticed that money was still being taken out of our checking account after receiving an overdrawn notice from our bank. Called AOL again to cancel. Happened again in January. Called AOL yet again and demanded a refund. Was promised a refund of $90.00. Happened again in February and again in March with the same results.
When I called AOL they informed me that they had no record of my calls-that the computer would be imprinted with the date and time of the call. Received a notice in the mail in April that I needed to update my payment method, since my account did not have the funds. Cancelled the bank account since they would not stop withdrawals. As of May 5, 2007, I am still getting notices in the mail and was told I had been referred to the Collection Department. As of last call, I was promised the account was cancelled and could not be refunded since the checking account was not still active.
With the overdrawn charges, NSF charges, and the charges that we placed to my account after the original cancellation, we are out over $1000.00.
Eli of Chippewa Lake OH (05/08/07)
For 60 days I have been waiting for refund of AOL's continued practice of refusing to cancel service and double billing...they are defying the Attorney General of Ohio settlement and using any and all practices to stall restitution. I have provided rock solid, iron-clad proof of my cancellation AND of their double billing. Never have I asked for penalties, interest or punitive damage, just what they stole from me..and I continue to wait in spite of complaints to the Ohio AG, the FTC and the AG's of New York and Florida.
They are a corporation out of control...and I'm broke because of them.
I have no money....they sucked it dry.
Steve of West Babylon NY (05/07/07)
My wife, Susan, and I have been with AOL for several years and had no complaints up untill now. I signed up with Cablevisions Optimum Online and did not need the dial up service from AOL any more. I went online to cancel and could not get into the billing page for about two weeks. When I finally got in, I was told online that we could keep our Screen names and receive free E-mail. We would no longer have customer service or chat rooms etc. just FREE E-mail. The problem is they kept charging my wifes credit card for the monthly charge of $9.95. When I called them on the phone, they said the system is down and you should call back another time. This happened twice and I told them I was stopping payments on my credit card. The credit card company claims they have many complaints about AOL and will process the reverse charges and let me know what happens. Within two weeks I was told the charges have been placed and I would be credited for two of the three months I was billed for. Now I keep getting calls to my answering machine from AOL and when I return the call they tell me I can't cancel. I don't have a contract with them yet they tell me this is an online contract. I don't have the names of the people I spoke with because They speak with an Asian accent and I didn't want to insult them for not understanding their name. I now received a letter from AOL saying they are going to a collection agency if the two months billing is not paid. The service has also been suspended. I don't really use them anyway so the suspension doesn't matter.
Crystal of Decatur GA (05/07/07)
I had a home fire 12-08-07 which destroyed home, cancelled AOL internet provider service following, was told okay, would be able to keep screen name and use free e-mail service. 3-07 bank statement showed 2 charges for AOL 1 in May, $25.90 the price I was paying for unlimited service. Called several times, told I needed to give them my banking info to trace fraud, I refuse to give them it, they are already charging my account (3 times within 30 days). Home is not livable, no one is accessing Internet or anything else there.
Mark of Pickens SC (05/04/07)
On numerous occasions in 2006, I tried to cancel my AOL account. I was given a run around whenever I actually talked to a live person. Most of the time I was simply left on hold, sometimes for an hour or more. I eventually had AOL's draft from my bank account canceled. I then received bills in the mail and again tried to call them several times with no results. Tonight I received a call from a collection agency demanding that I pay for three months of AOL service that I never used. I have always paid any bill that I owe on time and have an unblemished credit rating, but I do not feel that I owe AOL anything. Instead, I think that they should pay me for the hassle that I've been through and the $32.00 it took at my bank to stop the payment.
Thomas of Burleson TX (05/03/07)
My elderly Father and Mother have been moved to an assisted living facility since Aug. 06. We have been trying to cancel their AOL internet service since that time.AOL origionally was billing their Master Card. When we cancelled the credit card they then started billing their old home phone bill. My Father would liked to have kept that phone on at their old house.
We now have cancelled the at@t phone in hopes of stoping theis billing.
My Father has always paid his debts and this has caused him a lot of grief.
It is a shame an elderly man has to go through this.
Latasha of Schaumburg IL (04/27/07)
I canceled my services over a year ago and received a cancel letter (I have a copy). However, I just relized they are still charnging my credit card and now they refuse to reimburse me.
$25.00 per month on my visa card and I canceled over one year ago. I have had comcast for one year.
Don of Rainbow City AL (04/27/07)
Can not cancell service that was supposedly cancelled 1 year ago, still being charged
Threatened repeatedly with being turned over to collection agency, repeated haressing phone calls.
Rosa of Livermore CA (04/16/07)
I've tried numerous times in the pass to contact AOL and to dispute charges to my account for service that I wasn't receiving. When I did get through to someone, they said that they would credit my account and stop any future charges. Well this never happen. On October 21, 2006, I contacted AOL and requested that they cancel my service. In February, I receive my bank statement and noticed that AOL charged my account $8.95 twice. They're still calling and make threats of sending my account to a collection agency.
James of Westlake OH (04/08/07)
I have tried to cancel my AOL account 5 TIMES! They won't let me cancel! They keep charging my credit card even though they claim that they don't have my credit card number on file to verify my account to allow me to cancel my account.
$25.90 per month, every month.
Tina of Hempstead NY (04/04/07)
AOL was charging my personal checking account $25.90 a month. (Unauthorized to do so) They were also charging my credit card (Authorized to do) 21.00 a month, for internet services. They have been stealing from my checking account since October of 2005. They only reimbursed me $155.00. They still have a balance due to me.
Sylvia of Huntington Park CA (04/02/07)
I had cancelled my service with AOL on November 2006, and they still continue to get charged for their service fee. I called them regarding the fees that they were charging they said that I hadn't cancelled , eventhough my credit card shows the settlement date
Philip of Eustis FL (03/28/07)
On March 11, 2007 I responded to an internet ad by AOL saying free for a while then $9.98/month. I signed up using my credit card. I accessed the account immediately it was up only to discover I would be billed $25.90 for their service. The aol help form did NOT give a cancellation procedure but only an oportunity to switch to a cheaper service. I called AOL immediately and cancelled the service (I had the account about 4 hours.)and spoke to Jor who gave me the name Jorec when pressed. The cancellation confirmation number is: 763805590. I also removed AOL from my computer. I then discovered that they billed me for $25.90 (fraud, deception - cll it what you like.). Since the account was cancelled there is NO WAY TO GET THROUGH TO A HUMAN AGAIN. The machine simply says they will charge for any service such as help.
I do not owe them any money and will not pay the $25.90 charged. Their shoddy practices have caused me much time and mental anguish. I think Gov. Christ's law suit should know about this. I am checking do NOT want an attorny because I cannot aford one.
Raymond of Spring Hill FL (03/28/07)
Yet another AOL Cancellation complaint. Started in July 2006 called to cancel services called two or three more times in August and sept. They give you a hard time each time you call. Finally in Decemeber after six to seven phone calls, I cancelled my credit card so they would stop billing it and they finally cancelled my account for non payment. Sometimes call and they find no record of you calling and sometimes they do but you never get anywhere with them. Now I have a a bill that is due for collection of 51.20 for months two months dec 06 and nov 06 that I never used and thought I was cancelled of AOL. When you call the AOL sevice rep 1-866-859-0176 I was hung up on twice, they refuse to let me speak to a supervisor and seem unwilling or unable to try to resolve this issue. I am not going to pay 51.80 to them or anyone else and wish for this not to go on my credit statements either. They should be stopped from such fradulent practices. I will not pay with the threat of my credit report being impacted for something that I cancelled and did not use they should be ordered to stop doing business this way for not be allowed in the state of florida.
Besides the agrivation of dealing with people that do nothing to help its very frustating and if they proceed to collection it will impact my credit report.
Linda of Glenwood IL (03/28/07)
I bought a new laptop and AOL Services came free with it. I signed up but forgot to cancel within the 6 month period. I noticed the charge on my credit card and unfortunately it was my personal debit card, so it would cost me just as much to contest or actually I can't do anything about it because it has cleared my bank.
Constance of Des Moines IA (03/22/07)
I cancelled service in September of 2006 and they continue to bill my credit card company. I have spent hours on the phone with AOL, the credit card company, writing letters, etc.
I was in a dispute through my credit card company and thought it was taken care of. Then AOL turned around and billed me for the four months in one shot that I thought was resolved.
I have talked on the phone, faxed information and silence remains on the other end with no resolution in sight.
On a limited income, I cannot afford even the 25.90 they continue to bill to my credit card monthly.
Julia of Cape Coral FL (03/20/07)
I have been trying unsuccessfully to cancel two AOL charges that are appearing on my Capital One charge card. I have contacted AOL by phone and in writing. Over the phone I have been promised the charges would be cancelled, only to have them appear on credit card again. Capital One will not block the charges even though I have requested they doso in writing. Capital One states all they can do is request a credit 'after; they receive a letter from me disputing the charge. How do I get thes AOL chzarges cancelled permanetly?
I am tired and aggrevated having to write letters each month to have the $8.95 and $25.90 charges credited back to my account
Stephanie of Smithfield KY (03/12/07)
My boyfriend had an AOL account about 3 years ago; the monthly fee was auto-drafted from his checking account. He called to cancel the service; assuming the service had been cancelled per his request, he closed his checking account. Now, three years later, he has gone back to his old bank to open another checking account. He was informed that in order to do so, he would need to pay overdraft charges from a prior account to the tune of nearly $350! Apparently, AOL had continued to auto-draft his checking account for quite some time; every time they tried, it would cause the account to re-open, and would cost him both the charges and the overdraft fee. What can be done about this? It would have been pursued 3 years ago, when it happened, but he wasn't aware as to what had been going on until recently when he tried to open a new checking account. Can AOL be held accountable for not honoring his cancellation request, and ultimately costing him quite a chunk of money?
Horace of Judsonia, AR (02/28/07)
On 02/28/07 I realized that the AOL account that I had cancelled in 3/06 was not actually cancelled. I had signed up for the free trial. Because I only had local calling I could not use the AOL dial up number. I cancelled the free trial and was assured with a confirmation number that I my account was cancelled. Now 12 months later I find when closing my bank account that I have been charged $25.90 every month. I never had the service as it was not available to me without long distance. After speaking with AOL I was told that my money was not going to be refunded. So basically they charged me for services and a membership that was never used
Dorota of Winnipeg OTHER (02/27/07)
My 13 yr old son used my credit card on January 6th 2007 to set up a free account. I called AOL IMMEDIATELY to ensure my credit card would not be charged, they told me they did not see anything in their system and to rest assured they would make a note and nothing would be charged. Today (Feb 27th) I looked up my credit card statement online (thanks to excellent customer service and internet access from a different provider) and I see a charge from AOL So after 39 minutes on hold and transferred to 4 different customer service representatives I get the fraud department and explain my issue and that I had called the same day only to be told that the Canadian and US systems are not linked and that I must have called the US line in January as they have no record of my conversation. In any event, I'm stuck with having to pay this ridiculous charge.
Edgar of Daly CA (02/24/07)
I cancelled my AOL Subscription in Dec. 2005, and I haven't used that service. Because the credit card account that I used was my wife's, I didn't pay attention until 2 (two) years after. I am surprise we were being billed for premium service. Is this the way that this company is making money?
Casey of Wake Forest, NC (02/22/07)
We cancelled our AOL service over a year ago after the service got worse and worse. AOL came up with this $50 cancellation fee that we knew nothing about.
We disputed this fee with our credit card company. They reviewed it and finally we were told we would have to pay it. We did in July of 2006 and now all of a sudden we are getting calls from credit collections about that same bill again!
This is the worst company I have ever dealt with.
Patricia of Dayton, OH (02/20/07)
On 12/17/06, I called AOL to cancel my service, and got a cancellation confirmation number. I spoke to "Ron" who had to put his supervisor on to verify that I wanted to cancel my service. I was billed in Jan the $25.90 for Dec service (I was told I needed to give 30 days notice). I have now been billed in Feb for January.
When I called on 2/20/07 and gave my confirmation number, "Mindi" told me I never FULLY cancelled my membership!
Verona of Washington DC (02/14/07)
I contacted AOL to discontinue my paid services in August, however, AOL continued to bill me for four months after my call. They agreed to credit my Verizon account in the amount of $123.60. They have failed to do so and continue to give me the run around.
Jenny of Turlock CA (02/11/07)
After cancellation of their free trial service, they still posted a service charge on my credit card! Trying to get a hold of customer service is impossible. I've been on the phone for 50 minutes and have not been able to reach a human. I've been automatically disconnected after staying on the phone for 20 minutes twice!
Terry of Jasper, AL (01/31/07)
They have billed me since October 2004 for an account I never authorized and refuse to refund the $834.30 I am owed for their fraudulant billing.
Paula of Milan MI (01/31/07)
We had used AOL for our dial up service for over 2 years when our hard drive crashed over a year ago and had to be replaced. I had made multiple attempts to cancel AOL service and was told a variety of things, as well as being hung up on and left on hold for significant periods of time. I was also told that my screen name and password was not correct for my checking account, so I could not cancel the service. Meanwhile, I've spent $30.90 per month for a service I haven't used in 14-18 months. I think this is ridiculous not to mention a waste of money.
Dennis of Raleigh NC (01/17/07)
My mom cancelled AOL in May of 2006 and was billed for the service in December of 2006 with no notice. When called, AOL stated that she was contacted in July 2005 and accepted AOL again as her provider, but she told them she was not interested and did not need the service. When AOL was confronted with this, they insisted numerous times she stated she would accept the service even though she did not. Charging a credit card without permission should be illegal!
Althea | 
