AOL - "Free" Hours

I want to take steps to recover that money since it is shameful what they did.

I have been paying for AOL for over 30 years. I understand that it is now free. In thirty years, I had the nerve to grow old and I am on Social Security. I need free AOL. Signing up for free AOL doesn't seem to work smoothly. Is that on purpose? Please give me free AOL.

You would not recognize my password. I tried everything suggested.

No luck. You have destroyed my existing email account and caused me to lose everything saved therein and all communication from everyone using that address. I would love to go back to where it was, intact, two months ago. Since then, I have been forced to open a new account (free AOL mail) under a new address (suggested by you) with a new password.

What is wrong with your service? What can be done to restore my email to it's former state and restore all the mail? I'm sure is piled up at a location that I can no longer access. Lost communications. Lost saved material. Lost confidence. Sloppy management and no means of contact other than this.

I have been receiving harassing telephone calls from an AOL Customer Service Telephone Number over the past few months. The rude, disrespectful, uneducated and extremely misinformed representative states that I am currently in collections status. He states that this is due to an outstanding balance owed to AOL, for usage dating from February 2008 to October 6, 2009. This is absolutely absurd. I demanded a usage report, and to this day, I have not been given one. I used AOLs internet services a handful of times within my free trial period. When my free trial period ended with AOL, I cancelled my services. I was still charged over $50 thereafter.

After many failed attempts to reclaim my funds, I gave up. Since then, I have been called repeatedly, disrespected, yelled at, argued with, called a liar, accused of not paying my bills and everything in between, all for services that that I did not use. To add insult to injury, these representatives aren't even American.

In this economy, not only am I being treated like garbage by representatives from a company whose ratings are going under but I'm being treated like garbage by representatives across the globe! I am being called every day at all hours-Sunday mornings, Friday nights, early Saturday mornings, every afternoon. This is unheard of. My name is currently in Collections. I do not owe this debt. My credit report is being affected negatively.

I had free trial on AOL ending on 01/27/2010. I cancelled on 01/19/2010. They charged my credit card on 01/21/2010 for services. They over-charged my account and there's an over draft of additional $33 because of their charges plus the $9.98 that they charged also.

I order AOL as a Internet Provider on April 2 2009. I was told it was a "get free month, when you pay for one month. After teh account was opened I was told that that deal ended, and that I was not getting a free month of aol. I purchased a prepaid visa card for May 09 payment and the rep at AOL did not know who to enter the visa number to receive payment. I called the bank that issued the card and aol three times. The bank offered to help aol with the billing but aol would not contact the bank. The account was suspended on May 6 2009. I got another ISP "cable" for internet on that date. And did not use aol software after that date! They are billing me for May and June 09 even after I told them in May to cancle the account if they didnt know how to enter the visa number in to get payment. AOL will not removed the $19.98 charge and their computer states I was using their system for the two months on Dial Up. I have proof I had Cable at the time and only used the free AOL email. Never used the Dial Up after they disconnected service on May 6 2009! THIS IS FRAUD! And the techs in Inda cant understand English outside of their AOL handbook!

3) Enjoy Free trial

I tried their services for two weeks and then I called to cancel because I didn't like the speed compared to Cable. They canceled me and they gave me a confirmation # and said that I will not be charged on my credit card.

My credit card bill came with a $9.95 charge. I called immediately to complain and I talked to Technician N. He was not helpful at all and he said that this is a membership fee. I expalined that there is nothing mentioned about membership fee...He wouldn't understand. I talked to his boss and the same unprofessional attitude happened again.

AOL seems to do un-ethical business practices when they do this to customers. I will never accept any offer from them anymore in the future. They are Un-trustful.

I singed up for a three months free trial. The aol company took money out of my account and charged me for a service fee for using the checks. I never recieved any bills or other information from them. I talked to mr. peterson he told me he could refund some of my money but them taking this money out without my knowledge over drew my account a 30 fee. Mr. peterson a superviser told me there was nothing he could do my partial payment would be refund to me in a couple months.

I asked to speak to someone else he told me the manager5s don't take caqlls and he couldn't give me the names of the managers or the ceo that took my money out of m y account he stated he didn't even know the name of the person I had talked with in customer service. I believe Mr. Peterson was acting like a manager an dhe was the person I talked to in constumer service.

Please I need help Aol is ripping people off and their not even relizing it. I was told I could get the same service they where chargeing me 30.90 dollars for for 11 dollars what a joke. I live on a budget and they messed up my intire account. I'm so stressed out about this I need my mopney now not in two months.

I had the AOL Three month free CD. It did not work on my computer, so I deleted it. I tried to contact AOL and cancel, but never received any confirmation. Then I checked my American Express and they have been charging me. She said she could tell I was not using the service, but that I signed up for a membership (she said just like a gym you dont go to). I told her I never received a bill and I was unaware of this policy. She said that was the way it was ,and she would cancel my membership as of today and, of course, I would be responsible for any charges incurred up until today.

What a unfair company. I have American Express disputing my charges. I have one computer and AOL was not working.

I will never have a good word to say about AOL.

I bought a new computer in May 2006, and AOL's free trial subscription came with it. I was under the impression that I had canceled my subscription within that time. I have not used the service since. I got a new credit card last August, and a few months later I received a letter from AOL saying I owed them over $100. I had since forgotten about the letter, thinking it to be a mistake anyway.

A bill collection service called today saying I owed about $100 because of unpaid service from January - April of 2007! If the amount came out automatically, there is no way they did not receive that money, but they should not have received it anyway: I quit their service. I thus see it to be possible that they were taking out money without me knowing it until I got a new credit card, seeing as that was the first time that I was ever notified of these delinquent payments from 2 years ago!

$100 is not much, but this seems to be a great hassle. They have threatened to report me to a credit bureau to hurt my credit score. Also, it seems possible that they have stolen much more than $100 already.

I cannot reach AOL either by phone or by mail. They are charging me $17.95 per month when I had signed up for free AOL service

I asked the credit card company to dispute the charge. They also do not have a way to contact AOL.

called several times, wrote letter (undeliverable as addressed though we got the AOL address for cancellation from them), changed to free; AOL is still taking $24.99/month from our AmX account. AmX says they can't cancel AOL without a cancellation number provided by AOL! talk about catch-22. Looks like another bankruptcy bailout in the offing for AOL - nothing for us whom they are robbing, have robbed, continue to rob (John Q Public). How can this be allowed to go on? If they were robbing a 711 on-site, they would be in jail. They are literally stealing millions monthly from Americans - and no recourse? I don't get this at all!

There is a mental damage here, not only loss of faith in the entire system but a kind of mental anguish as our pocketbook is regularly opened, in these hard times, by an invisible hand, and not only AOL but the bank, the AmX card, they all are complicit! How bad is that? Waste of time/man hours as we try to make them stop! Make them stop! Quarrels in the home (you should have known better -- I already tried 10 times -- etc etc). And an absolute negative reaction to all the maggoty aspects of the capitalism that was intended to save us, revive us, humanize us.

it is no joke to be angry, very angry, about something every month, and every time you try to repair it. EVERYBODY knows about AOL. No one in power does anything. We are not into the sue their pants off mentality, but in this one case, must say, someone should sue their pants off because they MUST BE STOPPED. it is obvious that if they succeed in this longterm ripoff, others will copy and follow in their tracks.

Months later I noticed AOL was still drawing from my account. I discused the problem with AOL and Discover filing a dispute with Discover. Discover found in favor of AOL after many letters and phone conversations with Discover and AOL, to no avil. I wrote to the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs Protection. Now four years hence I obtained a credit report with a serious default to Discover on it.

I had a free Aol account my saved emails very important ones were erased. I looked all over the aol site for a customer service person to help me try to salvage the emails. I had to pay to talk to a rep that was not able to to anything to help. I switched to Gmail I did not realize that the charge was not a one time charge AOL had tricked me into having a monthly charge for something that was free.

I didn't know this until I received a call from someone saying they were calling from a collection agency and that my account was past due. My Fico credit rating is 802. I pay all of my bills on time. I was a victim of identity theft last May so my credit card number changed. Since I was not aware if the charges they were not paid. I cant even reach someone on AOL to make sure the account was canceled. The women in collections tried to have me give her my home address when I told her I was recording the call she hung up very angry.

This could damage my credit rating. I cant even find a number or person to talk to without giving out another credit card number opening my self up to how it started in the first place

I changed to free aol and have been billed for two years on my credit card, my only credit card. I am in assisted living now and have tried to contact AOL and it's no use. They are now billing me as my wallet was stolen from my room Can you help me. I have severe arthritis and someone has to type for me but you can call me.

The consequence is much frustration for paying for a free service and about 500.00 for two years! Help please!

On June 2006, I received a CD from AOL by mail, which I hand not requested, with a month of free internet. I used it, but I called (after 6pm western time), I asked him to cancel my account, he said OK, and a minute later told me all done. On August 27th, 2008 I received an AOL Account Report, which is telling me that AOL is Unable to process the monthly charge on my card.

At this time, I realized that AOL is (UNAUTHORIZED) charging my card and this account is active without my knowledge. As you can see I have not use this account even for a minute in past 25 months, because I DID NOT know that this account exists. Therefore, there is no reason to pay a monthly fee. Now is more then two months AOL Billing Operation & Services did not responded to my letter.

AOL WAR CHARGING MY ACCOUNT FOR 25 MONTHS WITHOUT MY AUTHORIZATION, EACH MONTH FEE IS $25.99. TOTAL OF $649,75.

On 11/21/2008 I received a CD in the mail advertising Try one month of AOL FREE! On the bottom of the wrapper it said No catch, no commitment, Great low price. AOL dial-up now only $11.99/mo. No credit card required. I used the CD and AOL immediately asked for a credit card. I entered it thinking they needed it if I stayed with them AFTER the 30-day free trial. 2 days later they charged my credit card the charged my card $25.90.

I called and said to cancel immediately because of unethical practices and asked that they immediately credit back my credit card for the $25.90. The lady I talked to said it would cancel my internet service but that it would take a few days to credit back the money. I was very nice about all this but did tell her that I understood that she only works for AOL but that I would be filing a complaint with the appropriate federal agency. I also reminded her that AOL had already been in trouble because of unethical business practices as I had seen it on major news stations some month past.

The person I talked to said AOL would be sending a letter of some sort to WAMU, my credit card, and I was unsure if it would be detrimental to my credit score. Eventually, the money will be put back as I have alerted WAMU to the scam by AOL, therefore have no reason to join a class-action suit.

I am many other individuals found out that AOL has offered free services for almost two years and I have been paying $11.99 per month for that free service. AOL never informed me of this change and gave me an opportunity to choose the free service. I asked for a refund for the time that it has been free and was told that I could not be given a refund because I recieved the service I had paid for. They did not address misrepresenting themselves and lying to their paying customers.

I got nowhere and believe it is unfair and everyone should be refunded their money. How can they charge for something that is free just because the consumer is not aware of it, that is fraud.

On September 11, 2008, I was informed by a relative that they had had AOL e-mail as a free service. I have been a long standing, loyal customer with AOL for 9 years and 8 months, paying $25.90 a month. When I spoke to a consultant at the AOL call center (Michael) explaining the situation, he simply replied that AOL does not send a courtesy letter or email disclosing this free option to their loyal customers or to any of their customers for that matter. Making me completely unaware of this free service. He also did not have a good enough reason as to why AOL conducts business in this sort of ill manner. When I pressed Michael on how long AOL has been offering this free service for, he stated maybe 1 year and then replied he was not sure.

At this point, I asked for a refund up to the time when AOL started offering free email. As a customer I was not given an opportunity to choose from 1 or the other option. AOL made the decision for me. I would have been delighted to know that AOL has a free email service and that it would have saved me a little over $300.00 a year. I currently have wireless at my home and only wanted to check my mail on a daily basis. Other than that, I do not use AOL for anything else.

When I said this, Michael flipantley expressed that he nor anyone else in his building could authorize a refund or help me. He placed no urgency on my situation what so ever. I then asked for the number to AOL Corporate. Micheal replied that he did not know the number and refused to provide it to me. I asked Michael to put a supervisor on the phone and Michael said the floor manager would not be able to help me, but would gladly get them. Michael hung up on me. I quickly found the AOL Corporate number and found no luck speaking with anyone. When I was transferred to an operator, they were just as insensitive to my needs transferring me as fast as they could without listening to whom I needed to speak with. I was even cut off before I could briefly explain the situation.

As a longstanding customer with AOL Incorporated paying on time every month for the last 9 years and 8 months at $25.90 a month, $3,004.40 all together. I merely asked for a simple refund for the monies owed to me since the time AOL brought out this free service. I was not asking for much. As a great, loyal customer I can not believe how poorly I have been treated with no consideration for the simple fact that I have paid all these years for a service I could now get for free. As a business professional and someone who has to uphold to a clean and honest reputation, I'm appauled by the behavior of this organization. This to me is just bad business. They have lost me as a customer for life.

I tried to cancel my free trail with aol in january05. After noticing aol payments still on my bank statements I called them back to get a refund. They claimed I never cancelled the free trial, only some free acount that I supposedly had. I asked for a full refund of $350, but they only gave me $40 in september07.

I have been lied to and getting the run around ever since. Now, they claim they have no information. After reading the countless claims on websites like this about aol's shady business, I am sure it was no mistake.

They took $310.

i was up able to connect to dial up service with aol. calls toll-free number for cancellation, matter was support to be solve. $32 was taken from my bank twice. please help me with this rupt off

I was running an older puter at the time and Earthlink was my providor. I was looking for a providor that my puter could run. So I tried the AOL free trial. After 3 days I realized that it wouldn't work on my puter either so I canceled it.

They would not allow me to cancel and charded my credit card $50. They continue to charge me an aditional $50 a month. It took forever to finally get them off my back. My free trial ended up costing me $100.

I was running an older puter at the time and Earthlink was my providor. I was looking for a providor that my puter could run. So I tried the AOL free trial. After 3 days I realized that it wouldn't work on my puter either so I canceled it.

They would not allow me to cancel and charded my credit card $50. They continue to charge me an aditional $50 a month. It took forever to finally get them off my back. My free trial ended up costing me $100.

I signed up for a 90 day risk free trial on May 18 2008. I had trouble signing up for it and had to do it again. Come to find out AOL signed me up twice, and began charging me immediately. I was billed for 2 months, twice before I caught it. I called them on Jun 28 2008 to cancel and they refused any credit.

Although I havent had a large economic impact yet, I was advised from AMEX that AOL is infamous for these tactics. They will try to keep billing me if I dont keep on them. Also, after I cancelled I found out that AOL has litterally hundreds of thousands of complaints against them for their schemes.

American Online charged me for internet service that I didn't use. I signed up for a Free trial offer to test my new laptop's online capability and used the service once. Since the speed was so slow I signed up for an online account with my local cable provider. AOL then proceeded to charge my credit card for three charges after the Free trial period expired.

I put a stop on the charges and AOL filed my account with a collection agency-Allied Interstate-and a representative named Scott Murphy harrassed me over the phone for payment. I was unaware of the Free trial conditions that he stated that I was responsible for whether I used AOL or not. I finally had to pay the charges just to alleviate the harrassament from Allied Interstate and AOL. If these conditions were made clear upon registration, I never would have signed up for AOL.

Even though I used their service one tine only, I still had to pay three charges that amounted to about $80.

I was in the process of going through my checking account online when I noticed (2) withdrawls from my checking account for $32.90. One was made on 5-27-08 and one made on 6-16-08. I purchased a new computer in approx Oct 2007 and downloaded an AOL Free Download Trial. I attempted to use their service, but it was very slow, so I cancelled it shortly after and signed up with Insight to have Broadband, which I still currently have.

However, apparently my Free 6 month trial was up in May and they never cancelled my service as requested and have no record of my call. What a surprise? However, they refuse to refund these draft fees b/c they say I never cancelled. The only thing they would do was to give me the address and fax number to complain to. What can I do about this?

Time wasted on the phone to get nowhere, and $65.80 worth of fees for a service which I am sure they can verify if they wanted to that I never used.

Signed up for free email using AOL's Bring Your Own Domain Name feature, which allows you to set your AOL email account according to your business domain. So, I signed up using a name, and that works fine as an email account. The problem is, I didn't register my domain name first with an independent register service (go daddy, for example). Now I want to use my domain name to host a business web site I am developing, but when I go to establish this in my site, I'm booted because I'm being told AOL has a lock on the registration of that domain name.

I have tried multiple times to call and contact AOL by email to resolve this. When you call, they don't want to help because the help line only works with paying customers. (Indeed, the employees I spoke with hadn't even heard of AOL's own Bring Your Own Domain program!) I was directed to forms to complete and fax to cancel my email account, hoping that would release the lock on the domain name I created, but no action has been taken after a couple of months. It's impossible to reach someone who will help.

I have been handing out business cards with my domain name on it, so I can receive email at the AOL account. But I will not be able to set up a web site with my domain name because AOL has purloined my rights. This will cost me lots of business, and I will have to adjust to use a similar but still different name (I also own the business domain name). This is outrageous behavior.

In Nov., 2007, I purchased a Dell computer. Through Dell I was offered six months free dial-up with AOL. I signed up and was asked to submit local #s, which I did! On Dec. 24, '07, my phone bill came from AT&T with HUGH long-distant charges for dial-up. AOL switched my local dial-up # to a long distant carrier! My phone bill for those services were $302.22. AT&T waived that amount. Then comes Jan.'08 bill. Another $506.05 that AOL made for me! I'm a 62yr. old lady with multiple sclerosis, living on a fixed disability income of a mere $690 a month. AT&T refuses to help me anymore and told me to get AOL to pay it. I've called AOL and they REFUSE to pay my bill of over $500. It was AOL's fault for sneakily switching me to a long-distant carrier. I had no idea they had done this! Plus, AOL deducted $4.99 out of my checking account without my permission. I didn't owe that to them anyway because I signed with them for 6 mos. FREE in November. I desperately need your help to get this phone bill paid. It wasn't MY fault that AOL scammed me! Thank You.

I have been very upset and disturbed by all of this. My neurologist had to put me on a 75 milligram anti-depresant (every day). I'm a nervous wreck over this!

I bought a new computer in June of 2007 that came with 6 months of free AOL Internet service. Against my better judgment, I provided my debit card number to get my internet set up. I couldn't understand why that was needed if the service was free. Now I see.

I actually never got around to using the service because I got cable service. I removed the software from my computer and pretty much forgot about it. Then, a few days ago, I noticed a charge of $25.90 on my bank statement. I looked back and found I was charged 3 months in a row. I called AOL to cancel and the guy I spoke with said they could credit my account for the latest charge, but not the first two.

I spoke to a supervisor who said that not only would he not refund the first 2 charges, but not the 3rd that the first rep already said would be credited to my account. He told me the computer would not allow them to issue refunds and gave me some address with a P.O. Box to write to if I have a problem with what he said.

I am being billed $29.85 a month for a free service by AOL. They are charging me through a credit card that is brand new, and they do not have the authority to use it. I cannot contact them unless I start a service for $9.95. I do not know how they got this information, but it is FRAUD how they tag unto a cc without permission!

I am being charged for a free service at $29.85 a month and cannot get them to stop. I want reimbursement for the last 12 months; and it is illegal to get my credit card information without consent.

We bought our first computer in 2006. It came with free 60-day trial with AOL--just sign up. We signed up but canceled before 60 days went out, to go with another provider. Here it is 2008 and just found out Aol has been charging my bank card a monthly fee for service never used. If you or I do this kind of thing we would be serving time for theft, so how do they get away with it?

AOL has taken money from me that should have been used at my discretion and not stolen, as it has. I have not received one piece of any information, on paper or otherwise, pertaining to AOL. I discovered this bill because I am changing checking accounts and leaving an open credit line with this bank. I have been receiving debits from my credit line to AOL, of which I had no previous knowledge. So not only am I paying for service not received, I am also paying interest on this account now.

I received a charge on my credit card out of the blue for $29.95 for AOL services. I contacted credit card company as unauthorized charge so it was taken off, but now I received a bill for outstanding balance. I contacted AOL, as the only time I had an account with them was when it was free with the new computer; and we had to use them to access the internet to set up an ISP account with a server of our choice. The representative on the phone asked if I had ever called to cancel service. Well, no, but I was not notified of charges either, until it appeared about two years after our purchase of the new computer. The representative, Judy, had to talk to her supervisor. My account was terminated effective 1/31/08, but I STILL OWED THE $29.95. I opted to get an address to mail a check because I did not want them authorized to use my VISA account.

Due to the fact that I don't want onerous points as to unpaid accounts, I'm being forced to pay an account balance of $29.95 for an account I have never used except to set up my computer when the service was deemed as free.

AOL would not issue a refund for an unused account (they could tell that the account had been inactive for 3 months). They tried to tell me that if they gave a refund to everyone that asked for it that they would go out of business! Then they tried to get me to sign up for their $9.99 dial-up account and I asked them why was I being charged $25.90 for the dial-up?!

It's not an option when signing up for the free service. Of course it's not. Why have someone pay only $9.99 when you can be sneaky and get them to pay $25.90! AOL is horrible.

I had AOL for a 6-month free trail. I canceled them on 10/2/07. They said that it would take effect on 10/21/07. I have an email from them canceling the account and changing it to a free account because I have Optimum Online. AOL has continued to charge my credit card for the last 4 months. After repeated attempts to contact them via telephone, with only to have dealt with many disconnected phone calls, I feel that I have no choice but to file a complaint before it gets out of hand.

I am being charged over $300 for what they say was an account opened on a computer with their trial software. I have never used AOL and have been an Earthlink customer for years. These charges are showing up on my Verizon phone bill.

I did get a new computer a year ago but am not aware of anyone in the household signing up for their service and know that the service has not ever been used. I have also deleted their software off my computer.

I downloaded the new version of AOL, and I hate the ads and all the business around the email site and everywhere. I also could get a background to add to my email, and that's gone. How do I get the old version back?

My husband and I purchased a computer for my parents in November 2007. I had just had a second surgery to remove cancer from my body. My mother was having to do almost everything for me so the computer was a thank you. With the computer came a 6 month free trial. She hadn't had the service for an entire month yet and AOL charged $109.95 to her bank account. I called AOL and the service representative told me she was sorry but the system could only allow her to refund me $60.00 back. She then told me I would only be charged $9.95 a month after. Are you kidding me? As if I would wish to continue such a service. It took me nearly an hour to cancel the service. Each time I told her I wanted to cancel my service, she would reply with an upsale. Cancel means cancel, I no longer want AOL. I am still unsure if the service was cancelled or not. 6 Months Free Trial, yeah right. I am sick to my stomache.

I bought a Dell computer in January of 2006. I was to receive 6 months free AOL. I only received 3 months free and was told to fax them copies of my Dell bills. After trying for over a week to fax to a constant busy signal on there end, I gave up in frustration and just assumed I was getting ripped off out of my other 3 months. A while after that I started having problems with my service and called tech support to help me out. The first lady out of the many people that I spoke to that day asked why I was paying for the dial up plan at $25.90 a month when I was on high speed and should only be paying $9.95 a month? She told me they would refund the over-charges and that she would transfer me to billing. The lady in billing said that they would not refund any thing and that the billing was my problem.

I proceeded to ask for a supervisor and explain my free months, and now the new problem and the promise of a refund. She also said that they would not do a thing about it. I said that I want my 3 months or my refund of my over-payments of $25.90 or both--which is the proper thing for them to do. After arguing with her she finally said I would see a refund in 2-3 billing cycles. After about 5 months or so still nothing. I called to cancel and demand my money. Still no refunds, and as a final insult after 18 months of service with high speed, they charged my credit card $100.00. I called and asked what is this-- and was told I went over my 10 FREE HOURS of dial up, even though I never had dial up until my cancellation!

This has added stress to my life which can shorten my life, and loss of time on telephone that could have been used to spend time with family and friends during what little time we have here on earth.

One of the rare times that I checked my checking account statement, I noticed an AOL charge. Strange, I don't use AOL. I signed up in 2004 on a 90 day free trial, having been made aware of their tactics, I was sure to cancel the membership after 30-days. I made the cancellation on-line and via telephone. I did not get a name of the person that I spoke with for the cancellation. I recently lost my ATM card and closed the account, shortly thereafter I received a past due notice and a notice of cancellation due to nonpayment on my AOL account. Funny, I don't have an AOL account! I called their customer service and explained my situation to a gentleman with what seemed to be a Middle Eastern accent, who informed me that there is or was no notice of cancellation from me, and since I could not produce a cancellation code, I am liable for the past due amount. Futhermore, if I did not pay, they would send the bill to a collection company. Even though he looked at my account and admitted that there was no activity since 2004, I had been a member since no record of cancellation was on file. This is the very reason, I will never willingly become an AOL member!

As of this time there has been no actions against me. However, I'm positive that AOL action is on the horizon.

I set up a free trail and was billed for two months of two services and then promised it would be canceled. It was not canceled and they have not issued the refund by the numerous dates they have promised. They have lied to me and set up more then one account.

I have lost money and time dealing with this.

I had to call AOL on numerous occasions to cancel my service after receiving a disk from AOL with a free-trial period of 30 days.

Before the 30 day trial period ended, we contacted AOL to let them know we were not interested in their internet service and we were billed countless times and harrassed constantly. When it was finally cancelled, I still received invoices for payment and it took months before I ever got this straight. I still had to pay AOL money that they told me was owed to them.

I made the mistake of trying one of AOL's Free 3 month trials. After 2 months, I called to cancel and was assured the account was cancelled. The same day I recieved an e-mail thanking me for taking dial-up connection. I called back and cancelled this connection that I had not requested. The same thing happened again and I cancelled again and was assured that it was cancelled. I assumed it was taken care of and thought nothing more of it until I recieved my bank statement and discovered that AOL had debited my account on 04/10 and 05/01/07 for the amounts of $30.90 each date. I promply called and was told I had 2 accounts for hi-speed internet service.

I told the rep that I didn't have any service with AOL and didn't have any of their software on my computer. I requested cancellation again for a service I had not ordered and requested a refund. The rep assured me that both accounts had been cancelled and that I was due a $60 refund but it would take 1 to 2 months to investigate. I spoke to the rep on 05/03/07 and decided not to take any chances on them debiting my account again since all the stories I had heard about AOL. I went to the bank on the 05/04/07 and closed my account. All this trouble to get a free trial of AOL. I will never do business with AOL again.

At this time, Aol owes me $60 not to mention the stress this caused me dealing with these people.

Double payment for account that is not being used. I don't work and can't afford this and catchup billing. I use free services to have email.

In February of this year, my daughter purchased a computer with 6 months of 'free' AOL service. She had to use my debit card as AOL wouldn't let her use the phone bill option. She called to cancel on April 6, (they have a record of this call, but 'no one was on the line'!?!). Well needless to say, my account was debited $25.90 to AOL on April 23. They refuse to give a credit It's non-refundable, how can a FREE trial be charged and then NOT be refundable?

All they would tell me was the the account had to be cancelled before the free trial was over, I explained that it wasn't even two full months of the six free. They just didn't comprehend this. I have sent an e-mail to the attorney general's office, and am still waiting for a response.

I canceled an AOL account in February and reopened a new account under the free account policy. I have been erroneously charged $25.90 per month for Feb. Mar., and April of 2007 while indicating that my access was through my own, separately-paid broadband service (through Verizon). I never accessed the account through their connection means and was never aware that I was placed on a monthly dial-up plan for their free service.

I attempted to resolve this with customer service, and they refuse to refund the charges because the member sign-up indicates that members are made aware of the billing stipulations when requested to provide their billing information. (However, the website requests billing credit card or bank account for idenitification purposes when a byoa broadband account is initiated.)

Three months of charges at $25.90 per month. No ability to even access the dial-up account through their software. No customer service remediation. Refusal to acknowledge the signup error on their part. Unclear member services pages and unclear account sign-up directions.

This process began in December, 2006. As of 4/13/07, I have not received refund for 2 months of service charges.

M. DelToro

I am one of many who have been fraudulently billed for services that I did not use. I cancelled the Free subscription within 30 days of initiation. Actually I never used it and went with DSL & Qwest Comm. Anyhow approx. six months after the fact I receive a notice that I owe $51.80 (past due).

I called AOL twice to rectify the situation and was informed that the only way to resolve the matter is to submit a check/payment in the amount of $51.80 to AOL. I refused and told them so in a diplomatic manner. The AOL Rep. simply said that the bill would be turned over to a collection agency.

I have never been late on a bill and have a blemish free credit record. Their unresponsive, demanding manner makes me resolve even more so to stick to my guns. I told them there is no way they're going to see any payment from me.

anything back at this point.

I have attempted to resolve over billing which developed from a free trial and have since incurred billing charges, overdrafts, charges due to same and these resulted in closure of my personal account with Chase. I have been spent literally HOURS trying to get this resolved, and have been unsuccessful. they tell me it is my banks fault ( not true). My bank advised me to take legal action. Now I am wondering if there is any way to recoup this money?

I work for AOL. And I totally understand how their members feel. I have resigned already, because of these practices they have. First, they have this 90day risk free trial. In the cover it says no credit card required, which is totally a big hoax because it does require a payment method. What's worse, is that you will be getting charged for the 90 days that you will be using the service and not get a refund if you cancel AFTER the 3month period. There's no need for me to defend a company whose marketing strategies are very misleading. I feel sorry for the customers who get overdraft fees because of this so-called promotion.

letter informing me that I owe $25.90

I have been sent to collections for the sum of $51.80 for a service that was not used!

I was on the phone for ver an hour trying to cancel this. I do not want this to go to collection.

I am a past account holder of AOL dial-up. I signed up for AOL for a free trial. Soon after signing up my account, my home computer crashed and I called to cancel the account to assure that I would not be billed for a service that was no longer necessary. My account was cancelled and I was credited the 2 months payments that had been charged to my credit card. However, I was unaware that I had 2 accounts that were under this trial period. When I called, I assumed my accounts were closed and the matter was over. Then in February, I noticed that I was still being charged for an AOL account. I had been charged a total of 6 times and refunded for 2 of these charges in December. I called to resolve the matter in February when I noticed I had been billed 4 times without a refund and without realizing that my account was still open after I had called to cancel in November. I was told my account would be credited and I continued to check my credit card for this credit.

On Tuesday, March 20, 2007, approximately 1 month after my call to have the charges credited back to me, I called to check the status of my credits and was told that I was not going to be credited because I had called in February to cancel, which was after my free trial had ended. In actuality, I had called in November and my accounts were not accurately closed. After getting no helpful response from customer service, I felt as if this letter would have to be the next logical step.

Charges of $103.60 to credit card.

Collection agency is sending me bills.

I was billed 35.90 for the first month with his risk free trial. I called them immediately and asked what they had billed me for when he had a free 90 day trial and they told me that at the end of 90 days I would get my money back is I was not satisfied. I then asked them how much the service was a month and they told me 25.95 and I told them then that they had over billed me and he said well you have 2 accounts. i told him no I only had one account and gave them the screen names. From the 5th of March til the 9th they credited my account back the 9.95. Today being the 14th of March just 9 days later they have gone back into my account and accessed another 30.90. I humored myself by calling customer service and they still can't tell me why they have billed me an additional 30.90 when it shows that the other account has been canceled.

What do I do to stop this madness.

Help.

I subsrcibed for the FREE online trial and was charged the same day. I didnt even filter throught the monthly billing cycle. It showed up on my statement and when I called them they said they had no record of billing me.

Also...When you download their software the unistall tools they provide inadequatley remove ALL portions. In fact they make it almost impossible to remove all facets of AOL unless you swipe your hard drive clean.

And finally...their automated service makes it almost impossible to speak to a representative. Very frustrating. And when you call to cancel they aruge with you and harass you. This is totally uneceptable.

Unneed time and energies lost playing their stupid juvenile games where they bully you. Computer problems because their softward is malicicous, lost money until my credit card investigates their fraudulent charges and the fear that they will bill me again indiscrimanatley.

Upon first receiving notice via email from AOL informing AOL customers that if they have another high speed provider, that their AOL service would then become free service. All that needed to be done was fill out a notice form informing AOL of having another high speed carrier. Which I did, first calling AOL and they directed me to notifying online which I also did. While taking the necessary steps to notifying them of the change, I received their confirmation(at the same time, I copied my notification and their confirmation of receiving it). I then received notice from AOL online when signing on my computer since the change, that I owed for one month's service to them. Upon calling them and speaking to several AOL assistants including a supervisor, I was told they had no record of receiving my notice of becoming a free member. I have since received two bills in the mail and now every time I sign on my computer, a new notice comes up saying RESTRICTED due to a billing matter.

I also signed up for AOL's 30 day trail membership. I canceled the account and as with other's a few months later I received a bill for just over $100.00. I've tried to call them, but of course no one ever answers the phone number-I wait and wait and wait and finally hang up. Now daily their collection debt is calling me demanding the money. Over and over I asked them to stop calling my cell phone. I've explained the situation and they've assured me that they will keep on calling me until I pay up. I canceled over the internet and since moved so I don't have a confirmation number.

I called to give feedback on their service. I wanted to voice my opinion about their new welcome screen and the limitations for their new "free" service. I've been a paying member for over 7 years and jumped at the chance when I was offered the free service as a "valued customer for so many years". I was NEVER told that I would lose technical support help or other needed services but now that I need to utilize it to my surprise I get " I’m sorry, but we don’t offer support to free users".

I called the corporate office and was told I cannot leave feedback because I'm a free user NOR can they give me any support help. I guess paying $23.90 a month for 7 years gets you the honor of being fooled into a so called "free service" where you cannot get any kind of help. "AOL listens to its members" as their advertising says. Yeah right.

I received a 90-day free trial over two years ago. I installed it and immediately had problems with my computer. I tried again and my computer crashed.

I immediately called AOL and asked them to cancel service. A few months later my account was overdrawn and I realized they had drafted money out of my account. I called and asked them to cancel once again. I can't tell you how many times I have called and cancelled.

I have recently closed my bank account, that I have had for 14 yrs, because AOL continues to take money out of my account.

I signed up for 3-months free AOL in Aug. of 2006. I use Comcast and have been a customer for 5 years.

I got my October bank statement and AOL had taken $30.90 out. When I called on 10/24 to complain they gave me a credit of $30.90. They told me that AOL would be cancelled, but they charged my account $30.90 again, causing a $20 service charge. When I called a second time, I was told that I was not going to receive a credit.

I am afraid that this month will be the same. I need to budget my money, and AOL is not in my budget!!!

On the date of June 11, 2006 I signed up for a FREE trial with AOL. I needed my credit card information entered for if I further kept my account. But I canceled my trial before the billing period ended and $25.43 was taken from my bank account(during the FREE trial). I put in multiple requests to have the money replaced in my account and when I followed up with AOL to tell them the money still hadn't been replaced on November 20th 2006 they told me there was nothing they could do but put in yet another request for a refund and that it would take another 1-3 months to recieve it. I've already waited 3 months from the first time I requested my refund.

At the end of 2005 I started a trial of AOL. I used it for 30 - 45 days and then cancelled. I have had nothing but harrassment from these people sending me bills.

Trying to get thru to AOL to complain is a joke. They put you on hold forever and then when you finally get through they question you forever about why you are canceling.

Today they sent me another bill and said this was a final notice. I will not pay them one penny.

I had a 90 day free trial with AOL. They ask for a credit card and said I would not be billed until after my 90 days. I cancelled before the ninety was up, but they billed my credit card. I contacted them and they. Before I could get a representive on the phone a was disconected 3 different times. When I finally got someone on the phone the lady I talk to was trying everything she could to get around the problem. I got into an argument with her and told her I wanted this cancelled. Finally she agreed to cancel my account.

When I received my credit card statement I was charged 2 more months. I contacted them again and I was told this was never cancelled. So the person I was talking to finally agreed to cancel this and said I would be credited for 3 mos. I contacted my credit card company and they told me I was only credited $17. I tried to contact AOL once again. The only thing that has happened is listening to the recording. While waiting on a consultant I was disconnected 2 more times. I have'nt got this taken care of yet.

I have tried numerous times to cancel a 30 day trial service with AOL. Now I am receiveing bills that state I must IMMEDIATELY pay and owe $47.80 for services. Each time I call I am told that my services were not cancelled before the trial period had ended. I called and cancelled this service as I had decided to go with Comcast. I feel that AOL holds customers HOSTIGE and that they do not keep records on callers requesting to cancel they trial service. Today, I called and was on the phone for over 2 hours and was given the run around as well as disconnected several times and had to call back.

In October 2004 I used one of the AOL free trial CDs. I canceled this free trial offer in less than a month, refusing the additional three months free they tried to tempt me with to keep me as a member. In July 2006 I received a notice from NCO Financial Services saying I owed $95.60. I'd never gotten a bill from AOL saying I owed them money. I was just sent straight to a collection agency.

I contacted NCO to dispute the charge, but they weren't helpful, and I wasn't confident my call would prevent my credit from being affected. After much internet searching, I found a phone number for AOL's billing department. AOL Billing- 1-800-827-6364 I called this number and spoke to someone who was very helpful. She researched my account, but said it was too old, and was unable to explain WHY this situation had occurred in the first place. She did say she would clear my outstanding balance, and send a request to NCO to stop collection on my account. The representative sounded competent, so I think this will resolve my issues with AOL. I just wanted to provide this information to others who might benefit from it.

In October of 2003 I used a free trial version of AOL. I canceled it when the trial was up after being run around on the phone for 30 minutes they said everything was ok. July 2006 I recieved a letter from a collection agency NCO Financial stating that I owe $95.65 and that it will affect my credit score. I think all 30 day free trials are a scam and that AOL is a leader in it.

Im in the process of dealing with AOL and calling NCO financial was a joke. All I ever get is people who barely speak english.

They keep on billing me when i was assured they would not access my account until 8/18/06, I am suppose to be on a free trial for the last couple of months and in that time they have caused me at least 100 dollars in bank overdraft charges. I talked to them a few days ago, I just wanted to cancel and this guy tells me they will credit my bank account 61+ dollars, and give me 1 more month for free but they go and overdraw my account AGAIN. they assured me that this was not going to happen again. now they are messing with my computer so I cannot browes even when using another internet provider.

I have 4 kids and I am raising them alone, and unemployed, i need every last cent I have and then aol trys to steal from me and causes me to pay for overdrafts as they keep dipping into my checking account when they are not suppose to. probably about 100 dollars in overdrafts and I needed that money to feed my children. help me!!

We used AOL for a week using the free-trial offer when our previous internet service ended. After using only one week of AOL we decided to change the provider to a different one because it was causing our connection problems. Months later, around February 2006, we received on our phone bill a demand for payment from AOL. I called AOL asking them why they were charging for something we weren't using, but nonetheless requested the account be cancelled.

They supposedly cancelled the account and by next month AOL was still charging to our phone bill. Once again I called and said the account was already cancelled and asked why they kept charging me. All they said was that the account was already cancelled but didn't answer the question to why they kept charging me.

This happened a couple of times more. AOL started charging about $23 a month and right now they keep charging and it is up to $81.68. We don't know what to do anymore to get it in their heads that we can't pay for that amount because we don't use AOL. It has been inactive since the week after we used it, supposedly on the free trial. We refuse to pay AOL for something we didn't use except the free week.

When I purchased my computer in March, the packaging indicated 3 months FREE AOL. At the time I was between apartments, and staying with a friend. She did not have anything but dial up and since I believed that I had 3 free months with AOL, I decided to use the free offer. Except that it was anything BUT free. I was required to give my checking account info - supposedly so if any extra charges were incurred that it would be covered. But immediately AOL began deducting $28.60! I didn't use the service for more than a month and completely deleted it from my computer!

When the second deduction made me incur around $200.00 worth of charges (I have a limited income from disability) I became very angry. Lo and behold when I called AOL to complain - they informed me that I was in the arrears for $61.60! They said that my bank paid them but then took it back out of the account! WHAT A LINE OF BULL!!!!! Of course I called my bank and they explained that they couldn't do that - and the statement I had showed AOL took it out and I wasn't credited like he said happened. The guy then wanted me to give him my debit card information! I asked him if he really thought I was that STUPID!!! And of course he did - and I was because I gave him my account and routing number again! Because he said that he needed it to credit the money back to me. Now I know that he just wanted it to look like I signed up again.

I received a letter from my bank stating that they had paid a fee of $25.90. At no time have I signed up for, or wanted this service. I need to know how I stop the payments being made directly from my account.

I had signed up for a 90 day FREE trial period for the AOL 9.0 and I installed the system on April 02, 2006 and gave them my debit card number although the CD states No credit card required. I received notification from my bank, Washington Mutual here in California that AOL had charged me for the 'free 90 service' a first month charge of $23.90 and this was deducted from my account on June 06. Then on June 09, I received another notice from Washington Mutual that the second month of billing had been deducted beginning June 01 and since I only had 35.00 in the account originally, the bank went ahead and paid this second amount because I had signed up for 'overdraft protection'.

I purchased an E-Machine December 2005. As part of the special deal I had to purchase 1 year of AOL services and they would send me a $125 Best Buy gift cards. Two months went by and I called AOL rebate center and they said that due to high demand they were out of gift cards and would be receiving more later.

I have called every month since December (it is now August). During my last call in June the representative said it was on the way. There is no gift card. I think this is clearly fraud.

Now after reading several consumer complaints I'm afraid that AOL will never cancel my subscription after it expires.

I was on a trial period, before the trail period ended I called and cancelled, they are still demanding payment. When speaking with the Billing dept. then even noted that the account wasn't being used and promised to credit me. I'm now being sent to collection for $99. This is so unfair.

They make you feel that you have no options but to pay or else get it on your credit. This is unacceptable! I want to fight them to the end. It would be easy to pay the $99 to keep my sanity, but not this time. They are robbing people blind.

I bought a new computer when I set it up it had AOL on it. I chose not to take the AOL service due to the fact that I do not have long distance service and I would have to have that for AOL service. They ( AOL ) has been charging my husbands credit card and once he cancelled the card they began sending a paper bill. I have called and told them that we did not have their service and they credited my husbands account for one month but they have now began to send another paper bill. They are saying that my services are going to be interrupted well it is really hard to interrupt service that we DO NOT have.

I was mailed a 'Service Interruption Alert' from AOL with the instructions to call them at their billing department. I DO NOT receive AOL or use their services. The notice stated my account as #0426091949. I called them and was transferred to their billing department to an 'Andra' who I explained that I did not receive services or use AOL. I did sign up for a 'FREE disk for only a short time/ approx 1 week/ in July of O5'.

Since that time, my credit card was being billed for this service that I do not receive. I DID in July 05' talk to someone at AOL telling them I no longer wanted their service. 'Andra' informed me there was nothing he could do about it and that I not only could not get my monies back but that I owed for this account. I asked to talk to a supervisor and he then very rudely explained that I was talking to the person that made the decisions.

I told him that I would call back at a different time to speak to someone who could help me. I called back two days later, on 6/22/06 and spoke to a 'Leonard' who also informed me that there was nothing he could do about the account and that it would go into collections. I again asked to speak to someone who could help me to search this issue out. As I am quite sure they could tell that I have not accessed the account, and was again informed there was nothing or no one else I could speak to.

An audit of our checking account showed that AOL has withdrawn from our checking account twice a month $30.92. Who can we contact to prevent this from happening, again?

Had a free trial membership from aol. i canceled it before the free trial period ended. Now, 6 months later i received a phone call from a rep. from aol, stacy, which advised me that i had a 123.50 balance due which had been turned over to collections. I advised her that i had cancelled the membership before the trial period had ended. she said that there was no record of me canceling my membership. Now i have a bill of 123.50 that i do not owe but will go on my credit report. They keep giving me the run around everytime i try to call and resolve this. To my suprise after i recieved that call i looked up on my computer and found out that aol has a history of frauding and double billing their customers! How can they get away with this?

This debt has been turned over to a collection agency. I am in the process of trying to establish good credit and this makes me mad due to the fact that i do not owe this bill.

On 1/16/06 I picked up one of AOL's free cds for a 90-day risk-free trial. I cancelled my account on 3/15/06, well within the trial period. However, AOL billed me for $25.90 on 3/8/06 on my check card.

When I received the confirmation that my account was cancelled I though I would receive a refund but I never did so I called them to find out why not. The AOL phone representative said I only had a 50 day free trial and not a 90 day free trial. The packaging the CD came in was for 90 free days - not one word about 50 days - a bold face lie!

I cancelled my check card in case they try to pull any stunts of billing me for anything else.

AOL refuses to acknowledge cancellation of my membership within the free trial period and continues to charge my account without my authorization.

I have been billed for over $300 in unauthorized charges.

I had decided to take America Online as a internet provider, I took that that special for the 1055 hour free, but before my hours expired my computer crashed and I no longer needed there services. So I called AOL and I ended the free trial and told them that I no longer needed their services because my computer crashed which was in October. They discontinued my services and that was the end of that, until I started recieving charges on my Verizon phone from AOL, I called Verizon phone service and asked them what was the charges about and they told me to pay the bill and I will get a credit for the next pay period from AOL.

I got the next bill and I got the credit like they said but I got another charge, I called AOL and explained the situation, they said that I no longer have to worry about this. Then I got another phone bill with another charge from AOL stating I only have to pay approximately $12.00, I called verizon and asked them if the amount due was correct and the woman that I spoke to said yes, so I told her I hope there would be no fishy stuff on the next bill, she said no. A few weeks after that incident I got a payement letter from AOL stating that I owed them $28.90, I called AOL and asked them why am I receiving a bill, and the AOL rep told me that I owed them that amount of money, so I disputed with her because I shouldnt have to pay them anything because I ended my services before my free trial ended and Verizon said I wouldnt have to worry about any more billing from AOL.

Verizon was the one who gave me credit on my phone bill. So I told the rep that AOL needs to contact verizon and take care of this situation. So today I got a collection notice stating that I owe AOL the $28.90, I dont need to be sent to a collection agency when I have no reason to be getting charged for services that I canceled before the time needed, also what discrepencies that Verizon did to my phone bill they need to resolve it with AOL or vice versa. I continually called AOL and verizon that I shouldnt be getting charged for none of this, but now Im sent to a collection agency.

I was billed $30.90 on my Qwest account for AOL. This AOL account was supposed to be a free 6-month subscription that came with a new Toshiba computer. I haven't even had my computer for 5 months yet.

I already have high speed internet with Qwest for less than the $30.94 billed my phone bill.

I tried to resolve this issue on the phone, per AOL policy, but no resolution was ever made.

I called AOL in Feb to cancel my free trial that I had gotten with my new computer. I was supposed to have a 6-month trial. I got the service in Nov and they tried to bill me in Feb.

When I called I told the rep to cancel the acct that I didn't want it anymore. Then this morning I woke up to call my cable company to make a payment to them and my credit card was denied due to insuficiant funds. When I called the card company they told me that AOL took the money.

AOL stated that the rep I talked to put 2 months free on my acct and did not cancel it. They stated they would cancel the acct today but would not give me the money back that they took.

I thought I had a free trial of 90 days to use the service then decide if I wanted it. Within one week of my service I had an email from billing that stated "Please be advised that your monthly billing charges will be submitted to your bank 10 days following the issuance of this notification".

I received this on the 14th of April and called on the 16th to cancel my service. I spoke to Scott who informed me that they had already billed my account and that they would issue a refund 90 days from today. I explained to him that because they billed me early my account was overdrawn. His only response was "that's not good". When I told him that was totally not ethical and legal he hung up on me.

I tried to email the "billing mgr", but naturally they don't accept email.

I signed up for the free trial not realizing I didn't need it for AIM (AOL instant messenger.) I called to cancel the trial when I saw $23.90 deducted from my bank account. I got a long spiel about the benefits and when I was adamant about closing it they gave me a reduced rate of &4.95. I took it just to be done with them. Well, shortly after I saw the credit for the $23.90 and right behind it was a debit for $23.90 not once but twice. I called AOL again and they assured me they would get it taken care of.

Sure enough there was a credit for $47.80 within a few days. Shortly after that there was another debit for $23.90. More than a little tired of this battle I called again to get it corrected. This time they told me I had set up 2 accounts instead of one when I signed up. Okay...then cancel both. Not so easy. They changed the one to $4.95 and now told me I have to wait until the full 90 day trial is up before they will credit me the $23.90.

I explained that had not been the case in the past and was told the previous AOL employees I spoke with were misinformed. Okay, so who's the idiot here? Bottom line is AOL is a rip-off who will not correct their mistakes and the consumer is the one who has to pay for it. AOL is not America On Line....it's Alot Of Lies.

We used their "free disc". Now they say we owe them 89.81. I tell them we did npt order it- we used the free service and when we were done we were DONE! When I called to get information I always spoke to someone I of course I couldn't understand maybe that's because they were in ANTIGUA! I would ask to speak to a supervisor and they would transfer me to who knows where and it would ring and ring.... finbally, one night some woman called from AOl and my husband spoke to her-she was yelling at him to pay the bill or we would be sorry.

My husband told her maybe we should get a lawyer and she said are you threatening me My husband replied no but are you? We can not get a straight answer. We did not sign up, join or anything..we did't even have access after January.

Was offered 3 free months of aol and after the 3rd month i cancelled however aol had been charging our visa account for another aol account. we complained told them we are disputing that account, they railroaded us, we have months of charges on our visa plus late fees. Aol promised to give us the best experience and treat us right, this was not the case, we asked for proof that this other account was authorized by us, nothing!

We have written letter after letter and nothing! Aol has ruined our visa account with no explanation.We are now lost and do not know where to go from here. The fraud department said they would put 3 months back on our visa account that was a lie. Nothing has been done.

On April 4th, 2006 I was going thru my bank statement when I saw a charge of $25.90 from America On Line. Not having authorized this charge, I called AOL to find out what this was about. They start by asking me if I was using a "free trial" subscription. I said yes, it was for 6 months & it started back in September 2005 when I purchased my computer. It was to go through the end of March 2006. In February 2006 I started to receive pop-ups from AOL informing me that my subscription is almost up & they required my credit card information in order to continue my service uninterrupted. I replied that I was not interested since I was getting Optimum On Line as my ISP.

By the second week in March I had my Optimum On Line connected, up & running, so I canceled the AOL account. That is until I saw the charge on my bank statement. When I called AOL they could or would not tell me how they got my credit card information or why they would even bill me when my subscription was not even up yet. I was put on hold & then informed that I was billed for the 2nd week of Feb. thru the 2nd week of March, & they realized the the billing cycle did not match up because my free subscription had not ended yet. Though I asked repeatedly how did they get my credit card information, they would not provide me with an answer.

To add insult to injury, they stated that it will take 3 months before the money gets put back into my account!! First they were never authorized to take my money & now it will take them 3 months to return it? This is incredulous to me! How is it possible that a major company such as AOL can tap into your personal information & use it to their advantage? Is there any way that I can make this company return the money they 'stole' from my account sooner? This to me is theft for I have never given my credit card information to them nor my authorization for AOL to go into my bank account and steal my money.

I received a free 90-day trial with AOL. I used it for a couple of weeks and cancelled. I switched over to Earthlink. I noticed AOL was billing my account without my authorization. So I called again, and spoke with the AOL rep. Who apologized, and so-called fixed the problem. This happened back in Nov. Here it is March And I'm still being billed 28.90. When I called back, the AOL Rep. was very rude. So i asked him when was the last time I used your services he stated Nov. 17th. So I asked why are you still billing me. He exclaimed because of membership dues.

I had my 3 month Trial AOL service, cancelled on Feb. 27, 2006 - 1 day before the 3 month trial period ended. I had a cancellation confirmation # provided to me. I tried to log back to the account 3 minutes after cancelling it to get a confirmation number/ letter as instucted after cancelling but I got a 23.90 bill. I called AOL and spoke to "MIKE" and he said once I logged in again it meant I signed back up for the service.

I explained to him that it was the instruction provided, and he said the instruction was to go back thru AOL.COm and not by signing thru my account. I don't understand this. I believe it was misleading people. I just want my refund back.

On 2/2/06 I signed up for 90 days free tial. I never got 1 free day much less 90 days. My credit card was charged $23.90 on 2/2/06 and $23.90 again on 3/2/06. I have tried to call the customer service number and am told either the computers are down or I get left on hold and finally after 30 minutes or longer, I hang up. This is false advertising. AOL has LIED about everything they are advertising when it comes to FREE HOURS. Now my home phone is being billed also. How can I get this stopped? I am filing a complaint with the Attorney General's Office because this is the normal business practice for them.

I ran a free 50 day RISK FREE disc on 11/25/05 and email customer service on 12/13/05 that I no longer wanted service as well as notified sbc. I was out of town until 2/15/06 and when I returned I found I had been billed for 2 months. When I called aol I was first told I would be refunded(Andrew) then asked for letter and manager(Sabestion) who said he could see service was not used but could only refund 1 month. When my letter was received today it is not signed nor does it state any credits

I received a 6 month trial with purchase of my Dell system last July 2005. I Started my monthly calls to cancel in December. I was assured that I was cancelled an no money would be debted, That was not the Case. I proceeded to call monthly since then and of course I would get the "no money will be debted" AOL also seems to never have a record of previous calls. Luckly I logged these calls on a calender.

On 2/28/06 I was online reviewing my credit card bill statement as I was reviewing the statement I notice. That my balance was extremely high above my usual spending habits. I discovered that I had been charged for purchases that I did not make. I also notice a charge of $19.95 for AOL on line service. I immediately called my credit card complany to dispuite the charges.

I remember subscribing to AOL on line service apox. one yr ago. I was told that there would be a 3 month trial period free of charge. Prior to the ending of my three months free trial I called aol to cancell the account and was told by the representative that the account was cancelled without penalty since I had done so before the 3 month trial period. Now a yr. later I have discovered the account was never cancelled and I have been billed by AOL for over a aprox. one yr, when I was told by aol that the account was closed.

AOL has no record of me using this account. since I have not used aol. I have been trying to reach aol to dispute this account and has been unsuscessful. The automated system prompts for account information such as a screen name etc. information that I cannot provide since I have not subscribe to AOL for internet service.

We signed up for a 90-day risk free trail and decided after a couple of weeks we would cancel because they charged us 23.90, then we called to cancel and she said that we could not be refunded our money and keep telling us about AOL's best features. We asked to speak to the manager and she said he could not help us then we asked again and she said he was not there so finally we got the "FREE TRIAL" canceled on 1/6/06.

Then the next day they turned it back on and said they would quit billing us at the end of the month 1/23/06 so we are now being charged for two months they were very rude and wouldnt answer any questions

AOL double-billed my VISA card for 10 months, and refused to give credit on the second account that was never authorized. My husband used the free trial disk on our new home computer Oct'04. He set up an account screen name "Lonny****" for my brothers business, with an associated password and our VISA card. Somehow a second account with screen name "Lon****" was entered, but the account never had a password. Our home address was of course the same. The account was set up at the same time as the first, and certainly our VISA card was not entered twice.

It is obviously unethical what AOL did because the value of each charge was different along with the toll free phone number and company name, even though the second mistake account was set up at the same time as the first account without our express permission (permission was not given because there was no password on the second account, and my husband did not enter our credit card number twice).

The second account had charge of $24.95 for "TWX*AOLforBROADBAND 08 888-889-7201 NY" with a Transaction Date on the 22nd and Post Date the 23rd of each month. If the second account was accidentally set up at the same time as the first, why was the billing amount different, and why was the billing name and phone number different? AOL knew what had happened, and took advantage of the situation I suspect, and they probably knew how to get the most money out of the situation instead of owning up to the error because they have done the same thing to other consumers.

Today is September 21, 2005 and when calling AOL Christina, ID#****@aol.com, in cancellations (my second person at AOL), she said my account had already been charged (even though the past charges had transaction dates of the 22nd, so I think that was another of AOL's tricks). She said on the first account she could credit me back the last two months of charges onto my VISA (specifically September which had not reached the official transaction date, and August). I said that is fine if I get full credit back on the second account. She said she wanted to take care of the first account "Lonny****" first, and repeatedly said she was crediting the account about 10 times waiting for some kind of official verbal confirmation. I realized she was looking for an affirmative answer from me it was okay to credit the account for legal purposes, and told her specifically, it was only okay to credit the two months back on my VISA only if she credited back all the charges on the second account. She then did the two month credit, but would not cancel the account so I could go in and see that AOL had a great no-hassle service.

When looking at the second account "Lon****" set up at the same time as the first, but with no password (and again different billing names, billing values, and post dates on my VISA card). She said she could only credit me two months. I reminded her of our agreement I would only accept two months credit on the first account if she would credit the charges in full 10 months of charges on the second account. She said she never promised anything. She then put me on hold to talk to her Manager, and came back a while later saying she could not give me a credit, not even the two months. She said I need to call my credit card company to reverse the charges. A tactic I had experienced before from a previous unbelievable experience with AOL (unused account paid on for 3 years starting in late 1997 that I closed with AOL/CompuServ in 12/02. After closing the AOL account, I was getting notices from Bank of America Consumer Risk Operations for non-payment in June'03 on a credit card closed July'02 while in the middle of refinancing my house AOL had continued to bill my cancelled credit card for my cancelled AOL account, and refuses, absolutely refused to reverse the charges.

AOL's behavior was fraudulent and unethical. It cost me a lot of time on the phone and much distress, and I am still bitter with AOL to this day over that experience.). I told her no, my credit card company would not reverse the charges, and summarized my previous bad experience with "shady" AOL. Telling me to call the credit card company is a tactic to buy time and wear me out on the issue. I also told her this was unethical. I asked her specifically, using her name Christina, you can see this account history, you can see the second account was a mistake, do you Christina agree with what AOL is doing? She said no, which actually helped me feel a little better. In the end, she credited two months on each account for September and August, which was $97.70, and she did go back to my first account and cancel it instead of leaving it open so I would not have any more duress. The second account was closed as well.

This is a condensed version of our phone call, because I hung up the phone at 7:21pm and my call to AOL started shortly after 6:00pm. I was very upset, and I was crying. My 3 year old and 4 year old were in the background upset and crying, and sometimes interrupting the call. My husband is on travel, and toward the end I specifically asked her how I could end this now because I am at high risk for a heart attack (HDL is abnormally low at count of 38), and I cannot handle what AOL was doing to me, again!

i ordered aol because of the free cd's they send out in the mail. when i called to cancel after the initial 1000 hours, we spoke with a customer service rep named "jordan" who assured us the account was cancelled. not!!! they are still billing my credit card....even tho i have a confirmation #..martina the supervisor told me that that is not what we agreed to in the notes, we agreed to only a free month. then why do i have a cancellation email? she then told me she has cancelled the account and i need to call back on the 19th and that i will be charged another month because of the billing cycle. and that she could not go back and credit anything. they are fraud. do not use them. they charge your cc card without your permission, and i i know of 8 others who this has happened to!!! its not right!

i had a free trial until Aug.13,2004. i have been charged for srv,such as broaderband, musicnet, and other AOL svr i didnt order. i have called and counceled any srv. with AOL 7-30-2004 and 6-2004 on all any srv i have been charged for. ive called several times to descuss these issues in which i have been charged to my checking account several times and have all the bank statemnets to prove all charges in which have costed me totla of all charges insufficient fund charges accounting in sums of 300.00 total or about that much i do again have all bank statements even another bank account i closed due this matter as well.

they, AOl sent a notice on my free account that they needed me to up date my billing info so i did just that on the telephone and i asked if there are any charges for me to coninue my free trial and AOL reassured me there arent any charge and for any other srv they claimed i ordered in which i never did.everytime i trust them to use my free srv i get a charge at my bak for all of the same svr's ive called to councel and continue to be charged for anyways im really sick of all the inconveinces they have costed me at my bank and myself too. please help me resolve these issues.

I read lots of horror stories about AOL, now I believe all of them. I was given a free trial for AOL which I never used (activated by COMPUSA), not even once(I have Broadband SBCYAHOO) and after 3 months I even called them to cancel. And few weeks later I found out my credit card is still being charged. I called customer service and the guy called me a liar and told me I will have to pay for the whole month.

On top of that hours of my time fighting them.

I could make a lot of money if I did business this way.I went for their FREE OFFER for 90 days of DSL and made note that charges were incurred on 4/25/03. On 7/25/03 called to cancel service and told them I could not afford that right now, but was told prices were going down , and that they could give me another 60 days FREE, and then prices should be cheaper by then. COOL, I went for it! At that time I made note to call them on 9/25/03 to cancel. I called them on 9/25/03 to cancel the FREE DSL SERVICE. End of story? NO!!!

They sent through charges to my checking acct. (I keep no extra money in my acct.) split into three different fees (broadband,check handlng fee, and fees & taxes). WHAM, I got hit by my bank for OD fees for $96.00(3 X $32.00) Called and went on-line to AOL many documented times to resolve this issue. Told they would credit my acct. and reverse bank charges within five days. WHAM, I got hit again with the three seperate charges again (I AM NOW OUT $192.00). Again I E-mailed and called many times to get resolved, BUT NOOOOO!I went to the "BBB" web site and got the name of Ms. Heidi **** who is supposedly billing operations/service, and Mr. Pat **** VP,Product development.

When I asked to talk to one of these persons I was told to call their toll free line. Yeah, right. called and E-mailed several (MANY???) more times and was told Heidi could not be contacted and would not do anything for me anyway. Was treated VERY rudely and never got anywhere with NOAH (Cust. serv. rep?) on 11/22/03. This story still is only half over, but I am trying to keep ths short (many details ommitted) Finally got service disconnected Dec.25th,swithed service, paid the final $29.96 in March, AND WE JUST GOT A BILL FROM A COLLECTION AGENCY FOR ANOTHER $17.00+ FOR AOL. YOU WILL NEVER ESCAPE "AOL".(ALWAYS OWE LIFETIME)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

in august they took money out of my account for aol travel that i had cancelled (free trial). they caused me to bounce checks. took forever to get my money back and bounced check fees recovered. they offered me free service when i tried to quit. now, i find out somehow my free service turned into a broadband service with only 5 hours a month, and they took $1341.00 out of my checking account this week.

i am without any money, at least 5 bounced check fees, and tons of run around. i have to send letter and make tons of calls and just hope this get resolved. when are they going to be made to stop this scam and stealing from their trusting customers????aren't there laws about this???? i am 13 hours away from home, in college, 21 years old, broke, and -999.in my checking account because they saw fit to pull $1351. out of my checking account without my knowledge and my consent.

I contacted AOL to cancel my service July 2003. I cancelled my service but was "encouraged" to try AOL broadband after I informed the agent that I was switching to Verizon DSL. I told him no.

I discovered that AOL was charging my credit card since August 2003 for broadband service. I contacted AOL and spoke with Tae Lee who identified himself as a manager. I told him that I cancelled my service and wanted to know why AOL was charging my account. He explained that I had "used" the service in September 2003 at 4:30 am. He said that their records show that I did not cancel my membership. I attempted to reason with him and asked him if it made any sense that I would call and change service but not cancel service and neither service was entered into my recoreds.

His response was whether or not it made any difference did not matter. He would not refund my money and was not concerned when I told him I was going to complain to the appropriate federal and state agencies and consider suing. I asked to speak with his supervisor and/or get the address where I could voice my concerns. He responded that he was the final authority and that he would not provide me with that information. I beleive that the agent I spoke with in July deliberately failed to cancel my service and initiated the broadband service. I believe that this action is sanctioned by AOL and refuse to accept this behavior and will contact a lawyer to discuss legal means to recoup what was stolen from me.

i was given aol broadband for 3 months free. i was told i can cancel by oct 6th which i did i was charged 30.00 for no reason. 1 month later they charged me 64.95 they told me i still had service. they said 2 days after i cancelled that i reordered it again. i did not reorder service that i had cancelled two days before. these people are taking our money from our accounts. this is stealing. wanna see the proof that i reordered service. and if this did happen it is so easy to click on the wrong button and end up with service you never asked for. they would not resolve this for me at all.

I had agreed to a 30 day trial for AOL Broadband for 1 month for $1.00, that's one dollar. The date of service started 4/12/2003. With my home computer setup, it was not practical to use the service so I called to cancel on the 27th of April. Looking at my American Express bill, I noticed that they had charged me in two separate charges on May 4, one for Fees and taxes of $7.94, and one for the service of $35.79. When I called to complain they said they had no record of my calling to cancel the service on April 27th.

While talking to the supposed customer service rep, George (he would not give his last name), he became somewhat less than customer friendly and told me I was "wrong." This infuriated me and I asked for his supervisor, who finally came on about 10 minutes later. Lee (****@aol.com)said that they would not reimburse me until the modem was returned. I had mailed the modem back to AOL April 30. During the conversation, I realized that the 30 day period was not up and mentioned this to Lee. He then realized something was wrong and put me on another lengthy hold session. When he came back, he said that there have been mistakes and people who were offered $1, 30 day trials were being billed inadvertantly. So, he said he would help me out and would take the $35.79 amount off my bill. I said "fine", but what about the fees and taxes of $7.94. He said that's not under their control, it was a government issue, and he would not reimburse. I tried to reason with him, but he wouldn't buy and started holding the $35 reimbursement over my head. So, as it stands they are due to reimburse the $35 fee, but not the associated taxes.

I'm not really worried about the $8, but I believe AOL is falsely marketing their product. They offer the $1 trial, if someone cancels in 30 day time, they do not recognize the cancellation, start illegally charging fees, and don't fully reimburse the illegally charged fees. This all could be a mistake, but I belive that it is a policy on their part to nickel and dime the consumer. Also, how do I know that they have put the cancellation through this time, remember they denied the cancellation of the 27th, calling me a liar and saying I was wrong. Please let me know if you need additinal info. Obviously, the money amount for me is not large, but if a company of their size does this, it could affect a good amount of people and bring in illegal revenue for them.

I ordered a camcorder off AOL ship direct. When I bought it I was told I had a 30 day trial period. The first month I had it, my account was charged for the first payment. I had to have my account changed because my house was broken into and they got some of my checks. They never tried to bill my new account and now I received a bill from a collection agency for the full amount of the camcorder.

i ordered from aol shop direct and it said you get a 30 day free trial. well thats great .but your compeny charged my bank account 2 days later witch messed me up big time for the last 2or 3 weekes now .i have been bouncing checks left and right thanks to you pepole .money i cant aford to be puting in the bank to take care of this problom .so i will be sending back 1nm17a2 1 qty item number ooo13771 description of item is hamera photo objects 25,000 .my son really liked this but iam so messed up now with my acct# that i cant afored to keep it so it will be in the mail tomorrow . thanks kimberly ****

I received AOL cd in the mail offering 1000 hours free internet access, I decided to try it out. on the cd cover, it clearly says "no credit card required", but it asked for it anyway! During the setup, there is a pop up window selling some kind of stupid tour guide, I clicked on "No Thanks" since that is the only rejection button there, the next morning, I received an email confirmation from AOL Shop Direct saying I ordered a $35 tour guide from them and my credit card has been charged(even though I gave the fake expiration date to them).

I told them I did not order it, please cancel it, the first time I called in, they told me the computer has problem, they cannot do anything, asked me to call back in an hour. After one hour I called in another person told me he cannot do anything, the only thing he can do to "HELP" is to give me instructions on how to return it, I told him it saves us both troubles dealing with return by just cancelling it right then, since the junk is not shipped yet. He said no way, I asked for a supervisor, and was told the same thing, he even went further by saying I could dispute with my credit card company, obviously lots of people had been trapped by their ill practice, I cannot imagine those crooks saying "AOL is so easy to use, no wonder it is #1", oh, yeah, it is easy to use, "you've got unwanted package"!!!

First of all, I used to be an AOL customer rep so I know the training course which really doesn't teach you anything to the 70% high school student staff. Around August 2001, I ordered a laptop from Gateway. Included in the laptop was ONE FREE YEAR of the super AMERICA ONLINE service. After I had the laptop for a couple days I decided to use the AOL.

The automatic program on the desktop did not allow me to activate my free year and recommended me to call the toll-free number. Only 30 minutes later I activated my account. Of course I had to give my checking account number for verification purposes, etc. Well, two months later a notice popped up when I signed on AOL saying my account was past due. During this call to AOL, I informed them that I was supposed to have a free year and they said they saw that on the account but it said they were waiting for authorization from Gateway and that he would resubmit the request. So I figured it would be ok now... WRONG!

Months went by and of course the pop-up never went away. By this point I didn't care anymore about the pop-up because apparently something worked out since I used the account forever. A sidenote: I stopped using this bank about the same time I signed up for service but did not close the account. Near the end of March 2002, I received a letter from the America Online Collections stating I owed them $162.00 for unpaid services for the past months. This made me check my bank account.

The bank account showed a $20 overdraft fee everytime AOL submitted the charge which they submitted twice a month. This leaves me with over $250 in charges in my bank account plus the $162 for AOL supposedly. So I called AOL and they looked at the account and it "says" waiting for Gateway authorization still. He told me that if I call Gateway and get them to authorize it then they would credit the $162 and reinstate my online account. I asked about the bank charges and was told they are not going to be responsible for those.

So, I called Gateway. The nice lady who for once actually sounded confident in what she said (unlike the AOL rep), informed me that she doesn't understand why AOL tells customers that the account says waiting for authorization because it is all automated and takes seconds... not months. She looked at my Gateway credit account and said that the free year account hadn't been requested for me yet. So she sent the information to AOL and told me to call them back in 15 days. The 15 days are not yet up but I have already been told I am now responsible for overdraft charges to my bank which were not supposed to be billed in the first place.