AOL Reviews

They charged my credit card $50.59 and want me to pay return postage.

****@aol.com

In speaking with AOL...I have been told that this is the FCC's regulation....and I have to question as a taxpayer and a consumer...why this could actually be a decision made by the FCC to unfairly treat the American consumers. The line is within MY home.....part of MY phone line, that I pay for...not the FCC, AOL or anyone else. I am outraged that this is a policy set forth for what...to help the organizations who provide these services by allowing them to put additional pressure on the consumer for deciding to leave their provider for another???????????// this is insane and I resent it. Please respond...this is what I have been told by AOL...I would hope it is not true. I work in a professional enviorment of licensed individuals....we are not governed by ANYTHING that could EVER hurt a consumer.....so how can this be for real?????????????????? Im amazed. But in the meantime, I am not ALLOWED to be free as an American and join another provider until AOL decides to get up off their butts and unplug me.

610-***-****

I want my 118.97 refunded to me that you took out of my checking account. Now I had been using AOL for a long time --However, I will not ever use your service again and I am going to tell other people to watch you, because you are a rip off. I want my money mailed to me personally--not put back in my checking account. Don't even go that way to try to get anything else from my checking account. I am going to check with the Better Business Beaure as well as seek an attorney if my money is not refunded to me personally.

The package arrived intact and was not opened until I opened it. I don't feel it's necessary to return the complete package but I would like for your company to send me the missing piece. My Order is #146920084 Document #123838039 Source Code 0057547N Thank you

If they bill our account it will cause checks to bounce resulting in check fees and late payments. I have called the number on the package and also I went to the web site to speak to a live customer service representative, I got a recorder at the phone number and the customer service on the web said there was no one available at this time.

I didn't install the scanner when I first received it due to a family emergency. When everything was back to normal I install everything and found out the product was defective. I tried to resolve the problem with aol and to no evail. I hope you can help in this matter, because I have a product I cannot use and the company will not take it back or replace it.

First of all I recently did order 2 scanners for him on seperate orders .The first one was placed on May 24, 2002. It was later cancelled so there should have been NO CHARGE. Second ;his order was to be paid by VISA so again, he should not have an outstanding bill. The scanner I ordered for him last month has been recieved and by now should have been taken care of by VISA. NEITHER of the scanners ordered was $90.The first (cancelled) one was for $43.94. The second one which he did recieve was for approx. $53 paid for with VISA. He would like to get this "collection" off his record and clear up this matter. IN SHORT; the first order was cancelled and the second was PAID by VISA

I told them i didnt feel it was right that i have to pay more for something they offered. But I went ahead and did it cause it was for a birthday present that they made it late for anyway and i needed it. I then got a confirmation that my order was shipped. then two days later got another confirmation that my order was shipped. So I called them again and sure enough the first scanner that was on special was shipped and the one that I was forced to upgrade to. I called them and told them I only wanted one and they confirmed on sending me two. I told them this was a bait and switch if i ever saw one. then i got charged for both on top of that. I asked them what do i get when i get them, I did not want both of them. They told me to go ahead and ship it back..

I said wait i have to pay to have it shipped back cause you screwed up? They told me to include the shipping recipt in the box and they would also credit me back for that... I looked at my account and low and behold they credited me back for only the scanner so I called and asked why i didnt get the credit for shipping as they indicated that i would? They said well we can credit you back for 10.00 if you fax us a copy of the shipping charges. I said thats crap, you told me to inclose them so i did, now you want me to go back to the post office and fax you a copy of what i already sent you and it cost me 15.66 and you will only credit me back for 10.00 of it? Thats crooked as ever if you ask me. I paid 15.66 and i expect to be credited back 15.66 as they indicated on the phone. I do not dicatate UPS charges across the country so I can not help what it cost me IN Oregon to ship it back.

June 27th 2002 NCO FINANCIAL SYSTEMS INC COLLECTORs sent me a collection notice. So now they are massing up my credit record. I contacted NCO, they looked up my account and it states AOL has the printer but still have me in collection for a $64.40 bill for the same printer.

On July 5th I went to my bank and put a stop pay on anything from AOL Shop Direct and cancelled my Debit Card, which is my regular payment method for my AOL account. On July 7th I received a confirmation email stating that my order had been cancelled because my credit card had denied the purchase. I called Shop Direct several times trying to find this order and was told no order had been placed. I had online chats with 2 customer service reps and was told no order had been placed. Had I not cancelled my debit card, I would have received the merchandise and the payment would have gone through my account, causing my account to over-draft.

My money has not been returned to me and no one has written or called acknowledging this neglect. It seems as though someone slipped up and no one is admitting it as long as I don't put up a fuss!!

I lost money that I feel like I'm never gonna get back. And I am angry that people feel like they can take advantage of us small people.

We had 6 checks bounce at $21.00 each for a total of $126.00 We were unable to go grocery shopping due to this and pay some bills. We are late on our PG&E; and our phone bill. I have two little boys still in diapers and I had to borrow some because we were unable to buy them. Talk about embarrassing. My husband and I are so worried because AOL shop direct still has not refunded our money for the sheets we returned. I am so upset and I feel angry that AOL shop direct is getting away with this.

i began packing because we are going to be moving soon and was checking over my bank statement because i couldn't figure out why my account was off and noticed that i was being charged for a camera that i never received. i no longer want the camera and would like to know how to get the money back that they have been deducting out of my account for it. i would appreciate if you could help me straighten out this situation.

I then spend another 25 minutes on hold with AOLS billing dept 888-265-8003 before I finally talk to a rep that told me, sorry I have nothing to do with AOL Direct, call them. I tried to explain what my problem was and that they could not find me in their system and she curtly told me it wasn't her problem, she doesn't handle AOL Direct, they are a separate entity. I asked her well then, where did AOL Direct get my credit card information in order to bill me? I sure as hell didn't give it to them - and she hung up on me!

Huntington Bank has refunded the money, but I had to fill out papers a third time because another deduction was taken out of my checking account by AOL Shop Direct. By that time, I had it. I cancelled my checking account with Huntington and cancelled the AOL internet service. Now I am being harassed by AOL Shop Direct to pay the remaining balance of the computer. I don't know where to turn.

Apparently my credit card company has not authorized my order. There is NO reason that I can think of which would make this so. Of course I will call my credit card comapany to find out the reason. However, AOL never contacted me to let me know that this was the case. Hopefully, no one has used my credit in the interum.

I've been robbed for months. And the DSL was never, I repeat NEVER, coming into my dwelling without VERISON running a dedicated line. The question beggs: What the Hell is AOL telling customers, WHAT LIES< to sell these worthless DSL packages???? I sent it right back to TENN or MISS, at my expense, and the SOB's still bill me. It's been months. I quit the AOL service completely for this rip-off, con...like we don't have enugh on the net already.

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"!!!

Approx. Feb 4th, I signed up for AOL and decided to look at the new AOL services (I had been an AOL subscriber several years ago, but not since then). Minutes after signing on, I received a 'confirmation e-mail' that I ordered two AOL books (which I did NOT). I contacted AOL & they shuffled me off to AOL Shop Direct (which they said they do not control/own).

I contacted AOL Shop Direct. They refused to cancel the order & said the books will be shipped. I asked for a supervisor and was REFUSED this request. I was told to enjoy the books, and keep them but had a 30 day 'money back' garantee.

I contacted my credit card company. They put the charge into dispute (I later signed and returned the required form from my credit card company). I also canceled my AOL service.

About a week later, I received the box and per UPS & the credit card company, I refused the package (did not open it) and it was sent BACK to AOL Shop Direct. Shortly later (middle of February) the charges were removed & all seemed to be resolved. However, as of April, I noticed another charge (identical to the one from February) on my credit card. AOL Shop Direct is once again charging me for these books.

I contacted the credit card company and they cannot put it into dispute (and I'm trying to find out why). AOL Shop Direct says they show the refund from February but don't see the April charge. I have to wait 3 weeks until I get my statement and AOL Shop Direct claims they'll refund my money if its an error.

Either way, I've spent more of my time, money, frustration dealing with these people!! I was only an AOL member for 3 or 4 days--cancelling back in February. I fully support the lawsuit against AOL Shop Direct. I absolutely REFUSE to pay for this as not only did I not request or order it--but they still keep charging me!!

Christopher ****

SUBJECT : Order Number 142384732

Towards the end of December 2001, I received a package from you. Enclosed I found a Phillips Portable CD/MP3 Player, a packing slip and some AOL promotional brochures. I nor anyone if our family ordered this product.

I called your (800) number (by the way, is nowhere on the packing slip or shipping label) and talked with one of your customer service agents. They said this product was ordered by screen-name "****89" and that confirmation e-mail was sent to that accounts' e-mail address on AOL other than that, she could not provide me any proof that we ordered your product.

"****89" is a sub-account linked to the master account "****1". To the best of my knowledge, no passwords on any of these accounts have been compromised.

I logged on to every screen-name and reviewed the current, deleted, old and sent mail folders and found NO confirmation e-mail. I also looked in the browser history and all the AOL files in the sub-directory "C:America Online 50Organize*.* " and found nothing regarding this order. I'm even searched everywhere to see if any screen-names were logged on to AOL this particular day, however the AOL software does not appear to provide any historical information regarding screen-name and when they logged in and logged out.

I called back today and talked to a different agent. He too, was not able to provide me proof we ordered this product. He said the packing slip is proof that I ordered it. A packing slip is only proof of shipping, not ordering. To the best of our knowledge, we did not order this product nor have been provided any proof by your company to that end.

Please consider this letter formal notice that we consider this to be a fraudulent transaction and request that you immediately reverse the $ 39.61 charge that occurred on 12/26/01 to our VISA credit card and to cancel any further financial transactions on this matter. This letter also serves as formal notice that if this dispute and fraudulent transaction reflects negatively on our credit rating, we will hold you Civilly Liable and will take immediate action to remedy. All correspondence on this matter needs to be in writing to the below address. A copy of this letter will be included in my written correspondence to VISA regarding this fraudulent charge.

In addition, I have cancelled our 5 year membership to AOL for fear of other future fraudulent transactions on this account.

Citi-Bank reversed the Credit Card Charges. I am getting past due notices from them and had demanded they consider this item in 'dispute status'. I've requested a copy of their Policies and Procedure regarding disputes and the refuse to answer, now they have turned this over to a collection agency, AFTER I have demanded that they provide me with some 'reasonable' proof that I ordered it. These people are ignorant, incompetent and refuse to believe that their computer systems are flawed. I have not responded to the collection letter.

Dave ****

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.

I have been very stressed out by this because I have just bought a home and have been building my credit for some time now and am very worried that I will have to start over. I have had to spend numerous hours speaking with police, my credit card company, and AOL shop direct. It's a real-life nightmare.

She then responded that my account is being researched and should receive a response within 48 hours, this was Jan. 7. I inquired about my response and was giving a customer service phone number to contact. From there, I was given two more phone numbers and an extension and manager Judith S to contact. I have left three voice mails for Judith, not one returned. I called on the 17th of Jan. and spoke with 3 different individuals, who responded they could not help me, but their "manager said I would not receive refund because they are not responsible for pop-up ads."

I have ordered lots of merchandise over the internet but have always been prompted to enter my credit card information before ordering. I only wanted to LOOK at this jacket, not purchase it. I then called American Express and they said that when I receive my bill from them with the charge on it to call them back and that they will "investigate" it and that the charge will be taken off of my credit card.

I actually got the UPS shipper number and all the tracking information and, as advised by UPS, put a big sign outside my door with the tracking number on it saying I refuse the package. AOL Shop Direct told me that if the package did not get back to them and undamaged, they would charge ME for it! Who ever heard of that? Why wouldn't they take insurance on it, they're certainly charging me enough money to ship it!

I have called the AOL Shop Direct 800-number (from my bank statement on line: Transaction Description: CHECKCARD 1030 AOL*SHOP DIRECT PU 888-265-7467 VA 1000000190002754) to inquire of this withdrawal, charge and for a complete refund. My call was forwarded to "Joe" (would not give me a last name, but indicated that his "badge number" was 1812). They have refused to credit me until they receive the "so-called" purchase I ordered. I have no purchase to return, and they have $33.45 from my account. I am NOT an AOL member, nor did I order anything from them. I do know that they have my personal profile information because of a "Free 45-day AOL trial" I had attempted, but cancelled after 3 or 4 days because I couldn't log on to AOL Internet. Thus, I did not receive their Free trial online, but they have collected my personal profile, card number information and made unauthorized purchase charges to my bank account.

Please let me know how I can STOP ANY FUTURE CHARGES FROM AOL SHOP DIRECT STORE on my Bank Card. I have emailed my bank regarding this complaint, as well, but have not heard from them. From my personal inquiry online and investigation on this, I am not the first or only one to have this complaint against AOL Shop Direct. (That's how I came accross this website.) I am the only user of this computer, and the only person who would have access to this card number. I would know if I had made a purchase, and I am CERTAIN that I DID NOT MAKE A PURCHASE NOR DID I ORDER ANYTHING FROM AOL.

Thank You!

I called and told them that I did not place any order and they said, well someone did from your screen name and we can not cancel the order it is in process. I asked how such a thing could happen and they said it was a pop-up on AOL and someone must have hit the buy button under your screen name. I asked how anyone could do this without my password to confirm the order and was told that it was for my convenience that this made the service faster.

He told me to return the item within 30 days and I would be refunded. Of course they are counting on the fact that people do not return these items. In the meantime they took $111.04 out of my account without my permission and will take three more payments of $77.49 out of my account for the next 3 months month. How do they get away with this?

I have been on the phone and online for four hours now and no one at AOL seems to know how to cancel the order. I can't wait for the order to come and send it back as it won't come to me, whatever IT is. As I said I don't know what I ordered, I just know a thank you popped up without further ado and an order was placed. I need to find out who has the authority to cancel this order. The user name the item was ordered on was ****. That account has now been cancelled as I was so upset with the AOL people on the phone, because they wouldn't/couldn't cancel the order. Can you please tell me who to contact to cancel this order?

They also would not give me any other numbers to call other than the 1-888 number mentioned above. Neither would they give me any real names or addresses I could contact to deal with this issue. The operator said he was not allowed to tell people the address of AOL Shop Direct. What kind of madness is this? They have all my personal info including my credit card details and I am not even allowed to know their address?? Or, the name of someone to contact during business hours tomorrow to get this sorted out?

I am horrified by the sneaky configuration of the buttons on the popup screens. Angry that they bombard a first time user with ads before the initial browser screen even opens. Livid that they told me it was their policy to not cancel any online orders under any circumstances. Cranky that they would not give me a real person and address to contact. And the hours that I have spent and have yet to spend on this have been a nightmare. You can believe I will not be helping people get onto AOL anymore. I would appreciate some contact on this and any assistance you can provide to ensure this order gets cancelled.

Jean ****

I had to personally pay to ship the merchandise back twice!! And would you believe they have a record of the refusal!!!!! Returning items purchased online should not be a nightmare. Nor should a customer have to deal with inept personnel when seeking assistance. The policies that are verbalized when calling shop direct should be made available to the consumers prior to buying, this will allow them (consumers) to decide if the headaches one have to go through for returns is worth the trouble. I will never again by from Shop direct and will advise anyone who will listen of the "crap" that I had to go through and is still going through to get my $349.78 credit. No it is not just the principal it is about the money!!!

I had numerous arguments with numerous supervisors over this promotion. Talk.com blamed AOL promotions and vice versa! After a year of struggle, I gave up! I was furious. If I had to hear, "Sorry, our computers are down and we can't access your account right now, call back in an hour" I knew I would go crazy. So, I finally called the Better Business Bureau with the complaint. I had made over sixty phone calls to Talk.com in over a three month period. Some days I called sixteen times! However, one small complaint to the BBB changed my anger to victory.

Within a month of my complaint I received my money and a useless appology from the company. To all customers with this same problem, don't keep wasting your time trying to get your money by calling Talk.com or AOL. You will not get anywhere. Let Consumer Affairs know of this incident and contact the BBB. The more complaints they receive, the greater the chance they will be reprimanded for their horrible service. P.S. I am currently looking for a new long distance carrier because I just called today for another reason and again they told me, "Sorry, we can not help you right now our computers are down. Call back in an hour."

By the way, I got one supervisor from Talk.com to admit that the customer relations department is instructed to say that whenever they don't know what is going on.

• Federal excise tax=.19
• USF/Other surcharge=.51
• National access fee=2.98
• Paper option=1.95
• Monthly billing fee=5.95
• Total taxes and other charges=11.58
• Previous balance=15.05
• Amount due=26.63.

I have tried to call them but I hold on forever. I have e-mailed them and have received no answer. I just received a new bill with the same total. Nothing new has been added.

I had to call and remind them several times at each interval befor receiving the 30 day and 6 month service, and the at the 12-month mark (6/2000) I have never received the free month valued at $21.95. I have made numerous calls, E-Mails and gotten a lot of promises to credit my account with no credit.

I have now become frustrated, angry, and feel that if they scam enough people, they are making out like a bandit. I suscribed to them in good faith based on their promises, which they did not live up to. I have now cancelled both my long distance and local service with them. I would like them to be stopped from offering promotions like this to the consumer and not fulfilling. It's not the amount of the money but the principle.

Well, it might be the principle to Ellen but it's also a lot of money. If this is happening to others, it should be investigated and prosecuted.

After two weeks of daily contact with Talk.com, AOL Rewards (promotions dept of AOL), and AOL customer service, two of the four months charges promised will be credited to my credit card account.

Talk.com has been the most difficult service, from long periods of time on hold with customer service, to misinformation and erroneous directions as to how I should proceed. I cannot believe these delays are not intentional and aimed toward preventing the customer from withdrawing from their programs. I hope no one else has to experience this problem, but I am afraid it is the intended direction of all those who complain.

So I had to use the contact form to send them a message, which said that I would receive a response in the next 24 hours, but it never came. So I then went back to the same area and filled out the contact for to cancel the order, but I never received a response. I filled out this form on August 1, 2000. I received email today stating that my order had been shipped. When I called them and spoke to Suzette to ask them why they shipped the order, instead of cancelling the order as I asked she said that they never received the notice. I then told her that I was going to refuse the order and that UPS could ship it back. Suzette tells me that it is up to me to make sure that they get it back and that by refusing the order UPS will trash it. I told Suzette that I could not understand how they received all other emails that I had sent except the cancellation notice.

Then she asked me if I wanted to order another special of the day. And I said "NO, I WOULDN'T RECEIVE IT ANYWAY. I'D BE PAYING FOR SOMETHING ELSE I WOULD NOT RECEIVE!!!!!!!"

I call AOL and got a woman named Melissa who said that they had my signature on file on return postcard that I ordered this service/product. I asked when the supposed card was mailed and received they said August 98 and the product was shipped to my New Jersey address that month. I said I found that odd since I had moved to Florida in June of 98. and that I couldn't have possibly ordered it. Even if I had wanted it, I would have ordered it online - after all, isn't the Internet supposed to make these tranactions easier?

She insisted that I did order it so I asked her why was only getting billed TWO years later. She giggled and asked was I intersted in hearing about the program and its benefits. I said the only thing I was interested in hearing was the cancellation number being given for this charge that would have to remove. I had to repeat my instructions four times as she kept asking me if I wanted to hear all about how wonderful it was. Finally, when I told her that I was a business reporter for a national newpspaper and would call AOL's press office to find out when the company resorted to slamming its customers with unwanted products - after all, that would be a great story since the FTC has gone after phone companies for doing the same thing - she complied with my request.

Oh and I had been recording the conversation with my home answering machine which I played back to her and I told her that I would sue AOL and subpeona her to testify. These people count on us not reviewing our monthly statements or bills. We have to be vigilant. Save every receipt and compare it to your statement. And don't ever let anyone badger or bully you. After all it's your money and they can only swindle you out of it if you let them.

I ordered the printer on 07/13/00,if the rebate was expired already for over six month's, that is in fact false advertising! I am so fed up with this online shopping with aol that it will be a long time before i ever do any online shopping,maybe never! Since this incident,i told my family and friend's that also have an online account with aol,we are going to terminate all of our account's with aol! the is just too many hassle's with the service,and asfor customer service that's a whole other story. signed ****

I have cancelled my account with AOL. I want nothing to do with AOL after I receive my refund. I was upset that after I spoke to the AOL Shop Direct rep and told her about the situation she wantd to know if I would be interested in another special.

I phoned the order in on Sept. 4, 1999 (the enclosure states 2-4 weeks delivery).. As of early November, I have received nothing -- no computer and no communications from AOL Shop Direct.

I have made repeated phone calls to this number, probably over 10 and have yet to talk to a single person (except for one instance) because I am constantly put on hold, listening to waltzes and concertos. I have even tried every number offered in their recording hoping to get someone ... anyone.

I estimate that over three hours have been spent trying to reach this company. It's as though this were a phantom phone number.

The phone calls were made on Oct. 18, October 25 and Oct. 27. On Oct. 18 I did speak to a gentleman named Steve, he found the order on his computer and told me the computer was sitting in their shipping department and he didn't no why, but he would look into it and get back to me. I never heard from Steve

This inept handling of my order has violated all direct marketing regulations such as notifying the customer within 30 days if there is a delay of their order.

Last week I mailed them a letter -- and got no response. To make matters worse, I went to their WEB site and in their Customer Service window there is a form to fill out. Guess what, it can't be filled out. At least not on my computer. I try to put the cursor in the boxes and it will not take the information.