As a long-time customer of AOL in UK I continued with them when I moved to France. On 5 February they cut-off my ADSL line without explanation but they continued to debit my bank account. Their "Service Clientele" costs 0.34 cents a minute with a minimum waiting time of 15 minutes.
After many calls and many lies from different "technicians" I spent more than 100 Euros. They ignored registered letters, promised on numerous occasions to phone back when they had checked their server - but never did! One technician eventually admitted that they were having technical problems and that I never needed to buy the new modem I had bought at the insistence of another technician who was presumably on commission!
I eventually cancelled the contract but as my letter, emails and phone call did not contain their exact wording they continued to charge me for a non-existent connection!
In spite of several registered letters, I have found it impossible to make contact with anyone in a position of responsibilty. They refuse to investigate my allegations of improper conduct on the part of their employees. They refuse to give any explanation of why my service was cut off and why they continued to charge for their service.
They are now threatening legal action for the recovery of penalty charges resulting from their delays and because I blocked their access to my account.
The whole experience has been like dealing with a crooked, back-street operater. It seems that AOL in France has the same lack of business ethics as has been found in the USA. Presumably all of their staff are trained in the same methods.
Bill
Beduer
France, Metropolitan
0 comments