In September I moved to a different state for a job. As it took me several days of travel, I wanted to be able to access the internet from my laptop, which I brought with me. Therefore, I got one of the free AOL trial disks from a local store. I used AOL for the duration of the trip, and when I arrived at my final destination, I used if for about 2 months, as I was living in a hotel.
The first AOL ripoff is that where I was at, they did not have any local numbers. Therefore, I had to either pay for long distance, or use their 1-800 number. Their 1-800 cost's 10 cents a minute. That is ridiculous, since when does a 1-800 number cost money? I used their number, until I got smart, and realized that I should just buy a phone card, which is much less expensive, and I won't be giving money to this company that is out to screw people.
I also made a new screen name for myself, and used that one, instead of the main screen name. I never signed on under the original screen name again.
When I moved into my apartment in November I got DSL, and never used AOL again. However, I did not cancel my membership. I tried cancelling online, but that would be too easy and good customer service, to let someone cancel without hassel. Because I knew that I would have horrible customer service and someone trying to convince me to stay with them, I just neglected to cancel. It was worth $23.90/month to not deal with these people.
Finally, in March I decided that that was ridiculous, and called AOL to cancel. Of course, customer service was horrible, and I was on hold for 40 minutes. Finally, I got a customer service representative. Because I hadn't used my account in over 4 months, I had no idea what my screen name had been, and, because I had been moving at the time, I did not know which address I gave them, my new work one or my old home one. So, I gave them my credit card number, and they pulled the information up.
I told them that I wanted to cancel, and they tried convincing me to stay, offering me free months, the DSL for cheap, their unborn child, etc. Because I knew that it would mean having to talk to these people again, I declined, they gave me a confirmation number and said I'd get something in the mail.
The next month, I saw $23.90 on my credit card bill. I couldn't figure out why, so I went back in my bills. They had been charging me $23.90 two times a month! Once on the 3rd and again on the 28th. Because my credit card billing cycle is not 1st - 31st, they were never on the same bill, so I didn't notice. So, I was being charge $47.80/month for AOL. I immediately called them, and they told me that when I made the new screen name it spun off and told AOL to charge the credit card for that account as well. Because, you know, someone would want to be charged twice for a screen name when the can have additional screen names for free.
The representative told me that that account was cancelled and gave me a confirmation number. I asked him how that was legal that, without your knowledge they could just charge you for an additional screen name. He said that they did not know until someone called that it did that. I asked him why they didn't have to return that money, since I certainly didn't tell it to do that. He said that he would put in a request to his supervisor, and I'd receive a refund within 10 days.
About a month later, I still had not received this refund, so I called back. More fun times with the customer service morons. The girl I talked to said that whoever was using the second screen name requested that it charge the credit card, and they send an email to the master screen name, notifying them of the change, and that they should contact AOL if they do not want this change. I was the only one using that account, I did not knowingly tell it to bill me twice, but I never used the master account again. I never got this so called email. I told her I wanted a refund because that's ridiculous. If someone had children, had a master account only to set parental controls on them, but never looked at it, his kids could tell them to charge him, for each screen name. She told me that they could only refund the last 60 days.
I did receive that refund, of $47 eventually, but am incredibly pissed about it. It was my own fault that I did not cancel my AOL, but it was their fault that they charged me twice a month. Not only that, but they fraudulently charged me far enough apart in a month that it would not be noticed but someone without a 1st - 31st billing cycle.
Someone should do something about these crooks. Thank you.
Lisa
Soldotna, Alaska
U.S.A.
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