AOL (America Online)
Ripoff fraudulent billing and threatening phone calls Dulles, Virginia

My wife received an AOL disk in the mail for 1099 free hours over 50 days. On day 45 (15 Apr 04), she noticed she had been charged. She called and refuted the charge. At that time, AOL credited the money to her and agreed to her request to cancel the account.

Yesterday (18 May 04), AOL called my wife and told her that she needed to pay for the ongoing service. She told them that we had not been using the service and once again refuted the charge. She was transferred to the Care department where an individual call Bobby (refused to give his last name, but said his screen name was RGolden2k4) threatened to ruin her credit if she left AOL. He indicated that he would ensure AOL continually filed negative credit reports against her. When she asked for his supervisor, Bobby hung up.

We called the phone number listed on our caller ID and reached AOL. The customer service rep I spoke with, an alleged supervisor called Trish, insisted that AOL does not call people, the number I indicated the call came from was inoperative, and I was lying about the complaint. When I asked to speak to someone else, Trish asked if there was anything else she could do for me. When I asked for her supervisor, she said my call would be reviewed and they would get back to us. She then hung up.

My wife called back and was told there was no number to fax complaints to, no complaint department, no number for anyone but the customer service reps we were dealing with. They also told my wife that AOL never mailed out disks with 1099 free hours over 50 days even though we still possess the disk. She was told, AOL acknowledges she had a 45 day disk regardless of what we possess. Based on further conversation, she determined that AOL told her they canceled the account, but actually marked her down as accepting 30 more free days. However, this customer service rep would not address the complaint and would not transfer my wife.

Besides the fact that AOL customer service reps are rude, threatening, and will not handle customers' complaints, we have several other issues:

- We possess a disk from AOL they do not honor.in fact they deny its existence. The disk was mailed through the US postal system across state lines. Since it is false advertising, the 50 day limit on the front is bogus, potentially there is a federal crime involved.
AOL continually charges customers after they say the account is settled. All they want is money.

Company: AOL (America Online)
Country: USA
State: Nationwide
Address: 12000 AOL Place, Dulles Virginia

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