In February I had to use a dialup service for a few weeks and mistakenly decided to use the AOL free 90 day trial CD.in March I had my highspeed cable connection and called AOL to cancel my account. I was talked into a free trial extension of an additional 60 days (to give me a total of 90 days on broadband) of the Broadband Bring Your Own Access.
I was told at the time if I was interested in keeping it for 6 months (a contract) at a discounted rate I would have to call back by the end of May. While I rarely use AOL for anything I became hooked on the Pogo games I could play as an AOL member and decided to go for the contract. I called back in May and the Rep I spoke to told me my first billing date would be in July. I marked the calendar so I could make sure that the money was in my acct for the billing date.
Low and behold they billed in June, since it was the end of the month and I wasn't expecting it the money wasn't there so in addition to the $9.95 for them I got hit with my first overdraft fee since opening the account 5 years ago. I called AOL right away and they told me it was my word against the Rep I spoke to and I had no proof. So I told them I wanted to cancel. I was transferred and when asked why I was cancelling I told the guy and he asked if I would reconsider if he credited the overdraft fee. I felt (like an idiot) that this was reasonable. Then I waited a few weeks. No refund and when I called they told me it was denied and that I was now past the point of the contract where I could cancel without being charged a fee.
I was credited the $9.95 for June (which to me means they admit they billed a month too soon)
During this time I chose not to reinstall their software after having to reformat thanks to the AOL 9.0 SE upgrade and the incompetant tech support they offered.
July was fine.in August I installed AOL 7.0 from a cd to help out a friend. Imagine my surprise when I signed in and checked the billing only to find that in addition to the $9.95 I was charged for the Bring your own Access I was also being charged almost $25 for dial up access. Naturally since I am on cable and don't even have a phone connected to my computer I called and wanted it fixed. I was told that I must have dialed in to their service. When I told her I did not and I wanted it investigated I was told that they are not responsible for compromised accounts.
In addition to their rip off I received another overdraft fee for the month of August. So AOL has managed to not only rip me off but also to ruin my reputation with my bank in 60 short days.
Normally I probably wouldn't care about $30 for each charge but being disabled and on a fixed income really made those unexpected charges hurt.
I can't wait unti next month to cancel with them and as an added bonus I am closing that bank account and opening a new one elsewhere just so they are forced to stop charging when I cancel. Fortunately they can not nail my phone bill because they do not have my phone number since it has been changed.
I strongly advise everyone thinking of using them to forget it and go to someone else not associated with them.
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