Another bonus of Bluehost

[Dustin]

Hassle free cancellation. Check out this PG-13 cancellation attempt at AOL.com

http://ebaumsworld.com/audio/canceling-aol.html

[Frusis]

Now that was funny! However, it does look like AOL inspires dedication in its staff...

[dvessel]

Yeah, sad attempt at trying to keep a customer. What's even sadder is the pressure the operator is going through by management.

btw, cancel my account.. -snicker

[Dustin]

btw, cancel my account.. -snicker

But, you have used your account for at least 72 hours. I think it might be more beneficial to you to keep it *slips on leather gloves*

:p

[TK_Killer]

Rofl, they had that on the radio to.

[troy]

Here is the video news feed the interview and audio tape of the guy who called.
http://www.filecabi.net/video/cancelaol.html

[ahdean]

I've had AOL for a few years (please don't laugh). Now that I've got Bluehost, I'm getting my family off of AOL e-mail now that they have their own e-mail. Paying for advertisements just doesn't make sense.

Anyway, I'm ready to cancel my account. I'm considering recording that call, myself. I'm not the most agressive person, but I've learned something from that recorded call. Wish me luck. Any tips wold be appreciated. I'll report back afterwards.

Thanks

[Early Out]

I recall hearing about someone who actually managed to cancel his AOL account without any argument. When they asked him why he wanted to cancel, he told them he didn't own a computer any more. They were pretty much stuck for an answer to that one!

[alligosh]

I used to work for a company that was owned by AOL-TW, and we all had "free" AOL accounts as a benefit.

When I was getting ready to leave the company to come to BlueHost, I called to cancel the "free" account so that they wouldn't convert it to a normal account and start charging me. I just couldn't tell them that, because I wasn't yet officially leaving.

The guy argued for ten minutes about how if it was free, why would I get rid of it? I finally asked if it was free, why was he spending so much time to try and retain it? He paused for a few seconds, then cancelled my account without any more hassle.

:)

[PhreakPhy]

I've had AOL for a few years (please don't laugh). Now that I've got Bluehost, I'm getting my family off of AOL e-mail now that they have their own e-mail. Paying for advertisements just doesn't make sense.

Anyway, I'm ready to cancel my account. I'm considering recording that call, myself. I'm not the most agressive person, but I've learned something from that recorded call. Wish me luck. Any tips wold be appreciated. I'll report back afterwards.

Thanks

Call your Credit Card company and inform them that you will be canceling your AOL account and instruct them to not pay out to AOL. (They will be willing to do this because credit card companies are all too familiar with AOL's tactics) Now call up AOL and tell them that you have already instructed your credit card company to not pay them, and that you are canceling your account. If they give you any flack, make sure they know that they will not be getting paid regardless of your account's status.

[alligosh]

Call your Credit Card company and inform them that you will be canceling your AOL account and instruct them to not pay out to AOL. (They will be willing to do this because credit card companies are all too familiar with AOL's tactics) Now call up AOL and tell them that you have already instructed your credit card company to not pay them, and that you are canceling your account. If they give you any flack, make sure they know that they will not be getting paid regardless of your account's status.

Terrible idea.

The credit card company will certainly do this for you, but it will result in a chargeback fee to AOL, plus your account tagged as doing a chargeback. If you do it once or twice, you shouldn't have any issue, but the more you do it, the more your credit card account is tagged that you do it, and eventually it will effect your ratings, etc.

Best method to deal with them it to actually work through the crap and get it cancelled. That way, any marks to your account will be when legitimate issues happen for a company that won't follow their own cancel policy.

AOL is a pain to deal with, but they will actually cancel their account, if you are serious and stick to your guns. You can tell them that they won't get paid anymore, but don't actually involve the credit card company.

The best way I have found is to just remind AOL of their own cancel policy and that you are following it. Period. No matter what they say, don't answer their questions, just respond with their cancel policy. (and yes, you'll have to read it beforehand).

[BearState]

Hassle free cancellation. Check out this PG-13 cancellation attempt at AOL.com

Yes, there's a lot out there about AOL cancellations not being easy and about them being class actioned because people out-right could not cancel.

The trick that you need to be aware of is ...

They will tell you when you cancel that they will keep your email active so that you can check it at any time and that you can restart your account if you want. They will also tell you that if you access your AOL account at any time after you cancel, it is implied that you will re-establish and re-activate your account. So, once you cancel, forget your email account stuff. Do not ever log back into AOL again and make sure your kids and family do not.

The normal kind ethic for most ISPs would be to forward email to the new ISP, but that's clearly not what AOL does.

[Early Out]

The normal kind ethic for most ISPs would be to forward email to the new ISP, but that's clearly not what AOL does.AOL isn't alone in that respect. It's very easy to cancel one's account with Comcast, but your email and webspace turn into pumpkins instantly - no retention, no forwarding. They do warn you about that fact, at least.