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America Online COMPLETE RIPOFF, BILLING IN ADVANCE?? Lakewood Colorado
I was one of the many duped into trying AOL's "free trial" sometime in late 2004. The service absolutely sucks. They pride themselves on the best anti-virus protection but the program in itself is a virus! My computer had so many problems after installation that I immediately uninstalled (and the problems subsided...imagine that).
I completely forgot about the free trial and all that for a long time. And since aol was not billing my CC I had no reminder or reason to "cancel" the service. I didn't get billed for over 6 months so I thought, alright, everything is fine. Yea, then they started billing me.
I called to cancel and got some rude Indian m**o on the phone the first time who gave me the whole speech about how aol is so great, as if he ever used it. I argued and argued and he FINALLY cancelled the account. I wrote down the cancellation number and everything because I had heard about the billing dept. lying to other people. Then we got to the whole refund for the charges. I figured if I never used the service then I should be refunded. After all, he told me they billed in advance. The weird dude said he would refund the last charge since the month it was for hadn't even started yet (seemed fair to me).
Yea right, can never be that simple w/ AOL. I was never refunded the money. So I call back again and they dont even want to let me through to customer service because I am no longer a customer. I had to say I wanted to sign up for a new account and then get transferred once in the system! The cancellation actually went through but not the refund, how convenient.
This time I talk to two customer reps who tell me there is nothing they can do. Then I look back at my CC bill and notice a double charge of $19.90 on the last month.
I call back to bug them AGAIN and the argument begins. Never have I dealt with such RUDE customer reps in my life...another out sourced guy I talked to. First he tells me yes, they billed in advance for two months. Then changes his story and tells me I was billed because there was a "failed transaction" in the month of April. Ah...NO I have that CC statement too! I cant believe I am fighting tooth and nail just for $9.95. I had to fax proof on my credit card statements to prove to them the april payment went through. And I'm still waiting! This company must make all its money STEALING from people.
Boy am I thankful they didnt have my bank account # for direct w/drawals!