I am having problems with canceling AOL too. I have been trying to cancel for about 1 year now and every time I call because I am still being charged, they offer me anywhere from 2-6 months free. Sounds good, right? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Don't do it!!! I found out the other day when they say "Free month" that means you do not pay for your actual minutes used, but what they never tell you is that you are still charged the $12.95. That is crazy, huh? I couldn't believe it. So then I go online and check the Keyword: Billing and I see that one month I was even charged $45.00 for internet access when I had always (last 4 years) been on a $21.95 unlimited access plan. I went to the online live help and that was an experience in itself. When I ask how my plan had changed without me asking for it to be changed they tell me I requested the change on such and such date and that I did it online. When I tell them this is the first time I have ever been to the billing dept. online they then say "oh, ok, I see it now. You actually called in and had this changed" I said WHAT!!! I couldn't believe it. What they did was...when I called in to cancel, they say your up for 3 free months, then what they don't tell you is when your 3 months are up you are put on the highest price plan they have, $12.95 a month plus you pay for your minutes too. It is so unbelievable. I am fed up but I don't know who to change my service to...Any suggestions of a good ISP that doesn't screw you????

AOL - I hate it - with a passion! This is second time I had to deal with AOL. In 1999, I canceled my account after I finished school. It took a year to cancel as I had to call every month to tell them to stop billing me and I vowed never to have the service again. I was true to my word and never signed up with AOL again, so why am I complaining you ask.. this is the kicker...
Click here to read the entire Email>>

Hahahaha
AOLhell
wow such a true statement lies within those 6 little letters.
you sign on you get booted off you want to stay sign off they keep trying to RECOONECT you.
now tell me which story haven't u heard about AOL?
I CANCELLED MY MEMBERSHIP AND 2 MONTHS LATER RE-OPENED IT, OF COURSE A WEEK LATER I WAS BLOCKED FROM SIGNING ON. whne calling to find out i was told you cancelled, and said yes but i re-opened a week ago and NOW you're telling me i can't- the agent said go online to keyword billing, i said umm hello wouldn't i have to be able to get online first, he said oh yea, i said reset he password, he said keyword billing, i said listen i can't go online less u reset my password,he said i'm sorry mam, i said ok oce more will you reset my password, he said you may do so yourself at keyword passwords, i finally said listen dumba** put someone on the phone who actually deserves to get paid for their jobb, as u obviously don't.
needless to say i hung up and called back and got some to help me.
AOL hell
so true so true..

oh my god!!! cant believe AOL is such a sucker!!!!!! after reading thru those testimonials i cant believe how AOL is ripping off their customers. Why no one is taking acction against them, it seems its been goin on from a
quite a while ago, and now i m facing it. I'm telling you, whoever deal with this AOL business, it will just make them feel one of those stupid fool in this world.

I had an internet connection from different ISP(NTL) form before, but i just wanted to try this AOL and got that 45 days trial CD, signed up and after 30 days i was already finding it more boring and slow, i used to connect to AOL but use Internet Explorer for websites.

Okay lets get to the point, as somone said earlier that they were played like ping pong ball same happened with me, if u mail them they will giv u this numbers to call and when u call them they say oh why not try our AOL  online help ( where u again get these contact numbers given) Just because of this i cudn cancell the account and they hav charged me, bloody AOLs!!! I called them like thousands of time i had 15 days before i finish my dead line and cancel the account but still cudn cancell it. Once when i called them they told me that my account has already been cancelled and later i found that i hav been again charged!!! what the f***! i cant believe they did that to me, i tried to call them and try to get them but cant, everytime i call them, i will be diverted to some FM radio station!!!!!! To these days im still trying to cancell my AOL account, i hav cancelled my Direct Debit payment but not sure if AOL sucker will try to get money outta
my account or not.

Thanks for the webmaster of this page for allowing me to share my AO Hell
( no wonder why they match with word AssHOLE)

I managed to get away from AOL about 10 years ago - ended up paying for 6 months of unused service, but that's water under the bridge. My gripe is that the "new and improved" AOL is preventing me from emailing my friends who have AOL! I am a member of a singing group and I regularly email all 15 of them with reminders and schedules. I just discovered that the five members of the group who are also AOL members are not receiving my emails. One of the emails bounced, and the rest (5 or 6 in the past couple of months) have simply disappeared! The rest of the group is getting the messages as usual, but the AOL members get nothing, and have no idea that they aren't receiving messages! I am now campaigning hard for those members to find an ISP that is more reliable.

So I called the cancellation number and was told that I do not exist. They have no record of my screen name, my credit card (WHICH THEY ARE STILL BILLING!!) or my address, phone number or ANYTHING!! So as a
result they "were unable cancel my account"!! The story continues...

You also need to ask for a confirmation number. If you are not given a confirmation number, most likely the account was not cancelled. Keep track of the date and the cancellation confirmation number. With this information you can dispute the charges directly with your credit card company, rather than dealing with the hard headed folks at AOL.

Well I had the same Problems you had!

But after calling your number they had to then FORWARD me to the next number 1-888-265-3733, Community Action Dept. They tried to transfer me but then they too disconnected my call. So I had to call back and stay on hold
FOREVER to get though to the Community Action line. Your number would NOT cancel my account YET Now I am told AFTER I talked to Community Action that 2 months after I had thought I closed my AOL account that they had a hacker use my screen and send out over 900 emails.
So they cleared that up when I assured them I have not had aol in 2 months and it was NOT me!! Then they had to transfer me back to the number you gave to cancel my account....Again they disconnected me!

Soooo I called back again to your number and finally got a confirmation number but now they try to tell me I am responsible for paying the last 2 mmonths...GGGGGRRRRRRRR I have not had aol since Nov 1st 2003. Now it is Jan 1 2004!

Any suggestions how I can get my 2 months they charged me back since I had it cancelled in Nov??

Hi there!
I cancelled way back in 1995 when I was on an (I think) $15.95 unlimited access account. Originally when I first signed up, it was the old pay by minute plan, which ran me about $80 a month. When I cancelled, I noticed on my bank account they had deducted an additional $80+ the month I cancelled.

I called and asked what this was all about, because I was all paid up, they had automatic billing directly from my checking account, there had been no mention of anything owing all that year, etc. They said it was an unpaid bill from the previous year. I looked up records and this was not so. The appropriate debit was on my account every month
I had been with aol.

I sent all my paperwork to my bank and they followed it up, but the gist was aol would not refund my money, and I could not afford to fly to California to prosecute them. The bank didn't go any farther than their initial contact. (Hate them
too, as this is really fraud.)

End of story, except that I swear I will get vengeance someday.

I have told everyone I know aol owes me $80+ and they should not deal with this theiving company.

It's also a lesson in not using debit cards or automatic billing for this sort of thing, but a credit card instead, as credit card companies will go to bat for you in that case.

Thanks for letting me rant.
Good luck to you!
P.S.: If there's a class action suit to get money back from aol for thingslike this, I'd be happy to hear about it.

This guy actually emailed me to stick up for AOL.  What a Joke!:

I have been an AOL member since 1993 and still am. I read through these testimonials and have considered what has happened to some of these people. I have also called AOL to cancel several accounts to explore other opportunities elsewhere. The one thing that I have noticed throughout every single testimonial I have read is that they do not realize that the people you are calling have to follow a script, just like any other call center. The person is trying to keep your business of course because that is what they are trained to do. Most of the time they try to give me "VALUE" and give me a few months of free membership to do so. If you dont call to cancel before the free time or free 45 days from the trial you will be billed. It clearly says that in the Terms of Service you sign before you sign on to AOL. Oh yeah you might say, "Who reads all of the fine print?!" Hey well I do, and I know damn well that if I need to call back before a certain date I will.--Thats how the business world works. And also I found out the hard way onetine, I had a temp account for a small business I owned one time and I called to cancel. The operator was of course trying to keep me and I told him I had another account. The operator then hooked me up with two free months of service and told me some things I could do that I had no idea about! Later down the road (about 6 months later) I recieved a bill on the account that I cancelled. I called a little upset and confused. The consultant then told me that the account was reactivated the month prrior. I then realized that I accidentally signed in with the old account. I totally forgot and for some reason typed in the old screen name. It was my old damn fault! I read back on the Terms of Service and it says that I may reactivate an old account if I ever needed to. I Love that capability! So for all of you whiners and negative people.......... own up to your responsibility, because 9 out of 10 times that fault lies in your lazy hands. AOL is the best ISP and content provider out there!

Landon
nolboomer@hotmail.com

I have been with AOL for almost 6 years. Today November 29, 2003 I called to cancel my account. The service agent
attending my request offered many options for me to keep my account active, I respectfully declined many times. Not
happy with my resistance the service agent increased the sales pitch at which time I just expressed my wish to just
cancel my account and not to evaluate any other options, the agent informed me that my account would be cancelled as soon as that option was shown on his computer screen, and if I wanted to cancel my account I just had to wait until he was ready to do so, at this time after waiting for 10 minutes I was not a happy customer anymore, and the agent
noticing my discomfort started humming and singing on the phone. When I complained about his service customer skills
the agent replied…….‘ That’s just your opinion and you know what they say about that…..do you ???

Honestly, I could not believe what was happening, a very simple process became a high-pressure sales pitch, and my resistance was welcomed by a rude engaging service agent. Needless to say I went from a loyal customer that at any point in time could have switched back to your service, to an unhappy customer that would not lease your services ever again. A happy customer will recommend your services to two people, and unhappy customer will pass the information to 10 people. You do the math. As far as my account goes, I consider it “ Cancelled ”, since my request to cancel my account was received with such resistance it has made me very suspicious therefore I called my bank and changed my account to stop the automatic debit charge. ( Cost me $ 16.00 which is a lot less than what most of the people usually lose trying to cancel your service according to my internet research ).

I wonder what will happen with the money I should get refunded since my bank account was already charged for the month of December, when I asked the service agent about this issue the phone went dead. After all those years the horror stories I read were true.

Sincerely
Mauro

I was off line for two weeks BECAUSE I loaded the 9.0 CD into my compputer and I only have Windows 98. I called and found out after a zillion calls to tech help that I needed Windows 2000 for it to work. THEN I could not sign back on
I I havine been trying to get some info on how to cancel this account!

Hi-
glad i found you page, as I needed some "company" to relieve my anger.

I have a friend from Senegal who bought a computer in may that of course came with an AOL disk. 45 day free trial, etc. So he signed up. He speaks OK english, but doesn't understand when he's being tooled around. I told him, be sure to cancel before the 45 days or you will get screwed as AOL is very bad about that. So he called to cancel in
June. The slicksters at the AOL hotline wouldn't let him cancel, and told him that he hand another free month. He never got billed, and then when he left the country he called to cancel on Sep 2. About 1-2 months later, he got a bill for $180 from AOL. When he returned to the states, I called AOL with him, and explained the situation.. They said he was on the 5 hour plan and that he used 60+ hours per month, and that's just how AOL works... I appealed to his sense of decency in that he should owe at most $23.95 * 2 or 3 months, since he had no idea what plan he was even on. The rep that gave him the FREE extra month did not mention any limits, and there had been no problem with equivalent usage previously. He got a manager on the phone and agreed to give back half of the money, which was about $84. The rep said it'd be credited within 7-10 days. He said that there was no reference number or anything he could give us for the credit.

Now, this is where it gets interesting... no credit was ever made. 2 week later we call back, and AOL denies having ever agreed to give a credit: "It's not noted in your account. We don't give refunds for normal usage." So I ask for a manager, and he tells me that AOL doesn't keep track of which reps handle which calls, and that he cannot help me. He suggests that I call back and talk to someone else.

So we immediately call back, and the initially cordial rep explains that there's nothing she can do either. I ask her if SHE knows who we spoke with before, and she says "Yes, I can see the name on my screen." Great! Give me the name. "No I cannot do that." Well, I am sorry I didn't write it down previously but I don't see the harm in giving out
the name of the rep I spoke to. A manager comes on the phone. I ask him simply to talk to the rep we spoke to, in order to confirm the credit that he obviously failed to report in the notes. He tells me that he cannot contact the rep since he is in another building, in another part of the country. What? I retort "That's why God invented Long Distance."
He informed me that he can no longer talk to me now that I am being sarcastic.

So here we are, out $180 dollars and being called liars by AOL.  I am going to try the numbers given on your site and we'll see what happens.

Thanks!
Alan

I had an interview to be an AOL call center worker but was turned down because I told the interviewer I wasn't with AOL and wouldn't never use them. When he asked why I told him that AOL is just a ISP for "newbies" who don't know any better. Needless to say the rest of the interview went downhill fast.... I 'm sure the $8.00 an hour job + bonuses for retention of AOL'ers is paid for by overbilling some of your other emails testify to.

these people (aol) are like the ROACH MOTEL go in but you cant come out. not only are they no good but they dont
seem to understand that when a person says they want our instead of asking why and trying to learn by there mistakes
they make you even more pissed off at them than what you already are and make things worse. I've been trying to get
rid of these people for .....5 MONTHS.... and its not possible, htey just keep wnating to give me monthe for free, DO
THEY NOT KNOW THAT I DONT EVEN WANT FREE SERVICE FROM THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!well enought of this we all know they are
worth shit. got to go hope you print this , oh and thanks for the phone no. good luck to the next sucker that signs
up!!!

Well I cancelled my acount about two years ago and just found out that I am still being billed for it electronicaly through my checking account. I called and talked to three different people and they found out that I have not been using their services for over 7 months (As far as they can go back and check) but they won't give me my money back. Screw them. Time to let the power of voice and the internet do my dirty work for me.

This company (AOL) regularly theft money from my bank account.
Jun: 06 and 30 = $ 47.80
Jul: 07 and 30 = $ 47.80
Sep: 02, 08 and 30 = $ 71.70
Oct: 06 and 30 = $ 47.80
Please advise them refund money in full and please they consider charging my bank account without my permission as forbidden. If I have not received a communication from them or their attorney within the reasonable time after they receipt of this message, it shall be my assumption that AOL does not wish to resolve this matter amicably, and I shall proceed accordingly.
Sincerely,
Dr. Alexander Pivovarov

I am too experiencing some difficulty, I used my debit card to pay for AOL and they seem to like my account and have billed me 4 times for AOL in October! I can't seem to get anyone to help me, I call the numbers available and get someone working in India! Nobody seems to work in the United States anymore, they want to employ other people in other countries, so they don't have to pay Americans, and isn't AOL stand for America On Line?
I am so frustrated with AO Hell. Earthlink is another problem, don't use that one either!

I came across this website on accident and was shocked to see everyone is going through the same thing....those wonderful FREE OFFERS i could scream.....well after hearing all these testomonies i to was prepared to cancel my account for good !!! they yes were sweet as pie (and a slight spanish accent) and after trying real hard to get me to stay she gave me my confirmation number then I asked her for her first name (I am in the habit of that just in case) she said Ericka I said Ok i need a ID # she said she does not give out her ID # I said well i need a last name ( i thought she would much rather give her ID # then her last name , right? wrong she said her last name was Williams I then told her there are lots of ericka williams out there she said not that are suppervisors i demanded several more times with no success she then gave me my confirmation number. I hung up on her at that time in the middle of her thanking me and wishing me a rest of a good evening. 15 min later my phone rang both my husband and i ansered at 2 diffrent ends of the house nobody was there i asked him who is it he said I dont know a voice came on with a thick spanish accent "Oh you will know in a minute" and hung up We thought WHATEVER Its been years since ive had a prank call (since i was a kid) then 5 minutes later the phone rang again and the same thick spanish accent calls me every disguting name in the book i laughed at her and said Ericka Williams!!! she then proceeded to tell me what she was doing with my husband, AND NOW THE TOPPER.... that she had my name, phone number, and all my personal information thats where she crossed the line. you can call me whatever you wish but in the year 2003 dont threaten me with my personal info. so i called aol to let them know and hope they would get to the bottom of this ericka williams (what was i thinking ) it turns out she gave me the wrong confirmation and im sure her name was not ericka williams but they never verified that to me (they refused to tell me) so with thier attitude the way it was, and telling me to have a good evening I decided then No way I took it to the athorities and made a report of harrassment. So thank you for forewarning me....good luck to you all as well as myself

Hi, I tried to cancell my account wiyh aol here in the uk, but I was ping ponged back and forth from online to telephone to on line, and still have not got a cancellation, I tried your number but I don't think it works in uk asd it said number not recognized.

thank you.

from fred united kingdom.

Before i tell my story, i'll give you the name and number of the supervisor who is supposedly above the Billing and Screen Name departments at AOL:

Neil Smit, VP for member development
(703)265-1000 ... you need to then ask the operator for Neil Smit.

I canceled my AOL service, and the customer service rep gave me those two free months, saying i could use that time to transfer all my email info to my new ISP.

After those two months were up, AOL started billing me AGAIN, taking money right outta my checking account. They would not stop. Nine months after canceling, i finally got them to stop, and they refunded two months worth of service. They said I'd have to write to AOL Billing Operations to get the rest. Two letters and 70 days later, i still haven't got a response, and they still owe me more than $150.

I continue to get the runaround -- phone numbers that are disconnected, extensions that belong to AOL employees who have nothing to do with billing and don't know the phone number for billing. Finally, I got Neil's number today after calling Time Warner, AOL's parent company. He was gone for the day, but I'm calling ol' Neil tomorrow.

I'll let you know if he's any help.

UPDATE:

The number I sent you earlier led to another number that is legit. I got my full refund today. Here's the story, with the phone number at the end:

I just got a refund from AOL after 71 days, two letters, numerous phone calls and lots of runaround. In the process, I found a strategy that may help your readers, as well as an inside name and number that led to my refund.

AOL uses economies of scale to wear down its customers. It's got thousands of employees who can waste hours and hours of your time until you finally give up and AOL can bank your cash. The trick I found was to turn their strategy around. I started calling highly-paid employees, not the customer service reps at the difficult-to-find 800 numbers. When you talk to people earning a high wage, it costs AOL more to give you the runaround than it does to simply give you the money it owes you.

What i finally did was call Time Warner, AOL's parent company, which recently exposed how embarrassed it is by AOL by firing the board members who pushed for the merger and then changing its name back to Time Warner
(instead of AOL Time-Warner). From the Time Warner swithcboard, i got transfered many times but finally got a name and number within AOL that led to a refund within five days.

Here it is: Kemp Picket, 904/357-7262. He was polite, apologetic and had the power to get me a refund.

Another important number name that led to Kemp Picket's number was Neil Smit, VP for member development: 703/265-1000 (you need to then ask the operator for Neil Smit's assistant).

Almost the same as you: the Mac someone gave us only ran AOL. Then we finally got a PC, went through the motions of cancelling, etc. After 10 minutes of listening to the idiot AOL marketer on the other end, I said "Hang on," and handed her to my husband who proceeded to bitch the woman out.

Our AOL got cancelled fast and we never had any problems with them.

So, when my 60-something boss told me he wanted to cancel his AOL, I figured it would be somewhat easy. Found the number, etc. The best part is that they couldn't say "But if he stays with AOL, he gets....". What am I going to do, run in and check with him to see if he wants it? No, they're pretty much helpless when someone is calling for their boss. Wouldn't you know it, the account was cancelled quickely and smoothly. At the end of the conversation, the woman says "Now, if he wants to come back, he's welcome to sign on again any time within the next month."

About 10 minutes ago, my boss called me into his office. "I wanted to get rid of AOL!" he says. "But you did, I did it last month," I say. Then the horrible realization hit me. He'd signed on again. He'd reactivated his account. All my work was for naught.

This time he's calling.

-Rebekah

 I found the number to cancel my subscription to aol on your webpage and I too had a hard time telling them NO...I do not want to get two months free...I just want to cancel my subscription...Thank you so much for the telephone number and I do greatly appreciate it...if I had the money to tip your jar...I promise I would...but being a single mothere to three boys....I cant at the present time...but i will bookmark the page in my favorites and when i get some spare cash...i will be happy to give you a tip!!!
Thank you again for your help!!!
Amy

Hello Heferito,
I'd like to give you and the community an account of AOL. At first, I did not know what I was getting myself into. My bro warned me of their customer service, saying that the people are assholes to deal with. I'm a passive person, meaning I usually am to submit or give to higher power. I worked on being assertive so my assertiveness and rudeness with AOL worked to get them off my chest. I signed up with them for their free service for a month. I wanted to try their 8.0 service briefly, and did not like any of the features. Wasteful. They charged me $9.95 a month. I called them up after
the days were up, and they told me they will extend it two more free months by asking me to redeem these award points once I got them in the mail. OK, this is taking too long, because I was already charged for another month. I
did not know how to go about redeeming the points because I got an error message at their Award Center. I thought if I uninstalled the AOL 8.0, than my account would be cancelled too. But no. I had to call them up to cancel. Why go through 10 buttons and 20 minutes to get one representative. Stupid, stupid, stupid service. The first representative pulled up my information, but wasn't able to help me. So she forward the call to another representative who asked for my information, then asked me the reason why I called. I said I want to cancel my account. She said OK at first, than
proceeded to say "Alright, I cancelled your account..." Here's the catch. She went ahead and talked about her AOL (great) experience. Then said that she will extend my service to two more months because of the "great" features. I relunctantly said OK. One month later, I did not use it again because I had a hard time logging on. Kept getting error message. So I called them one last time and this time I shot them in the foot. I said I was moving. Sweet lady on the end said that my extended account was never used, and ends in November. I said yes I know, and then again said I was
MOVING and won't be without INTERNET CONNECTION for the next months. She then said, ok, since you are moving I have extended your account to end in January of 2004. I'm like, Hello, I have said I am cancelling. I know your tactics, so you can stop using them on me. I have said the account ends in November but it seems you AOL people need hearing aids. Haha, I couldn't believe I was being crude. The lady was so surprised, she sputtered and
stumbled what to say to keep me. Haha, I shot her in the foot. She can't mess with me. Then she was rude in return by quickly saying my confirmation number for cancelation. I bet she read from a speech paper. Biatch. Then a quick bye and click. I should have been the person hanging up quick. But its coo. I was glad it was over. Biut dayum, AOL people sucks arse. They will do anything to sweet-talk-into-you to keep their service. What you should say if you are a victim, is to say You are moving and will be without internet connection for the next months. If they do that sweet talk, step in and take a bullet at their footsies. LOL. It will work, and they will be offended. But to undo as customer is to STEP IN and do your thing. I'm so glad I'm out of their hair.

Found your website. Thank YOU! For the amount of $ I have been triple charged since January 2003 at $34.99 per month. AOL still has not cancelled my accounts and are deducting from my bank account. I had to close out my bank account and guess what? AOL has continued to take out $$$ triple every month still!! I hate AOL!

 hi...
You know why I visit this website?
Yes, there is no another reason. I want to cancel AOL account.
I have been charged for 2 months for monthly fee.
But, that is not the biggest problem.
The biggest one is AOL charge me over $200 this month.
I have come back my country,Taiwan, for one month from US.
As the beginning, I don't know I need to cancel account by myself.
I think it should be canceled automatically, and It won't work when I dial up after "1045 hours free".
But, I was wrong.
Lately, I got my credit card billing.
1. AOL TRAVELERS ADVANTAGE $89.99
2.AOL AUTOVANTAGE $89.99
3.AOL ONLINE SERVICE $23.90
I was shocked by that price.
I have come back my country and after that I never used that.
But, how can they charge me so much ??????
I don't know what is "TRAVELERS ADVANTAGE".
As soon as I got that cancelletion department phone number from your website, I call them to cancel my account.
However, my english is not so good. At the end, they told me a number "0909-503-832".
I can't figure out what's number they are. Is it my cancel number???
I don't know. I just hope they won't charge me next month.

aol really stinks they keep adding more and more on my bill with out tell me. I am switching to verizon online then i know i wont have a problem. The reason i never know untill is because its on my phone bill. thanks so much kelly

I subscribed to AOL in May for a 45 day trial period (May 29), and called and cancelled during the first week of July. The customer service person gave me a confirmation number, said my membership was cancelled and I even received a letter to that effect just like she said I would. I just discovered that I have been automatically billed for $9.95 each month since July. I called customer service and they told me that my account was still active and they have no record of my cancellation. And they refuse to give me a refund even though they acknowledge that I have not used the service since June 14. I also found out quite by accident that if you log on to see if you are cancelled that you are automatically re-enrolled.
(No I did not do that. ) Customer service was most uncooperative and one was even argumentative. I know of other persons who have had this same problem with cancellation at AOL so this is not an isolated incident.
Shirley Moander
Keokuk, IA

Glad to know that I am not the only one being screwed by AOL. My story begins nearly three years ago. I was silly and let my sister in law use my checking acct. to activate her free AOL for one year mess. BIG MISTAKE!! I continuously fight with AOL to stop the 29.00 monthly fee from being withdrawn from my checking. This acct. has been inactive for almost 2 years...and they will not let me cancel because it is in the name of another person..however..i am the sucker paying this bogus scheme. Makes no sense. I HATE AOL and my recommendation to anyone who even thinks about being "nice" think it over twice, unless you like being continuously violated. Its amazing how you cannot say ass on AOL without being violated or even terminated....yet they continuously like to stick it to you...hmmm...thanks for the therapy session..LOL

Hi Heferito,
I laughed hysterically when I saw the information on your website about trying to cancel your AOL account. I experienced the same problem. I searched high and low through their entire website for a way to cancel my account. I thought I was crazy. Finally I did a google search and found your website. Thanks to your website I was very prepared when I did call their toll free number because of the information you provided.
When I called I was greeted with a sticky sweet CSR (a throw back from Disney) who was so happy to cancel my account. Of course their was a catch to his sweetness as I had to listen to all of the wonderful things that AOL had to offer (as he read it from his computer screen). I wanted to cancel my AOL account because I now have DSL, so he offered me AOL for Broadband for $9.95. Then he told me about keeping my AOL e-mail address by paying a small $2.00 fee. A large company like that and they need my measly $2.00. I bet the toll free call was costing them more by keeping me on the line. It took about 5 minutes to get it through his "drone" head but I succeeded without paying them another dime. Thank you.
-Stacey 
Atlanta, GA 

Two months ago I called AOL to cancel service because neither their automated customer service, their on-line help, nor a human being could tell me how I could change my login name. Having left a position with a global restaurant corporation (Steve Case is a frequent diner at many of their locations, as are several Time Warner execs) for greener pastures, I could not get them to change my user profile without canceling (or so I was told). Forget the spam, forget the pop-ups, & many intrusions, forget the prices-- I just wanted to be free & clear of my old company tag-line & have the ability to make changes & get other people off my login list (I had incurred charges made by them since they were on my/ restaurant's profile & user names, since I was the one paying the bill). AOL couldn't, or at least their ace team of high school 'Intro to Computers' dropouts had no idea. Hence, the canceling.
Click Here to read the full email >>

I installed AOL 9.0 on my computer or attempted to when it froze up my computer (totally) I had no problems until then. I now need to buy a new computer! I then installed it on my Fathers new Dell computer thinking it was just a fluke, when I did it, it brought up so many AOL sponsored Advertisments(POP UPS) it was incredible. That we never had before. Now it takes 6 minutes to be able to log on where before it was less than 30 seconds, and everything you click on to takes for ever to come up!!! Don't make the mistake of down loading AOL 9.0 even for free, if it doesn't ruin your life it will ruin your computers! Its done both of mine in. 

I have quick story about cancelling AOL. I was on a week long personal vaction away from home. I brought my very old laptop so that I could dial into work and check email and search the net for local information. Unfortunately my work provided calling card was not working, and I would crazy to pay hotel long distance charges. So I charge off to the nearest cash register and low an behold... AOL CDs... who would have thunk it. So I install and start surfing and checking mail

Back at home, I figure it is time to cancel before my credit card starts getting hit for charges. The first thing I did was look for ANY number to call AOL. I found billing or some such and after many tranfers I got to the cancellation department. When they asked me why I wanted to cancel, I just told them the truth. I wanted a free internet service while I was on vaction and I had no need for their overpriced dial-up plans when I had broadband at home. They asked a few questions to the effect, are you sure you don't want to stay on blazing 56K dialup as opposed to your cable. The girl was very pleasant and quickly cancelled my account. 

(NOTE:  I have strong suspicions that this email was sent by an AOL employee)

Just so people know...if they have aol and aim, and they cancel aol...their aim account is locked. they need to save their buddy list first to their comp, and create a new aim name....
Vasilios

Just wanted to say a big thank you for your web site with the cancellation number for AOL Members. I have been an AOL Member since 1994, but apparently AOL doesn't want me as a "valued-customer" anymore or they would FIX my account. I have been trying for literally weeks now to get my account straightened out.
Every two or three days I have to call up the 1-800 number that pops up on my sign in screen and informs me : "Account Invalid" - call this number . . . blah, blah.
Each and every time I call I get someone that doesn't understand plain English. "I wish to reactivate my account please" is my usual initial opening. After asking for my "Secret Question/Answer", Name, Address, Phone number, what I had for breakfast, etc., they ALWAYS assure me that my account is finally fixed and I "Can Sign On Now" -
Oh, what a mess!

It all started with my canceling AOL's Music Net's "FREE" Download.
After a week, I remembered I downloaded the thing and it didn't work, so I took it off my computer and canceled that account only. NOT my Member Account. Why would I do that if I was paid up until January 2004?
I have approximately 15 Emails in my PFC. right now that I have saved when I spoke to Billing and Live Help. I have answered AOL and I never get anything except a standard reply Email from them.
So, when and IF I can make it through until January, I will go to Walmart and get their CD to use as a dial up connection. We live in a rural area.

I could go on and on, except to say that some, not ALL Service Techie's that I spoke with are so VILE. Rudeness seems too small a word for their comments to me on the phone. They couldn't care less. And so now - the same holds true on my end!

Thanks For Listening,
Mrs. Lunsford 

...Experiencing much the same!! Have had AOL account for over 2 years!!!! I of course have moved twice since then and am still having my $28.50 fee taken from my checking account each month!! When I tried to call and cancel he asked me for the address I had set the account under. I of course don't remember!! That was a long time ago!! I told them my Login, my password, my checking account number, my social security number etc...he told me that because I couldn't verify my 'pervious account set up address' that he couldn't help me. He then added that if I went to AOL Keyword Billing, I could go into my 'account' and update with my new address and call them back and only THEN could they cancel my account!! There is no such KEYWORD...and every AOL Billing site I tried only included FAQ's blah blah blah!!!
I will not only call this number that you so graciously included but I will go to the added expense of calling my bank and paying $25.00 to stop the automatic withdrawal each month!!!

AOL SUCKS ASS!!!

AOL really does suck! 

No story, Just a thank. I did a search and found your sight. You have saved me much aggrivation. 

I used your advise and called the number you provided and they gave me a cancellation reference number. They tried to sell me on going another 4 months free and I just flat out told them, I HATE AOL and I will never go with there service again. I thank you so much for your website. I think that was a very thoughtful action. I don't think that anyone would know this information if it hadn't been for you.
Thank You

Hi,
I signed up for AOL at the first place, becase on that fateful night I had no other way of going online. Even netzero won't work and my dsl installation date was a week away.

After I finally got my dsl connection, I tried to find customer service number on aol.com and their other websites. Within a few minutes of browsing their sites it was apparent to me that they are trying hard to hide their toll free number. Google came to my rescue and I got the link to your website. I called the customer rep who wanted me to use AOL front end on top dsl. Even if they pay me per month I won't such a crappy piece of software. I maitained a strict "no" to all their suggestions and got my cancellation number in a few minutes.

Thanks for your help.
Naveen

I also could not figure out how to cancel my account until I went to a google search and found this page. I dial the number you mentioned. Then when the CRS came online asking for informatin for security reasons, I told them I would give them my address and nothing else for security. When the CSR asked my if she could ask why I wanted to cancel my account, I told she couldn't ask and she went straight to the confirmation number to cancel my account. The whole call took less than five minutes. Yippee and thanks.
C 

Dear Webmaster,

Thank you for providing the information I was searching for.
I decided aol was not going to remain my server after a credit monitoring service (AOL CREDIT ALERT) was added to my credit card account. I received no confirmation of acceptance into the service so first recognition of enrollment and monetary obligation appeared on my bill. 

I managed to cancel the service after some difficulty obtaining the correct contact person. My credit card account was adjusted to reflect a refund for the unused period of the service. I followed their instructions to request information that demonstrated the service was authorized by me, but received no response to the fax request.

At this point I consider cancellation of aol service as insurance that this problem will not repeat.

Thanks again for the helpful information. I will update only if there are frustrations to vent.

Gene - IL 

Hello,

I came across your website in a search trying to find a number to cancel my AOL service. I signed on 3 years ago after purchasing a new computer, the disk came with the computer.

The AOL browser makes it difficult to build websites. It times out, messes up your work. I started using internet explorer more. Between the constant price changes and my computer moving slower, timing out and getting booted with each new version, I decided to cancel them.

I do not care about AOL You Got Pictures, chatrooms and the other "great features" they offer. I called their number to cancel and was on hold for 8 minutes listening to "AOL is great" and "Did you know about our new.."

Talk about annoying!!! Then a lady comes on and says "Thanks for calling AOL, how can we make your service more rewarding?" I stated that I wanted to cancel.
She asked for my account details and said that there was a "block" on my account and she would have to switch me to billing before she could cancel me. ?????????????

I then wait another 10 minutes listening to another barrage of "AOL is fantastic" messages. Another woman answers and asked for my acccount details and then asks why I am calling? I tell her that the cancel line sent me there. She then sends me back to the account cancellation line where I hold for another 7 mins. with "AOL subliminal brainwash messages" By now I am furious!!!!

A guy comes on and says "Thanks for choosing AOL, how can I help you? I say, "I want to cancel my account". He started with the "you are a good customer", offers 2 free months. I tell him politely "look, just cancel my acccount, I am not interested".
He is still trying to pitch me. I then explode and say "Bleep bleep Bleep, just cancel my account" and to give me a confirmation number or give me his supervisor. He says OK, gives me a cancellation number and says to expect a letter in the mail confirming it.
I am pretty nice and polite on the phone. I work with the public and know how tough it is, so I am especially nice even if there is some problem.

This is the first time I ever lost it. AOL is horrible!!! People Beware!! Get rid of them, they cost too much for what you get in return. I am plesed with my new ISP which is less than half the price of AOL and has superb customer service.

They are tons of services out there for less, just do a little research like I did. Sorry for the length, but wanted others to understand what they are dealing with when trying to cancel. AOL SUCKS!!!!!!!!!! I AM FREEEEEEE.

This happened 9-12-03
Thanks for listening.

Hello!

I wrote an email that somehow got lost, but here I go anyway.

I am still in the middle of my little/big fight with AOL. At first, like you, I was in need of an ISP quickly as I am, well, poor....I vowed to cancell well before the time was up. I wanted to be so much smarter and not let it be one of things I would regret.
Anyway, obviously, since I am writing you, you can already guess what happened. I cancelled well before the time was up and yet, I see a $14.90 charge on my phone bill. I 'll go back in time to say that the reason I wanted to cancel in stead of staying with them was I could never actually get on the internet when I wanted to. I usually was given a window of information that AOL was experiencing a traffic overload and that I should try again. So, I figure I'll just choose another number of a neighboring town that is a mile away. When I got my phone bill, I realized that that was a long distance charge. I had been downloading tons of music that cost me anyway. I was going to go ahead and chalk that up to experience and forget my misfortune. I called to cancel and was forwarded to the snake oil salesperson that tried to rook me into free service. I already informed her that my new ISP provider was Earthlink and I never had aconection problem with them, so I was going to STAY and Earthlink customer. She was sure I'd change if only I could see the marvels of the newly improved Dial up Service. Unenchanted, I said no. She then pushed me to accept a free trial and said she would send an email to give me some codes for AOL in order to fulfill this 
" great deal" she was giving me. I never took her up on it and vowed to call back and cancell ASAP.

So, back to the charge listed on my phone bill;
As there is a number listed, I call that and speak to an agent, who I was using a suspiciously fake sounding name. I was going through the motions of cancelling and the agent informed me that he'd be transferring me to the billing department to make this all go away. I was under the impression that since I had never logged on to AOL since I chose Earthlink.
While being transferred, my call was disconnected. As I had to get to work I had to pick that up later. Long story short, I called again, twice and was, both times, DISCONNECTED once again. By this time charges totalling $50 had now appeared on my bill even though I had not ONCE logged on to AOL and had been under the impression the account had been cancelled. I am starting to realize how big of a chump I really am.
After being disconnected twice, I became incensed. I call only THIS time for the member secction of the phone service and realize that the message being played is telling me to log on to AOL to their totally-more-helpful-than-the-phone-service ( i can only imagine) I realize that logging on woudl only incrue MORE bloody charges on the AOL account and since I had long exorcised and discarded their software off of my computer, this was not possible.
The agent answers and I speak calmly, as I am not easily angered, UNTIL NOW and inform her that I am getting to the point of the Michael Douglas in Falling Down. She tries to patronize me in her best way and I am sure that this is a long lonely road I am on trying to cancell my service. How can you ignore 3 disconnections when trying to cancell. Something is Rotten in Denmark, methinks. I had been instructed that the cancellationg dept. messed up and to call them. She gave me the same main number as all the other agents gave me that led to the main operator and hung up on me again.
SO here I am, poorer than I once was and trying to retain my dignity. They make you feel like the cliche irate customer when you call upset at the times you have been kicked to the curb.
I knew better than to activate that "free" trial.
God only help me try to actually find the address to write to them....

Jody

Just because of you, I did it in just less than 10 minutes. I spent more than four weeks trying to contact AOL and cancel my account but didn't work. What I did was type "how do I cancel my AOL account" on google search and
one of your page with a valuable info pop up.

Then I called the listed number...go through the "interrogation" and done.  You know how I cut them off from endless offers???. " I am moving to Africa and forget internet, we don't have Computers". And it worked...

Thanks again.
Zee