How hard is it to cancel AOL?

[Spock]

Ref: On Tape: Rep Won't Let Customer Quit AOL

WCAU-TV
11:29 a.m. EDT June 22, 2006
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Watch Video: AOL Rep Won't Let Man Cancel Account | Slideshow: Blow-By-Blow Slideshow
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An incredible video from CNBC shows an AOL customer trying to cancel his account, but a phone rep won't let him do it. What customer Vincent Ferrari got when he tried to cancel his account was a lot of frustration.

It took him 15 minutes waiting on the phone just to reach a real, live person.

And, what happened next was recorded by Ferrari on audio and lasted about four minutes ...

[Icy]

I had AOL for a year free because every time I called in to cancel it they talked me into a free month to use AOL. The main complaint I had was the porn spam I would receive in my email.

Then I upgraded to broadband and they really screwed up. The rep told me the fees for upgrading would be taken out of my bank account on my normal billing cycle date, they took the cash out early, big mistake! Also, the equipment was supposed to arrive in 7 days, it didn't! Another huge problem. I called to cancel, and as usual they went through the process of trying to keep me as a customer but this time no offer for a free month, they offered to cut 20.00 off my bill of over 100.00 for broadband service. I said that is not good enough, can you do better?...lol.

Needless to say, they let me cancel, with 3 months free access to their broadband features only. If they would have offered me a free month of broadband service like they did the dial up, I'd probably still have AOL right now. I know they train their reps to keep a customer. That AOL rep went a little overboard but I'd say 4 mins to cancel AOL is about the normal time for them. The customer also went overboard talking to the news about it. Geez, if you think about it, we are lucky when we don't have to wait for decent service when calling a business. I can't tell you how many companies I call and have to wait 30 mins to get a live rep.