[jbtampa]

I work for a world wide mega contractor with AOL and we all identify ourselves as AOL Tech Support, all 2000 of us at my site. The RULE is cancel after the second request, after you do the initial retainer script one time with out success. That is the RULE. second spoken cancel, and the girls over in the retainment department, 450 of em, are supposed to cut it do it and split. The trouble is, the bonus of keeping you, even moving you up to BB or premium, are very very tempting..........

[rockyjohn]

[quote name='rickk1']This sounds like SBC/ATT. I had nothing but problems from them each and everytime I tried to contact them concerning issues. .My experience with SBC/ATT was just the opposite. I have had them for years both for telephone and DSL. I generally found them very helpful and willing to go the extra mile to ensure good telephone and DSL service. There was a time when things got a little confused. My DSL had been with Prodigy which SBC purchased and I was able to keep my prodigy.com email address. However there was some confusion when I moved in with someone else for a short while. I had no phone and their DSL so I changed Prodidy to a dial up account to keep my email address. This happened about he same time AT&T purchased and was consolidating SBC and between my changes and theirs they sometime had trouble accessing my account. But on whole I have been very pleased with their service.Now rebates ..... that is another matter.

[migr8ingcoconut]

I had a terrible time with Ancestry. After I called and canceled, they billed me anyway. The unexpected bill caused me to bounce several items. So I had to call, get a statement from the bank and fax them a copy. In the end they reversed my charge and paid for my overdraft fees. So I guess they did pull through in the end.

[idontwantanewsletter]

Flickr was surely the easiest? You didn't even have to cancel that as its not automatically renewed -- is it?

[janekMZ]

We, the net users, need to make a stand and prevent companies charing our credit cards after we cancel their services and prevent them from making us go through all the hassle to cancel the account.And I think this is how we do it: We make a LAW that allows us to use their free-trial period without providing a credit card number. Then 5 days and 1 day before trial period expires, the company sends a e-mail reminding us to log in and provide a credit card number in order to keep the service. If we don't provide the credit card, then the account is automatically suspended and then canceled after 30 days of inactivity.This way if you don't like a service, you do nothing and the account gets deleted, if you do like it, then you log in and provide a credit card.This also helps prevent credit card number thefts.On the same token, you wouldn't give a car dealer a check for say a $100 when you took a car for test drive, and then if you didn't like the car you would have to ask the dealer for your check back, but if you did nothing the dealer would cash the check, even if you didn't buy the car.

[TK421]

I would also like to add that cancelling a free trial to CNN Pipeline video service was quick, simple, and painless, and I wasn't charged for anything.

[Crossmr]

Your embellishment is a bit disheartening it seriously reduces your credibility through-out the article. You specifically state "Classmates.com also forced me to click through several Web pages consisting of reminders of the benefits I'd lose by canceling". I just checked, it was 1 page, and the page also included the instructions for how to cancel. I wonder how much of the rest of the article you embellished to make it a good read?

[DHofmann]

A good place to post your bad experiences is SiteAdvisor.com. They provide a browser toolbar that tells you whether the web site you're visiting is safe. Right now, it shows nothing but green for NetZero.com.

[eccent]

efax.com is also horrible. I signed up for a trial and they charged me $26 just two weeks into that one month trial and won't refund me any of it for cancelling.

[HottieGeek]

My other problem was cancelling Yahoo music service. Yeah they had a web app to cancel (had to really search) but they went ahead & charged me anyway even though I cancelled the day after I signed up. They said I wasn't entitled to14 day trial because I paid w/ MC credit card who was partnered w/them. BTW I never got a confirm nor a cancel email from either-think that is fishy. Called MC & they gave me a credit while their legal dept talks to Yahoo Legal. Very deceptive ad.[/quote]I had yahoo music service and let the month run out cuz they said no money was in the account to be taken out.(pre paid card) cuz I wanted to upgrade to the service so you can burn your music on cd's and the software said it was having issues try later. I had e-mailed the tech support many times over a 2 week period and tried to re download the software many times. no tech support rep could figure out what was wrong and why the software would not download. They keep on telling me the same thing over. I knew there was nothing wrong with my system and it was on thier end. And also when I signed up for the service took me 3 full day's before I could even download music. There were having issues with is not seeing a user name for a while.

[karenr54]

AOL came pre-installed on new notebook. Called for free trial and was told "we have THREE local numbers" and customer rep actually gave me one. Later as I was going thru the set-up, none were listed as local. Called back and spoke to 4 reps who kept shuffling me between customer service and tech. support. When I gave the local # to the 4th guy, he said, not a real AOL number and admitted there were none for 717-645-xxxx. Salesperson LIED to get me to sign up! I spoke to a 5th person to cancel, and after an hour of arguing, I finally said, ok, I am now going to tape this conversation and make you the next famous AOL rep on UTube and anywhere else I can find to post this conversation. I got a cancellation# but as this just happened last week, I am waiting to see if any charge shows up on Credit Card for a 3 hour activated account.

[mmaz]

I am shocked that Vonage made it to the "no hassle" list for cancellation. It took me months to accomplish this: First Customer Service basically tried to make me not cancel by claiming I couldn't; second, I had to call "billing" several times to speak with a rep; third, they refused to honor my no money back guarantee; fourth, they lied to me about the status of DSL service in NC; fifth, I had to take a 3 month trial before allowing me to cancel without a cacellation charge. Does this sound like no hassle?? And I know from others that I'm not alone in having cacellation problems with Vonage in NC.

[mensan2]

{size:18px}[/size]I am another who's had several run-ins with any variety of easy-sign ups but impossible to leave sites. One of the worst of which is PeoplePC. In today's world it seems that the real cost of trying to get out of something far exceeds the emotional costs. This is why I use MetroPCS instead of Verizon, etc, all of which carry 2 year contracts. Metro is month to month for $30. to quit,you just fail to pay the bill. When you do pay it service is restored as normal. Easy!This is the first and only time I've read anything from PCworld that seems to assist me as one of the many millions out here who need this type of feedback and insight. Thanks for your post and you've made me a member in more than the usual way. Keep up this same kind of informative work. -Steve D.

[GarrettLDuke01]

Yes everytime I've signed up for stuff on the Internet and then decided not to get it was like walking through the pits of hell and trying to not get burned to death by it that is for sure! I've decided I am never signing up for anything that I'm not sure about online ever again!

[cyberbandito]

Problem with ANYcompany when you attempt to cancel account - if no response, tell them in a serious and determined, but civil manner that you will take all of the following actions against them if they don't cooperate, threaten to call/write about their non-response to all or any of the following: Better Business Bureau; city/state Ombudsman; city and state Chamber of Commerce; several of the local or national news networks. Keep copies of all contacts, tell credit card issuers to not pay monthly charge/explain why, cancel EFT order at your bank if that's how you pay. If you pay monthly, STOP your payments. If AOL or any other business accounts with whom you have difficultiest, explain that you've tried your best to convince them that you no longer want their services. They will no longerl bother you nor will they threaten to sue. Been there, done that with victorious result.

[RUSSIANRAM]

Boy, did you ever hit a nerve with this article! I recently had 2 experiences with cancellation of outline accts. One was w/Rhapsody music download service. All was fine w/service until they upgraded their service from 3.0 to 4.0. Seems 4.0 doesn't tolerate IE 7.0. After 3 wks of configuration headaches I called up to cancel. They tried to get me to stay but finally they gave in because they knew they had problems w/their upgrade & because I told them I would come back someday AFTER they fixed their problems.My other problem was cancelling Yahoo music service. Yeah they had a web app to cancel (had to really search) but they went ahead & charged me anyway even though I cancelled the day after I signed up. They said I wasn't entitled to14 day trial because I paid w/ MC credit card who was partnered w/them. BTW I never got a confirm nor a cancel email from either-think that is fishy. Called MC & they gave me a credit while their legal dept talks to Yahoo Legal. Very deceptive ad.

[tigerrrrrrr82]

I had issues with AOL a few years ago. We have cable internet, but I wanted something in case the net went out (which is frequent around here, no one knows why, but that's another issue all together). I tried AOL from one of the CDs they mailed out, but none of the access numbers worked. I cancelled the account before the trial was up, but they still billed me. I called the day they billed me for the next month of service after the trial, they refused to refund my money, denied that I cancelled, and tried to sign me up for service again! I was on the phone for about an hour, fighting with them, then asked to be transfered to their supervisor or someone in billing, who of course denied that I cancelled and yet again tried to sign me up for service again. I told all of the people that I spoke to that the access numbers did not work and I never even signed on to the account and yet THEY STILL TRIED TO SIGN ME UP FOR SERVICE AGAIN! They have NO respect for prospective customers. Had they been nice and refunded my money for a service I never used, I may have signed up again if they would have given me access numbers that worked.I also had issues cancelling my account to MSN Encarta. I searched their help page and it gives directions to a page to cancel, but guess what, IT'S IN GERMAN!! They must have recently fixed this though, now I have to call and argue with someone instead of making it easy to cancel online.

[MomNCollege]

AOL is the absolute worst! I adivse anyone not to be suckered in by a new free service.When traveling I needed a dial up for a trip a few years ago and got a six month trial with a new laptop. I canceled the service timely, but a charge still appeared on my Bank of America account. I tried in vain to get AOL to fix - they wouldn't and I finally filed a complaint with BOA VISA and they took care of it though I still got nasty letters for a few months.I kept the file with all my many notes on this affiar for two years; the month after I shredded it I get a letter from a collection agency!! I wrote a letter disputing their claim, gave the details on what happend including that the credit card/bank straightened it out and haven't heard anything since.But knowing AOL, I probably will.:lol:

[esklsnrq]

It may interest you to know that one of the hardest to cancel trial offers that I ever had was PC Worlds try 2 issues risk-free magazine offer on line. On the positive side, I love your web site and have enjoyed reading the different articles and downloadsl It has been a real pleasure and I feel I am better protected and internet savey because of it. Thanks

[Nelson]

Works for ME! Always use your Banking Check/Debit Card for online stuff. I'd heard of AOL giving grief to cancelee's (horror, horror), so I just went to my bank and cancelled/deleted the AOL "Auto-pay" BEFORE I even notified AOL to cancel. Try as they DID, they couldn't get one more thin dime from me. Furthermore, as YOUR bank, they will always have a "dispute procedure" should you need it.