[meggione]

I question the validity that match.com was no hassle to cancel. Sure, they let you cancel, but try to get your profile taken off the site. I tried the service out, canceled the account and am still trying (one year later) to get my profile removed from the site. Now they can fraudulently claim to have so many millions of users. But who are those users? Are they people like me, long canceled who don't even use the site anymore?

[1945]

My 2 year battle with aol was enough for me. Same old story: I cancel; they bill again, and again--------------------------------------------------. I have an excellent credit union that helped me stop the aol monster. ALL PHONE CALLS WERE A WASTE OF TIME.

[HottieGeek]

True with AOL. My grandmother had an account and when she canceled it,they still chrged her for four months on her card. When I called to yell about it, and want a refund ,the woman made me sound like I was some stupid person even thou I am a computer major in college(third year) and tired to tell me that the account is still being used and it was turned on the night before which was a bunch of bull.I was the one who removed the software from her computer. Fianlly my grandmother had to turn them and months later got a full refund but AOL said they never did anything wrong in the first place. I have no clue how they are even still in bussines.

[AuroraDizon]

I briefly had netzero because I was connecting an old mailstation I found at a thrift store. They usually charge you for technical support, but sometimes if its not your fault they will "wave your tech support charges" for a certain amount of time. Eitherway I tried to cancel for months and they kept lowering my price, till it got to about 4.95. Not a bad price but not worth the hassle on the phone. I think they said they would give me 2 months free then they would charge again and a reduced price... I called again after a month and they told lowered it to the last time. I wasn't using the mailstation very much but I figured for that price why not? So they went ahead and charged me for one of the free months that they gave me and pushed over my credit card.It took more hours and stuff on the phone to get it straightened out. Worse off most of the staff I talked to barely spoke English, and didn't seem to technically sound. Netzero is hands down the worst company I have ever had to deal with.

[johnelle]

I can testify to the accuracy of your Real and Blue Mountain experiences. Real lied to you--I had similar cancellation issues at least 5 years ago and it sounds like they haven't changed at all. Any time I have a Real page on my screen I read it carefully before clicking on anything. I am not going to get trapped again! BlueMountain was actually worse. This kid on the other end would NOT give up. He had me on the phone for 10 minutes and by the end of it I was screaming at him. What could these bozos be thinking? In a connected world pissing off customers is a really stupid business strategy.

[gingermeggs]

RAPID FAX SUCKS!!!! Their free trial is a scam. They drag my cancelation request for a whole month, despite my multiple calls. They still charge me for that extra month of me waitng for them to cancel. Do not use Rapid Fax.

[missymel]

I did not have any trouble with Netzero. I was on hold on the phone and an automated message told me to go to a website to cancel my account and I did that and never heard from netzero again. ~Mel.

[Silverstorm]

They can CLAIM anything they like but that does not mean it is actually enforceable.And this level of threat misinformation may even constitute criminal fraud on their part due to its coercive nature trying to get you to not avail yourself of your legal rights.Just like in the days when parking lots that required you to leave your keys with the attendants claimed they had no responsibility for damages or lost/stolen items these claims when challenged proved to be entirely empty/It would be like posting a sign inside your front door claiming any members of the opposite sex have no right to refuse your advances and to do so will result in a $5000.00 fine being assessed. Assess all you like I dare you to find a jurisdiction that would enforce it, and pursuing unwelcome advances constitutes sex crimes/rape regardless of what you hang on your wall.There is nothing 'fraudulent' about stating unauthorized charges being unauthorized and having them reversed by your card company/bank. That is your right. It is then the burden of them, the charging entity, to prove that in fact the charges were in fact authorized. In this day of identity theft that is a pretty high bar to meet.The purpose of the 'threat' is to take advantage of the extreme ignorance level of the average citizen when it comes to the law and use that as a means to terrorize them into capitulation and giving up of their rights. If I ever see any such ludicrous threats made by a company I never do business with them unless I truly have no choice and in such a xase I make sure the account record clearly states from the beginning that I do not recognize as legitimate in any way that unacceptable codicile so if they later try and claim I agreed to it I show that the record shows I most assuredly never did anything of the sort.But generally it is better to just avoid such dishonoest, dishonorable and disreputable scumbag businesses from the get go. If enough who practice such deceptions get a horrible rep and lose lots of business because of it one might think the practice would slow if not stop entirely. Do not let them bully you. They offered a free trial. A contract is defined legally as a meeting of the minds. If there was no meeting of the minds, for example in cases like these of misrepresentation, fraud and.or deception, then there is no contract, there never was, and therefore there is nothing to enforce.Make sure you check my statements with a lawyer i your jurisdiction before relying on my statements for while I am confident in the validity of my statements and though I have studied the law in this and other contexts in depth, I am not a lawyer nor legally allowed to practice law for anyone but myself.But take this advice from my words if nothing else.. just because they say it does not make it so. Check the veracity and validity of any such claims. If it seems they are unreasonably overreaching there is a good chance that in fact they are.Caveat emptor - Buyer Beware!Sic semper tyranis - Thus always to tyrants

[joesantana1]

I loved this article. It is so true. These "bad" companies you cite in your article remind me of the consumer gauging at the fuel pump. Gas stations "ramp up" (raise the price of fuel) for higher demand (e.g., easter, memorial day, etc.) on fuel prior to the actual high demand taking place, yet you never see them "ramp down" (lower the price of fuel) in anticipation of a lower demand in fuel. Rip-offs! And the worst part is that the government allows them to get away with it.

[KellieCM]

Hi Everyone --We were contacted from NewsProNet, who was very interested in the discussions here regarding rebate cards. Please read the message below and contact Leigh Haarer if you'd like to share your story & frustration.Rebate Card controversy: National TV news pieceMore and more companies are handing out rebate CARDS, instead of rebate checks.. and many consumers are frustrated by the trend. They say the cards come with strings attached: you can't deposit the money into your bank, and some cards come with fees and expiration dates. If you've received one of these cards and been frustrated, we'd like to hear from you. Please contact TV producer Leigh Haarer at leigh@newspronet.com or 781-718-3324.

[ksrksr]

you used a credit card that can generate temporary numbers that expire after a certain time?Say you wanted to try a service, used a 1 time credit card number and made it expire after one month.If the service tried to keep billing you after that month, wouldn't they be prevented from getting any more of your money?You might still have to fight for the first month...but hey..better than fighting for 3 months..if it worked.If you like the service, you could always change credit card numbers, I would suspect. I am pretty certain that if you called the company and said, "Hey, I love your service, I no longer have that credit card number..." they wouldn't love to change you to a valid one...?:unsure:

[DTrest]

I have had trouble with Atari, the video game company. I bought the PC game Tonka Garage, after finding out that Hasbro no longer had support help for their games, and that Atari did, I contacted them with help in getting Tonka Garage to run once it was installed, I emailed them, but never got a response, not even an automated email saying they had recieved my email for help, this was about 3-4 months ago.

[benwright82]

After fighting with audible.com's horrible DRM and the fact that I couldn't convert their .aa files to anything else despite searching for and trying several solutions (they have a very small list of compatible devices for their ugly neon green software, none of which I own), I tired to cancel online and was sent to a page that told me sorry, you need to call us. Now, I called, had no wait and had the service canceled in about 3 minutes, but still, why should I have to call.

[eagerbeaver]

GoDaddy.com is another one to avoid. I had absolutely horrendous dealings with them -- several long conversations with customer service people who did nothing to help with a billing problem, finally culminating in me being referred to -- I kid you not -- "The Office of the President". This turned out just to be a cover -- there was no president on the other side, just more incompetent help. If you get frustrated, and ask a GoDaddy representative their name, they'll tell you they don't have to give it to you. If you ask to be referred to a supervisor, you're simply told, "No."Meantime, GoDaddy holds your web domain prisoner, and your credit card.Avoid GoDaddy.com! The low price isn't worth it!

[jamessb9]

The ironic thing about this article...is I can't for the life of me figure out how to cancel my PCWorld accout. All I want to do is change my email address (which is also my login) and I can't. It's hidden enough so I can't find it. Good job Guys!

[KellieCM]

HI james -- we currently don't have that available (which would be why you couldn't find it) but we have that functionality in an internal beta now and should have it live soon. In the meantime, please email webmaster@pcworld.com if you need us to manually change it for you.

[yenelli]

I signed up with Match: 6 month special for $80. I had given them a credit card, and without knowing, they renewed me for a whole freaking year. I thought 6 months finito. WITHIN 48 hours, I saw this on my bank statement. You cannot find the cancel page there, either. I called, and the rules were that they had to charge me for the month...something like $60. So for $20 less than my original amount, I got 3 days. Their billing period serves them, not the customer. It was actually several days LESS than the 60 month contract. It wasn't worth it to spend hours calling them, the BBB, filling out a form. But they're BANKING on that!YUK to FUN.com, an affiliate service of Orbitz...gads. I canceled three separate times, before their 3 month trial offer. Each time wooed by another special this or that, I didn't use one molecule of their service, and told them so. On the 4th "successful" time, I had to be rude...customer service must get fired if they close accounts.

[666rudy666]

Had the same problem with AOL. They actually had the nerve to sick a collection agency on me. Ended up paying the fee just to get them to go away. Wonder how much they make with this scam?

[reddevil55]

with me on aol, first they manage to add 2 more months onto me after i cancelled, then they passed my checking number around in their corporation and i was getting billed every month from a different one, once from their marketing for stuff i didnt order and once from a subsidary of theirs with credit card insurance. my bank here in watseka, illinois would do nothing. they said if i had given them my number then that meant they had to give them my money. i asked the bank what if i found someone else checking number would they give me money, they replied, that would be illegal. some bank huh, i no longer am a customer of that bank.

[liquidcobalt]

I found this article because I was trying to cancel my PC World subscription! How's that for some world class irony.