AOL free laptop offer

[witchiepoo]

I like Gary 29 also took up the free laptop deal. Owing to Orange giving away free laptops back in July I rang AOL to ask for a mac code so that I could transfer to Orange and get a free laptop. During the conversation with AOL their rep told me that they were going to offer the same sort of deal and as I was a loyal customer would I be interested in registering for a laptop with them, fool that I am I said yes. After a few e-mails from them they sent me one saying that they had registered me for the deal. Then strange things started to happen, pop ups started to appear on my screen telling me to accept there Talk Phone Package first I knew that I had supposedly taken out one as far as I was concerned the laptop was supposedly a loyal customer and new customer deal. Have tried talking to customer services with no success at all the thing of "pay peanuts, get monkeys" seems to apply to all their staff, have spent so long on the phone to them must have spent enough money to buy a laptop from Tesco. I am now being told that I am not registered for the deal but have an e-mail dated 29/7 says I am. It appears I am not the only one that is having trouble. Apparantly they have to do a credit search on you for you to be able to receive this offer WHY have already been credit checked when i first joined AOL 3 years ago and if the item is free why do they need the check. Have heard on another site that people are having the same trouble one was turned down for the deal as they had moved to often, another was refused as his partner was a HOUSEWIFE. With this Talk Package which i dont want and had never asked for I have received a number of e mails from Car Phone Warehouse (they are in fact the same company) and on each one the price has been completely different from the one before, one even told me that as where I lived they would have to go through a different subscriber for my broadband it meant the cost would be higher which I found quite strange as I have been living in this house for 10years. Well by the look of it I wont be getting my laptop but they have sent me 2 wireless routers but am not in a hurry to try them as someone I know has so far has had 2 and neither of them worked. Asked AOL at the start of last week for a mac code, 5 days later still not been received. So if you are tempted by this offer think again

[patrickq1]

i would contact in the first instance TRADING STANDARDS i think in oct new rules are coming out with regards to misleading advertising (but please dont quote me on that)but i would nt think twice contact trading standards in your area and get them to come to your home to look at all your evidence or you can contact them by e mail ..that dept is known as consumer direct,,the sooner you do it the less you will have to worry about any bills ..
patrickq1

[focusman01]

After talking to someone `in the know` some time ago, i would not touch AOL with a barge pole. ie so many pop ups, and other c**p which only slows pc down. There are other horror stories on this website about AOL.

[guttedconsumer]

Originally Posted by focusman01

After talking to someone `in the know` some time ago, i would not touch AOL with a barge pole. ie so many pop ups, and other c**p which only slows pc down. There are other horror stories on this website about AOL.

AOL broadband isn't bad. The customer service sucks big time. I know because I have used them for about a year.

[MBMB11]

i agree the broadband service in itself has been pretty good when ive used it, never a dropped connection but customer service sometimes takes over an hour to answer, live chat help seem to give completely different info to someone at their call centres, and i too was advised by a PC guy to steer well clear in terms of how AOL software attaches itself to all parts of ur PC, and often makes other programmes become corrupt.

[bmw trucks]

Your not wrong about aol. I have been with them over 3yrs and have nothing but bad customer service from them, although I will state that the Irish ladies do do what they say they will, it's the asian customer service thats c**p, for a free router you need to demand netgear as this is fantastic and comes with it's own firewall and anti virus software all pre installed, had mine 12 months it's brill.