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Consumerist.com has posted what appears to be an AOL customer service manual that details how company representatives are expected to handle users who wish to cancel their service.
AOL phone reps are allegedly required to wear customers down into keeping their accounts by employing various questionable tactics -- including assaulting the user with a barrage of annoying sales pitches and asking invasive personal questions to get more information on file.
One of the instructions listed in the AOL employee document: "KEEP DIGGING!!" AOL has declined to verify the legitimacy of the manual posted online or provide any comments at all. (Source: CNET News.com -- Technology news and business reports)
Either way, AOL's customer service shenanigans have been well documented. In June, AOL user Vincent Ferrari called the company to cancel his account. What resulted was a shocking mix of consumer disregard and "keep them at all costs" tactics that could've just as easily come out of the playbook of the Mafia, a gang, or a cult.
Here's a partial transcript of the hell Ferrari went through to sever ties with AOL: AOL: Hi, this is John at AOL. How may I help you today? Ferrari: I want to cancel my account. AOL: OK. I mean, is there a problem with the software itself? Ferrari: No. I don't use it. I don't need it. I don't want it. AOL: Last year, last month it was 545 hours of usage. Ferrari: I don't know how to make it any clearer. So I'm just gonna say it one last time. Cancel the account. AOL: Well, explain to me what is wrong. Ferrari: I'm not explaining anything to you. Cancel the account. 5 minutes later... Ferrari: Cancel my account. Cancel the account. Cancel the account. (Source: msnbc.com)
AOL wouldn't relent. But the highlight, according to Ferrari, came near the end of the call, when the company's customer service representative (CSR) asked if his father was home. The question was wholly inappropriate, because -- in Ferrari's words -- "the account is mine, the name on the account is mine, and the card paying the bill is in my name." (Source: insignificant thoughts)
AOL later informed CNBC that the CSR involved in Ferrari's call, John, was no longer with the company. "We're going to learn from this. We can do better, and will," AOL claimed in the statement.
CNBC reporter Matt Lefkowitz called AOL's customer service line to test the veracity of the company's promise. As soon as Lefkowitz mentioned that he wanted to cancel AOL, he was disconnected.
The CNBC reporter called back, and AOL did eventually let him terminate his account ... but only after 45 minutes on the phone. (Source: msnbc.com)
Not exactly the "better" customer service AOL promised to deliver. ;-)
The apparent AOL customer service manual can be found here as a PDF (Adobe Acrobat) file. An audio recording of Vincent Ferrari's phone call to AOL can be found on his blog.
Alecto, Magaera et Tisiphone: Nemesis on Earth is come.
All advice and opinions given by Spiceskull are personal, and are not endorsed by Consumer Action Group or Bank Action Group. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.
LOL I'm sorry did you say AOL and CUSTOMER SERVICES in the same sentence:o
My partners going to ring them later to cancel and get the MAC code so we can change over to another ISP so I will let you know how it go's
DONT FORGET TO DONATE TO THIS SITE WHEN YOU WIN THANKYOU If you dont it wont be here
Let battle commence!!!!!
All advice and opinions given by people on this site are personal, and are not endorsed by Consumer Action Group or Bank Action Group. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, please seek qualified professional legal Help.
LOL I'm sorry did you say AOL and CUSTOMER SERVICES in the same sentence:o
PMSL (as I do every time I try and communicate with AOL).
I rang to get a mac code and after the usual question and answer session (AOL: Who are you going to? PS: Mind your own business! etc) the "Customer Services Advisor" pointed out that I will have to go to an ISP that has loads of free download time as my usage is over 10GB per month.
There is no way I use 10 gig a month. Generally speaking I do a bit of ebay, a few emails and the CAG site, which I do from work as AOL won't let me choose which sites I subscribe to! I asked them to send me a usage summary so I could see it for myself but apparently it is only available on their records.
Is it fair of me to assume that the 10 gig usage is complete bull to try and keep my account. They did offer to downgrade me to another package but that would tie me in for another 12 months.
The real laugh was when the ever so eager to please Jatinder P Singh offered me his personal email address "to avoid me having to speak to other people and be told different things" - like the truth perhaps?
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You could always do a DPA SAR for AOL lol would be Interesting to see what they did then!! Ive not tyred to ring them yet as the account is in my other half's name and she wont ring then unless Im here but want to go over to BT Total as that looks good!
DONT FORGET TO DONATE TO THIS SITE WHEN YOU WIN THANKYOU If you dont it wont be here
Let battle commence!!!!!
All advice and opinions given by people on this site are personal, and are not endorsed by Consumer Action Group or Bank Action Group. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, please seek qualified professional legal Help.
This one costs about $30 but you install it on every PC on your connection and it collates the data from each one to tell you how much your total is, the link points to a time limited trial version.
As for AOL saying you use 10GB unless you are watching movies online, listening to radio or doing a lot of downloads I seriously doubt you are using that much TBH and besides if you are most ISPs caps are set at about 30/40GB for the mid tier levels and some dont even state a limit they just have a fair usage policy
AOL Customer Service Anyone:
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Originally Posted by welly
Ive not tyred to ring them yet as the account is in my other half's name and she wont ring then unless Im here but want to go over to BT Total as that looks good!