Jun
13
2006What’s it Really Like to Cancel AOL?
13
2006
Several years ago, I had to cancel AOL for my mother when she moved to a broadband account, and it was such a nightmarish experience, I regretted not getting it on record. The experience shot my blood pressure up so high I almost passed out. The “customer service” agent had me so agitated, I was literally shaking.
Some other person just like me had the foresight to actually record his experience (.MP3), and I have to say it was nearly identical to my experience. One tactic use is to bombard you with high pressure sales tactics, wait until they have your cursing them out - then refuse to talk to you unless you “calm down” - creating an endless cycle in which they’re apparently attempting to avoid the cancellation by causing you to die from an aneurysm.
(If you can’t load the MP3, there are mirrors and such available via Digg)
Now that it’s long over, l’esprit d’escalier has me mentally cooking up interesting ways to deal with the AOL CSR.
Here’s one I’d be dying to try out… Right as the conversation begins, tell the rep this: “I’d be happy to hear about any incentives that you’d like to offer to convince me to stay, but to save time for both of us, if I press the ‘pound’ key on the phone, that means ‘thank you for that information, but I’d still like to cancel.’ - OK, now please go ahead.” Damn, that would be a funny conversation…
Great site…someone needs to shake the system….I think AOL should be careful because one day 20/20 or Dateline might do an episode of their cancellation procedure and the damage could be irreversible. I love their product and they should not have to force people to stay - I know of people having very similar situations…so people at work now just fax their cancellation request to (703) 433-7283.
Shelli 6/20/06 @ 11:34 pmI haven’t had AOL in years, but back in 1999 I had to cancel. Even back then I knew about the difficulties of getting them to cancel your account. I thought that I would be clever and when the guy asked me for my reason I told him that I didn’t own a computer anymore because I’d smashed mine with a hammer. He replied that they had great financing rates and that I could buy a computer through them.
Dave Brouillard 8/8/06 @ 3:36 pm