They must be spending a ton of money sending mailings and CDs to their former customers, so now I’m wondering how many people cancel and then restart.
I’ve NEVER been an AOL customer and they send me CD’s. I typically maul them and attach them to my wall. They make great decorations.
When I cancelled AOL (anyone tells you they’ve never used AOL is a liar 
) it was some years past. I knew phone calls had absolutely zero effect, so searched their site for a mailing address and found one. I mailed them a letter letting them know I was cancelling at tne end of the month. They never acknowledged the letter, but they quit billing my credit card.
I count myself lucky.
P.S. [sub]They still send CD’s, but doesn’t everyone get those?[/sub]
The last time I moved I used one of their free CDs to get online until the cable company could hook me up
After I got connected with cable I called AOL to cancel and they tried all the usual excuses but surprise surprise surprise once I informed them they did NOT have my credit card info all the problems they were having canceling my account disappeared within seconds
I’ve never used AOL (really) and we get CDs all the time. My husband collects them and makes a wall mural of them at the office.
Nothing is impossible.
And here is one not even on AOL’s website. It’s all in the Googling technique. 
Rule 1: Never get involved in a land war in Asia.
Rule 2: Never match wits with a Sicilian when death is on the line.
Rule 3: Never, ever, argue with someone who is NAMED “Q.E.D.”
I’ve never, ever used AOL, and we get their CDs at least once a month. I toss the cds and keep the cases for other cds, and dvds.
By the way, this is easily the best “customer gets his way” story I have ever heard. Bravo!
For anyone interested in even more AOL CDs to decorate with/use as coasters/etc., if you call the number to sign up for AOL service (1-800-827-6364 according to their website) and claim to be a business owner/representative interested in giving out free AOL CDs, you can get at least 1,000 in boxes of 200, or so I’ve heard. Not that I would ever possibly advocate such misrepresentation or say anything that could be construed as such.
Geez. I managed to get kicked off AOL in May 2000 for a rather heated flame war. From what it sounds like, it seems that’s the best, and probably only, easy way to get out of AOL’s account web.
If you’re trying to get AOL to stop calling you to beg you to come back, I highly recommend telling them that you are Amish.
It worked for me.
I guess I got lucky - I just called and cancelled my account, and it only took about 3 minutes. She started asking me if I was “familiar with their pricing plans…blah, blah” and I cut her off and said I wouldn’t respond to any marketing questions. Believe it or not, she didn’t ask any more questions after that. We’ll see if the cancellation actually takes; but they did give me a confirmation number. BTW, the phone number was REALLY hard to find; I wish I had seen this thread earlier.
A couple of months ago I made a cancellation call and had it taken care of in about ten minutes, no hassle. I think it’s because at the beginning of the conversation, he asked the standard question: “Why are you cancelling?” And rather than the typical answers for which they have a marketing response (it’s too hard, it’s too expensive, don’t use it enough, etc.), I told him the installation had messed up my operating system and I gave him a bunch of technobabble about drivers and DLLs and now-useless hardware until I get the application untangled from my OS. He said “oh” and processed my cancellation. Just something to keep in mind.
My fiancee had a (temporarily) free AOL account that she forgot to cancel when the bills started kicking in. She had a hell of a time getting them to do it, mainly because they kept trying to talk her into cheaper and cheaper deals. They adamantly refused to take “no” for an answer. (I wonder if the operators get paid on negative commission? Every account they lose is a deduction?)
I finally interrupt her and say “Tell her your husband-to-be already has an account and you plan on sharing it.”
She did. Boom, they cancelled her account.
Hell, I’m a member of AOL (I use it as a backup when my Comcast Cable goes down, there’s a different rant there). Well, AOL still sends me a CD every month or two. I have AOL, I’m using 9.0, stop with the CDs for fuck’s sake.
When I cut loose from AOL (I was a moderator on a couple of message boards there, so I had an overhead account), it took me quite a while to delete all the AOL software from my hard drive. Every time I thought I’d gotten it all out, I’d find another piece of shit floating around.
I’m honestly confused at the OP. I called to cancel mine- they asked why and I said “I am using DSL”. They said a lot of people keep AOL anyway for a reduced rate, blah blah and I said “No thank you”. They said they were sorry to see me go and cancelled. Just like that. No further questions. And no more bills have shown up.
Lemme 'splain something about Indian call centers-- I know this because my company runs a bunch of them (AOL’s call center is actually in the same building as on of ours-- as a sidenote, they chose to set up their own call center, as opposed to outsourcing to an Indian vendor. Say what you will about outsourcing, but an american company (read: a bunch of white guys) setting up shop in a foreign country where they don’t understand the culture is a recipe for disaster.)
Anyway, these computers don’t just ‘go down’. A terminal (or even a bank of them) can crash, you’d simply be transfered or put back into the que. They were pretending that the system went down, which just doesn’t happen. There’s redundancy after redundancy. Backups to the backups. These places have their own power plants for the love of god. They’re built to be up and running during earthquakes and monsoons. If, by some chance, the whole system did go down, no one would be calm about it. The whole place would be in chaos.
Obviously, the OP knew this, but I just felt obliged to point out (as someone in the industry) just how ridiculous this is. I’ve been gathering up the will to cancel my AOL account. I hope, I PRAY, that they try and pull this on me. It’ll be fun!
Also, about the name thing, many companies are very embarassed to admit they outsource. They assign american names to the agents supposedly to help the customer feel more ‘comfortable’, but mostly it’s an attempt to try an dupe them about the location of the agent. Most will not tell you where they are (“Our Global Call Center”).
Also, if you ever talk to someone who’s very nice or very helpful, make it a point to say so on the call. They’re graded on each call, and they get points/cash bonuses for unsolicited compliments. (Seriously).
Apropos of nothing: Sometimes, when you’re calling for customer service and a recorded woman’s voice more mellow than chipper tells you your call is important, please hold, you might just be listening to me. (A client once complained I didn’t sound bubbly enough-- in fact more like a 900-number. I replied there’s very little I can do about the pitch of my voice. So if the recording turns you on, then that’s definitly me)