HELP! AOL IS STEALING FROM OUR CHECKING ACCOUNT!

[heyitsmesheila]

I SPENT 3 HOURS ON THE PHONE YESTERDAY TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHY AOL IS TAKING 28.90 FROM OUR CHECKING ACCOUNT!

I had talked to "ADAM" when I tried to cancel our account a month ago..(we did the free trial) He said there were charges of 80.00 that he could make "go away" if we agreed to try the byoa program for 2 months for free.

I said then I would owe nothing? He said if you cancel before October 25th, you will owe nothing. Not even the 80.00.

Now all of a sudden we are being charged 28.90... I have talked to so many ditzy girls at AOL that flat out REFUSE to help! "AMY" flat out told me I WAS NOT GETTING THAT MONEY BACK!

First she said "You don't have an account here" I said then why is AOL taking money from our checking account? I gave her the user name we signed up with and she said we don't have an account....THEN WHY CAN I LOG IN? THEN she said I'm sorry but your name isn't on the account... I can only talk to your husband...

He told her he didn't sign up for it I did and we want to cancel everything...she said I can't until you verify the last four numbers of your payment method....

I gave her our checking account last four..she said I'm sorry that's not it.... THEN WHY IN THE ....WHY IS OUR CHECKING ACCOUNT BEING CHARGED?????

I hung up and called back to get someone else... she said I don't know why so and so would ask to talk to your husband...his name isn't on the account you are..... TALK ABOUT FURIOUS!

Then my cordless phone battery died...of course... but I got the direct extention to the last girl that was at least trying to help. I called back on my cell phone.... The girl that answered said, "I'm sorry but we don't have direct extentions here." I said well I need to talk to this person...gave the number... she said well I can try...she put me on hold for 5 minutes... then picked up and said no the phones don't transfer here.....WHAT ARE THEY ROTARY????

I told her to cancel everything in my husbands and my name..she said I can't unless I talk to him... I handed the phone to him and he said I want every thing canceled... she said we can't becuase the last four numbers aren't matching........

ok I'm at my witts end...does anyone have a magic number I can call???

thanks for letting me vent....

AND BEWARE WHEN YOU SIGN UP FOR THE FREE TRIALS.... THEY TRAP YOU IN...NO WONDER THEY ARE IN TROUBLE.

[jeskibuff]

In my opinion, AOL are some of the biggest crooks in the business. They have this "free trial" thing down to a science. One person will tell you something on the phone - like your free trial is good for 45 days, then you'll get charged on the 30th day. Then you call to cancel, and they say the first person told you wrong, so you figure: "OK...I'll eat that charge, just cancel my account". Then a month later, you find you've been charged again because you didn't speak the "magic cancellation words" or jump through a particular hoop. When you do finally get it cancelled, you have ended up paying several times. Fortunately, I paid via credit card and disputed 3 months worth of service. The credit card company reversed the charges and AOL never put up a fight. With direct access to your checking account, you don't have as much protection. I would even consider closing that account and opening another, but there has to be a better solution. It's almost legalized robbery and it makes ME mad!


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[billsmrs]

<<<<<<hugs>>>>>>>

Bless your heart! That sounds like a nightmare. I sure hope you get things straightened out.

Is there a number to the main office that you can call and complain to? I would even contact the BBB and make a complaint and see if they can get this whole mess straightened out. Good thing you got names of people you talked to. That always helps.

Good luck and keep us posted on what you find out!


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[Ttulipss]

Have you asked your bank about a "stop payment" on the automatic debit?

What a hassle. I'm sorry you're going through this, but I would fight it until the end - until I am reimbursed.

Make sure you log everything - times, names, etc. Get supervisor's names and talk to them whenever possible.

I had a similar problem trying to cancel the alarm monitoring at the house we sold. They were trying to continually bill us as their contract says after you fulfill your orig. terms, it renews annually. Well, I fought it as I gave sufficient notice (60+ days and again at 30+ days) and there is NO way we were going to pay for monitoring at a house we no longer owned and they could not be monitoring anyway as the phone number was disconnected. Not only did I get them to stop harassing me for payment, I got a refund, too!

You hang in there. It will work out!


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[sdb_ngc]

If it's an automatic payment the bank can't do anything - all the company has to do is change the dollar amont by one cent and the bank has to send it through. Same thing happened to us with AOL. We had to closed out that account altogether cause AOL would still bill the account EVEN after we put a stop payment on it, (they just changed the dollar amount) and even after we cancelled their services. My advice - close out that account ASAP.


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[buckeyemomma]

AOL did the same thing to my dd. They even charged her twice for one month 3 times in a row. And was even taking it out of her checking account after she moved and hadn't had AOL for a couple months
And they even (after she cancelled) sent her a dsl modem and tried to charge her for it!

THERE IS NO WAY I WOULD EVER GO BACK TO THEM!!


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[cashhound]

I went through the same thing with Walmart Connect (they are part of Compuserve.) Even down to the the verifying the last 4 digit crap. And talking to my husband (we've been separated for 8 months.)

After several phone calls, asking to speak to a supervisor and being told that ALL supervisors were out that day (yes, they really did tell me that...grrrrr) I finally got it settled. But, they only reimbursed me for 2 months of service. I fought it for 6 months.

They can't tell me how they got my "new" checking account number. But that's why the last 4 didn't match. On their records, it was the last 4 from the old joint checking account. But they were being paid from my new checking account. The only thing I could think of was the bank I use is affiliated with Walmart somehow (everything in NW Arkansas is tied to Walmart somehow, it seems like.)

Keep fighting.


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[mayfly]

I am feeling totally stressed out just reading your story! And then to read the stories of the people who added their posts- OH MY WORD! this has got to be illegal! I wonder if you could get a class action suit going, just to change aol's ethical practices.


so so sorry you are having to go through this ((((((hug))))))


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[texas_sweetie]

Wow, sorry to hear all the problems everyone is having. Guess I will consider myself lucky. I've had AOL for a year and have had no probs. (knock on wood) I have it charged to my phone bill. And it clearly states on my bill by my phone company that failure to pay those charges will not affect my phone service, So I guess if I cancel hopefully I wouldn't have any probs. Hope everything works out .


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[Nancdaught]

This is a little late to help you but for others when I sign up on the phone I record the whole conservation. If they refuse from the beginning I tell them sorry, you record for your records and I for mine also. It has saved some headaches in the long run. The companies do have short memories.
Good luck to your problem.

[hrdlife1]

i'm goin thru the same thing now too!! you hang in there!!! i had to call my bank and have aol blocked from using my account and would you believe yesterday is the THIRD time i had to call and tell them we have CANCELLED AND STOP CHARGING US!!! i used to have aol for awhile but we recently got cable modem and decided to use cox (who our cable modem provider is) and just cancel out aol..well THE DAY AFTER i called to cancel they CHARGED ME!! ugh, i'm right here with ya, we'll get our money back!!!

[udflyer]

AOL is a huige headache. When my dad passed away the account was in his name and we had to jump through hoops and what not. My brother called to fix the billing and the second they found out that my father had passed away they cancelled the account, even though their money was coming from a join account between my mom and him. It was a real pain to get straightened out. Unfortunatly my mom is technology inclined and still using it. I love me T1 here at school.


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[heyitsmesheila]

Well.... after many many frustrating hours yes HOURS on the phone... I think it may be solved.

I did call the bank... they told me there was nothing they could do! I had to go through AOL to get them to stop billing and he hung up on me..........I was so mad I wanted to change banks but my husband refused to wait another 3 months for an atm card...plus the hassle of no checks (who takes checks anymore anyway) But what if someone gets ahold of my account number? are they telling me they won't do anything then either???

I had tried to get a supervisor on the phone and they never would let me. I told one girl from the start that I was recording this conversation and asked to speak to a supervisor. She asked what the nature of the call was and I told her I was finished repeating myself and I am going to talk to a supervisor. She said ok hold on... said one was walking to her desk...walking walking (yes that's exactly how she said it, as if giving me a play by play)

She said but in order for me to talk to the supervisor, I had to stop recording the conversation. I said you record I am recording also. She said then I will hang up on you. I said well then you will hear your part of the conversation all over the evening news because I'm tired of the way AOL is fraudulently billing people. She hung up....

My husband attempted to talk to them with the same results... finally we did get through to some guy named John...

get this

for some strange reason.....

he said ok we will cancel your account as of today no problem..

WHAT????????

yes here is your cancellation number.....

WHAT???????

What about the money owed to us....

Well... I won't be able to give that back but your account will be cancelled....

..........rrrrrrrrrighhhhhhhhtttttttttttttttt.....

we'll see

I don't trust them. And I'm writing letters to every consumer agency I can find including the attorney general.



Thanks for all the replies and advice.... I hope everyone tells at least one person they know

THAT AOL FREE TRIAL THING IS NOT WORTH THE HASSLE....

thanks for letting me vent

*sigh*


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