On Tape: Rep Won't Let Customer Leave AOL

[Metallixs Girl]

http://www.nbc10.com/news/9406462/detail.html


An incredible video from CNBC shows an AOL customer trying to cancel his account, but a phone rep won't let him do it. What customer Vincent Ferrari got when he tried to cancel his account was a lot of frustration.

It took him 15 minutes waiting on the phone just to reach a real, live person.

And, what happened next was recorded by Ferrari on audio and lasted about four minutes:

CLOCK READOUT - 00:00

AOL REPRESENTATIVE: Hi this is John at AOL... how may I help you today?

VINCENT FERRARI: I wanted to cancel my account.

AOL: : Sorry to hear that. Let's pull your account up here real quick. Can I have your name please?

VINCENT: Vincent Ferrari.

CLOCK READOUT - 00:30

AOL: : You've had this account for a long time.

VINCENT: Yup.

AOL: : Use this quite a bit. What was the cause of wanting to turn this off today?

VINCENT: I just don't use it anymore.

AOL: : Do you have a high speed connection, like the DSL or cable?

VINCENT: Yup.

AOL: : How long have you had that...

VINCENT: Years...

AOL: : ...the high speed?

VINCENT: ...years.

AOL: : Well, actually I'm showing a lot of usage on this account.

VINCENT: Yeah, a long time, a long time ago, not recently...

CLOCK READOUT - 01:47

AOL: : Okay, I mean is there a problem with the software itself?

VINCENT: No. I just don't use it, I don't need it, I don't want it. I just don't need it anymore.

AOL: : Okay. So when you use this... I mean, use the computer, I'm saying, is that for business or for... for school?

VINCENT: Dude, what difference does it make. I don't want the AOL account anymore. Can we please cancel it?

CLOCK READOUT - 02:21

AOL: : Last year was 545, last month was 545 hours of usage...

VINCENT: I don't know how to make this any clearer, so I'm just gonna say it one last time. Cancel the account.

AOL: : Well explain to me what's, why...

VINCENT: I'm not explaining anything to you. Cancel the account.

AOL: Well, what's the matter man? We're just, I'm just trying to help here.

VINCENT: You're not helping me. You're helping me...

AOL: I am trying to help.

VINCENT: Helping... listen, I called to cancel the account. Helping me would be canceling the account. Please help me and cancel the account.

AOL: No, it wouldn't actually...

VINCENT: Cancel my account...

AOL: : Turning off your account...

VINCENT: ...cancel the account...

AOL: : ...would be the worst thing that...

VINCENT: ...cancel the account.

CLOCK READOUT - 03:02

AOL: Okay, cause I'm just trying to figure out...

VINCENT: Cancel the account. I don't know how to make this any clearer for you. Cancel the account. When I say cancel the account, I don't mean help me figure out how to keep it, I mean cancel the account.

AOL: : Well, I'm sorry, I don't know what anybody's done to you Vincent because all I'm...

VINCENT: Will you please cancel the account.

CLOCK READOUT - 03:32

AOL: : Alright, some day when you calmed down you're gonna realize that all I was trying to do was help you... and it was actually in your best interest to listen to me.

VINCENT: Wonderful, Okay.

CLOCK READOUT - 03:39

"I've never ever experienced anything like that," Ferrari told CNBC.

He recounts how the AOL representative - as a last resort even asked if his dad was home.

"I think I could've put up with everything, but at the point when he asked to speak to my father, I came very close to losing it at that point," said the 30-year-old Ferrari.

Ferrari then posted the call online, and the response was tremendous.

AOL sent him an apology and said the customer service rep was no longer with the company.

My dad doesn't trust AOL at all so I've never had to use it, here or anywhere else actually. We always stick with Local ISPs, and BellSouth for DSL.

[Heald]

All ISPs are dirty whores, but AOL is the dirtiest whore of them all. However, even this conversation outstanded how flat out annoying customer reps can be. I'm usually firm and direct when I deal with that kind of shit, so I've never had to deal with this kind of shit before.

EDIT That site doesn't even show the whole conversation. The whole conversation (I heard it a few days ago) is unbelievable. This guy, John, actually asks if he can speak to his dad or something, plus several other backhanded insults. AOL probably didn't even fire him. How many Johns are there are AOL tech support? Actually, probably not that many, since all the others are probably named Juan, or Hose, or Chink or Gook or Slope. Or Sanjeev.

[Dark Dragonite]

That is beyond rediculous, kinda like when I brought my car in, the guy turns the check engine light off, says it's fine without popping the hood, and a few miles down the road, the light comes back on...

http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2006/06/23/012383.html
That's a link to a site with a more detailed story, and the whole conversation...

[midnightangel]

When I was looking for a faster dial-up service than CompuServe, I ran into the same situation with MyPeoplePC.com...I wanted to cancel the service because it froze up the computer worse than CompuServe did, and the jerk-off gave me the same run around.

Heck, after I switched to Bell South DSL (finally), I canceled my CompuServe account. The phone rep was very helpful and cancelled the account with no problems or argument ;)

[ozhater1]

I just typed in "AOL refuses to cancel" in Google and got another little story, which I find even more disgusting on AOL's part...

Courtesy of LonelyCanuck.com

AOL Refuses to Cancel Service for Deceased Woman

Categories: Categories: News, Technology

This gives new meaning to A-O-HELL.


Brenda writes:

"Hi! I'm writing after hearing the phone conversation between Vincent and AOL. I was curious about this because I had a similar conversation with AOL back in February.

My mom had AOL, but on February 21st, she was killed in a car accident. On February 23rd, I called AOL to cancel her service. I wish I could have recorded the conversation for you. It was unbelievable. After explaining that my mother was killed in the accident, the rep told me that he was sorry that my mom was unhappy with the service. He then suggested lowering the number of hours per month to reduce the bill. I said "she was killed." The rep then said, "I understand what you are saying, I'm just trying to come up with a solution." He actually got snippy with me. AOL finally told me that my mom would have to call and cancel the service herself (even after I provided the coroner's ID number for the incident, etc.). I told them that if they could reach her that they should let me know how they did it. I told them that in the meanwhile, all credit cards, etc. were being canceled as a result of her death.

I had to go back to my mom's in April (I live in Ohio and she lived in CA). I checked the connection and sure enough - AOL hadn't canceled. I bet if I tried to connect again from her house it will still be connected."

[Magmar]

I hate saying it, but that's kind of really funny in a stupid sort of way.

[Starry Might]

Wow, just...wow (especially the thing Corey posted about AOL not cancelling that one gal's dead mother's account). :eek:

AOL...so hard to cancel, no wonder it's #1!

[Crazy]

I just listened to the conversation, and it was pretty darn funny. I'd hate to be that guy, and I hope they put a stop to this idiocy.

[Dark Dragonite]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/oneamongthelost/untitled.jpg

[Asilynne]

AOL sucks, how can anyone in their right mind act as desperate as those AOL reps, they must be brainwashed or something lol
I have verizon, and their motto is according to me: We never start working for you.
It took almost a month for them to decide that maybe they should hook it up, and now they keep trying to charge us though theyve promised like 100 dollars worth of free credits on our account. Lets see if we ll ever get them :P

[Blademaster]

AOL sucks, how can anyone in their right mind act as desperate as those AOL reps, they must be brainwashed or something lol

They and Verizon are scared because nobody wants their crappy service anymore - everyone's switching to Netscape, Comcast, etc.