On Tape: Rep Won't Let Customer Leave AOL

[Monica]

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.

[Darth Marsden]

We used BT, then Tesco, where my Dad works and gets a staff discount with. We've been very happy with both. I can't imagine how anyone could put up with service like that. Ouch. Thanks for sharing.

[ShadowTiger]

Sometimes I feel like that online. You get some really tenacious and irritating people who think they know what's best for everyone and just won't quit. At least this guy was paid to think that, but I guess he thought wrong. Maybe he was told to do that by his supervisors to keep people paying for AOL, then when this ordeal went public, he had to get fired to save face for AOL.

[erm2003]

AOL definately tells it's employees to handle cancellations like this. If anyone listens to Rovers Morning Glory they were talking about what this guy went through and asked people to call in to see if they had a similar experience. Everyone who called in gave a similar story about how AOL wouldn't let them cancel right away or they would be offered free months each time they tried to cancel.

It's sad and pathetic and that's one reason why I am proud to not be a suscriber.

[Lutraphobiac]

Why have good customer service for people that are canceling the account? They will try everything to make you keep it. In fact, they are required to have a certain amount of turn arounds each month.... This guy was probably nearing his quota.

[Cloral]

This isn't uncommon. My father had MSN for a while and then decided to cancel it. Why? Same reason - he didn't ever use it. He went to their website to try to find out how to cancel the account, but guess what? They have no link, no phone number, nothing that would tell you how to cancel it. Eventually he ended up on the phone with a representative telling them to cancel it - and they gave him the same sort of runaround as this guy.

"Can I offer you two months of free service?"
"No, I called to cancel."

They only have a method to cancel the service because they are legally required to. And then they try to make it as hard as they legally can to do so. Tells you what sort of companies they are.

[Monica]

Ooooh looks like I missed a bit... Check out the link on this page (http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2006/06/23/012383.html) to get the FULL phone convo! :eek:

[Sam Atoms]

Well, we'll say I'm proud to have never screwed around with MSN and my family was smart and dumped AOL back in 1996.

[moocow]

It's not the exact same thing, but I sometimes work seasonal for Harry and David. People call in and place orders from a magazine, blahblah. Anyhow, we are REQUIRED to offer the customer an "incentive" and if the customer gets the extra item, then we get a quarter. I actually got in trouble once because I didn't tell a customer about any of our specials after the customer specifically said "I'm calling in to place an order for one thing, and one thing only. If you offer me anything else, I'll hang up."

It's annoying. This past year I worked in Mail order entry just for the reason, ha.

[Cloral]

I know, it's like that everywhere. Fast food places, for instance. I never get drinks at a fast food place because theyre such a ripoff. So everytime I order, the guy will ask me, "would you like a drink with that?" It's annoying, but I don't get annoyed with the guy because the company requires him to say that. Taco Bell even has an incentive - if the guy doesn't ask if you want a drink you get a drink for free. Which is stupid because I didn't want a drink in the first place, but it's their way of taking this annoyance and trying to make it sound like something good for the consumer.

I really wish corporate America would pull its head out of its ass and start using some common sense customer service.

[ZTC]

At least I don't have to deal with that kind of crap (well, with me using the computers at college, it kinda eliminates the problems of dealing with customer support and the like...)

[Jigglysaint]

Nothing bothers me more than when telemarketers refer to me as "ma'm".

Machines are impersonal, but at least they arn't as likely to be rude to you, just cold.

[Drunken Tiger]

Lolz, Jiggly. Im in market research and I do that when Im in a bad mood. :)

The AOL conversation was actually recorded and could be found on break.com

I think WL posted a vid from that site before. Ill see if i can find the link.

EDIT: http://www.break.com/index/aolhell.html

[Jigglysaint]

I head it on the evening news allready.

Gay O Hell: And you thought the users were annoying...

[Gerudo]

we got ripped off by crap-o'-hell years back. that was a nice phone bill

-_-

[Starkist]

I work in a computer store now, doing tech work and customer service. It always saddens me when I get a service order that has me installing AOL. Today the tables were turned, and the order was to uninstall every piece of AOL on the computer. Man there were a lot of them... had to restart every few minutes, and once, on logon, AOL started reinstalling itself!

The customer whose computer it was had already spent nearly an hour on the phone with AOL trying to cancel.

Sigh. If AOL is so good, why do they need such deception and force to keep subscribers?

[Monica]

I work in a computer store now, doing tech work and customer service. It always saddens me when I get a service order that has me installing AOL. Today the tables were turned, and the order was to uninstall every piece of AOL on the computer. Man there were a lot of them... had to restart every few minutes, and once, on logon, AOL started reinstalling itself!

The customer whose computer it was had already spent nearly an hour on the phone with AOL trying to cancel.

Sigh. If AOL is so good, why do they need such deception and force to keep subscribers?

Dang, so it's not just AIM that's adware? That sounds like a damaging virus...that's illegal, right? O_O

[Jigglysaint]

I work in a computer store now, doing tech work and customer service. It always saddens me when I get a service order that has me installing AOL. Today the tables were turned, and the order was to uninstall every piece of AOL on the computer. Man there were a lot of them... had to restart every few minutes, and once, on logon, AOL started reinstalling itself!

The customer whose computer it was had already spent nearly an hour on the phone with AOL trying to cancel.

Sigh. If AOL is so good, why do they need such deception and force to keep subscribers?

What's that word again that you scream whenever your best friend lands on Boardwalk with a hotel and he's got only $100 in the bank?

[Cloral]

Yahtzee?