AOL cancellation troubles.

happywriter

New Member
Apr 25, 2009
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I cancelled my AOL subscription and was told a MAC number and cancellation code. I cancelled my direct debit at the bank.
This month I found that AOL had debited the normal monthly charge against my debit card. I called, at my cost + their profit, to clarify why this had happened. The answer was that there had been an error by the first person, and the cancellation had not been completed. I would be refunded in one month's time. A written email or postal confirmation of this was not possible to send.
So AOL have my (small) amount of money for another month + interest. They also gain their profit on my complaining phone call. I still do not have any confirmation that the same thing will not happen again.
I would appreciate knowing what future actions to take. If AOL do this to many of their cancellations it is a nice little side-earner on their business.
 

Chutzpah

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Jan 9, 2009
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I had a similar problem of sorts with NTL (before they became VirginMedia) when they debited three months worth of services at once. They said they would credit it against future bills which I wasn't happy with. When I demanded it back I was told "our system doesn't allow us to do that"

Which is nonsensical. They're a company, of course they have facilities to make payments.

In the end, after holding my ground and not budging they agreed to pay it back within days, and they did.

Definitely worth digging your heels in - before you call again, have you tried SAYNOTO0870.COM - Non-Geographical Alternative Telephone Numbers Definitely worthwhile to find an alternative number. I'm not sure if it's worth threatening a small courts claim? Normally I would say yes but I don't know what the turnaround for a claim is - it would be a hollow threat if they knew it would take four months for the case to be heard for example.
 

happywriter

New Member
Apr 25, 2009
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Of course it is nonsense. AOL are making quite a bit of extra cash from their methods of finishing with their clients.
Each finishing client has to pay a few pounds making the complaining phone calls, and then paying the extra few months of interest all adds up nicely - for AOL.
Our government has little interest in this kind of thing - prefering to count up what they can make on expenses.
 

DonTheDJ

New Member
Jul 8, 2009
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I'm hearing this same thing about lots of companies recently.

It does seem to be worthwhile making trouble for them, as some people have got results.

Emails from my own experience have been completely worthless/pointless

To cancel anything from now on I'm sending a letter recorded delivery and only phoning if they haven't got that right.
 

Witch consumer

Moderator
Sep 8, 2008
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Debtors retreat
I had this problem with Fasthosts as I didn't realise when I first took out the account that I was unable to cancel regular payments from my debit card, if you have any proof to show the bank that you cancelled this account, they can recover the money for you. It isn't clear from your post how you made the cancellation, I had to provide the e-mails I had sent to prove to the bank when it had been cancelled.

Got to be worth a try?