aol auto payment

[wayne-o]

What is the name of your state?TN. Does anyone have any experience with America Online. I had an aol account that billed directly to my amex every month. I contacted AOL online to terminate this account while still in good standing and they said they could not close an account online, only over the phone. This was kind of irritating as I had opened the account online and I knew the reason that they wanted to do it over the phone was so that they could talk me into keeping the service. The credit card that the aol was billed to was closed with the filing of my chapter 13. At the time I filed the chapter 13. The account was current so I did not list it. AOL continued to try to bill the account for 4 months after the account was closed. I did not use the service at all during this 4 months. My question is. They turned this over to a collection agency, unfortunately I have let the 30 validation period pass. Do you think AOL is likely to sue? The balance is around $60 I could pay it, however, really dont want to since I tried to close it online and never used the service afterwards.
Thanks for your expertise.

[Some Random Guy]

Did you stop sulking about AOL's policies and call them about cancelling your aco**** and getting charges reversed?

Did you call AMEX and dispute the charges since AOL continued to bill you after you asked them in writing (e-mail) to cancel your account?

Have you contacted AOL customer service via e-mail to get this resolved?

[racer72]

SRG, the OP never called AOL, he assumed if the credit card was cancelled and he didn't use the service he would not be liable for the bills. Well he is wrong. AOL probably won't sue but they will surely sic a collection agency after him though. Plus he will get to pay the collection fees too.

[toughluck73]

Well, it is a scam. Both me and my sister had trouble closing our accounts.

My sister closed it, got a confirmation number, and they still kept charging her cc. She called them back and they gave her the same confirmation number, which she pointed out to them and resulted in them cursing at her and hanging up. She then proceeded to call the cc company to dispute the charges and (with little surprise) the girl who helped her over the phone went through the same thing and stated that they get calls daily disputing their aol charges.

As for my experience, I had canceled the service and closed my cc; well they proceeded to charge my cc card anyways. In conclusion, they did turn my account over to a CA but to this day (one and a half years later) they have yet to sue me or even put it on my credit report. I think it’s all a scam and don’t think they ever will, but (with some bad luck) that’s not to say they will later go back and sell the account to one of those cheap CA’s and try to collect. I think most people just pay the extra months of service and in return aol makes a profit off of people’s reluctance to contest the charges. I don’t think it’s worth paying them a dime, but that’s just my take on it.

[freespeech]

What's the scam? They clearly state on the website they do not cancel accounts on line that you must call. The only way they can harrass you on the phone to continue is if you allow them to. NO is a very strong word when used appropriately and effectively.

The OP did not follow the guidlines for cancelling an account.

[freespeech]

Strange I just did and experiment and got through to the cancellation dept. in about 45 seconds.

When one decides to sign up for the services of a company then one must abide by THEIR rules for cancellations.

They do not call it AOhell for nothing.

[toughluck73]

Originally Posted by freespeech

Strange I just did and experiment and got through to the cancellation dept. in about 45 seconds.

When one decides to sign up for the services of a company then one must abide by THEIR rules for cancellations.

They do not call it AOhell for nothing.

Well, both me and my sister got through also. The only problem is that they said it was cancelled and then it wasn’t cancelled. They kept charging our cards for months to come. If you think you are so smart sign up for aol, then try to cancel and see what happens.

[djohnson]

Yes, there is a big difference in getting the cancellation department on the phone and actually getting it cancelled. When I cancelled mine years ago, they done the "may I put you on hold for a minute." thing. As I was at work I just put it on speaker phone and waited it out. They still billed me for two months that took me six months to get back. They are a problem. But OP is also a problem because he didn't even try to call or make a good faith effort according to the policy he agreed to. His case would be different. He is out of luck.

[wayne-o]

Thanks for all the responses on the subject. I am now not able to read aol policies on cancellation since I do not have the service......lol. However, if I'm wrong I will pay them. I do not think its unreasonable for a consumer to expect that a company that will let you sign up online, will let you cancel online. Anyway...thanks again. P.S. I have not heard anything from collection agency in over 2 months and this is not on my credit report.

[i'llBEback]

I was in the same spot a while back. After being given the run-around by AOL I called AMEX & they removed them from my billings. done.