Gotta Love AOL

[srivendel]

Linkie. I always knew I hated AOL. Now I know why.

On Tape: Rep Won't Let Customer Quit AOL

POSTED: 4:11 pm EDT June 21, 2006
UPDATED: 4:28 pm EDT June 21, 2006

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.

S.

[Titus]

Wow... AOL is still a float? who would have thunk... I assumed that broadband would have killed them by now. I guess they found a new way to prevent there userbase from eroding.

[Dave04]

The last time my brother was in the States for a month, he picked up one of those free AOL CD's so that he could have Internet access as they drove around the country. If you think getting the AOL rep to cancel your account is hard (and he said he had a similar experience to the above) try to get their software off your computer... he finally gave up and wiped the hard drive and started over...

[channelmaniac]

the customer service rep was no longer with the company.

Yeah... just like a faceless corporation to pin it on one person and fire them to save face.

I'd love to see an expose on how they train those phone monkies in trying to retain customers. It's like that when you try to cancel a Capital One credit card. Who wants to pay a yearly fee for the privilege of using a card? (besides you airline mileage junkies)...

RJ

[Titus]

(besides you airline mileage junkies)

Hey... the whole family is going to California in a few weeks thanks to this airline mileage junkie and the wife and I went to Hawaii for free 3 years ago. I think that is worth the $300 in card fees I have paid in the time it took to earn those miles.