I Just canceled my AOL account using the 877 # it took about 5 min. And they were very polite.

I just cancelled using the 877 number. Got a non-foreigner rep. Just kept saying no, I want to cancel. He said I would be cancelled 1/20/06 (billing date). I'm afraid to log in to acct to get the cancellation email, I've heard that IF you do log in, it re-instates your account. I wrote down the cancellation number and will wait for the snail mail.

He did mention that a bad virus is to be released 1/5/06 and if I didn't have virus protection I have to buy a new computer. Not sure how AOL would have saved me from that..........

THANK YOU FOR SENDING US A MAIL BUT PLEASE CAN YOU GIVE US THE TELEPHONE NUMBER TO CANCEL WITH AOL FOR THE U.K.

THANK YOU

I was married in August of 2003. when my husband and I started living together we thought we would combine our accounts so we only had one bill of $23.90 taken out of our accounts a month. AOL would not let me combine to my husbands account, they said that if I did that I would have to cancel one or the other, and all the screen names would be gone. With me having three teenage boys and at that time no MYSPACE email addresses I decided that it would be fine to just keep the two accounts. Back in Septemper 2004 we bought a brand new HP Media center computer. Comes with the works (my husband loves it). Which includes Comcast cable internet! My husband never canceled his AOL service, but the credit card he used to set up his account expired even though he NEVER used his AOL account. Now that AOL isn't getting their money, they have sent my husband to collections for more than $100 to pay for the service he never used. I sometimes use mine, but just to delete spam so I am up this morning ready to cancel and see this website. I sure hope one of these phone numbers work cause I really don't want this service anymore after reading all these terrible things!

AOL "IS" Big Brother... when I tried to quit, they offered me a YEAR FREE! I told them, "not if you paid ME!" My cancelation time was close to 15 mins. When I removed/uninstalled it, My Ad-Aware program still found fragments with a command line! tHANK gOD IT'S GONE!!

AOL is the sickest joke to exist on the net. I signed up for Comcast internet service due to better speed and pricing, so I decided to cancel my AOL service. What a nightmare!

All their customer service calls seem to be routed to a call center in India, and you can't even understand what the h*ll those people are saying while they're reading off their obvious cue-cards. I too was offered 3 months of free service to stay... forget it! They made another offer of 6 months... no way! They then offered to lower my monthly charge to $12.95... heck no! I just wanted OUT.

It's so easy to see that AOL itself knows their company is headed for a huge financial downfall in the coming years, which explains their desperate plea's / offers to get you to stay with them. I read somewhere that they're losing up to 2 million customers each year. So pathetic!

You guys wanna know the reason why AOL customer service reps are so persistant and rude to you when you're trying to cancel?

A friend of mine worked at a calling center for AOL in Florida about 3 years ago and said that they were given bonuses for every customer they managed to talk into staying with their service. She said that the people she worked with there are mostly morons and losers like used car salesmen and telemarketers. She took that job to earn extra money for college but she quit after 1 month because it was so sickening to be among those other rude people in their call center.
The people who are nicer and more professional are the ones that you probably reached at the main AOL headquarters by using that 1-877-773-4462 number.

After reading a lot of experiences here about AOL customer service people I guess she was right!

I like all of you tried and tried and tried to cancel the stupid account until finally I got sucked in again with a $5 charge per month. But I have also received in the mail a court informational letter to make a claim agaist AOL for charging my credit card without authorization and for late fees, etc... anyone that would like that information I'll be glad to post it.

Thanks! Dave.

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IMPORTANT!!! PLEASE READ!!!

I honestly urge everyone who has had problems cancelling their AOL accounts to file a formal complaint against them with the Federal Trade Commission. This government agency is there for the sole purpose of protecting consumer interests (forget the Better Business Bureau... they are a JOKE!).
Many people fail to realize that the FTC is there to defend our consumer rights. If enough similar complaints are received, the FTC will launch an investigation against AOL, and probably end up levying very hefty fines upon them.... which of course means even MORE $$$$ losses for an already financially-suffering AOL-Time Warner Corporation... and not to mention the HUGE negative publicity they'll receive from the FTC reports that are often released to the general public/news agencies.

Stop being victims of AOL's bad treatment!! Filing a formal government complaint against AOL takes less than 10 minutes of your time. This is your chance to make a TRUE difference against the company (AOL) who had disrespected and treated you like complete garbage. Please spread the word!!

File your complaints online at-- http://www.ftc.gov

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I've had AOL since 1999 and cancelled today. I have broadband through my cable service and simply no longer need the additional features nor the expense.

The experience was not unpleasant. Total time on the phone was about 5 mins.

When the service person attempted to pursuade me to stay, I asked, "We had a relationship for 6 yrs. didn't we?"

She answered in the affirmative.

I said, "That's longer than most marriages!"

She laughed.

I've grown comfortable with the AOL format and so I signed up with AOL's bastard child AIM.com. It's free and has many, if not most of the features that I feel I need in an email service.

I'm free!

Thanks for your assistance Dave.

What an experience! I called the 877 # to reach someone who could speak english. I could understand him and he definately could understand me. But he chose not to. I told him at least 20 times I wanted to cancel and that I did not want to answer any more questions. Then he says "don't tell me to shut-up". I never used those words. Then he threatens me with a virus I will get within days of cancelling. Are these people of this earth or what! Cancel means cancel and give me my confirmation number. How simple is that. However, I was only on the phone for at least 10 minutes but I still repeated "cancel" until I was blue and laughing out loud. He told me once that I may think it's funny but I will get a virus and that after 6 years of service why am I cancelling. Well shoot that's just my business and no one elses.

Enjoy your experience of cancelling. A word to the wise, don't join to start with. AOL latches on to everything in your computer, even your printer.

Hi dave I have been trying to cancel my sisters AOL account for about 3 weeks with absolutely no success! My sister recently passed away try explaining that to there call centre! They don,t understand the concept of death! I have spoke to several call centre personnel they ask for details that I can,t give because I don,t know them! They just send me e-mails telling me to phone this number then I go round in circles again!!! I have got to the stage where I told them by e-mail get used to the idea that you won,t be getting paid anymore as the credit card she used is about to be cut up and the account closed! Have these people no feelings we are grieving our dead sister but they have no compassion. AOL Stinks!! Paul

Dave Taylor:
Thank You for the information concerning the headache in cancelling AOL. I was (I believe past tense)an AOL member for almost 12 years. I must say that I could not sleep at night if I pulled the same hard sell tactics that AOL does. I must also say, that there "Ought to be a Law" covering such as the ordeal it is to cancel an account.
Anyway, thanks again, and my experience was just as painful as your description.

I just used 877.773.4462 and got right through. I had to endure quite a sales pitch but was cancelled in about ten minutes . . . thanks for the tip from Lawrence. Harold Tracy Laurel, MS.

I cancelled AOL today and although I did have to suffer through the rep's tries to get me to stay, I was able to cancel. I ended up being on the phone for about 20 minutes. So so so glad I was able to do it with ease.

Whew! FREE at last! The 877-773-4462 went to a call center (India?) but first gave my responses to automated questions (screen name, ph#) then a person verified the SN info. and transferred me to 888-265-8008 where 'Ryan' was just about as hard-sell as any bad aggressive telemarketer that has ever gotten through to me. Told him I simply don't use it -- RYAN: try Verizon + AOL (NO), try a free month (NO), we have better security (NO THANKS) I told him my objective was to CANCEL, and I'd like to CANCEL, thanks. But... no, CANCEL... have you...? CANCEL... 10 minutes total. BE FIRM, BE POLITE, they are just doing their jobs, poor people, but if your objective is to QUIT AOL -- it CAN be DONE!!

Hi guys. Well i dont know why all of you people have gone thru all that crap but take it from me , i called AOL today and i had no problems cancelling my account. Infact, they also told me about the great high speed deal that they have in my area for only 25.90. This is amazing the guy was very helpful and helped me big time! Thanx aol for hiring such reps

After reading all the other comments about AOL I just have to relate my experience with them. I got a person from India or someplace where they can barely speak English and was given the same old pitch. I didn't argue about the extra month she wanted to give me because I couldn't understand her in the first place. Then here came the bill. I argued with their billing dept. and with the supervisor who said I was supposed to cancel again and that they sent me a letter and an email, neither of which I got, advising me they were continuing my service. He refused to refund my money because he said they were right and I was wrong. I can't remember the last time I was a mad as I was today. I HAVE FILED A COMPLAINT WITH THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, WWW.FTC.GOV, AND SUGGEST THAT ANY OF YOU WHO ARE HAVING PROBLEMS DO THE SAME. I have also disputed the charge with my Visa provider and asked them not to accept any more charges from AOL. I can't understand how a company this large can dish out this much crap and not get nailed by the FTC. I don't know if I am free at last but I know they will never get another dime from me.

Thank you to that Trista person a few comments above who provided all that info about the FTC. I just cancelled my AOL service yesterday and had the usual nightmare as everyone else here has. Repeatedly told them no thanks, but the customer service guy kept ignoring me while rambling his sales pitch. It took me nearly 20 minutes to finally get rid of AOL forever.

I know these phone reps are just doing their job, but where do you draw the line between doing an honest job or being a rude, unethical jerk? Shame on AOL for their level of customer service. It's no wonder they're losing over 2 million customers each year, and now that they'd just raised their monthly rates in March 2006, I'm sure they'll be losing even more customers.

So for all of you who are planning to quit AOL, I highly recommend that you file a complaint against them with the FTC by going to www.ftc.gov. Just because you're finally free of AOL doesn't mean that you should let them get away with how rudely they treated you. Do the right thing and file a complaint. I happily did!

Oh myGod! I can't believe this #@*&%!!! All I want to do is cancel my aol membership. I've tried for several days, with no luck. I'm at my wits end......... It's like I'm in aol HELL! I'm so damn mad, I can hardly breathe. I am going to try some of the referenced numbers on this site and attempt one more time........ It's too crazy!!!!!! And Sadam is a terrorist? I'll let you know if I'm successful. Wish me luck please............

Deb

All this whining is almost as tedious as the AOL homepage. I simply called 1-888-265-8008, said "cancellation" quickly after the speech recognition menu was presented, and waited the 8 minutes as estimated. A very pleasant, Anglo sounding 'Holly' took my call and when the sales pitch was initiated I said the reason I was cancelling was - "I was simplifying my life and quitting the internet", actually a very compelling concept.
After a brief moment of silence , Holly said she respected my decision and completed the cancellation in less then 2 minutes.

Well, more and more people are learning AOL is tremendously difficult to cancel.

A good site to check for how to cancel AOL is http://marahs-aol-log.livejournal.com/ . I think it's a good site because I put it up myself after the problems I had cancelling AOL. Cancelling was a nightmare. I went through 3 AOL call reps, one supervisor and a few letters between me, the BBB, and a woman named Heidi Jonguist at AOL before both my free trials were finally cancelled with no charges incurred.

When I asked them to cancel one account they cancelled the other instead, then tried to make it sound like it was a "mistake" when I called them again several weeks later. There's nothing call reps won't pull to stop people from cancelling so they can get their commissions on "saved" accounts!

That link translates into "Help at AOL.com" and really does provide the latest phone numbers and addresses from AOL.com itself. That should save readers some time. Getting through the Automated Operator and the live call reps is another matter.

Here's a link to the BBB if cancelling with the call reps doesn't work: http://www.bbb.org/.
That's the link to file an online complaint against any company, including AOL. That link saved me from having to pay AOL anything. In fact, the matter was resolved in my favor in under 2 weeks, so I recommend using the Better Business Bureau if talking to AOL's call reps fails to result in actual cancellation.

Just keep in mind when filing with the BBB, there's a section of their complaint form that asks, "How would you like to see this complaint resolved?" Be sure to write that you "do NOT want any more free trials or free service". If you don't write that out in words for the BBB to see, AOL will offer free months as a way to resolve your complaint, rather than refund any money. Just keep that in mind.

I wrote in that section of the BBB's form that AOL had "infected my computer like a virus with adware, spyware, and viruses, so I did NOT want anymore free service from AOL".

Lastly, uninstalling any version of AOL is exceedingly difficult, in fact, it's impossible, if you're picky and want it out of your Registry, too. My site shows the great links I found to uninstall AOL from my computer.

AOL deleted all the phone numbers, fax numbers and addresses that can be used by their members to cancel accounts from the link I posted a few days ago. They don't waste much time, do they? My thought is they pay "trolls" to search the Internet for negative references to their rotten company, products, and services. They probably keep an eye on pages like yours, and once I posted the link from AOL.com itself for info on how to cancel AOL, AOL got involved and deleted all the contact info from that page. They really don't want anyone to cancel!

They want to stop people from cancelling so bad they just made "null and void" their lawsuit settlements with the states of Ohio and New York by deleting that information, which was supposed to be published on their site at all times as part of the terms of each settlement. Hey New York and Ohio--trial lawyers, anyone? Looks like AOL's heading back to court!

P.s. I searched AOL exhaustively after discovering the deletion and found, on their entire site, ONE phone number to call to cancel AOL. I called it immediately from my cell phone and lo and behold it was busy. At 12:30 am Eastern time. Go figure. That one number won't be much help to anyone if it's always busy, but that's all AOL's giving us for now. The number is on my web site, I'm keeping it off of here so AOL doesn't use me as an excuse to delete that page also.

Hey im trying to get rid of aol. what is that phone number. Marilyn

Thank you to that person who posted the FTC information. I just filed my complaint against AOL! I successfully cancelled my AOL account after spending 35 minutes on the phone and being transferred between 4 different people! Each one kept throwing out their stupid sales pitch to convince me into staying, and I repeatedly told them "no thank you", then they'd switch me off to another service person who gave me the same stupid sales pitch. That happened 4 times, and the third guy I spoke to was so rude and even yelled at me to "shut up" while he was talking! All I was doing was trying to explain to him that I din't want to hear any more sales pitches and to just please cancel my account!

I'm so furious at AOL for being such disrespectful idiots!!!! Go file a complaint at that www.ftc.gov website like I did. I hope AOL rots in hell!!!!!

took 5 minutes to cancel. just kept repeating the mantra to "Kim". I just need a cancelation confirmation number.you were a great help.

took 10 minutes to try to answer the equation in a creative way but the verification program doesn't have a sense of humor
thanks
Steven

I canceled last night. It was easy. I told them that I got mad at my comptuer and shot it with a shotgun. So I loaded, took the phone outside and shot it into the woods. The service person was on the floor laughing her ass off. Then she got a couple other people to listen and I did it again. They loved it. It took only 10 minutes. She said it was the best call she ever had taken.

I highly recommend this cancelation method.
Oh, and it was with the 1-877-773-4462 number.

i switched to unlimmited charges from aol since i got rid of cable connection which i have done in the past.i kept getting a message that after two hours of free billing i woulld be billed for by the hr.i sent them several emails but it took about 2-3 weeks for their response.tried calling but no answer to my problem. they billed me over $650.00 so i just cancelled as i feel this is fraud. they say that i was in the wrong
and cannot reverse charges buulshit try collecting i will sue them

If AOL has pissed you off with cancellation hassles or fraudulent billing, file a consumer complaint against them at http://www.ftc.gov

AOL is holding my e-mail files hostage...HELP...I want to cancel my AOL subscription but need my AOL 9.0 pfc files. There are too many to do a cut and paste.

I am able to save/burn the pfc file to a CD, but cannot open it. Apparently the only way you can open the file is with AOL software.

I've talked to AOL tech support (a joke) who said I cannot open them anywhere but in AOL. I told them I pay for AOL each month and they are my files....they hung up on me.

Any suggestions?

thanks
Pat

Actually, Patricia, there are tools that can help you export your address book and old email from AOL, but generally they're right: all that data is kept ENCRYPTED on your disk. Check out:

http://www.askdavetaylor.com/how_do_i_export_my_america_online_aol_address_book_and_email.html

Dave, thanks for the info on exporting my AOL pfc files to another ISP...I'll probably be switching to SNET which became SBC and is now AT&T since they are my phone company and they offer bundled packages which include phone, DSL, cell, etc...think ePreserver will import to AT&T? I'll contact them to find out...I'll be so glad to get away from AOL...
thanks again and I'll keep you updated

All I want to do is to cancel my AOL.com Internet guest service. I did not think it would take an act of Congress, yet I shouldn't be surprised as the reason I want to cancel my service is due to the less than user friendly service.

I would appreciate my service being cancelled on Friday, March 24, 2006. I have made arrangements with an internet service that I've used in the past that I was very pleased with.

Linda, please note that I cannot cancel your AOL account, nor am I even affiliated in any way with America Online, so you'll need to call them yourself to cancel. Good luck.

I have to post a correction to my comments about AOL violating settlement terms with NY and Ohio--its actually settlement terms with Washington state that they're in violation of if "cancel contact info" isn't easy to find on their site. I should've refreshed my memory before posting here about that.

As a guest of AOL.com that info was but no longer is easy to find. I use their site search, called "Answer Wizard", which works for me today, but may not tomorrow. Since I'm not a subscriber I can't say if subscribers can find it on AOL's site any easier than I can. Good luck, all.

Thanks for all of the info. I especially got a kick out of all of the people trying to cancel right here, right now. Hee-hee.

Thanks, Dave

Came across your site-wow-my prob-I signed up for aol 90 day freebee, till comcast cable got established. Only 23,99 @ month for 4 months--now it's $49.95 for internet from comcast and I'm still with aol---what's a girl to do??? Where's everyone going for high speed? I can't keep both-too spendy, plus--i'm not real crazy with cable homepage. I have a condo no cable-just telephone and a house with the works from comcast--spend 2 or 3 nights at condo--been dragging my laptop back and forth. Any suggestions from the king? Thx

I'd don't know what to do. I just called to cancel our PTA free trial and they won't let me because I'm not on the account? Huh? I'm the treasurer..I set it up. I gave them everything, my name, my security question answer, everything. I tried to ask what they were talking about, but everytime I asked any question they interupted me and said sorry we can't help you...you could be a hacker!!! Who has ever heard of a hacker calling to cancel a PTA account...hello. The supervisor must have been the guys retarded younger brother because he was about as helpful. (sorry hope to not offend, I'm just very angry) They are faxing me a form to fill out to be put on the account..Why would you fax a form to a hacker to add them to the account...yikes, I think I will contact my bank too!

Thanks for all the info-- called aol to
downsize to just keeping my aol address and aim
Victor was very helpful. it took all of 5 minutes.
costs only 6.95 a month.

hi dave....

thanks for this site. very informative. added hope for all you there. i cancelled aol today and was directed to 888/265-8008. i was on the phone w/ an aol rep. for like 5 minutes. yes, she did try to get me to stay on (nicely) and i replied that i already signed up for a new service. she says that i get to keep my aol address and have access to email and address book, my pictures, etc.

ben

WOW!!! I have been on hold for over 50 minutes and nobody at AOL can get off their ass to pick up the phone so I can cancel the account.

i want to cancel and i just started getting into my computer doing this finding that. what i really need is more free time if you can help me with that. thank you for all your time and concidersation

I canceled my aol account today using 888-265-8008 and it was very easy! A young man helped me thru the process. He did try to get me to stay on, but that of course is his job. He was very polite. I also was able to keep my screen name and acess to my email. Not a bad experience at all.......

Shenell

Everytime I call aol to cancel my service, they give me more free months of service, which is great! I called the number 800-827-6364 to cancel again and they have a voice automated system now. I was only on the phone for 8 mins. awesome! maybe they've been reading your comments...lol. I got another month free but will be canceling for good within that month.

Hey, I registered to aol by accident today.
But I live in Europe and already have an internet provider... I also didn't download anything from the aol website.

Will I need to cancel?

i just tried couple weeks, they keeping charging me. i even forgot my account number and password.
what can i do?

I just called and cancelled my AOL account. Because of this information, it was fairly easy. I sat here endless hours looking around on AOL trying to find where it would tell me how to do so, and of course, why would they put that anywhere on AOL because then a lot of people would go ahead and cancel. I chose to cancel after using a 90 day free disk, and ended up being charged $25.90 for who knows what...the woman that I talked to was very nice, and put my refund through right away and then cancelled my account from there. She told me that the disk isn't really a 3 months free kind of thing, but more of a "try it out, we'll charge you, and if you don't like it, we'll give you your money back." I used to enjoy AOL, but I think it is far too complicated these days, and they don't keep it simple enough. I will never go back to them!

Dave, just wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for posting the AOL Cust. Svc. number. I hunted for it on the AOL site for about 30 minutes, before I turned to the www for answers! Rock on!!!

I used AOL for 6 years. Once I became a "senior citizen" I received an offer for a discounted PeoplePC service through AARP. I signed up for the new service then went to cancel my AOL. Man, what an experience. After digging through the AOL website I found the number I had to call to cancel. I was on the phone for 40 minutes and talked to 3 different people. Only one that spoke fluent english. Long story short, they refused to cancel my account. I wrote a letter to the CEO Jonathan Miller at 22000 AOL Way Dulles, VA 20166. About a week later I got a call from their Customer Service Department. My AOL service was canceled at that time. It was like going through a bad divorce. I will make it a point to NEVER sign up with AOL again. I wlll do without Internet service before that will happen.

After reading so many horror stories about canceling AOL, I decided to face it and make my move. My mind set was prepared.
I called the 800-827-6364 number (same as AOl's Billing Service number) to cancel. I went through the questions asked by the machine, then it told me a consultant will talk to me. I got a gentleman named Jimmy with perfect American English to ask me the same questions that I had just gone through with the machine. He was polite and efficient. After having declined his three offers to stay, he told me to get a pen and paper to jot down the cancellation number. He said an email would be sent to my account to confirm it in the next 24 hours. Then he started saying he had something for me... and all a sudden, I heard a clack and was shut off from him. I kept calling Jimmy to come on back, and waited for 5 minutes just before I said to the dead space the other end that I've got the cancellation number this was complete and hung up. He ended not as graceful as he had started, but it was OK. Just wondering what would happen next to my account.
This morning, 04-28-2006, I opened my AOL email, voila, just before the messages page, there was a posted color page acknowledging the cancellation. It was a good experience. It took me over 9 minutes, including the 5 minutes wishfully waiting for Jimmy to come back on line to conclude the action.
Now the final big test is whether AOL will stop charging my credit card next month. I've been with AOL for 12 years. Others offer charges free on line now. I shall write again to let everyone know the result next month.
Many thanks to Dave Taylor, and to the folks who wrote up this column.

After over a decade, I too want to cancel my AOL. But I have a question; can I keep one or two of my AOL email addresses via thier free web service? If so, how do I tell these idiots that is what I want to do?

UPDATE,

After writing for some help, I found an another blog & called 800-381-4006. Followed the auto voice instructions & within a few minutes on the phone live with a sweet person from India. She accepted my cancellation & allowed me to keep all 7 of my email accounts via access through www.aol.com, FREE (even got a email to that effect)! It is like having your cake & eating it too. I am recent GMAIL convert, but it is nice to know I can still access my old email accounts. Thanks to everyone on this site & you all saved me $180 a year!!

Joe

My experience with AOL is at least as bad as every body else who has posted a complaint. I started an account five or six years ago on behalf of my daughter who was going to college in a southern Georgia location. In the course of her studies and moving several times I lost the original phone number that I used to conncet the AOL account (Dial-UP). My daughter is now married and working at the school she graduated from and no longer needs an e-mail account at home. Long story short - I called AOL and was told that I was not the account holder and got hung-up on. This happened several times. I then went to my credit card company and told them to no lomger pay the AOL bill. They said AOL bills through a bank and the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing. My credit card company told me they just return the billing notice and AOL does nothing but continue to bill me. My credit card company said AOL is a real pain in the butt when it comes to canceling. My daughter finally called AOL and said that she no longer wanted AOL service. AOL told her that she or her father [me] could have canceled anytime because both of our names were on the account. I called AOL and told them that I "know where they lived" and the next time I was in their area someone was going to get a kick in the butt. Of course, they hung-up again - they're good at that. I understand the third party boycott law(s) and in spite of said laws I am still going to bad-mouth AOL everytime I get a chance. I hope they come and get me. I'm waithing for them.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh ha, finally, somebody has got their finger on AOL, well, as far as it will reach in friggin INDIA!!! No wonder there aren't any jobs available in the US, AOL has given them to idiots than can hardly speak English let alone pronounce the name of the city in which I reside!! I am thankful for the number posted on the website. After the stupid girl on the other end tryed,not once, not twice, but three times to sell me her product, I FINALLY GOT MY DAMN SERVICE CANCELLED!!! WOO HOO!!! Thanks for the tidbits!! >:-) Happy in IA

Dave,
Thanks for the information on canceling aol.
I laughed as I followed your info line for line with what aol was doing. What a pain in the neck.

Thanks Again,

Mark

Good Grief they make it difficult. I tried to be patient and nice and let the guy do his spiel but every time I asked him to cancel he had another round of "reasons" for me not to. Price drop offer to 4.95/month. Maybe they'd keep their subscribers if they dropped the price. I finally lost it when he tried to make me feel guilty for having high-speed access at home (not AOL) but not wanting to have him send me an email explaining all the 'benefits'.

Dude awesome info but man they are really annoying with their questions, but thnx to you man this process was quite easy thnx a lot.

Great info i just hope they don't do any other charges on my account.

This is too funny, but also sad because it's so true. Thank you for the information and advice.

I just cancelled my AOL subscription without any problems. The number is 1-877-773-4462. I spoke to a live person name Dave. I received a confirmation number and a message about my cancellation. Dave however, did all he could to try to keep me with AOL.

I disagree with all of you. there is a reason why aol is the #1 ISP in the world. its because aol cares about their members and will do anything they can to help them out. aol has over 21 million members and is still rising. its people like you that should not even signed up with aol in the first place.

I find this all very funny. The fact is that all of you need google search your ISP and find out how hard it is to cancel them. To all of you that think that AOL is lossing members for every one of you that have canceled they sign up three more If they are so bad why do people keep comming?

AOL, THE HASSLE YOU MADE ME GO THROUGH TO CANCEL MY ACCOUNT IS UNACCEPTABLE, UNACCEPTABLE.

I WILL NEVER, EVER USE AOL AGAIN. I WILL NEVER EVER RECOMMEND AOL TO ANYONE.

AOL, UNACCEPTABLE.

AOL is the worst service provider period. They handle cancellations in such an unprofessional way. The cancellation rep told me to hold on the line to get my cancellation number and instead I get disconnected after waiting on the line for five minutes! Plus he told me that since today is the 17th of the month I will get billed for one more entire month. So watch out for that when you try to cancel. What a total rip off especially after being a customer for so many years.

Yes, AOL has been gaining new customers, but that's only from the people who have bought new computers with AOL pre-installed, which also required an initial subscription of service as part of the rebate offer (just as how MSN is offered on some new computers, too). After their time is up, a majority of those people quit AOL.

And if you think AOL/Time Warner is doing great, tell that to the record number of investors who have been steadily pulling out since 2002. Tell that to the 1,500 workers that AOL just laid off earlier this month in 3 of their call centers. Tell that to the people in France and Germany who are about to lose their internet service since AOL is currently in the planned talks of discontinuing ISP service there. And lastly, the latest financial reports from AOL/Time Warner showed that they lost approximately 850,000 subscribers from the period of January 2005 to May 2006.

Yeah, AOL is really doing great, huh? ;)

I have waited on the phone for one whole hour to cancell my acct. I think this is to long of a wait to cancell my acct.
Rhondia

Ok, after trying to find out the number I needed to cancel AOL, I found this page. I had heard horror stories before, but after reading all of these, OH MY!

I've dialed... (1-877-773-4462)

I'm now sitting on the phone with an approximate wait time of 8 mins or less.......we'll see.

Well, it took 10 minutes to get an actual person, and another 10 to go through the process, Vera, (the polite, english speaking and understanding rep), was persistant but not pushy. After politely telling her "no,thank you, I want to cancel", after every question she finally gave in and cancelled my account, then she made me listen to their important cancellation message.

I am a little leary though, I was not given a confirmation number, but was told by the system that a letter would come in the mail within the next two weeks containing it.

I would like to hope that it was that easy, but to be sure I'll keep one eye on my bank account at all times, I've already talked to my bank about how much trouble it would be to block payment just in case.

Thanks for all the helpful info, I'm sure I would have been lost without it.

i just tried to cancel aol and the guy had to go into his deal about how great aol is and i told him listen i am about to deploy to a warzone (iraq) and he still kept going on and on and i was like man i won't have a use for it. i now have a free month of service because i made the mistake of telling him that i deploy in a month. i can not get rid of this crap! i am going to call back tomorrow any suggestion as to how i can cancel since they don't care that i am about to risk life and limb?

Thanks for lots of comments and suggestions to cancel this terrible internet provider. We have had the same experience in the UK with AOL trying to cancel. There is NO contact to cancel not even a email correct address! As already mentioned do not touch them with a barge pole. KEEP WELL AWAY!
They tie you in with a credit card and payments keep coming out. SO just contact your card company and cancel your card. End of Story!

I would like to Cancel my AOL account

Carl, I can't help you with that request. You are stuck having to call AOL up directly, on the phone, and go through the process as I outline at the top of this page. Good luck to you!

Dave;
Thanks for posting this online. I just finished cancelling my account that was created by my ex. It only took me about 5 minutes to complete and the girl I spoke to after the automated service was very nice and very helpful. I don't like AOL and never intend to have them on my computer EVER! I called the 800-827-6364 #. Got a cancellation # and will receive one in the mail in 14 days.

i gues want to cancel my aol, because i am not satisfied with, i dont like it,and i cant do much with it,it has irritated me so bad,so i will get something else. thank you

I tried quitting AOL today after 11 years of service and they actually had the nerve to ask me my secret question and passcode I created when I was frickn 16.

So...

I still have an account..
bastards

I'm not sure what the addition quiz was about, but I read this whole page and by whole page, I do mean the comments and everything while I was waiting on hold to cancel my service! OMG! WTF! Do they think you'll get bored or fed up and just hang up??? GRRRRRRRRR

I think I canceled my account after arguing with the customer service rep for 10 mins. Bless his heart. You just have to keep saying, I just want to cancel my account. He then put me through to someone else to confirm and it rang and rang and rang then my call got dropped. I'm on a land line not cell phone fyi... So I then called my bank to issue a stop payment on that account forever. AOL is the devil.

Hello Everyone!
I've just read all your postings on problems cancelling AOL and wanted to let you know my experience thus far.
We have had AOL for 12-15 years...a really long, long time. We paid by the year and allowed AOL to bill using our checking account number or our charge account number. AOL was the absolutely only business that had both those numbers.
In the summer of 2005 we began to get dozens of fraudulent charges on the card and the checking account. Both were cancelled immediately and both the bank and the charge acct. company worked for months to get it all straight. It helped that I had not used either that checking acct or that charge card for 6 months before the fraudulent charges began to appear.
I called AOL to let them know that I was SURE AOL was involved in this and met with a totally disinterested and rude individual. From that point on I was determined to dump AOL. When my membership ran out at the end of 2005, AOL WAS UNABLE to automatically renew due to the accts. being long closed. AOL then began to bill me by mail and call me on the phone. They insist I owe them for another year's service and that I have renewed which I HAVE NOT. I have happily been using Gmail and high speed internet service through my cable company since Sept 2005. I do not use AOL.
Do you recommend that I call them and officially cancel or what?
I wanted others to know that just stopping them from billing you through your bank or your credit card DOES NOT MAKE THEM GO AWAY or at least it hasn't for me. I EAGERLY AWAIT YOUR ADVICE AND RESPONSE. THANKS

How do I cancel/delete an aol account? I have searched and searched and can't seem to find the delete button???? Please help me delete my account. Thanx, CACommINS@gmail.com

hey everyone

just thought I would add my story. Iused one of thos aol cd's for 3 free months in Dec. 2004 called in Feb. of 2005 to cancel got the same run around a free month ect. I told them no I just wanted to cancel my service. Finaly I got the ok your canceled (so I thought)my wife didn't know I canceled my service (she never gets on the computer)so they have been deducting money from my checking account since Mar. of 2005 I found out after my wife came to me in Feb. 2006 and told me I had to cancel my aol account because money was short with the twins on the way. Well needless to say I've been fighting with them every sice.And theres no way there going to give that money back but thats ok I just want to get my account canceled. One other thing it's funny that when I uninstalled the aol soft ware my computer crashed I had 3 service techs. tell me you uninstalled aol soft ware didn't you.

I feel very sorry for each and every single one of you. I have been using AOL since 1999 and quite frankly, I am sick of it. It is TOO SLOW, and it crashes all the time. Sometimes, I literally wait 10 MINUTES for ONE web site to load. That is absoulutely, postiviely ridiculous. AOL is the bottom of the barrel when it comes to an easy-to-use, realiable Internet Service Provider. I am cancelling (or hoping to cancel) my account today and getting a high-speed service that is local in my area. We're all victims of the "AOL Con Game" and sooner or later, they're going to pay for it. I know there have been a lot of numbers released on this page, but I'll provide them here for anyone who needs them:

1st Number: 1-877-773-4462
2nd Number: 800-827-6364
3rd Number: 1-888-265-8008
4th Number: 1-800-392-5180

And if any of you want to file a complaint with the FTC, or the BBB, here are their links.

FTC: www.ftc.gov
BBB: www.bbb.org

You're all free to use what you want, but from expierence, there are better alternatives than AOL.

Dear Sirs,
I have just had a reasonably poor experience with your phone in service. I tried unsuccessfully for over 24 minutes to get my service uncharged for the month of June due to financial hardship. I was attempting to cancel my AOL service and I was answered within 2 minutes by a PERSON. I informed him I wished to CANCEL my service AFTER he asked me if I had called to sign up for new exciting services! I have poor hearing but if I heard correctly, he said he would put me through to "cancellations". I waited for 19 minutes. I then logged onto AOL and had a chat online with AOL Tech BCE. This person was incredibly gracious to me after I, admittedly quite rudely, lambasted this Tech BCE for this rediculous amount of being put on hold time. As I was typing to this Tech, I FINALLY was answered on the phone! It had been 22 minutes and some seconds from the moment I called AOL, a full 19 minutes on hold for "cancellations". I attempted simultaneously to voice chat and verbally report my displeasure with these wait times. I am fully disabled because of my hands so it was quite difficult to type quickly and talk to someone else. After a short discussion with the telephone respondent, I was told by Her, that I would have to call another number. 1-888-265-8008 for "cancellations". I am Jeffrey L. Meisner. I was closing an account for Ramona L. Cooke. I have had my name on a joint account, (On and off. Due to financial troubles I was forced to remove my name from her account at times.), with Ms. Cooke under the account name mopowoody from 2002 up until mid-April. The Credit Union account we used for the mopowoody account has been closed for financial reasons which is why we wish to cancel our service.I repeat, I was told on the phone that I would not be able to cancel the account and the number I was given was for "cancellations". Again. I waited 19 minutes to speak to "cancellations" and was, after a 2 or 3 minute discussion where I expressed my etreme displeasure, referred to "cancellations"? This is outrageously poor customer service. Please tell me how I can be assured that I won't be billed and what protection I have from my bad temper with your representatives. I don't want to cause difficulties. I apologize for rudeness but I believe you can see why I was upset. I also apologize for statements regarding lawyers. I expressed my apologies to Tech BCE at the time but feel compelled to write and formally apologize. Thank You. However, I was extremely frustrated. My 82 year old virtual Mother-In-Law is having a kidney and a large cancerous tumor removed tomorow and times are quite stressful here. Thank you for your time. God Bless you.


Sincerely,
Jeffrey L. Meisner

Please advise me about that one Dave? These people Mafia or what?.............Jeff :-)

easiest way to cancell aol is to instruct ur bank/credit company not to accept deductions from them

I am the Newest Member of the CantCancelAOLClub.
I spent the last hour and 20mins on hold and talking with a man I didnt understand. This was after reading this blog and bypassing all of your helpful tips. I can only imagine how much longer I would have been. I used a combination of your tech's...I used the helpful number for direct contact...the security code feature...and the "i'm getting my last affairs in order" to finally get him to give me my confirmation number. He did say it may not go through and then I had to tell them i would cancel my Credit Card account to get away from them, and He then gave me another "actual" code. So to everyone out there trying to get rid of their account...make sure you get the "actual" code...otherwise you may keep getting billed.
Thanks for listening
Mark of Seattle

Rob, please note that AOL probably has a legal right to go after you for unpaid fees if you just cancel your credit card or otherwise block payment without notifying them that you want to cancel. I would recommend calling, even if you have to spend 30 minutes on hold and another 10 minutes saying "yes I want to cancel" over and over again.

yeah,itried to cancell and that was a joke!!!step by step everything happen you said,it would.could i have yopur security answer please?can i have your name and address?night phone please?please hold
i held.then can w eask why you are leaving?basically i am fincially bind and can only afford phone ,rent,and my car.
that,s a shame so they repeat everything that i said,three times.pain in the a--!!you know!!!so they offer free two months and 4.95 cents a month after augusty.well who could pass that up?it like a mob/once you join them you can,t leave them.crazy.if i have to i will leave!!

I followed your advice but I also faxed the cancellation with a page that comes out and says it went through. I sent a copy of this all to my bank including a copy of my bill that I printed off the night before I cancelled, so I had a record of the bill and told them I do not authorize any more payments from them.

So far so good, I will let you know if that is the last I hear!

Thanks for the advice!

How about this story? I have never had AOL - yet suddenly I'm being charged $25.90 on my credit card. I call AOL, stay on hold for 20 minutes, and I'm told that yes, there is an account with my credit card and name, but not my phone number or address. I tell him it's not me, it's fraudulent. I tell him to immediately cancel the account and give me the address and phone number of the person who opened the account with MY credit card. He tells me that he CAN'T give me the information and he can't cancel the account! What? He then gives me a number for their fraud department, so I call and stay on hold for 45 MINUTES. I finally get a recording that says "sorry we're closed" and I'm disconnected. I tell you ... I would never EVER use AOL. Their customer service is non existent and sucks. In the meantime, I fixed their happy butts (both AOL and the criminal who stole my CC number) and had my bank cancel the credit card and issue me another number. I also filed a claim with my bank for fraud.

I'm not done with AOL yet. I will be complaining loud and wide to anyone who will listen. DO YOU HEAR ME AOL?

Thank u thank u thank u. my aol account haz jus been CANCELED. i hav had aol 4 3 years!! my mother haz alwayz thout it waz my computer dat waz slow, but now dat i got a laptop (ha) she relized it waz aol.LOL (i hav alwayz nown dat).mt father got him into dis situation (since he pays aol) & told me to call the stinkin number & cancel immediatly.i researched da # & witin 12 minutes my account waz canceled. the number is 1877-773-4462. i m aol FREE. the aol person Garret said i cud keep my email adress 4 free but after wat i hav been through i aint takin the risk.DO NOT GET AOL.

After being with aol for, wait for it, a whopping 14 years (on two accounts), I finally canceled. I wish to thank all the people who posted information on this page, as it helped keep me going when they kept bouncing me around.

Why was I there so long you say? I had been on aol since version 1.0 for windows (yeah that long). When I changed to another account (rather than the one I shared with someone) in 1994 I applied for, and got the position, to actually work for aol from home. I have not paid for my aol account since late 1995. Why would I leave! It was free. But, as I moved on from working for them, I decided to change, that is when it got ugly.

Ever really searched your computer after uninstalling aol? HAH! Boy are you in for a surprise if you haven't. Aol leaves all kinds of junk on there. And that isn't even mentioning all the things it leaves in your registry. It took me a while to remove it all. So be warned, just because you uninstall it, doesn't mean it is even remotely gone. It is hiding all over your computer.

Well the person who actually talked to me (on my 4th try of calling), and gave me my cancelation number. If you call back a little while later, and go through all the prompts, info inputting, etc. it will tell you that your account was canceled before you get to a person (if they really canceled it).

Here is the fun part though. The person on the phone kept telling me all I had to do was go through aol.com and check my email to get the confirmation that it was canceled. Now that just seemed really wrong to me. So I said 'no thanks' and made my return call to check the status (as I said before). Boy I am glad I did.

Not only did I find out that yes it was canceled, but I got a nice little message saying ...

1. That they would mail me, postal mail mind you, a confirmation saying it was canceled and that it would take up to 14 days for me to get it.

2. That if I wanted to change this (not cancel or get my account back) all I had to do was go to aol.com and log in under my name.

I knew what the person on the phone said was fishy. How nice, not!

That isn't even the most interesting part. This is where I also must thank those who have posted here. THANK YOU!!!!! Because when I called the 3rd time, the person there tried to tell me, since I didn't have the C.C. that I had originally used on the account anymore, (man am I glad I remembered I had the number written down in an old book LOL) that I should just log into aol and change the billing information. I am so glad I didn't do that. Hello! What give them access to a current account? Save me from the sneaky bad people (and companies) of the world. There are way to many of them.

If you are thinking about joining aol, DON'T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you have uninstalled aol from your computer and are computer savy I suggest you clear up your drive and registry.

If you aren't computer savy, find someone who is and have them clean it all up for you.

You will be glad you did.

Good luck to anyone trying to still get out from under the aol boot.

Me I am happy with Sprint and Earthlink. One fee, less than aol, for dsl, it is on my regular house phone bill and earthlink came with it free. And not for a limited time. I am a happy camper.

I wish I found this page last week. At least then I would've known what to expect when I called to cancel my AOL account.

I thought it would be a simple process, but nope. I was connected to someone who barely spoke understandable English. I think he was in India because he sounded like that Apu character on The Simpsons. I tried to explain to him several times that I no longer needed AOL since I got a good deal with high speed internet from Comcast. I can't believe this guy had the nerve to tell me to 'shut up' not once, but twice! That's right, he told me to 'shut up' and listen to him.

To make a long story short, it took me nearly 30 minutes to cancel my AOL account. 20 minutes on hold and about 10 minutes for the actual cancellation process.
AOL should be ashamed of themselves with their level of unprofessional and disrespectful customer service! Never in my life have I ever dealt with such shameful rudeness! I know that some here have luckily had better experience with a nice customer service person who is simply doing their job, but it seems a majority of the people here are just like me in having dealt with disrespectful AOL representatives.

I'm glad that I'll never have to deal with those morons, and I'm even happier that AOL Time Warner is losing customers and money every year! What goes around comes around. That's karma for you, AOL! Shame on you!!

aol sucks.i tried to cancel my aol account.those people jus keep on shoving offers up your @$$.

yes i want to cancel my aol....they promised me back in 2005 they would reinubuse me the $200.oo the took out of my account and never did...and they are still charging me..i found a better isp. and i want nothing else to do with aol...their services are way to high anyway...thank you

I tried canceling aol last night. haha what a trip. the man by the name of mike pretty much gave my mother the guilt trip as to why she would take away her childrens service.... um b/c we were the ones who asked her to. the man had an attitude problem, told us that we were only customers for 6years, when i know for a friggin fact its been 10. got it at 14, now im 24. hmm do them math buddy. he was rude, told us to cancel the new yr plan we had with opt online and to come back to aol becuase they offer this bull and more bull. how come new members are given a 100$ gift card for signing up, but for old members they get nothing? oh okay so offer me aol rewards, yes another credit card. morons. so i have to pay to get a point. whatever. mike was so rude he even hung up on us at the end of the convo... just because we wanted to cancel. instead of giving us the cancellation number we needed to cut them from taking money from our credit card he keeps blabbing on and on rudely on how dumb it is for us to cancel.... look we just need the code... hangs up. nice fella. time wasted on phone about an hour. they send you from sales person to sales person, not a single one willing to help u cancel.... its sad that they only offer you the world when youre ready to cancel. then dont even let you cancel. Mike told us rudely that if we signed on or checked our email, YOU WILL GET A BILL. yet umm isnt aolmail free and aim free? im confused and cant talk to anyone w/o them trying to get me to sign up for another plan... blah blah.... they dont even have a contact us page on the site. crazy. buyer beware... run... becuase once theyve got you theyve got you for life, and believe me 2 hours spent on the phone is not worth their cruddy 25$ a month dial up. yay dial up. yay aol. seriously spend the extra 10 bucks and get optonline or some other service, aol is by far the worst , and by far have the rudest customer service reprasentatives.

I expected the worst, and was satisfied with their service. I cancelled 1 account and re-priced 3 others saving $600.00/year. I'm generally impressed with their work.

I WANT TO CANCEL SRVICE I DID NOT ORDER AND IS TAKING MONEY OFFOFMY CREDIT CARD ACCOUNT.

Beware people! When you cancel your account, they'll often tell you two things: 1) Logging in after cancelling re-activates your subscription; and 2) That a confirmation notice of your cancellation will be sent via e-mail to your AOL account.... whatever you do, DO NOT LOG IN TO CHECK FOR IT! I repeat... DO NOT LOG BACK IN TO YOUR ACCOUNT ONCE YOU'VE CANCELLED OVER THE PHONE.

By doing so, you've just re-activated your AOL account... and once again you're trapped in the hellish nightmare of being "legally" billed each month.
This recently happened to a friend of mine. She figured that she had to log in to check the cancellation confirmation e-mail and did so a few hours after hanging up with the AOL service rep. A week later she received a copy of the cancellation confirmation in the mail, so she assumed all was said and done. Nope! A month and a half later she finds that AOL has continued billing her credit card because she had "logged back in" to her account after being mislead into believing this needed to be done to receive/confirm her cancellation e-mail.

AOL is nothing but a bunch of greedy, selfish and manipulating jerks. And the really sad thing is that I bet they're so proud of that while laughing all the way to the bank with our money!

I recently had to go through this, and I expected a nightmare. Then I had a flash of brilliance.

I explained to the customer service rep that I was recently convicted of a crime, and part of my sentence was that I was to have no Internet service accounts in my name or use the Internet. I still did have to tell him that I didn't want a free extension of the service, but he wasn't very pushy at all. I am sure they are required to offer those deals before processing the cancelation.

Towards the end of the call, the rep said that I'd still be able to use the AOL email account that was part of my full account, and this account would receive an email confirmation of the cancelation. I again said that I was not allowed to use the Internet because of the Judge's ruling, and I had to have a confirmation number to give to my lawyer (to prove to the Judge I had complied). The rep said I would get a postal letter in 7-10 days with the confirmation number, but I took the guy's badge number as well. He then transfered me in to an automated system which gave me the confirmation number.

I have tried for 5 months to cancel my accout and it was a 90 free and I used it for 5 min. trying to get on line and I called them right away and they said try it for 30 days and then call beack. I told them to cancel it now. Well 6 times I have tried and I just called them and told them I was recording the call and they did not want to talk and They ask me to turn off the recorder and I said yea, well I lied and they still gave me the run around. I was P$$$ bye know and I then told them I did not turn of the recorder and Would report them to the BBB and them got mad and I told them no problem and call my bank and cancel my card and the bank is going to give me back the past 2 months fees and give me a new card. The bad thing is the ladie at the bank said she just did the same thing and they get a 3 or 4 calls a week about the same thing. O'well they will not get no more of my money and I should have called the bank the first time. Good luck with aol.... Dead beats need to be closed down...

Hmmmm . . . AOL seems to have defeated the work-around to get rid of AOL pop-ups. I had thought I had set my preferences to 'no pop-ups', but they are forever popping up. I searched, found your information, followed it: my preferences are set to 'no pop-ups'. Then I noticed their little note: 'AOL will still send you marketing pop-ups . . . ." The AOL mindset is an amazing thing to behold -- unfortunately I'm too busy to change over to another service, notify everyone, etc..

lol