More than 800,000 people canceled their AOL accounts last quarter. So it must be easy to cancel right? Not always.
Two weeks ago, Vincent Ferrari tried to cancel his 5-year-old account?he'd heard from others in the blogosphere that AOL customer service could be awful. So he recorded the conversation with a representative named John. Here is the transcript of the conversation:
Quote:
AOL: Hi, this is John at AOL. How may I help you today?
Ferrari: I want to cancel my account.
AOL: OK. I mean, is there a problem with the software itself?
Ferrari: No. I don't use it. I don't need it. I don't want it.
John disputes Ferrari's claim that he never uses the account.
AOL: Last year, last month it was 545 hours of usage.
Ferrari: I don't know how to make it any clearer. So I'm just gonna say it one last time. Cancel the account.
AOL: Well, explain to me what is wrong.
Ferrari: I'm not explaining anything to you. Cancel the account.
It goes on like this for 5 minutes.
Ferrari: Cancel my account. Cancel the account. Cancel the account.
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CNBC later interviewed Ferrari by phone about his experience. ?I've never ever experienced anything like that,? he said.
He recounts how the AOL representative as a last resort even asked if his dad was home.
,,,
To put this claim to the test, CNBC reporter Matt Lefkowitz called again. Here is a rough transcript:
CNBC: I want to cancel my AOL account.
He was promptly disconnected.
He tried again.
CNBC: I need to cancel my AOL account. I never really use it. ... Well, if I can cancel it anytime, why can't I cancel it now? Can I just cancel my account?
It took him 45 minutes to finally get his account canceled.
Vincent Ferrari?s blog is now inundated with others who say they've suffered the same fate, making him the patron saint of customer dissatisfaction.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13447232/
