Guest Mrthumps Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 Interesting story about what happened when someone tried to cancel their AOL account. here's the basics : 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. and here's a link to the sotry(with video) link to story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tablet Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 OMG i'm with AOL lol, when i eventually do change to another provider i'll post if AOL try to pull a fast one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arktis Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 I've experienced this exact same thing on three separate occaisons when trying to switch my phone service. I have found that the easiest thing to do is just tell them that you're moving and that they don't provide service in your new area. If they ask where you're moving to, tell them you'd rather not disclose that information since it's none of their buisness. Acting politely offended helps speed things along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenebrae Posted June 22, 2006 Share Posted June 22, 2006 It goes without saying - if you're trying to quite AOL you already made one massive error. Signing up with them. To be honest though, who can blame people for losing their rag on the phone to call centres. Sure, they're people too but they're just there following a script. As is clearly the case here. Obviously it would be great if people didn't get frustrated and abuse some underpaid minion but it would be great if there were more busty catgirls in my room, giving me beer. The important thing is, that we make sure that in the future - I have busty catgirls in my room, giving me beer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GorunNova Posted June 23, 2006 Share Posted June 23, 2006 What REALLY needs to be done is to somehow get the point across to all those big corporations that it just isn't right to harrass people just because they're deciding to not avail themselves of their services any longer. AOL isn't the only offender with this... and that's exactly what it is, offensive. If they just clued in that all this crap is simply rude and annoys customers and non-customers alike, it would make a lot of phone representatives AND customers a lot happier. Still, that reaction makes me wonder if AOL counts unsubscribers against the phone reps... maybe the poor bugger had one too many unsubscribes and was fearful for his job? The people working those phones are typically people who really need the money, and would probably starve (and have families that would starve, possibly) if they lost 'em. I don't know about you guys, but putting the jobs of people who are expected to handle unsubscribe requests on the line if they follow through with those requests (if that indeed happens) is the lowest of the low. It stresses the phone reps out and even if it nets one or two resubscribers, it makes those that are already unsatisfied more so. If it weren't for that call, Vincent Ferrari wouldn't have had anything to post, and less people would be pissed off at AOL because of it. Even with that call posted, it doesn't seem like AOL is really doing much of anything except for firing the phone rep who got caught harassing unsubscribers as opposed to actually doing something about harassing unsubscribers in general. Edit: Deleted previous one-line post for being a fairly worthless version of this one. I've been making too many lightweight posts of late... ^^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carnifex Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 Lol.... did you know that AOL funds Firefox???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amnot Borg Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 AOL also owns Netscape, which used to be a decent browser. AOL also bought out ICQ messenger, which I haven't used since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest c4evap Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 My EX mother in law had bought a tv from Sears (a retail store in case you're not familiar with it) about a year before she died. After her death we keep getting calls from Sears wanting to know if she wanted to renew the extended service warranty she had paid for when she bought the tv. The first few times we politely answered no but the calls kept coming. Finally I told a rep that she moved and didn't live there anymore (we didn't feel it was their business to know she had died). The rep then asked for her new address. I said it was private and I couldn't give it out. The rep kept at it until I finally lost my cool and said she was dead. Then the rep asked for a copy of the death certificate! I couldn't believe the nerve! After I managed to get a supervisor on the phone said rep was out of a job. No wonder K Mart bought Sears! Telemarketers are even worse. :mad: I no longer answer my phone. I let my machine pick up so I can screen them. c4 :thinking: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StitchInTime Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 Telemarketers are even worse. :mad: I no longer answer my phone. I let my machine pick up so I can screen them. You mean your phone actually rings? I've turned the ringer off entirely, not that I get many calls, because I'm usually on the Internet--that's one of the advantages of dialup. :cyclops: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilander72 Posted June 25, 2006 Share Posted June 25, 2006 Telemarketers are even worse. :mad: I no longer answer my phone. I let my machine pick up so I can screen them. c4 :thinking: I don't know how bad it is in the US... In Sweden we have a law that forbids any kind of marketing or sales call... If you have registered (online, takes about 30 seconds) that you do NOT want any of those calls. (The law would have been more efficient if you had to register if you DO WANT those calls... ;)) OK, I did get ONE call at work recently (not my private phone) and I told the guy that the number he had called was recently registered and he apologised immediately and promised to remove that number from their phone registry... :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest c4evap Posted June 26, 2006 Share Posted June 26, 2006 We have a list too but the last time I checked it was closed. They open it up (I believe) every so often for new sign-ups. c4 B) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mrthumps Posted June 26, 2006 Share Posted June 26, 2006 We have a list too but the last time I checked it was closed. They open it up (I believe) every so often for new sign-ups. c4 B) I think you guys have something similar like in Canada where if you ask them to remove you form their calling they the telemarketers are legally bound to do so and if they don't you can sue them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenofNine Posted June 26, 2006 Share Posted June 26, 2006 The Do Not Call lists work very well, here in the USA. We have two, where I live, in Texas. There's a State list, and more recently the National List was enacted. What the lists state, unequivocally, is that no one may call you for the purpose of generating business from you, no matter where they received your information. Exceptions are: charities may call to ask for donations. Companies with which you already do business may call you to collect unpaid bills, etc. We got on both lists as soon as they were available, and our soliciting calls dropped to nothing. We get about one call a month from automated systems. Anyone who does call you can be reported at the Do Not Call website, and if they get enough reports, they are fined. It takes only a few days to get on the list, but it's not circulated constantly. Companies are usually updated every month. Registration is always open, is free, and last five years. There were some enterprising folk who, when this became an option, called people to offer to get them on the lists for $5-10!!! This was legal, but unnecessary, but entirely ironic. https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilander72 Posted June 26, 2006 Share Posted June 26, 2006 Basically there are very similar "systems" in many countries. :) If only the rest would register, the telemarketing/-sales would be out of business (no market) and we would not need a "stupid" registery in the first place and instead have a law that forbids or a registry for those who want those needless calls. :thinking: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest c4evap Posted June 26, 2006 Share Posted June 26, 2006 https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx Dude...thank you. Just registered. c4 :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenofNine Posted June 27, 2006 Share Posted June 27, 2006 https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx Dude...thank you. Just registered. c4 :D You're welcome. Now, experience some revenge: (UGH, RealPlayer required...) http://www.emailajoke.com/calls2/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arktis Posted June 30, 2006 Share Posted June 30, 2006 Just thought I would add a fun experience I had yesterday with U.S. Cellular. I payed everything off and cancelled my account back in April. Yesterday I recieved a bill for $27 AND a late notice. Completely out of the blue. So I call them up, and right off the bat, the service rep hangs up on me before I can even finish my first sentence. Joy. And I wasn't being rude or anything. So I call back, and get the SAME rep. She dodged the question when I asked about it, but her voice was very distinctly recognizable so this time I ask her to spell her name please and I wrote it down. She was very rude the whole time, maybe she was having a bad day or something. Anyways, I end up being transfered over to "resolution" something or other after a few minutes. When I get through, after a few minutes of discussion it turns out that the charges were accumulated the day AFTER my phone was shut off. No real explanation was given. The woman was reading from her computer screen out loud to me as if she was expecting it to show me in the wrong and paused immediately after revaling this little fact. Suffice to say, the whole thing was dropped. I made sure to have her clarify that the balance was $0.00. Stuff like this would always happen to me with U.S. Cellular. They would usually treat me as if I were a criminal or an idiot. Cellphone reps like to do that. It makes me wonder if they train them specificly to talk down to people like that as a psychological tactic, or if that's just the way most of their customers are and so it's how they're used to dealing with people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wahaha Posted July 1, 2006 Share Posted July 1, 2006 Exceptions are: charities And this will take care of those annoying "charities". I don't believe in charities. If the govt wants to find a cure for aids, let them pay for it. I only use my phone to dial out, I never accept incoming calls unless it is scheduled. Business purposes. http://www.privacycorps.com/products/?id=4 And another one that requires you to enter a code # before it rings through. Unfortunately I think it requires a special answering machine or something, and doesn't work with regular answering machines. There was a different product like this, but it was discontinued for some damn reason. http://www.privacycorps.com/products/?id=5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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