Author Topic: On Tape: Rep Won't Let Customer Quit AOL (Read 1921 times)

Foxy Brown · « **on:** June 22, 2006, 04:46:26 PM »

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.

~Dan~ · « **Reply #1 on:** June 22, 2006, 04:51:06 PM »

The link doesn't work. :/

Foxy Brown · « **Reply #2 on:** June 22, 2006, 04:54:34 PM »

Works fine for me.

~Dan~ · « **Reply #3 on:** June 22, 2006, 04:56:45 PM »

I get "An error (404 Not Found) has occured in response to this request."

meowchi · « **Reply #4 on:** June 22, 2006, 04:58:36 PM »

people still use aol?! holy crap that's news to me!

Foxy Brown · « **Reply #5 on:** June 22, 2006, 05:05:41 PM »

That's odd.

Try this one.

~Dan~ · « **Reply #6 on:** June 22, 2006, 05:09:53 PM »

"An error (500 Internal Server Error) has occured in response to this request."

meowchi · « **Reply #7 on:** June 22, 2006, 05:10:42 PM »

LOL, an AOL divine intervention... good times...
what was up with the rep? maybe he was bored?

meowchi · « **Reply #8 on:** June 22, 2006, 05:12:10 PM »

for ppl who cant read the transcript page:

Quote

You've Got Frustration: Breaking Up With AOL
Man Tapes Conversation
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A man taped his frustrating attempt to have his America Online service disconnected.

Vincent Ferrari said he had heard from others that it could be difficult to get AOL canceled, so he decided to tape his conversation.

After 15 minutes on hold, he reached a live person. What follows is a transcript of his five-minute conversation.

AOL: Hi, this is John at AOL. How may I help you today?
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?
FERRARI: Vincent Ferrari.
AOL: You've had this account for a long time.
FERRARI: Yup.
AOL: Use this quite a bit. What was the cause of wanting to turn this off today?
FERRARI: I just don't use it anymore.
AOL: Do you have a high-speed connection, like the DSL or cable?
FERRARI: Yup.
AOL: How long have you had that?
FERRARI: Years.
AOL: Well, actually I'm showing a lot of usage on this account.
FERRARI: Yeah, ... a long time ago, not recently.
AOL: Okay, I mean, is there a problem with the software itself?
FERRARI: 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: OK, so when you use this, I mean, use the computer, I'm saying, is that for business or for -- for school?
FERRARI: Dude, what difference does it make? I don't want the AOL account anymore. Can we please cancel it?
AOL: Last year was 545, last month was 545 hours of usage.
FERRARI: 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 -- why?
FERRARI: 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.
FERRARI: You're not helping me.
AOL: I am trying to help.
FERRARI: 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.
FERRARI: Cancel my account.
AOL: Turning off your account, ...
FERRARI: Cancel the account.
AOL: ... would be the worst thing that
FERRARI: Cancel the account.
AOL: OK, cause I'm just trying to figure out
FERRARI: 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
FERRARI: Will you please cancel the account?
AOL: Alright, some day when you (have) 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.
FERRARI: Wonderful, OK.

AOL later sent a statement to CNBC claiming that the incident was inexcusable and that the customer representative, John, violated guidelines and was no longer with the company. “We're going to learn from this. We can do better, and will," the statement said.

~Dan~ · « **Reply #9 on:** June 22, 2006, 05:18:34 PM »

Ah, the page works in IE but not Opera. Weird.

I found an mp3 of the entire 5-minute call.
http://media.putfile.com/AOL-Cancellation

Jsmurf · « **Reply #10 on:** June 22, 2006, 07:11:02 PM »

"as a last resort even asked if his dad was home."

rofl, the dude is 30 years old. what an ass

Carrie · « **Reply #11 on:** June 22, 2006, 07:30:45 PM »

Oh god, how annoying.

I used AOL temporarily last year and it is a bit of pain to cancel. I had to call several times . . . but they weren't that bad.

aimaime · « **Reply #12 on:** June 22, 2006, 07:52:19 PM »

Quote from: ~Dan~

Ah, the page works in IE but not Opera. Weird.

I found an mp3 of the entire 5-minute call.
http://media.putfile.com/AOL-Cancellation

"i don't care. i'm not gonna cancel your account until you let me speak and listen to me finish this whole paragraph"??!

that would really get on anyone's nerve..

LaJon · « **Reply #13 on:** June 22, 2006, 08:34:27 PM »

I used to be an AOL junkie back in the 3.0-5.0 days. My parents still use their account, but I used to hang around the chat rooms all day roleplaying dragonballz. Good times..

Flyp · « **Reply #14 on:** June 22, 2006, 08:44:12 PM »

I remember calling up to cancel AOL service once... after 5 minutes of computer voice prompts asking for my username, password, and the answer to my secret question, I finally got a human... who asked me for my username and my secret question answer... and then I said i want to cancel... and I got the same BS this guy got, for 5 minutes i was "JUST CANCEL MY DAMN ACCOUNT!" and he was just like this guy :/ AOL sucks so hard

Ericks · « **Reply #15 on:** June 22, 2006, 08:54:07 PM »

That's pretty insane. It makes you want to hit them repeatedly until they finally decide to listen to you. :evil:

Author Topic: On Tape: Rep Won't Let Customer Quit AOL (Read 1921 times)

Flyp