STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

lynnie · Chanel

Quick urgent question about charge on my statement- AOL?

squishy · Coach

lynnie wrote:

I just noticed this charge on my statement: TWX*AOL High Speed 0806(Services and Merchandise) $24.95

I know i subscribed to AOL briefly to sign up for one of those free ipod offers, but i called after 10 days or so and someone claims they canceled it- that was sooo long ago though!!

it could very well be that. about 7-8 years ago, my brother signed up for an aol e-mail account (or aim? not sure, but it was something trivial) and my parents were charged for a few months before we realized we were being screwed up the bum. if you ever used their free trial offers, they can also charge you after the trial is up.

it's worth a try calling their customer service (and i use that term very generously) and argue your point. be prepared to spend several hours yelling into the phone, though. we eventually got our money back, but that was years ago. i think rosie posted about a very similar problem recently...

Dizzy · Marc Jacobs

It seems like this happened to someone else before - they tried to cancel the free trial offer but the company didn't cancel it even though they said they would, and then refused to reimburse the money? Does anyone else remember that?

ILoveChoo · Hermes

oy vey...this happened to me too. AOL suuuuuucks. They have a nasty little hablit of not cancelling when you ask them to... call them up, but expect to be on the phone for a long time and be prepared to argue. good luck!

lynnie · Chanel

ayeee. did you get your money back ilc? didn't aol get sued for this? more info or experiences if you have any!! i just can't believe it- its over $300 of charges.

Cortney1982 · Chanel

Never get involved with AOL! No matter the cost of a freebie or trial offer, they will get their $$ back 10 fold. Cancelling anything with them is a nightmare.

ILoveChoo · Hermes

lynnie wrote:

ayeee. did you get your money back ilc? didn't aol get sued for this? more info or experiences if you have any!! i just can't believe it- its over $300 of charges.

yeah, I got it back...it took me like an hour on the phone though because they kept tying to convince me to keep it (um, i was in school and had free internet, why would I want to pay for theirs?!)

Elle · Hermes

Honestly, I'd skip attempting to reason with AOL CS and go straight for the CC company. I'm sure they've heard a million cases like yours before regarding AOL, so you probably wouldn't have to do much 'proving' at all. They can credit your card and then they can deal with AOL

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lynnie · Chanel

Elle wrote:

Honestly, I'd skip attempting to reason with AOL CS and go straight for the CC company. I'm sure they've heard a million cases like yours before regarding AOL, so you probably wouldn't have to do much 'proving' at all. They can credit your card and then they can deal with AOL .

i already called a couple of days ago- they can only go back to august- so hopefully they'll get me back $125. Theres still $200 though that i'd have to get myself- if i can't its not the end of the world, but obv. i'd like it back since it was basically stolen from me. The principle of it all just pisses me off. was there a lawsuit against them for this or am i just crazy?

HeatherLynn · Gucci

lynnie wrote:

Elle wrote:

Honestly, I'd skip attempting to reason with AOL CS and go straight for the CC company. I'm sure they've heard a million cases like yours before regarding AOL, so you probably wouldn't have to do much 'proving' at all. They can credit your card and then they can deal with AOL .

i already called a couple of days ago- they can only go back to august- so hopefully they'll get me back $125. Theres still $200 though that i'd have to get myself- if i can't its not the end of the world, but obv. i'd like it back since it was basically stolen from me. The principle of it all just pisses me off. was there a lawsuit against them for this or am i just crazy?

I would NOT settle for that. They have documentation before August they just don't have it readily available on their computer. It's on an archive somewhere. The IRS can audit up to 6 years previous so I KNOW they have all of that documentation. Your bank should be able to pull back to the start of your bank account and see when they started charging you (this can be expensive and not really necessary since you know they have been charging you all along).

Now you could go through your CC company, but they may not be able to get your money back because the law requires you raise your dispute within 60 days of the incorrect charges. However, some CCs will give you a longer time.

Good luck and speak with a manager if necessary. Hopefully you know when you canceled the first time and say they have been charging since then and owe you X dollar.

-- Edited by HeatherLynn at 20:02, 2006-12-28

Alegria · Kate Spade

that sucks. The same thing happened to us. The husband dealt with it so I'm not sure how or what he said/did. We heard of this happening to others after it happened to us. AOL sucks.