- Tuesday, 10 November 2009
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He is drinking at the Harrow when he should be at the plough
AOL signed people up for pay accounts
AOL HAS BEEN 'upgrading' the free accounts of its former employees and then trying to charge them.
The outfit's antics have been outed by former Time Warner employee Jason Zweig, who unfortunately for AOL now works for the Wall Street Journal.
After Time Warner merged with AOL he was given a free online account. He gave it to his wife who moved to Gmail last year and promptly forgot all about it.
About a month ago, Zweig started getting calls from an Indian collections agency "concerning unpaid charges of $103.60."
It turned out that for four months in late 2008 he had supposedly received "upgraded service" from AOL. The upgrade was automatic and the collections agency insistied he would have to pay up.
Zweig pointed out that he never got a bill. They said it was sent to his AOL account. When he requested a printed version of the bill he was told that the collections agency was not authorised to do that.
AOL refused to help unless he could remember the answer to the security question established when they set up the account nine years ago.
When he refused to pay he was told that AOL would be reporting the "unpaid bill" to the credit bureaus.
Zweig said that he was not the only former Time Warner employee who's gotten these phone calls from Kafka.
He said he would file fraud alerts with the credit reporting companies. µ
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Yes, in these rough times of recession you do need to be creative to squeeze a bit more out of the general population to ensure the continuance of your expensive habits.
If only we all could be this creative. We all would make a fortune and the government would be glad to receive all the extra taxes.
Dear reader, it is hereby demanded that you pay me 110,15 Euros for having seen my idea. Please be sure to stay allerted for the call from overseas collection agencies.
With kind regards,
Moneymaker's Delight(TM)
I am no law whizz but my understanding of Contract Law is that for a change in a contract to be valid both (all) parties to that contract must have given their consent. Changing from a free service to a paid one would certainly seem to be a change in the contractual nature of the undertaking. If AOL haven't previously stipulated in a written agreement that the customer signed that they could without notice start charging for the service, then I can't see how thay can legally get away with this. Without consent, variation of a contract is invalid and so any demand for payment would under US Law, I suspect, constitute fraud.
A review of the TOS from 9 years ago would probably reveal that the individual had agreed to allow this "upgrade". AOL buried a lot of stuff in the fine print as so many other services do. Remembering years back to the difficulty folks used to have canceling unwanted accounts, it sounds like these leaches are still trying to use their same old tired tricks. Maybe that attitude had something to do with their reversal of fortune.
There was a story about this on 'The Consumerist' web site. It was resolved in the end.
The best thing that ever happened to me was being banned by AOL. Seems about 10 years ago I used too many free CDs and then properly canceled each time the "free" period was up. The last time I tried to take advantage of one of the free offers, the lady at AOL was just stunned I had been "banned". Her word; not mine. Sometimes fate smiles on the idiots of this world and I got a big one.
I've since learned from friends it was shortly after that quitting AOL wasn't so easy. One thing I did learn, AOL never forgets. And the truth of the matter is even the proper quitting procedure doesn't always work.
When AOL fell into financial troubles I just laughed. They think they are so put upon when in reality they are crooks and miscreants.
As to just forgetting the account, ignorance is not an excuse and failure to act has always been interpreted as agreement. If I were the Mr. Zweig, I'd be relieved my bill is as little as it is and then I'd pay it. He does owe it. Just because he lacks the presence of mind to understand his contract is his problem, not AOL's. Pay up sucker and take a lesson: you are responsible for both your actions and your inactions.
This is just further proof. I ALWAYS try and get any of my customers who still use AOL to drop them. (I work computer repair)Earthlink also sucks.
The best thing that ever happened to me was being banned by AOL. Seems about 10 years ago I used too many free CDs and then properly canceled each time the "free" period was up. The last time I tried to take advantage of one of the free offers, the lady at AOL was just stunned I had been "banned". Her word; not mine. Sometimes fate smiles on the idiots of this world and I got a big one.
LOL. I thought I was the only one that had that happen. I too was flagged by AOL for using "too many free trials". I told the guy on the phone after I attempted to drop them for what would be the final time, hey, if you people keep sending me cd's in the mail every time I drop you, begging me to come back, literally days after closing the account, of course I am going to keep taking you up on your offer. He then screamed in the phone at me YOU ARE NOT ONLY BANNED FOR LIFE FROM EVER USING ANOTHER FREE TRIAL, BUT WHAT YOU ARE DOING IS CONSIDERED CRIMINAL, AND YOU WILL BE CONTACTED REST ASSURED. I said, oh really? Ok, if you feel that you must, go right ahead, I have a nice little collection sitting here on my desk of every single free trial offer with the letter pleading for me to re open my account, 9 times in a 14 month period. I took you guys 9 times to catch onto what was happening???? I never received anything in the mail about a lawsuit, but shortly after is when things starting going downhill fast for them. Couldn't happen to a nicer company. You reap what you sow. They just got p*ssed off that someone played them at their own game.
err, typo. meant to say It took you guys 9 times to catch onto what was happening???? Also wanted to add something to the post, after I closed the account for the 9th and final time, what do you think happened about 10 days later? Yep, ANOTHER letter and free trial to come back yet again. I did NOT take them up on their offer that time. No need to tempt fate ô¿ô, but yeah, doing crap like what is in this article, is EXACTLY why they are in the mess they are in. Maybe if you guys had honored your customers wishes to close their account, and not made it nearly impossible for them to leave, maybe some of those people would had returned, or referred a friend or family member. That, and not investing in their own broadband infrastructure, thinking that dial-up was still acceptable in 2009. How's that business model working out for you AOL?
they should be prosecuted for fraud
aol are evil and ruthless in their pursuit of pennies
"When he requested a printed version of the bill he was told that the collections agency was not authorised to do that."
Here in the U.S., collection agencies must send a written "proof of debt" when asked.
Doesn't matter where they're based.
After all, AOL is just a typical Internet Service Provider. What do you expect?
Just one more reason to NEVER use AOL!
RT
www.be-anonymous.tk
http://www.creditinfocenter.com/rebuild/debt_validation.shtml