The Cancellation Process

If you've made it to this point, I'm betting that you are looking for the simple and straight answer as to how to cancel. This I cannot offer because it does not necessarily exist. The cancellation process can be long and arduous. Often there is no simple way to resolve that you will cancel your account and then actually get it done in any reasonable timespan. This leads to frustration, anger, and much time lost with something that should be as simple as it sounds: "Please cancel my service."

What AOL doesn't want you to know

AOL's Member Services is staffed by individuals with varying training in sales techniques. These individuals (known as savers, member retention consultants, the saves queue, etc) are employed by AOL to improve AOL's bottom line. Other representatives are also cross-trained into this area (they are known as SRV reps, or saves reserves). These reps collectively will negotiate, barter, cajole, persuade, deceive, or force you to keep your account in any of the ways that they find appropriate and believe that they are right in using (most of the time). They have a large arsenal of tools and offers available for use that are meant to preserve the sheer numbers of AOL's membership even at the expense of a month or two where they pick up the tab for your service. These reps are paid an hourly wage comparable to all other representatives and also earn a commission (saves bonus) based on the combination of the rep's saves percentage (the number of people in a month that were still members after talking with the rep) and his retention rate (the percentage of those members saved that remain on the service after three months without calling to cancel again). A 5-10 minute conversation that you may have with this representative is potentially worth up to $12 for that rep and bonuses of $1000-$2000 per month are not unusual. I shouldn't have to say it, but these AOL employees are out for blood. If they think that there is even a chance that you will stay with the service, they will go after you--sometimes beligerently.

Who should you call first?

The serious canceller

First of all, be strong. Your assertiveness pays off with this taking the least amount of time possible. Your best bet is to call a billing or technical support rep first. Depending on the amount of calls that the saves queue is processing, these reps may or may not wish to transfer you over to the saves queue. Typically though, these reps love a quick call, and there is nothing quicker than a cancel for the most part. Information that you need to be prepared to give includes your name, address, phone number, and the last 4 numbers of your billing method. All must be exactly as they appear on the account. Be prepared to be asked for less; it all depends on the phone number where you are calling from (yes, AOL does have caller ID of sorts--referred to as the ANI). This should be the end of your troubles. Make sure the rep gives you your account number (also called a confirmation number by some) before getting off the phone. This number really doesn't mean terribly much, but it does give you an easy way for them to look up your account in the future if the need arises.

If you choose to actually call the actual number for cancellations, be prepared to be on the phone a while. Your wait time will be less than three minutes, but after that, you will most likely talk to the nicest, friendliest person that you could have ever imagined over the phone. Please realize that most of these people are truly that nice in real life, but here they are nice because they are paid for it. They will likely make conversation with you to start. Most reps are trained to do their very best at avoiding the word "cancel" as much as possible. They want to focus you on the positive aspects of AOL and your time on AOL. They may ask you what you do online, what things you use on AOL, and also begin to offer suggestions about other things that you might try. I cannot emphasize enough: if you are truly serious about cancelling your account, you must be prepared for these tactics. They can be very convincing. If you are aware of how the conversation is developing, you will be more likely to avoid getting snookered.

If you seem receptive from here, be prepared to be on the phone for a long time. Otherwise, here comes the free month. All saves reps have full authority to place a free month on the account (there are a few restrictions to this). They will emphasize that there is no risk for taking this free month. While this is technically true, the statistics that AOL relies upon indicate that if you accept the free month, you will be more likely to remain on the service for a much longer period. This also gives the saves rep a chance to send email on a daily or weekly basis "showing" you all the "wonderful" things that AOL has to offer. If you haven't forgotten about those busy signals and random disconnects by now, you are probably more emotionally withdrawn than anyone I know. The point here is distraction and redirection are the primary means by which they will keep you on the service.

Regardless of the actual method that you employ to get your account cancelled (the above are simply examples of how it can be), you may wish to give AOL another call a short time after your call to cancel and have a rep look up your account to make absolutely sure that it is cancelled.

For the non-serious canceller

Just call up saves and get your free month. Don't waste anyone's time with it, and don't bother me about it when AOL's Fraud Department finally catches up with you after you get 6 months for free. It'll all catch up to you in time.

Epilogue

Never presume that your account has actually been cancelled. 99% of the time it probably has been cancelled, but such presumptions lead to further charges showing up on your bank or credit card statement. Always double check to make sure the cancel has taken effect (you might try signing on and make sure it won't login). Also, if you do have problems cancelling, try to avoid fighting with the representatives you spoke with. They are less likely to help you if they perceive you as just-another-disgruntled-member. They talk to 20 or 30 people that are like this on some days and most reps have no patience for it. Otherwise, try not to prolong the process. The longer you deal with this, the more frustration enters the picture and the less likely that your online experience will ever be enjoyable again.