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Yet Another Reason Why AOL is EVIL and Should Never be Used

When 30-year-old Vincent Ferrari tried to cancel his AOL account, the representative refused to let him do so, and CNBC has the entire conversation on tape. After 15 minutes spent trying to reach a live person, Ferrari then spent another four minutes trying to "convince" the AOL representative to cancel his account. The last straw, Ferrari said, was when the representative asked to speak to his father. Upon hearing of the conversation, AOL sent Ferrari an apology and said the representative no longer worked for the company.

More AOL Deceptions and Fraud Revealed

AOL made embarrassing headlines recently, thanks to a tech-savvy consumer who taped a phone conversation with an overly zealous customer service representative while attempting to cancel his account. Ever wonder why an AOL representative would treat a customer that way? Apparently, AOL reps are trained to be attack dogs, albeit quasi-polite ones, based on the tactics described in an internal manual on Enhanced Sales Training for AOL Retention Consultants. The real reason why AOL reps work so hard to keep their customers: Employees are instructed to regard service cancellations as sales leads. AOL's six-stage system for retaining customers:

• Greet and verify
• Discovery
• Tailored value
• Right offer
• Resolve concerns
• Motivate to activate

What tripped up the aggressive AOL rep in his nationally aired rant against his customer, according to The Consumerist: He stayed stuck in the discovery phase, never bothering to learn his customer was an IT professional. The one thing you can say about AOL is that they've been consistently deceptive for the past decade. That's why I never had an account with AOL in the first place and influenced thousands to stop using them.

How You Can Cancel AOL in Three Minutes or Less AOL:

AOL: Why would you like to cancel your account?

You: Uh, I sold my computer, and I'm not getting another one.

AOL: So...you just sold your computer, and you're not going to go online?

You: I'm also moving to Europe.

AOL: You're moving to Europe?

You: Umm, yep, that's it, I'm moving to Europe.