One Thing You Can't Do Online: Cancel!

I can promise that AOL will not allow you to cancel online. I tried, got confirmation on line and still ended up with an additonal bill because I had not called. sheeeeeeesh. What a rip off.

i switched ISPs and even then I couldnt cancel online (so i just emailed my credit card company and told them to stop paying... and it worked! Hahahah nefarious!)

I agree that its just that the companies dont have a reason to make it easy -- its the sad truth.

(I wonder if i can cancel my subscription to PC World online? Not that I want to, just, yanno, Im a troublemaker.) ^_^m

did he even bother to look at the netflix site?

two clicks and you are cancelled

sloppy journalism

if you are within a trial you can cancel napster through the client.
and if you do have to call they are not very busy at all on the weekends

There's a similar problem I came across with my satellite TV provider (Bell ExpressVu in Canada) - you can only *upgrade* your package online. If you want to downgrade you have to call.

Like Red Hand above I was disatisfied with my ISP provider (AOL, duh - I was using a free 30 day trial). At day 29 I called AOL, since I couldn't cancel online and they confirmed I was cancelled. I tried to log on to my AOL account to make sure it was terminated and indeed it was. End of story? No!

I got another ISP and a few weeks later for other reasons I changed banks and got a new debit card from that bank (I gave AOL my old bank debit card number). I also moved to another county in that time too. Well about 3 months later I get a collection notice from some ***holes about an unpaid AOL account.

I called AOL up and they told me I owed for another month; I explained I had cancelled and then tested my login that same night and it was dead; they said I still owed for another month - which I didn't. After talking to her supervisor I suggested they check my account activity on their logs. Lo and behold they showed I hadn't logged on since the day I cancelled so that was the end of it.

So if you have AOL (which I never will again) they are worse than a psychotic girlfriend to get rid of....

I think it seems very smart of the companies to do this.

A huge pain as well. Yes.

I tried AOL a few years ago. You know, the free trial with a million hours if you use them all the first month. When I called to cancel they said "we hate to lose such a valuable customer, try another gazillion hours free." So the next month I called to cancel and got the same response again. This happened about 4 months in a row and finally I told them why don't you just give me free service forever then I would stop calling. They didn't go for that and I wound up taliking to three other people before they would cancel my service. They never once mentioned paying for what I had already used. Then I would get a call once a week from them begging me to renew my service. Every time I told them I don't want it and please don't call back. Eventually the calls stopped. But it was such a hassle. It makes me not want to try anything "free" ever again.

A lot of AOL hell here I see. I too had AOL about five years ago. I actually had it for about 3 months, beyond the trial period, but I was dissatisfied and wanted to cancel. Not only can you not cancel online, they'll barely let you cancel on the phone! I spent nearly 30 minutes with the AOL rep on the phone trying to convince her that I indeed wanted to cancel, and that nothing she could say was going to change my mind. I finally had to resort to being quite belligerant and nasty with her, but I felt as if I had no choice.

I guarantee that the number one motivation for companies not allowing online cancellation is retention. If you have to call, they at least get to have one last crack at you. However, it's really quite annoying when they won't take no for an answer.

hmm, I cancelled netflix online with no problem. Maybe because I was one of the "heavy renters" they made it especially easy for me to cancel, lol. :)

Google (not a paid service, but still!!) has the cancel my account, cancel my orkut information etc. which I think is cool. I love to have the option ;-)

I also had problems cancelling AOL - I faxed them a letter I hand wrote stating I wanted to cancel, and included my name ,e-mail address and phone #. They stated that since I didn't inlude my address, they couldn't cancel, but were able to mail me a billing. I wouldn't ever get AOL again. I hope they go under!

you have to call to cancel RealPass from real player. >O

GoDaddy let's you cancel their services online... I recently had a hosting account with them, and shut it all down without ever picking up the phone.

Same problem with AOL. Tried it for about 10 days. Tried to cancel online. Nope. I had to call.
45 minutes on the phone. I was ready to explode. I tried to keep my cool as they kept on telling me the advantages of paying for AOL on top of my broadband ..... I kept on telling them, no thank you. Please cancel. They kept on going.

AOL is one of the most expensive free offer services out there. People, save yourself the aggravation. Don't join AOL. And if you do, hope your a lifer.

Ditto's on canceling AOL. Multiple calls to their call center in India to cancel the service. A good 45 minutes of BS. They want your name, SSN, eye color, retinal scan, fingerprints, voice ID, mothers maiden name etc. etc. just to cancel.

A friend had roped me into a free trial at True.com, where you had to give your credit card number. After my free trial period was up, I found you were supposed to call and cancel. I tried calling the number several times during the prescribed hours, and never got an answer.

I simply sent an e-mail to their customer service, explained that no one answered their phone, and said, "Yes, you WILL accept my cancellation online, or I will report you to the BBB for fraud and dispute the credit card charges."

The account was cancelled, and I never had to call. :)

Harry McCracken, I cannot believe that you really think this is quality work on your part. Your guesses as to why they do this reads like an attempt at hyperbole just to put some zing into a poor article.

You missed the one reason that totally justifies your bank for doing this; to keep the customer from being screwed over.

It is a proven fact that theives are less likely to steal if they know that they can be identified. That is one reason why we have video cameras in the banks. Only a hardcore thief would try to rob a bank and risk being identified. Likewise, a disgruntled employee or friend or spouse will less likely screw up your bank accout if they must call and risk the fact that the phone number can be logged by the phone company. They also risk that their voice would give away their uneasiness, which is a sign to the bank official that there is something wrong.

There are other reasons to make it "hard" (it's not hard, just pick up the darn phone, you know, that thing that you got along with perfectly until the internet) to cancel. Your statement "I love the idea of a "Cancellation Warning," as if anybody other than me has any say whatsoever in the decision" shows that you just don't have common sense. It does not matter who has the right to cancel the account. It's an explicit declaration which removes all ambiguity from the procedure for the user. Maybe you forget that their are tottally dumb people out there who do from time to time F something up. Hmm; if I were one of them, and I had Napster's subscription service, had a thousand songs from that service, did not understand that the cancelled account means all the songs stop working for me (DRM anyone?), cancelled the service and found that all my songs stopped playing, I would be infuriated and probably blame Napster for my stupid mistake.

I guess you just don't worry about having your MONEY in your BANK ACCOUNT F'd up by ANYONE that gets a hold of your personal info, and you think that everyone in the internet is smart enough not to screw themselves up.

Shows how much you know

Pragmatist, stop that bad language!!!

About the AOL cancellation, sorry to hear about the horror stories of cancellation.

Maybe filing a lawsuit against AOL can help AOL be honest to their customers and stop promoting customers to try another 1000+ hours for free, again, again, and again.

This makes AOL lless reputable.

God forbid you have to step into the dark ages and use a phone! *gasp*

Mind you, i'm 21. I've pretty much always had the internet available to me. But....exactly why is having to use the phone difficult? Are we getting THAT lazy as a society that we complain because we have to have human contact?

Ladiesman-

Considering that when you call MOST places they now have automated systems that I have to WAIT until my "option" comes up.. & press whatever number that may be.. It really wouldn't be considered HUMAN CONTACT anymore now would it??

Pragmatist,

I see a big difference in being able to cancel an online banking SERVICE, versus cancelling or taking money from an account. If a thief has access to my account information, he can do a lot more damage by keeping the account active than by cancelling the service. I think most banks would require a personal visit to close an account, especially if there are funds left in it.

As for things like AOL; sure, it would be inconvenient if someone cancelled my account, but AOL lets you rejoin any time within 6 months and keep the same username.

As for Napster and the like, I would just recommend being a lot more careful with one's account information. Still, that is one where I can see requiring the phone call makes a little more sense.

It is obvious that the main reason most of these services make it hard to unsubscribe, is that they don't want to lose the income we provide.

I cancelled my 8 year subscription with AOL last month. I called in 2003 to cancel adn they gave me 6 months free but 30 months later decided to finish it off.

Fist, I had to look up the AOL number on Yahoo. I called, went through call center hell, about 30 minutes later finally got someone on the phone. The lady tried everything to keep me on, including a free month. I called the day after my billing cycle so I had to pay for an additional month. Finally she realized nothing short of lifetime free membership would keep me on and she got in a huff and cancelled my acct. I told her it was either cancel me now or I'll cancel my credit card.

Hopefully that's the end of it.

I cancelled Netflix online just over a month ago. Maybe they changed it with the coming of the New Year?....hmmm

Mandy -

Fair enough. I agree that if they want you to call, you should actually be able to talk to somebody. I don't see the problem with having to call, provided they DO allow to speak with someone, though.

Agreed.

Well, considering the stellar service of AOL(/sarcasm), I know what I have to look forward to now that they've sent out notices that they're raising their rates by two dollars for unlimited usage. I say this because I have no intention of paying that much more for them.

I keep reading references to how easy it is to "just pick up a phone and cancel"...if only it were that easy! When I decide I want to cancel a service, that means I want to cancel it. I don't want to be told why I should keep it, I don't want to hear a sales pitch on new product options or deals I can get to keep me a customer. I just want to cancel...but most of these phone reps in cancellation departments just will not let you have the last word, and they end up bringing out the worst in me...I had XM Radio for 3 years, no problems whatsoever, until I called to cancel, and after 5 minutes of saying no to about 6 different sales pitches, I finally had to almost yell at the rep on the other line...3 years of great service soured by one phone call. And they're definitely not alone...I agree with the poster above who suggested doing it through the credit card company...amazing how quick they'll cancel then!

I've encountered the same crappy techniques that make cancelling seem impossible. One option on some sites is to change your credit card info to a bogus number or bogus expire date during the middle of a subscription billing cycle. If you are already established with the subscription they usually do not rerun your credit card immediately if it is the midedle of a cycle. When they finally do it is too late.

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Another serious offender in this category is XM Satellite Radio. XM is happy to let users activate radios online, but forces users to call in order to de-activate a radio. I have been through this process twice, and each time I have had to wait a long time not once, but twice, since each de-activation requires a transfer to a "talk-you-out-of-it" specialist. Previously, I had intended just to reduce the number of XM radios on my subscription, but given these terrible experiences, I now plan to cancel my subscription entirely. I will probably do so by "forgetting" to give XM my new credit card number rather than enduring the XM call center nightmare.

AOL allowed online cancellations at keyword "Cancel" back in the 90's...didn't they? I didn't use AOL until 2005 and only briefly. Cancelling by phone is harder than "a few clicks to cancel" could ever be.

Look up the phone #. Call. All kinds of BS with the Automated Attendant which has no idea what I'm saying. Start shouting instructions at Automated Attendant one syl-la-ble at a time, to no avail. Finally press 5 just to make "her" stop saying "I didn't understand that! Let's try again." 10 minutes on hold. 5 minute's to confirm mother' maiden name, pet's name, billing address, screenname, account type. 20 minutes for the hard-sell of all of AOL's brilliant features, after 5 minutes of "Hate to see you go." 10 minutes arguing with the call rep that I don't want an account or the early cancellation surcharge he's threatened me with. And that was just the first phone call.

Another 10 minutes with the Automated Attendant who failed to understand a word of what I said. 5 minutes on hold. 5 minutes to confirm who I was and what I wanted, again. Another call rep saying how wonderul AOL is. It's pure sunlight and roses to use their software, isn't it? Another 10 minute arguement over the early cancellation charge, because with my two accounts, the wrong one had been cancelled by a call rep months before, on purpose I believe, to make me keep the other account against my will.

Now a talk with this guy's supervisor after another 5 minutes on hold in he agreed with his minions whoops! I mean employees that I must pay $50 to cancel the account. The creation of a website about AOL as a result of all these unhappy phone calls between me and them involved three months of almost daily writing and editing, while I simultaneously taught myself HTML.

Anyone here still think it's just as easy to call as it is to CLICK? You're kidding, right? The website is http://marahs-aol-log.livejournal.com/, and I created it precisely because calling is not easier than "just a few clicks to cancel."

When are online companies going to get it that nothing is more important than a customer's goodwill and positive word-of-mouth? If you do what you can to convenience the customer, even when they say they're cancelling and not coming back, they will remember your company happily for making it easy, and might tell others about it, too. They will keep a more positive picture of your company in their mind than the customer who was harassed or practically blackmailed by call reps into keeping an account. That customer will be more likely to use their product in the future, because that company never harassed them, never took money that wasn't theirs, etc.

For instance, both Netscape and WalMart Connect let me cancel accounts with them quickly, "No questions asked", and no extra or "surprise" charges once I was cancelled. Because of this I still hang onto my WalMart disc "in case I ever need it" and I feel positive towards them, even though their service sucks, because they treat people right. This is the key to succes in all businesses: know how to treat people right. It's about time AOL adopts this idea; it can only help them in the future. I've never seen a customer base as unhappy as their own.

To cancel Napster online, send an e-mail to support@napster.com informing them since you signed up online, you are canceling your service online (NOTE: you are INFORMING what you are doing? *NOT* asking if this method of canceling is accepted).

Date/Timestamp the e-mail and inform Napster this is an official notice, and further credit card transactions from Napster will be considered fraudulent since the business relationship between you and Napster has been formally canceled (keep a copy, preferably paper, of this e-mail for your records).

Then call your credit card company (just to be safe) and ask them to flag/block any future payments to Napster (they should be able to do this).

Napster may say to call them to cancel, however they have no legal barring over requiring a phone call as the only method to cancel. You signed up for Napster online; thus you will cancel the same way.

Here's a way to cancel XM Satellite Radio without calling their dysfunctional outsourced customer service centers. Send a certified letter to this minimally documented address:

XM Satellite Radio
Listener Care Center
5885 Trinity Parkway, Suite 300
Centreville, VA 20120

It got me cancelled right away, and the few bucks spent on certified mail were worth it to avoid XM's long hold times, inevitable transfers, and arm-twisting customer retentions tactics.

napster won't remove or cancel ur account. they just downgrade it to napster light. *scoff*

i want my credit card info off and my account cancelled for pete's sake