My mother's ISP is screwing her over.

My mother is disabled and on a fixed income.

In Nov 2002 She moved out of my sisters house and into a new appartment. signed up for AOL Broadband.

Of course they make a complete mess of the installiton. On Dec 1 she notices that the computer still connecting using my sister's old account info.

She tries to fix the problem by creating a new account, but notices that all the billing options are for dial up rather than AOL Broadband. So she calls, discovers that instead of creating an new account for her they transfered my sisters. It took them three hours to make her the owner of her account and switch her over to the account she just created, so they offer her three months free membership, but she still has to pay the $45.95 monthly charge that appears on her cable bill.

Fast forward three months. She never gets a bill from AOL, but one day they debit $400 from her checking account. She calles and they tell her that on Dec 1st she changed her account from unlimited to their "budget" dial up plan which charges $3.95 for the first minute and 2.50 as hour after than. (Plus the $45.95 one her cable bill for AOL broadband). They also seem to think that she was using a dial up connection. I built her computer and it does not have a modem. Also they insist that their system would have automatically sent her an email notifying her of the change, but she definately received no such email.

At first AOL agree's to drop the hourly charges and only bill her $23 a month for unlimited dial up connection (they insist they can't change it to bring your own isp because off all the dialup connections made with her non existant modem). Then a supervisor decided not to approve the deal.

She talks to several supervisors and they agree that no one paying for AOL broadband would intensionally sign up to pay an additional $2.50 an hour, but they insist that the change could only have been made from her computer. They suggest that either she did it my mistake or it was done my one of her grandchildren who sometimes use her computer. In any case they said that since it was done from her computer she is responsible.

The best they are willing to offer her is to refund $133 of the $400 they charged her. Unfortunately she used her banks visa debit card, I don't know if she can dispute the charge and get her money back that way.

My only condolence is that maybe I now I get by mother talk my mother to stop using AOL

I have a degree in Computer Science and another in Philosophy, but when it comes to legal matters I am as ignorant as they come.

So if you have any advice or have had a similar experience please let me know?

I'm sorry to hear your Mom is having so much trouble with AOL. AOL is in dire straights financially and I wouldn't trust them to do anything that will cost them a dime. I had a free year of AOL and got rid of them as soon as I could. They are the worst ISP on the planet.

I thought the FCC might handle complaints about broadband or ISP's but their site directed me to the FTC (Federal Trade Commission). The <A HREF="http://www.ftc.gov/" target="_new">FTC</A> will handle fraud complaints involving ISP's. Go to their site and explain your Mom's problem. Be sure to include everything you can. Contact dates with AOL, replies etc. Also let them know your Mom is disabled. Be sure to tell them that AOL botched the installation and when your Mom called to have it fixed they switched her plan. It's called slamming and it's illegal.

I've been through a dispute with a cable company and once I got the FTC involved resolution was swift and in my favor. Be persistent. Don't let AOL get away with their underhanded BS. And get to your Mom's bank. Let them know NO ONE is to have access through her bank card unless she authorizes it! File a complaint with them too and find out who to contact, probably your state's banking commission, to get AOL to refund her money.

It also doesn't hurt to e-mail the top brass at AOL and tell them how their workers are abusing customers. Let them know you'll be spreading the word about how AOL took advantage of your Mom.

Good luck and don't give in.

One of the biggest problems is that my mother doesn't know the correct terms for everything and tends to give them irrelevant deatails. They assume that since she doesn't know what she is talking about that she is the one who messed up.

She keeps calling all cable modem connection as road runner, and calls aol broadband AOL Roadrunner.

So I last night I talked to her for a couple hours long distance and couched her on all the right terminology, and exactly what facts where and where not relevant.

Anyway despite the fact that they keep telling her that the matter has been resolved and that there is nothing further they can offer her, she keep calling.

This afternoon she finally convinced a supervisor to ignore the notes the other people have made and actually listen to her.

She finally was able to convice him that she has in fact been paying for AOL Broadband and has the cable bills to prove it.

Apparently despite the fact that she has been paying for AOL Broadband they have no record of her having this service. That is why she is being billed twice, once for unlimited service and once for 2.50 an hour dialup.

The supervisor said he will contact the phone company to verify that she does in fact subscribe to AOL Broadband, and then try to get her a full refund for the hourly charges.

However because they are unable to change their records to show that the previous connection where not made via dialup, they said they have to charge her $23 for unlimited dialup rather than the lower non-dialup rate.

Of course they told her once before she would get a refund only to have another supervisor overrule the decision.

Listen, if you want to let AOL cheat your mother so be it. You cannot rely on AOL to rectify this situation. Call her bank. File a complaint. Call the Federal Trade Commission or go to their web site. File a complaint.

Let AOL know you're going to do it. Let your Mom's bank and the FTC know you have tried in good faith to resolve this problem with AOL. Let them know AOL is at fault. When your Mom gets her money back get AOL out of her home. There are many other providers out there. You can find another broadband provider <A HREF="http://www.dslreports.com/" target="_new">here</A>.

Good luck. Stop letting AOL get away with this BS.

Yea file fraud, counter claim and ask for the connection logs at there end. Im assuming it will give a connection location and if thas the case, im sure that will be a whole lot different from a dial up location.

And also remember.. you sorta deserve it.. AOL.. tsk tsk..

shame upon thee.. how dare u taint THGC with such a word.

If A equals success, then the formula is: A=X+Y+Z. X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut.

Yes... getting people away from aol is allways a worthy and noble task.

<b>"If spam wasn't totally bogus, Hotmail users would be well-endowed, slim people with hair who make big money working at home and having great sex provoked by free porn and herbal Viagra.</b>

I really wish I had more to tell you. Let us know how this works out. I think many of us started with AOL back in the day, and I think you're right to at the very least do the "bring your own service" plan.

I hate AOL with a passion. I used them from day one and watched them deteriorate to the point that their company was unable to offer a decent service. They've obviously gotten worse.



<font color=red>
<A HREF="http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?dhlucke" target="_new">The French are being described as cheese-eating surrender monkeys.</A></font color=red>