AOL Settle for $3 million in Customer Cancellation Wrangle
USA -- AOL, the Internet division of Time Warner has averted a court battle.
In the settlement AOL has agreed to make it easier for its
customers to leave and will pay a sum of $3 million to 48 US
states and the District of Columbia.
The resolution was driven by complaints from AOL customers who
said they had major difficulties when trying to close their
accounts.
They say that they were sometimes greeted by aggressive
customer service representatives who did everything they could
to stop them migrating to another service provider. It is also
thought that CSRs were paid bonuses of up to $3,000 if they
found a way to retain the business.
As part of the settlement AOL agreed to maintain a system for
online processing of cancellations. Up until last August all
cancellation requests had to be made by telephone, fax or mail.
It is reported that AOL did not acknowledge any wrongdoing in
the settlement.
