AOL is the spawn of the devil. I believe everyone knows someone who has had an AOL account and had enormous trouble getting the account cancelled when it is no longer needed.

I just saw an installment of “Get Gephardt” where he helped someone cancel an AOL account after 18 months of continued credit card charges.

Kathy and I know someone who works on the AOL account at Convergys, on the signup side. This person says that the department that handles cancellations is actually called Account Retention. Apparently the people that work in this department face disciplinary action if they fail to retain two out of every three customers who call to cancel. If they can get you to say “OK” or “Yes” or any other affirmative response in the course of the conversation, they won’t cancel your account.

I’m told that the best way to get an account cancelled is to only say the words “cancel my account” during your conversation with AOL – don’t let them goad you into any kind of affirmative response.