NEW YORK -- All Vincent Ferrari wanted to do was cancel his $14.95 per month account with America Online (AOL).
The 30-year-old Bronx resident recently forced to cut down on home expenses, and decided one of the services that had to go was his AOL internet account.
But Ferrari had heard horror stories of how difficult it was to cancel with the internet giant, so he decided to record his telephone call.
The following is a transcript of his call with an AOL representative:
AOL REPRESENTATIVE: Hi this is John at AOL... how may I help you today?CLOCK READOUT - 00:30
VINCENT FERRARI: I wanted to cancel my account.
AOL: Sorry to hear that. Let's pull your account up here real quick. Can I have your name please?
VF: VF Ferrari.
AOL: You've had this account for a long time.CLOCK READOUT - 01:47
VF: Yup.
AOL: Use this quite a bit. What was the cause of wanting to turn this off today?
VF: I just don't use it anymore.
AOL: Do you have a high speed connection, like the DSL or cable?
VF: Yup.
AOL: How long have you had that...
VF: Years...
AOL: ...the high speed?
VF: ...years.
AOL: Well, actually I'm showing a lot of usage on this account.
VF: Yeah, a long time, a long time ago, not recently...
AOL: Okay, I mean is there a problem with the software itself?CLOCK READOUT - 02:21
VF: No. I just don't use it, I don't need it, I don't want it. I just don't need it anymore.
AOL: Okay. So when you use this... I mean, use the computer, I'm saying, is that for business or for... for school?
VF: Dude, what difference does it make. I don't want the AOL account anymore. Can we please cancel it?
AOL: Last year was 545, last month was 545 hours of usage...CLOCK READOUT - 03:02
VF: I don't know how to make this any clearer, so I'm just gonna say it one last time. Cancel the account.
AOL: Well explain to me what's, why...
VF: I'm not explaining anything to you. Cancel the account.
AOL: Well, what's the matter man? We're just, I'm just trying to help here.
VF: You're not helping me. You're helping me...
AOL: I am trying to help.
VF: Helping... listen, I called to cancel the account. Helping me would be canceling the account. Please help me and cancel the account.
AOL: No, it wouldn't actually...
VF: Cancel my account...
AOL: Turning off your account...
VF: ...cancel the account...
AOL: ...would be the worst thing that...
VF: ...cancel the account.
AOL: Okay, cause I'm just trying to figure out...CLOCK READOUT - 03:32
VF: Cancel the account. I don't know how to make this any clearer for you. Cancel the account. When I say cancel the account, I don't mean help me figure out how to keep it, I mean cancel the account.
AOL: Well, I'm sorry, I don't know what anybody's done to you VF because all I'm...
VF: Will you please cancel the account.
AOL: Alright, some day when you calmed down you're gonna realize that all I was trying to do was help you... and it was actually in your best interest to listen to me.
VF: Wonderful, Okay.
*cut and pasted from a Bulletin Board
No comments:
Post a Comment