Nicci

I am currently with AOL on dial-up, as I have been for the last 8 years...sad I know.

Did my broadband research today (yes I am going to move into the 21st century and escape dial up). I noticed AOL are so behind when it comes to pricing and connection speed.

Found a few companies that have suitable offers for me.

I sent AOL an email and asked how much notice do I have to give when I wish to cancel.

I added that I want to change to broadband and that they are not competitive. When I have chosen my new provider I will then notify them to cancel.

(I wanted to know the notice period so I can inform everyone).

The reply from AOL said 'your cancellation reference is.... and your membership will end on your next billing date (2 weeks time).

I replied to the email and simply put 'Do you not read emails?'

Here's hoping my account is not closed in 2 weeks.

So do humans with brains work there?

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Judging by their latest adverts, I guess all the brains are in the PR/Marketing department

carl

I've been to their customer service centre in Waterford, and they do have people working there.

Dieseldog

Why do you want to stay with AOL? I've seen it on friends pc's and it all looks a confusing mess. What does AOL offer that a simple 2mb ADSL connection @ £15/month, and Internet Explorer can't give you? Genuinely interested.

Nicci

I only want to stay with AOL for a crossover period.

Yes staying with them would save so much hassle in contacting friends and companies to change email address as that is going to be a big task.

I now have a shortlist of who I would like to use for broadband.

Lum

One point of note. Do not use Tiscali if you are intending to shop around. They are not prepared to play nice when transferring to another provider and it's gotten to the point now where a lot of providers are refusing to allow transfers TO Tiscali.

My mum had to cancel her phone line, then order a reconnection to get rid of Tiscali.

gotmashed

try plus.net ive found to be very good allways someone on the phone that can talk english and not sould like there going to sell you windows

gotmashed

try plus.net ive found to be very good allways someone on the phone that can talk english and not sound like there going to sell you windows

Dieseldog

I use Nildram, and along with Plusnet and Eclipse they all seem to crop up in peoples recommendations. Nildram are £16/month for 2mb adsl with a 2.5 Gig download limit a month (£2 per 2GB's thereafter). They recently announced they're including 500 mins of free landline calls a month in the package, but after seven weeks they've still not set me up .

Apart from that you always get through to them quickly and talk to someone in Bucks, not Manilla or India. Oh, there's no setup charges for migrating from another provider also.

Chrisgr31

I use AOL and have done for 8 years or so. Even found my wife on there, although some might not find that an advantage!

AOL offer unrivalled content (if it interests one), excellent, class leading free parental controls, cheap calls to tech help (although many recommend re-dialing until you get someone in Ireland), true unlimited downloading when on broadband (no hidden fair usage policy etc) excellent online help including message boards where members can help each other, thousands of message boards and chatrooms etc.

AOL is also very easy to use and if on Broadband you don't need to open the AOL software to access the internet.

Is fair to say not all AOL members are as happy and contented as me!

carl

AOL is also one of the few providers that have local access numbers so you can dial in from anywhere in the world.

Chip Sengravy

just get yourself a free dial up to tide you over in the meantime, and give arseholes on line the heave-ho...

http://www.clara.co.uk/

services/home access/free trail.....just put any old crap in the boxes

Chip Sengravy

as opposed to what?...a technician that is monolingual in Swahili?

Nicci

Chip, thanks for the bail out.

Looks like I will be phoning AOL tonight to complain and hopefully they will postpone my disconnection (they have not replied to my email).

Anyone got any comments on the companies that charge you in advance for internet use?
I have spotted a couple of companies that charge what works out to be £14 per month but you pay for the year in advance.

Leslie

I have used AOL for a very long time and find that the sofware is very good-simple to use. I also have unlimited access. No complaints from me anyway.

Les

Apparition

Yes they do have humans....they're the ones who wrote back to me to tell me I wouldn't be getting the balance of my membership fee refunded when I left them after 9 faithful years. Albeit, it was a very basic churned out letter. Soulless barstewards.
Yve
BTW Happy New Year

Apparition

Nicci...... beware...that's where I fell down with AOL. You probably won't get any money back if you walk away before your year is up.
Yve

Dieseldog

I wouldn't bother...
(a) they might go pop
(b) by the end of the year the others will probably be down to a tenner a month (remember a few years back when co.'s were offering lifetime dialup for a one of payment of £hundreds?).

Go with one of the 'reputables' - AOL are for the infirm and insane

scunnered

iTrader: (1)

On Sunday 1st Jan at 11:30pm I emailed Aol to tell them I want to cancel. By midnight, my contract had been cancelled, and I was offline. Bloody hell, that was quick!!!
I cancelled my AOL after 7 years. I wanted to be able to use my ADSL (I refuse to call it broadband) in both my home address and the flat I stay in when at work. They wanted to charge me an extra tenner. I was already paying £29.99 per month, so their rip off tactics didn't work this time.
I remember them saying when I took on the contract that the first month was free. I was billed after 30 days use, so that means I was always paying in advance. By my reckoning, I still had another 2 weeks left.

Anyway I got another service provider for half the cost and twice the speed, but only at the flat so far.