Connecticut Attorney General, DCP Commissioner Announce AOL To Stop Discouraging And Frustrating Cancellations

July 11, 2007 -- Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) Commissioner Jerry Farrell, Jr. today announced that America Online has agreed to terminate policies allegedly intended to frustrate and discourage service cancellations.

AOL reached the agreement with Connecticut, 47 other states and the District of Columbia. Connecticut will receive $45,000 under the settlement, part of $3 million that the company will pay the states and the District of Columbia.

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The agreement also requires the company to reimburse Connecticut consumers for payments they made after AOL failed to honor their cancellation requests, and to unify all member screen names and emails under a single bill.

AOL made it difficult to cancel by requiring all terminations be over the phone. When consumers called, customer representatives, who received bonuses for frustrating cancellation requests, allegedly put them on hold or transferred them repeatedly until they hung up. They also often offered consumers two free months without making it clear that they would have to call again to cancel before the two months expired.

AOL's practice of allowing customers to create multiple screen names and email addresses also frustrated attempts to cancel accounts. Members who thought they had terminated their service continued to be billed under alternative screen names or emails that they sometimes didn't know existed because of pop up features allowing creation of alternative names without the user realizing it.

"This settlement forces AOL to cease its outlandish and underhanded campaign to undermine consumer cancellations," Blumenthal said. "The company set out to confuse and confound consumers seeking to terminate their service, requiring all cancellation requests over the phone and paying bonuses to employees who frustrated them. Consumers who called were put on hold or transferred repeatedly until they hung up in disgust. People who thought their account was cancelled continued receiving bills under alternate screen names or emails.

"This agreement halts these repulsive and reprehensible tactics, while providing restitution to consumers forced to pay for a service they had canceled. I will continue to vigilantly and vigorously enforce state law protecting the consumer's right to terminate a service."

Most Connecticut consumers who were charged after they cancelled their service have already received restitution from the company.

Connecticut consumers who believe they are eligible for restitution or have questions about the settlement should contact the Attorney General's Office at (860) 808-5420.

Other states joining in the settlement are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Source: Connecticut Attorney General