America Online, attorney general reach settlement

The settlement resolves consumer complaints about the difficulty and confusion consumers encountered in attempting to cancel their paid AOL services.

According to the release, AOL consumers had been given only limited options to cancel their accounts, causing a majority to attempt to cancel by directly calling AOL. AOL customer service representatives received incentives for retaining customers, resulting in consumer complaints that cancellation was extremely difficult, if not impossible.

The AG’s office received nearly 200 complaints about AOL practices, and more than 150 consumers may be eligible for refunds.

The agreement requires AOL to make refunds to consumers who have complained of unauthorized charges for service, and AOL will also adopt an ongoing process of refunding consumers for unauthorized charges.

“(This) agreement puts strict limitations on AOL’s practice of making cancellations virtually impossible, and requires recording and verification of these telephone calls,” Nixon said in the release. “We are pleased the company recognized that its policies were harming consumers and is making corrections to those policies accordingly.”

In addition to customer refunds, AOL is also paying $45,000 to the state to cover the costs of the case.