I've been with aol for over 9 years and every thing as been ok. In 2007 I even changed my phone line from bt to aol. Then they got bought out by the Carphone Warehouse that same year. then they teamed up with talk talk also part of the Carphone Warehouse, still so far so good, until 2 weeks ago. I started to getting phone calls and automated messages saying could I contact talk talks finance department. First I egnored it as I was not a talk talk customer and thought they may be trying to tought my custom. Then I rememberd that talk talk was part of CWP and the take over here in the UK. I decided to call them and that's when it started. I was now trying to find out what talk talk wanted. I was talking to an Asian in an asian call centre. He said my direct debit had been cancelled and that I now owed two months outstanding. I asked how did he know about my direct debit with aol. it appears that talk talk now handle the finance and billing for aol. I gave my details and he then asked for a password on the account. I said I don't have one and never had one with aol as they ask your security details. he then took my security details and brought up my account. I then ask how did my direct debit become canceled and why was I not notifide sooner, to which he could not answer the question. I was then asked if I could pay the oustanding.
I politly said no I could not as I wanted a reason first as to why my dd was cancelled. he then started saying that faliur to pay would result in my service being interrupted and a charge of £4 admin charge would be added daily till it was paid. We were not getting anywhere he eithe clearly did not understand me or did not want to. So when I asked to speak to someone else he wanted a password on the account or he could not transfer me. I then rang aol as I.had bit.my tongue long enough. I explaine everything again and asked them to reinstall the dd but still no answer as to why my direct debit had been cancelled in the first place. Now I was losing it and we were not getting anywhere so I gave up. later that week after recieving another call fromm talk talk. I then got straight on to aol got it sorted eventually after being told that it was a softaware/hardware issue,that I could believe. but when I was told it was beyond their control and that the machine was responsable for cancelling my direct debit and due to the non payment my service would be affected and there was nothing they could do it was beyond their control I now asked to speak to the manager. I finally got through after demanding I did not want to complain in writing because we know what happens to letters.
The direct debit has been reinstated according to the bank. and if this matter arises again I will change supplier: I have been thinking about this since what has happened previous.
AOL broadband
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Overview
- Simple, easy to understand packages
- 1-month free on all packages
Best selling AOL broadband deals
- Home broadband
AOL Broadband
- £-15.31 setup + £5.31/mth*1 month FREE then £5.31 for 2 months
- 10GB/mth downloads
- Up to 0Kb max speed
Or Call 0800 840 5387
- Broadband + Phone
Broadband + Calls + Line rental- FREE setup + £0/mth*FREE for 1 months
- Includes phone bundle*Free evening/weekend UK calls (+ £13.90/mth line rental)
- Up to 0Kb max speed
Or Call 0800 840 5387
About AOL
Definitely the Marmite brand in fixed-line broadband terms, AOL will be described as the best or worst broadband provider in the UK, depending on who you talk to. It was the first ISP to include a wireless router as standard with all its broadband packages, and it claims its "easy-to-install software" means connection couldn't be easier. While it also claims 'award winning' customer support, calls to it aren't free - nor is there a 24-hour service. That said, for the novice - and families in particular - AOL can be a sound choice. The start-up pack includes anti-virus and firewall software, as well as spam filters, pop-up blockers and parental controls.
AOL, originally America Online, launched its first US online service as far back as 1985. It landed in the UK in 1996, building a huge user base thanks to attractive pricing and aggressive advertising (it used to be a challenge to buy a magazine that didn't have a 'free' AOL installation CD glued to the front). The AOL Broadband name was acquired by The Carphone Warehouse Group in December 2006, with the AOL UK base being acquired from AOL Inc shortly afterwards. It is now part of TalkTalk Broadband, which parted company with Carphone in March 2010, but AOL still exists as a brand in its own right. TalkTalk's total fixed-line broadband subscriber base (including purchasing Tiscali and Pipex, as well as AOL) is close to 4.3 million, vying for second place (by UK customer numbers) with Virgin Media, around a million behind BT.
AOL is often seen as having slow broadband speeds, but much of this is down to many AOL customers deliberately choosing a low download speed cap of 2Mb in the past to pay a reduced price for broadband. This package has made it difficult for TalkTalk to move those customers onto its existing packages. This, and some other operational reasons, are why the AOL brand is still continuing today (unlike Tiscali and Pipex).
Be aware that you need Windows XP/Vista or Apple MAC OSX 10.3 or above to install AOL's software, as well as the usual BT landline.
Customer reviews
Show all 251 AOL broadband reviews»
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I have been an aol customer for the past 10 years and like most people who have commented on here did not have any major problems with them until recently. The last contract I had with them which was for 18 months came to an end a couple of months ago, this is when my problems started. I started to get extremely slow speeds that it became impossible to use the internet and when I could use it, it kept disconnecting itself. Like other people on here customer services blamed the router and told me if I wanted a new one I needed a new contract. Well, because I had never really had any problems with them in the past I agreed to this. I was told I had 14 days cooling off period to change my mind and that my new router would arrive within 7 days. After 7 days I still had not received it so I called them back and they told me that a new router had not even been ordered. I was promised once again that I would receive it in 7 days. Another 6 days past and still no router so I phoned them again and guess what, yes I was told no router had been ordered. This time I told them that I wanted to cancel my new order which took 4 idiots and 1 hr to do. This still left me with the extremely slow internet so when I rang again I asked to speak to a team manager. Now the first time I asked this the person I spoke to refused to put me through to one and told me that they don't have team managers. I knew that this was a lie as I had already looked up on the internet aols complaints procedure. This stated that any complaints had to first be made to a team manager. It took me 2 more phone calls to finally speak to a team manager who also at first refused to send me a router but by the end of the call I was promised a new router free of charge with no new contract. She agreed to send me a new one after i told her that over the past 4 years I had renewed my contract twice and not one was I given a new router, which apparently you are entitled to with every new contract. I also told her that if she refused then I would take my complaint to the CEO office. I finally received a new router 4 days ago but, unsurprisingly the problem is even worse. I have now come to the conclusion that this problem will never be resolved so I will be going else where. For anyone who wants to know what the official aol complaint procedure is here is the link.
http://help.aol.co.uk/help_uk/documentLink.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=uk_814246984 -
I was with aol from the days of Compuserve and had always raved about them; their reliability, speeds, customer service.... oh how times have changed!!
My complaints began about 18months ago with emails I sent not being received and no bounce backs (this caused a lot of trouble and I lost business as a result). AOL blamed everything from filters to the router to Windows, basically anything else apart from them. I'm quite geeky so when I caught them out at each point they finally after many calls over 3 months offered to upgrade my service and send a new modem - all I'd have to do was sign up to a new contract. I argued them down in price instead and eventually got the deal I was happy with and (STUPIDLY) accepted.
Of course the problems were never resolved, the Indian based staff are clearly dragged off the street, given no training and are just plonked infront of a 90's era PC with a script to read from. They have no clue what to do, are unwilling to escalate and their two main functions are to:
A) get you to sign u for another contract - preferably with line rental.
B) get you off the phone by telling you any lie they can think of, or as a failsafe that you have come through to the wrong department and they can't transfer you.
My main issues were with email not being received, but this didn't worry them. I was promed call backs, escalations, UK based technical team visits..... nothing.
What really angered me were the constant lies, when you have been a loyal customer for 16 years, you expect better treatment that this. I left in March and have not looked back.
One of their original lies 18months ago was that if I left them they would also delete my screen name and I'd lose my aol.com email address - THIS IS A LIE. If, like me this is a reason to stay, rest assured, they don't. I went to the extreame of changing everything away from my aol email but when my cancellation was complete, my email and screen name have remained active. Basically the lesson learned is that they are a bunch of clueless liars who want your money and no longer care about the customer.
I'm now with Orange as I also have my mobile contract with them and although others may complain about them, I've found them good. Sky are attractive IF you stay on their good side, but my advice would be to go with O2 who seem to have the best customer support and that is what you need if things go wrong. -
After many years with AOL most of it trouble free I have just been informed that from May I will be paying £25 instead of £15 I have just ended my contract with them and gone with BT (I felt sad leaving them )
