Two weeks after I ordered AOL broadband, they sent me a modem which was lost (or perhaps they never sent it).
After more than 10 phone call they said they have sent another one and it was shipped. Finally I recived it but the date on the order was 2 days after they said it was shipped!!! No comment.
Then I tried to install it but the username and password that they gave me was incorrect. They changed it but it did not work. After so many phone calls they said they had a technical problem and I had to wait for a a few hours, they a day, then ...
Any way, their technical support is crap. All they do is to tell you how to open your browser! (well I have a PhD in computers so I do not need someone to tell me how to open my browser!).
You have to wait for up to an hour on the phone to talk to someone! Then I decided to cancel it. I had to make more than 10 phone calls to cancel it because the cancelation department did not want to answer its phone calls.
Now, after 2 weeks of cancelling it, I found out that they are still charging me via direct debit (for nearly 40 pounds)!
I made at least 30 calls to their expensive customer service number.
Please please please stay away from AOL. It is the most horrible nightmare I have ever had.
AOL is so crap. I say this as a professional in computer engineering who has had experiance with many providers.
AOL broadband Reviews | Page 9
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Report abuseI really recommend AOL if you live in a LLU exchange area. I first called BT and they told me the MAX my line would give would be 256Kb/s. Contacted AOL and after set up I now get a steady average of over 6Mb/s.(and I live 3Ks for the exchange) and they are reasonably priced too.
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What AOL do not tell you is that since they have been taken over, now in Luxembourg, they have issued security patches to all their customers. Now having been promised a multiport modem router when I switched from dialup many years ago, I received a single port modem despite their assurances.
Their security patches now designate single port modems to a specific machine. So if anyone else wants to use that modem then they have to call tech support and assign it to their pc. Once this has been done then I could not use my pc. You will need to get an AOL approved modem router from AOL, or locally or from Netgear as this what AOL approve for their software.
They ofcourse try to make you switch to a better package. Alas AOL was good many years ago but now upload and download speeds are at a snails pace. can anyone recommend a better ISP? -
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I agree with every one else; aol is crap it used to be ok.i tried to cancel in January i have been charged twice more and the Bank has given charges of £8.00 twice on top of the £9.99 per month. I rung up and gave this Indian call person grief they cant speak English so eventually she refunded 19.99 back to my account but what about the BANK charges they add they could not refund this.So i rung my bank they said this was not true,so i rung aol back i eventually got through to some one English and he said the same and past me on to someone in ireland so he said send him my statements and they would refund th charges.I could not beleive how many phone calls i had to make.
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Been with AOL Over 15 years, regret signing up for 18 months to get a small reduction in price, after Carphone W took over. Have suffered with them since. When they changed the Dial up system but never told me it was happening. lost 6 weeks service, down time has been continuous since.
Phone calls for service have cost a fortune and have been a waste, of time. Hope to get out soon, waiting for Mac number? They also have the cheek to keep calling/ and writing me to take phone calls with them.
Recommend you keep well away from AOL UK -
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aol is a complete nightmare over the last year been with them 9 years iv got aol top speed 8mg lol not even close getting more like 1mg so they can kiss my ass goodbye stay well clear any1 else thinking of going with them idiots.
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AOL crap and they talk even more crap.
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It seems aol has gone out of the window, since carphone warehouse took over, The deals are not very good. I have been waiting for 18 months.to get a laptop but I dont think I will. They Should listen to there customers and give them something back for there loyalty, I have been with aol for 9 years. if you are looking Aol, You will Loose peoples custom
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WOW I thought I was the only one suffering the appauling service that is now AOL, was excellent for many years but now next to useless. Last night technical support told me it was my adsl filters causing the problem as I hadn't been changing them every six months as they wear out! Lines gone from 2500kbs to 600kbs this year. Just waiting for the MAC code now. What used to be the best is quite easily now the worst ISP in the UK and as for the Indian call centres well that was the last straw, utterly incompetant.
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Being with AOL now for 7 years I am calling it a day, my download speed is now 231kbps, I was getting 1880kbps, I was given a change of broadband packages promised a new router and speeds upto 8Mb, only to be told when I rang that beings I had opted for a non contract I was not entitled to a router as AOL dont give out fre routers, then I was told that the speed I could expect from my line was 1.5MB, so why was I given a package that they knew would be no different to what I was on but of course dearer, after many 5p per min calls they eventually said I would get a router ,but alas they failed again to deliver. Regarding the speed why is it they only mentioned this problem when I asked for my MAC code, as I said to them Too late, an email to all concerned would have been a better option than blaming eveyone else.
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Have been an AOL member for the past 6-7 years. They were decent at the time of signup however I've noticed within the last year that as everyone else seems to be getting faster and more reliable AOL have gone in reverse. February 12, 13th & 14th of 2009 and they had a problem with one of their servers leading to mehaving a non-existant cnnection and the best i could get from them was a rather pleasant indian chap who said 2-3 hours... more like 72.
At their current standard of both customer care anf technical reliability I'd recommend looking elsewhere.
You've lost my vote AOL :[ -
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After 6 years with AOL all i can say hand on heart GIVE AOL A VERY WIDE BIRTH, i managed to get through on their appaling customer service line to complain about my constant slow line speed and at the time i was on the platinum package at £30 p/m and only recieving between 300/400 kbps when my line was actually enabled for 8mbps, the appologised and offered to reduce my subscription and sort out the line speed which they did only to find that my line speed remained the same but i had been downgraded to the silver package. now get this by the time i found out what they had done dure to being mislead and lied to they had also tied me to another 18 months contract, which THANKFULLY ends in seven weeks so in 3 weeks i am requesting a mac code and its GOODBYE AOL YOU ARE RUBBISH.
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Service has got really bad since Carphone warehouse took over. Thank god I only have another 4 months to go.
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Appalling. Been with them for 4 years and the service was fine until the Carphone Warehouse took them over and upgraded my service to get me a faster speed. For the last 3 months suffered numerous disconnections had to get BT in to investigate the telephone line and now get a download speed of 256k a tenth of what I originally had. The call centre is worse than useless and costs 5p/min to endlessly repeat what is wrong and to go through the same details over and over. Also discovered I was not connected to ADSL max until January 2009 so there was no way I could ever have got 8Megs despite paying £30 per month for the platinum service for 2 years. They say the download speed is capped but don't know why and say its all down to BT. Well if I pay AOL I expect them to sort things out. This they don't seem to be able to do. So enough is enough.
As the problem has been getting more difficult to solve they are less and less interested and when I requested my MAC Code they seemed quite relieved.
Cant really think of anything positive to say so I'm off to another provider.
Steer clear.
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cost keeps going up and service gets worst looking for another provider after 4 years.
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Report abuseSince AOL changed to carphone warehouse they have been ridiculous. Have been customer for 7 years but not once has my loyalty been rewarded with new equipment or new deal. All they are interested in selling is their phone packages. Have left AOL but when i phoned for MAC number, the man was useless and repeated himself over and over about this package and that package with phone line involved. Demanded that i pay £25 for a wireless connection fee, which i refused as after 7 years of paying stupidly high prices i should get for free.
Tho i would say that the technical side of AOL has been of a decent standard over the years, it's just the customer services and the actual speed of the broadband that i have issues with.
I am meant to get 8meg but struggle to get 3meg in an area that can get 14meg on other providers - that was a speed test at my neighbours house who uses o2.
I would not recommend AOL now that carphone warehouse is involved. -
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Tried to contact AOL to get them to send details to a friend who was interested in becoming an AOl customer as he currently only has Tesco dialup. After numerous " press 1 press 3 type menus, I went to an Indian call centre( horror of horrors always) where the girl thought I wanted to set up a new account for myself!!! When I said NO, she rang off. Obvously, AOL don't want any new customers. Scrap India AOL and stick to call centres such as Ireland who have always been delightful.
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If im honest AOL has gone totally down hill in the respect of customer service and support. Ive been with AOL for over 4 years now and the first 2 years was ok, took a little time on the phone but if was sorted sooner or later. These last 2 years though have been a nightmare, internet has been messing up so much and when i call up i end up pressing numbers on my phone for about 15-20mins. Then when im finally through its hard to understand some of their team. Personally im thinking about either Sky or Virgin now, ok AOL offer some great deals but who you gonna call when your stuck? The service lacks big time.
STAY AWAY FROM AOL -
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I have been with A O L for about 3-4 years, and reccomended others to join. however the last 6 months have been just nothing at all to reccomend to anyone. To actually get in touch with them is almost impossible. press 1 press2 press3 etc, and then the indian voice telling you that the weather in mombassa is not too good today. but the annoying thing to me is,that whenever my home phone rings, it cuts off my broadband connection, (has anyone else had this problem, as AOL cant sort it out).
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There customer service system dont work had a letter to upgrade my aol speed,phoned up and befor i knew it i had been signed up to aol talk phoned up to cancle within the amount of days it says u have to cancle it was told it had been done then found i got charged,rung back up and got india and got offerd a lower d/d but for the same speed i was upgraded to and a new router waited and waied for the router phone up after 2 weeks was told it had been dispatched,no router turned up so rung back up to find out thast the router had never been oreded and the offer i had been given hadenteven been put on the system to this day i aint recived my new ruoter and have given up
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Really can't fault AOL, I moved to them in Feb 2007 in a town where they had their own equipment installed at the exchange so at the time only paid £14.99 per month for 2mb unlimited broadband service (Silver product)...
I moved address in November 2007 to a smaller town where the local exchange has not been unbundled and AOL broadband had to go through BT's own equipment. AOL usually change an additional £10 per month for broadband packages going through an unbundled exchange - £24.99. I was expecting AOL to make me pay the additional £10 per month and also have to start a new 12 month contract because I have moved address...
When I contacted AOL I was pleasantly surprised... The Irish lady on the end of the phone advised me as I am on an "old" 12 month contract (pre-Carphone Warehouse takeover), I would not have to renew my contract for moving address and also they could not increase monthly charge for moving to a location with an unbundled exchange!
I have continued to stay with AOL since moving and they have since offered me several further loyalty products at no additional cost and without having to renew my contract. These include upgrading my broadband to the 8mb service and I receive about 6.5mb which I am very happy with.
While I still pay £10.50 line rental to BT, AOL have also offered me free Anytime calls to any UK landline, this service alone would cost about £8 a month with BT! Technical Support and Customer Service calls are free if calling from the AOL phone line too!
I bet not many other people can beat what I get for £14.99 a month, while receiving broadband from an unbundled exchange:
- Unlimited 8mb Broadband
- Free landline calls anytime of day
I appreciate this kind of of package is not now available to new customers but thought I would let you know my experience!
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Calls to Technical Service and Customer Service is a bit of a mixed bag, if I get through to the Irish call centre they will go out of their way to help you and usually very friendly. The Indian call centres are not the greatest all seem to read scripts and struggle to understand at times.
I have not found the service too bad with AOL, the connection is extremely rarely interrupted.
The speed at times can fluctuate but I usually get around 6.5mb service. -
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Absolutely HORRENDOUS provider!!!! Moved to AOL from EFH/ 186k as I thought no one could be as bad as them! After an easy set up and a period of faultless 2 weeks service and very good deal £4.99 month for first 3 months wireless flexi, the internet connection was cut off completely. Rang the helpline- told by automated service that they were fixing a problem. Day 2- no connection, rang customer services, based in India- spoke to 6 (!) individuals for a total of 30 mins, having to repeat my problem and details each time! Spoke as if they were computerised droids, unable to tell me what was wrong, with very bad English as well. Day 3- Spent another 20 mins to customer services at 5p/min, eventually put through to techical team- who told me to wait for 6 hours then I would be connected. Day 4- still no connection- have started to email now as I am likely to verbally massacre the customer services team if I speak to them again. Day 5 (today)- still nothing.
AVOID AOL!!!!! They are absolutely awful. (And avoid EFH/186k while you are at it- They are shoddy, charged me for 3 months use once I had cancelled)
I am despairing of UK Broadband providers- I have yet to find one that does the very simple task of allowing me to switch on my computer and access the internet. -
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Been with aol for years , never had a problem with them until about 18 months ago when the connectivity messed up completely ,aol blamed the router and sent me a thomson speedtouch.
Recently aol wrote by email asking me to confirm my d/d details to make sure they were correct which i did then the next thing i find is they have cancelled the d/d from my bank and blamed me for cancelling. Now because of their mess up instead of charging me two months b/b and calls which usually comes to around 27 each month, they want £123,59 for two months . Have written and phoned several times but never had an answer back.
Taking legal advice at present, and planning a move to either tiscali or virgin.
DO NOT GO WITH AOL ABSOLUTERIP OFF MERCHANTS..
BAD LOT.
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Was with aol for several years, had to change provider as my internet explorer wouldnt work with aol software and I needed it for some of my programmes. Cancelled in April, they then proceeded to take money from my account in August this year - apparantley for a dial up service i had at a different address and a different phone number in 2002!
This is THEFT!
Am in dispute and have reported them to the relevant body. -
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One word sums up AOL - rubbish. I saw that the carphone warehouse and AOL were offering a free laptop deal and signed up as my existing 12 month contract with aol was over (12 months but had actually been with them for 3 years). I recieved not one not two but 7 different letters fom them all saying different things. "ring us with your MAC code", "you will connected in 7 days", "we will be sending your modem soon", "Your laptop will be with you in the next few weeks". I phoned up with my mac code which I had requested 2 weeks ago as I was going to change ISP. I gave it to them and was told I would be connected soon. 1 week later nothing had come so I spend 3 hours on the phone and was told it would be coming. 2 nights ago I tirne on my PC abnd found that my existing AOL broadband had been cut off without myself being informed - I need broadband on my line for business purposes! I spend a further 4 hours on the phone, I was hung up on twice, and eventually put through to the indian cancellation centre.The hold music is enough to make you want to commit suicide. I was told it was my fault for my line being cut disconnected for trying to change package and giving them a mac code and I was then screamed at with a million different packages and was virtually begged to sign up. I refused and the man kept on trying to make me sign up for a new package as I was told my line was now clear. NO was my answer and he got quite rude and put the phone dowbn on me. Im now going to go with o2 I hope they will be btter.
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Have been an AOL user for years.
Suckered into upgrading to 8mb and the Thomson Speedtouch router and thus a new one year contract. This means that I was transferred across to their new non BT network.
Have had continuous problems since the move across. Speed no better than my original 2mb service. PCs get disconnected from the service and cannot always get back connected. One PC will only connect for about half the day.
Indian call centre......Hmm well. Level 2 are the only ones with any competence at all. The rest are incompetent and lie. Don't know whether they do it naturally or whether they have no choice because there is no other way that they can handle the customers of the failing AOL network. Examples would be "the server is being worked on" (6 times), "give us 24hrs and log in again and all your problems will be fixed", "you have on choice but to reload your operating system", "we will ring you back shortly"(they never do). If all these fictitious ideas do not get you off the phone then they either transfer you to some one else(17 minute wait last time) or put the phone down on you(when you have spent hours avoiding using the language you would really like to use). On one of the last occasions I spoke to them I put aside the afternoon an spent 6 hours on the phone. Problems still not fixed.
AOL/Carphone Warehouse/Charles Dunstone have no concept of customer service. Thank god I did not take the "free" telephone service as I probably would not be able to talk to anybody now(might be a blessing in respect of the Indian call centre).
not go anywhere near AOL now.
They are a disgrace. -
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I have been with AOL for over 10 years and just recently switched to Broadband which has been fine up to now. I have AOL 9.0VR and I have just started to have constant problems with connectivity. I cannot sign onto the software because when it tries to connect it comes up with the Stop Blue Screen BAD_POOL_HEADER error message and shuts down my computer. I dare not try to sign on to AOL anymore as I am frightened of damaging my computer. I am very dissapointed with AOL now.
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AOL are the most troublesome provider, closely followed by BT. Most of the problems I get called out for are to do with AOL. Avoid them at all costs, there are much better providers out there
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I wouldnt recommend aol aol to my worst enemy.
I paid an anual amount for my service of a £195 :00
in March 2008 Then I decided to change to another isp , because my service was rubbish, even with countless calls to the Tech guys, so started out fresh , new computer never even had aol installed on this,
Got my mac code 18th July, everything running smoothly with my new isp. but big problems trying to get a refund from aol,it was £98:00 and now when I look on the selfcare. myaolbroadband it has come up with the name they told me was cancelled, and the new balance is now £82:28, they even gave me a cancellation code too. I suppose they will keep billing this credit until it has all gone,I have faxed , emailed, and rung and they all tell me that I am cancelled , but how come I can still sign on to get into this billing information, I read somewhere that when you put your screen name and password in it re-activates the account, .
Is this true does anybody know.? -
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The worst ever customer care services I have encountered in my lifetime.Dont waste your time and money in calling them. Your problem will never get sorted. Instead ring them and get a MAC code sraight away to save time and money and shift to another provider.
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