Vindicated!
Posted by kasper on Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 at 13:03 under General
The long episode with AOL and the bloody modem is finally over.
It started back in January when I noticed a withdrawal of $315.00 from my bank account by AOL. I’m probably one of the few people out there that still uses it, but since I’ve been with them since 1997, have a ton of saved emails and hubby doesn’t know how to surf without the AOL shell I’ve remained an AOL customer. When we moved into the house we decided to go with Rogers, but keep AOLMax to retain our email and hubby’s surfing environment. I canceled (or at least downgraded) my AOL back at the end of October before we moved and at that time I was supposedly told that I had to return the modem, though I don’t recall that ever being said. I mean it makes sense and everything, I just don’t remember anyone telling me that. However with being all loony with the move I’m sure I wouldn’t have remembered anyway.
When I called AOL in January and said WTF!? did you take $315.00 out of my account for, I was told that I hadn’t returned the modem in the allotted amount of time and was charged for the cost to replace it. First of all, don’t I get any kind of warning that I was going to be charged? Second, if I was supposed to return it, where was box and shipping info? Third, like that piece of crap modem was worth $315.00! by I digress… After basically screaming at a jerk-off supervisor who must’ve been reading the company manual (’sorry you feel that way’, ‘that is company policy’, ‘it was your responsibility to return our equipment’), I got no where except maybe closer to a heart attack. I was to receive the return information in the mail within 3 days. Of course those days came and went without anything. I called them again and waited 30 minutes to get someone to resend the information. I finally received it 5 days later. Of course all I got was a letter instructing me to put the accompanying shipping bill on the package and information on how to ship it via FedEx. Being difficult to send without a box I called again (long wait) and the rep was surprised that I didn’t get anything to send it back in, I should have received a plastic mailer envelope but that he would resend the ‘kit’. Another five days pass and guess what came in the mail? Exactly the same letter with a shipping sticker. No box. Call AOL again. At this point I’m told that they don’t send anything to send it back in just throw it all in a shoebox. Fine.
Hubby was going to drop it at FedEx while he was out on the road. That was an ordeal in itself, that I won’t even get into. March 14th he manages to get the thing out and gets his tracking number. Over the next couple of days I watch the package (via tracking number on the internet) go from Mississauga to Saint-Hubert, Quebec to Moncton, New Brunswick (where it was suppsed to be delivered). So as of the 17th at 11:39 PM it was ‘On FedEx vehicle for delivery’. I called AOL on the 18th to make sure that it had been received. It had not. I checked the FedEx website on the 19th and to my horror I watched it go back to Saint-Hubert, Quebec and on the 20th was officially delivered in Mississauga. WTF?!
On the 20th I called FedEx to find out why my package ended up in Mississauga and was told that it was delivered to an AOL Domestic location. I then call AOL to confirm receipt and was informed that they do not have any such location in Mississauga and that I have to have the package resent to the address instructed on the shipping sticker they had originally sent. Luckily (I suppose) I happened to have an extra letter and sticker (see the goof-up above) so I knew exactly where it was supposed to go. Back on the phone with FedEx I get a trace put on the package but am stuck waiting till after the long weekend.
March 24th I once again call FedEx to see what’s up with the package and was told that it was in fact delivered correctly to an AOL Domestic location in Mississauga. I painstakingly arranged to have the package redelivered by the dimwit from FedEx and was assured that it would be delivered to Moncton the following day by 5:00 PM. On the 26th FedEx informs me that the pickup never happened and that it would definitely be delivered on Monday.
That brings us to today, Tuesday. I called FedEx and was told that on the 27th the package was not ready to be picked up and that when the driver arrived on the 28th for pickup the pickup was refused and canceled. At this point I am fuming. I have been tracking this damn package so I can get my money back and it may have been in the right spot all along?! Wait 20 minutes to get someone at AOL and ask if the modem was received. Instead I get the history I have already lived through. The customer service rep trys to explain that I canceled my account in October and that I had 45 days to return the modem and… WAIT I know all this. DO YOU HAVE MY MODEM?!?! I’m so frustrated! Again the guy goes by the manual, ’sorry that you’ve had difficulty’, ‘the modem was received on the 20th’, ‘you should have your money back in your account within 72 hours’. Hang on, you’ve had the damn modem all this time and you never put my money back in my account? The supervisor I screamed at back in January said that I’d have my money back in my account within 24 hours of receiving the modem back. So now I’m mad-der. I ask for a supervisor. He claims that he can still help me. Oh wait, he can get my money back tomorrow - April 3rd (I love customer service reps that aren’t even in the same country). I push for a supervisor and finally I’m transferred…to a voice mail!!! I am absolutely seething at this point. I have been on the phone with AOL for 40 minutes already and I now have to call back and wade through the busy agents message before even getting someone let alone the damn supervisor I needed. 20 minutes later I get another rep who thinks he can help me and I just keep saying, “I need a supervisor, I was cutoff before, I just want to speak to a supervisor”. Finally I get Annie the supervisor who (to make an already long story shorter) refunded my $315.00 on the spot and gave me a free month’s service. In hind sight I should have pushed for like 6 months free, but at least the whole damn saga is over.
There’s a whole wack of my life I’ll never get back! Life passed by.
You have reached the blog of kasper. I live outside of Toronto, Ontario, Canada,
and have been blogging since 1999. I am newly married, though have been with the same guy for nearly 13 years.
We have a son (baby D) born April 13th, 2007 and have all moved into our first home. Though I don't tend
to stick to one thing, I've been known to enjoy the Sims2, knitting, webdesign, reading, music and movies.
April 2nd, 2008 at 21:49 pm
Fuck! That is frustrating! Three-Four months of frickin torture is insane! At least you got your money back! That amount was just about the same as i got back from my tax return