Aol

Buttercup.x

Hi all. I am in the mist of complaining to AOL since April this year My Mum transferred over to TALKTALK. Having obtained and used the MAC code provided by AOL with TALKTALK her Broadband was connected.

Now 7 Months later she has been re checking over her bank statements checking for a particular DD Details and noticed this AOL taking £24.99 a month from her account for a service they are no longer providing. I called AOL (pretending I was Mum) and they Blatlently told me that even though I Obtained and USED the MAC code and Transferred my Broadband to my new supplier. I STILL should have cancelled the account.
Hmm.. That’s the reason she called them for the MAC code and that's the reason she used the Mac code to Migrate the Broadband from AOL to TALKTALK
. I asked to speak to a manager whom came on the line and said to me I should have cancelled the broadband even though I migrated to another provider?
Now my points are.. Once a Mac code is used it therefore replaces the previous suppliers Markers (flag) on the line to the new provider therefore automatically making the previous Broadband unable to be used.

Where does she stand with this, when I cancelled with AOL a year ago I only requested a Mac code did not need to call them back to re cancel?


anyone else had problems?

Buttercup.x

No one? Lol mm Something i said?

Daytona_nev

In my honest opinion. Their contract will have you stitched up.

There will be specific clauses regarding cancellation. Unless your mum has explicitly told them she wants to cancel, they won't.

They certainly won't implictly assume a cancellation from a used MAC code.

You'd best check your contract but i doubt there's much you can do as it'll be clearly stated in there.

You could recall the DDs through your bank under the DD agreement. However to do this you would have to give misinformation to tell your bank you cancelled, otherwise you'd have no case to recall them. If you chose that route, AOL would every right to chase you for the recalled payments and could get a debt collection agency on you.

I'd put down to a lesson learned. If it took 7 months to notice your mum was still being charged, the £25 obviously wasn't missed that much.

Buttercup.x

Daytona_nev wrote: »

They certainly won't implictly assume a cancellation from a used MAC code.

.

No company should treat their customers with that manner, having worked for a broadband, telecommunications company myself, when we gave out MAC codes to customers until that MAC code was used yes the account remained active. But as soon as that that MAC code was used and validated the BB was automatically cancelled.

I assumed this would be the case with all BB suppliers; You cannot receive broadband down the same line from two separate companies, therefore On AOLS records they have admitted to me that the MAC code was used and validated and have also agreed that BB cannot be Supplied by more than one Company at once on the same line.

hollydays

I am going to approach my phone company to to ask for the mac code,but I am not cancelling straight away.Is this wrong then?
Been told if you cancel first,they are difficult about giving you the mac(I know they have to,but this is PIpex)

Buttercup.x

hollydays wrote: »

I am going to approach my phone company to to ask for the mac code,but I am not cancelling straight away.

thats fair enough but when you use the mac code then would you still like to be charged from the company just because you did not say you wanted to cancel when you used the MAC code? (brains would tell a company that if a customer has used the MAC code then the service is no longer with them)

DCFC79

hollydays wrote: »

I am going to approach my phone company to to ask for the mac code,but I am not cancelling straight away.Is this wrong then?
Been told if you cancel first,they are difficult about giving you the mac(I know they have to,but this is PIpex)

ive been under the assumption that if you say something like " Id like to cancel my account with you and i would lik my MAC code" if they do drag theyre feet then you can report them to oftel or who ever oversee the telecoms industry

Buttercup.x

hollydays wrote: »

I am going to approach my phone company to to ask for the mac code,but I am not cancelling straight away.Is this wrong then?
Been told if you cancel first,they are difficult about giving you the mac(I know they have to,but this is PIpex)

HA Pipex is the company that i worked for, If you cancel then they will be a pain in giving you the MAC once cancelled the MAC is almost impossible to provide and then you have to wait for flags (markers) to be removed from the line before a new supplier can be activated, which can sometimes take up to 90 days (from what i saw)

get the MAC code first

hollydays

aha so what exact wording should i use?
(sorry to hijack the thread a bit OP)
I have been advised to make sure they give me the mac over the phone.

stingylolo

Same happened to us when we moved to Sky Broadband (Excellent by the way)
When DH got the mac code they told him not to cancel direct debit so they could take final payment. Once he used the mac code and switched over they kept taking payment. DH had to phone and they apologised and refunded.
You can ask for a mac code and wait months before using it, but as soon as they don't provide the service anymore, payment should end.
I would speak to them again and if not get someone more specialised to deal with it.

Buttercup.x

No worries (coming from the OP herself)
Just say to them that you wish to migrate your broadband to another company when i was there they could not provide the mac code immediatley, but had to send it to you within 14 days i believe.