Today, I discovered our AOL billing information. Turns out we've been paying for dial-up via automatic bill paying that we thought we cancelled in 2000. $1,800 later, we called to cancel. Customer service congratulated us on being loyal members for over 13 years. FML
Collection
Fall
Dead leaves, the first cold of the season and an umbrella flipped inside out: fall, the season of grace.
Today, I received an almost $400 bill for Internet services I don't even have. When I called and talk to them they told me I still owe them $77 because I didn't catch it within 3 months. FML
Today, I got a call from my cable company in regards to a bill I didn't pay. I paid the bill two weeks ago in full, but they never told me the account changed when my name was put on the account. So now I owe $170 more, and my ex-roommate is getting a $140 refund in the mail. FML
Today, my parents were surprised when I told them that changing the internet and cable service would also cut themselves off from the internet service's email. Which they have everything connected too. I thought about this when they told me they were saving $200 on switching. They apparently did not. FML
Today, I found out the electric bill I have been paying was on my old house. I found this out when they shut off the power to my house. FML
Today, I cancelled all my streaming subscriptions and signed up for a “bundle deal” to save money. Turns out the deal was just all my old subscriptions repackaged under a new name. I’m still paying the same price, but now with ads. FML
Today, the city shut off our water, because they said we didn't pay the bill. Turns out, it was sitting on their desk the whole time. I guess sending someone out to turn off our water was easier than checking to see if we'd actually paid the bill. FML
Today, I was entered into an online contest where they announce your name on the radio and if you call in within an hour they pay your bills for you. I'm unemployed, so I got really excited when they announced my name. My call wouldn't go through - I hadn't paid my phone bill and the line was disconnected. FML
Today, I realized while paying bills on my phone I fat-fingered which credit card I was paying and sent 299 to a paid-off card instead of 200 to another one. Now I'm going to have overdraft fees too. FML
Today, I've been receiving a lot of calls from my telephone company, offering combo packages with internet, Netflix, Disney+ and whatever the fuck. We had previously resigned from their services, because the company never had the intention of fixing an outage that was caused BY THE SAME COMPANY. FML
Today, I realized that 6 months ago I signed up for a 3 day trial for a porn website that turns into a $30 membership after 3 days. I completely forgot the day after and never viewed it. I've spent $180 so far. And I can't remember my password. FML
Feel like sharing it with the other FML users?
Thanks, your FML was submitted, and will appear in the moderation queue soon!
Top comments
FailVader 0
Wow, fail. AOL should be changed to "LOL"
rexcanis 10
#1 How would you not notice the monthly billing deduction from your bank account? #2 Why do you even have AOL on your computer still?
Add a comment · Reply to
You must be logged in to be able to post comments!
Comments (90)
TheOptimist 0
No 101. You fail.
birds_fml 7
YDI for not questioning mystery charges to your account. OH it's a small amount easy to miss! You people say. NO. When the OP was looking at his bank account, did he ever see a charge to AOL? Maybe it doesn't say AOL, but it's not going to say something like the gas station or kroger or whatever. It's not going to blend in with all the other charges unless he only looks at amounts FOR 10 YEARS and never once at where those charges are coming from. The OP is probably one of those stupid people who never checks over their bill, just pays it without question. OP, you're lucky if this is the ONLY thing you've been ripped off for. I had an ex boyfriend one time, and I noticed there were mystery charges of about $20/month on his account (we were going to get married, so I was allowed to open his mail). I asked him what that was for. He said he didn't know... he just let them deduct whatever it was from his account every month. I finally called the number listed... turned out it was an online **** subscription he had signed up for a "free trial" for. This had been going on for 2 years. That dumbass never once thought to wonder WHY there was a $20/month charge to his bank! No, he didn't mean to pay for it either... **** on the internet is free, why would you pay for it?! So in conclusion: YDI for being an idiot who doesn't bother with keeping track of your finances. I bet you wonder why you're always broke too.
fretforyerlatte 0
you're right, 116, but you're giving them too much credit. the charge from aol does indeed say AOL on your bank statement. we'd used one of those free trial cds when we first got online and then the bastards started charging us monthly. luckily we pay attention so it didn't take long to notice, but it sure was a pain in the ass to get it to actually cancel. that was a long time ago but i think that was one of the reasons we changed banks.
Lea823 0
116- couldn't agree more
wordgirl 0
Haha! AOL is a HUGE scam, man. My husband used to work for them in the 90s when they were signing up people for this kind of stuff and they ended up finally getting in trouble with the FCC. You can more than likely get your money back if you pursue this. What they did was to basically not cancel you when you called to cancel by doing a bunch of talking and confusing you (in the considerably less tech-savvy world of the late nineties) You need to pursue this. You'll probably get a refund check for the entire amount. If you google the keywords of your problem with them, you'll find out how many people were in the same or similar position as you. Fight for your refund. :)
shadowsbane 0
1) Who pays money for AOL? I would never have been on AOL even if it were free. 2) You need to watch what is being charged to your account just in case something suspicious shows up. YDI
jaanatak 0
Is this one of those countries where automatic payments are possible without the prior consent and knowledge of the owner of the bank account?? I never understood how something like that is even possible in modern days - who ever managed to push through an IT solution like that which is clearly harmful for the client of the bank and does not stand for the client's own interests, is obviously a complete 'genious'. And obviously these must have been banks themselves - tons easier and cheaper technical solution with practically no liability on their side, plus the extra revenue naturally :). Aren't you people frustrated with your banks over this?? How it should have been done (and how it IS done in a lot of countries): automatic billing is possible only for a fixed period and only when the account owner grants the permission to that specific company. Eg. Unless I sign an electronic contract with the bank stating that AOL is allowed to automatically bill me for period x, this case won't happen in a million years. So there is no way I could not possibly be aware of it, even if I did not regularly check my bank statements. In fact the only statements I ever do check is my credit card - that is the only one that can have suprises like that.
fretforyerlatte 0
a lot of companies do this unfortunately, many "free trial offers" will automatically begin billing you after the trial has ended. it's listed in the fine print, so they can say that you agreed to it. then they make it very difficult to cancel the service, by not listing any numbers to reach them, or by talking circles around you when you do call, etc. a very shady business practice which is very common. the banks are just as bad. at one time we had unauthorized charges on our account, and had the charges removed and even had a letter saying the charges were not legit, but they resulted in overdraft fees and the bank flat out refused to refund us the fees, saying the mistake was "not their fault".
jaanatak 0
That is just wrong on so many levels and the sad side is that it is the banks themselves who created this situation, the ones you hand your money to safeguard. Maybe I am a bit naive but if I were in the banking business and I knew that every other bank around me has the same carefree attitude towards their clients, I'd want to be the innovative one out of the lot and invest in a technical solution that would offer the client a more "secure" service. I am sure there are a whole lot of disappointed clients out there who'd change banks if protection against smth like this was offered. The UK is another country where the banking system has frustrated me beyond anything. It took me hundreds of pounds and 6 months in order to close a bank account from overseas. The reason being that beyond any common sense the local "internet bank" does not by de facto mean real-time account status information. This resulted in an endless and exceedingly frustrating loop of making overseas money transfers and 2 week delay letters from the bank saying they cannot close the account due to an outstanding amount of x. By the time I paid the amount x, there was a new amount y that was not reflected on the account status and so on and so on. Basically, if I were to choose a bank abroad again I'd do a proper research and make sure the bank I choose has a damn good internet bank: - does the bank accept any other correspondence than written letters? Emails please and if they are really good you should be able to follow the whole conversation thread with your bank online from your internet bank. Also, I should have an option of no snail-mail EVER being sent to my address - I don't care if it is bank statements or promotional information, I don't want all that pointlessly wasted paper it in my mailbox. - do they have a call centre out of the country? No thanks, no more switchboards! - does their internet bank mean real time banking or not? If not, watch out for trouble. Eg. if you have a debit card account then you should not be able to overdraft it, period. - do they accept digital signatures? If need be, I want to be able to draw up contracts online. - do they offer extra protection when using my credit card online? eg, setting up a password. Such banks exist, trust me. I am a client of one of them - saves you endless frustration. You are paying them anyway, at least let it be for something that justifies the expense.
exquisite 0
YDI for not monitoring your bank account!!!!! DUH! You are lucky it was only that and not something much bigger!
cisco13k 0
that realy sux I had the same problem with msn. I was paying for it since 1999 and didnt realize It until a few months ago. unless u live check to check and dont read ur statments carfully It is real easy to miss $19.95 being charged every month
yourlifesfucked 0
101 clearly does not understand the significance of ****. 34 is made of 100% win
dkainjr 0
ydi for not noticing the money being deducted. you should probably go play in traffic.