the suckitude of AOL

To attempt to make a long story semi-readable, I will share my story of trying to cancel my AOL service. Last month I called to cancel, but the rep told me that the monies were already processed from my credit card and I'd have to call next month if I still wanted to cancel. She, of course, did her little AOL sales pitch: "I'm sorry to hear you'd like to cancel, BUT, did you know AOL has Spyware, SpamBlocker, Virus protection, yadda yadda yadda. . . " Ok, I was upset because at this time I was paying for two ISPs (PeoplePC and AOL) - Since I'm budgeting I'm choosing to drop the less expensive of the two.

So I remember to call yesterday to cancel. I get a rep named Justin. Very friendly. Gives me the same spiel as the first girl. He says, "As a courtesy we'll give you a month to think about it for free" and then attempts to close the conversation! "Thank you for calling AOL. . . " Me: "Excuse me???!" Mind you, I had never agreed to what he was offering me. Now I'm getting irate. I was willing to sit through the sales pitch as long as they cancelled my service. Now not only did I have to sit through the AOL Attributes Lecture and Why AOL Rules Speech, they're gonna rush me off the phone and not listen to me??! Great customer service. I said, "I want to cancel my AOL TODAY. This is already my 2nd call to cancel. I don't want to call a third time. I've already uninstalled the program from my computer and have another ISP." He then puts me on hold (assumably to check with an assist. supervisor if he can credit back my last month's payment that I didn't want them to take).

At this point, I'm just getting irate. And I HATE to be the irate subscriber because I know what it's like to be the guy on the other end. He's supposed to keep people with AOL as much as he can, but I soo wanted to tell him that I wasn't unhappy with AOL until I called to cancel it, b/c it's a freakin' nightmare! He then comes back on the line and tells me they're going to pay me back last month's bill and give me another month free to "think about how much AOL has to offer that another service can't." (Whatever.) He then proceeds to rush me off the phone again. And I just give up like a loser. I can't fight anymore. I'll have to make another call next month. This time I may ask for a super (even though I hate when people did that) but I can't get anywhere with these reps. They will not ALLOW you to cancel their f'ing service. What do I have to do???! Anybody have any advice or similar personal experience?