AOL Free Trial? Not so Free! ***WON***

[kenny99]

Hi

 

Several months ago my broadband went down and BT advised me to use a free trial disk from aol to 'get me through the weekend' until my broadband was back up and running.

 

I went to Asda and got a free trial disk. I signed up and gave my bank details as it wouldn't allow you to use the free trial without craeting the direct debit first! Anyway, did that and used aol for less than 24 hours. My bt broadband kicked back into action so I uninstalled aol and cancelled my direct debit with them.

 

2 weeks ago I had a letter from aol asking me for £15.99 for services I hadn't paid for. I called them and explained that I used the aol services for less than 24 hours and the chap from aol confirmed to me that aol had been used once and not touched since then. I told him I wouldn't pay because i'd used a free trial. He said that it was in the terms and conditions that I had to put it in writing to them that I wanted to cancel my contract with them. I told him I hadn't seen that and I thought it was a bit unfair to claim free trial when the majority of people would end up having to pay. He told me that most adults would've fully read the terms.

 

I admit it is my own fault for not reading the terms properly, but they have confirmed I didn't use their services so surely that means something?

 

Has anyone got any advice or am I in the wrong?

 

Thanks

[BankFodder]

Lots of people get caught this way.

 

Would you like to post the terms and conditions.

 

Also on the basis that they are not entitled to profit from your breach, I would have said that in any event they would only be entitled to recoup their actual losses.

 

Post the T&Cs

[Spiceskull]

This is a problem that has been around for at least six years - and still they are trying to [problem] people with the free-trial offers.

 

A good article to start from is here on the BBC...

[la2006]

new case, arising from similar topic to tread title below

Edited February 2, 2009 by la2006

[la2006]

Current AOL access conditions

 

AOL Access Agreement

 

AOL Access Agreement

 

 

 

Your AOL Services will be provided on the following basis:

• Internet access and voice services are provided by TPH Services Sàrl under the terms of the AOL Access Agreement below and specific terms and conditions in the Price Plan Agreements (as defined below) in relation to the services you receive.
  
• AOL Web Services, including the AOL Software and Premium Services are provided by AOL (UK) Limited under the terms of the AOL Web Services Agreement below.
  

You should be aware that the above services are associated and that if your account with one party is suspended, cancelled or terminated, your agreement with the other party may also be suspended, cancelled or terminated.

Any or all of the services (internet access, voice and web services) provided under these Agreements may be managed by and/or billed for by someone on our behalf.

 

Telephony orders or orders placed in store or online ordering system (other than directly with TPH Services Sàrl): By placing your Order, you are making an offer to contract with TPH Services Sàrl for the Access Services and AOL (UK) Ltd for the Web Services (the "Offer"). Your Offer has not been accepted and there is therefore no binding contract until TPH Services Sàrl has posted a written acceptance from Luxembourg (i) on behalf of itself; and (ii) as an agent for AOL (UK) Ltd.

 

Online orders placed directly with TPH Services Sàrl: by agreeing to these terms and conditions during the online order process, you are entering into legal agreement with TPH Services Sàrl and AOL (UK) Ltd respectively for the supply of the AOL Services and CPW Broadband Services (UK) Ltd for the Customer Premises Equipment.

 

 

 

 

AOL Access Agreement

 

 

These terms and conditions (the "AOL Access Agreement") apply to customers who subscribe to an AOL branded Internet access product or voice product, including but not limited to the AOL Access dial-up service, the AOL Broadband Service, the AOL Broadband with Line Rental and Calls service and the AOL Talk Service (individually or combinations together, the "AOL Access Service"). This AOL Access Agreement supplements any additional terms governing your specific AOL Access Service price plan(s) (including but not limited to the AOL Broadband Agreement, the AOL Broadband with Line Rental and Calls Agreement and the AOL Talk Agreement, if applicable). The AOL Broadband Agreement, the AOL Broadband with Line Rental and Calls Agreement and the AOL Talk Agreement are together known as the "Price Plan Agreements". The AOL Access Agreement and the applicable Price Plan Agreements are together known as the "Services Agreements". The Services Agreements contain your entire agreement with us.

 

This AOL Access Agreement is a legal document, with important information about your rights and responsibilities as a customer of the AOL Access Service (an "AOL Access Customer"). Once your Offer to contract under the terms of this AOL Access Agreement has been accepted, you enter into a contract with TPH Services Sàrl ("TPH", "we" or "us").

Because protecting your privacy is important, we would first like you to have a clear understanding of how you agree that your personal data will be used.

 

1. Personal Data

1.1 Personal Data means data that identifies you or your AOL Access Service subscription account (the "Access Account"), including identity and billing information. Your Access Account is personal to you. We will process your personal data in accordance with this AOL Access Agreement and our Privacy Policy available at http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/privacypolicy. TPH controls the personal data you provide to us when you register for the AOL Access Service and in the course of your use of the AOL Access Service, and takes responsibility for the processing, disclosure and use of that data, even if it is done by a third party on our behalf.

 

1.2 Your personal data will be collected, processed stored and used by us, and passed to and processed by our subsidiary and/or affiliated companies (together "Carphone Warehouse Group Companies"), Law Enforcement agencies, credit reference agencies, subcontractors including courier companies, billing providers, debt collection agencies, marketing agencies and other data processors acting under our control, to provide, promote and bill for the AOL Access Service, to provide customer support, and for marketing described here and in our Privacy Policy at http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/privacypolicy.

 

1.3 The AOL Access Service is multi-national, and many of the computers and companies that process data on our behalf are based in other countries outside the European Union ("EU") including the USA. Thus, your personal data (which may include data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, or concerning health or sex life) may be transferred to, processed and held both inside and outside the EU. Countries outside the EU may not have as well developed data protection laws in place to protect your information as those inside the EU, but we will ensure your personal data is treated in compliance with this AOL Access Agreement and our Privacy Policy.

 

1.4 We encourage you to tell us what your marketing preferences are for your personal data. Unless and until you "opt-out", your name and contact details may be (a) used by Carphone Warehouse Group Companies until 12 months after your AOL Access Services subscription ceases; and (b) passed to selected third party suppliers of goods and services and advertisers until 6 months after you cease to be an AOL Access Customer, for marketing goods and services to you. Notify us of your preferences at http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/marketingprefs or by writing to the postal address for Personal Data Enquiries contained in clause 12.2 below.

 

1.5 To help improve our service, Carphone Warehouse Group Companies and our authorised data processors may assemble anonymous, aggregated data relating to the popularity and usage of various services offered through the AOL Access Service. You consent to this. We use demographic data to better understand our customers, and such data may also be used on an anonymous basis by our advertising servers to ensure that any advertisements that are served to you whilst you are online (e.g. "banner ads") are tailored to your browsing habits and hence more relevant to your interests.

 

1.6 We may hold personal data relating to the transactions you enter into with us or others through the AOL Access Service, such as online merchants. We will disclose this data to a party to the transaction, but only to facilitate your transaction. Carphone Warehouse Group Companies may also use this data to let you know about products and services that may be of interest, unless you tell us otherwise at http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/marketingprefs.

 

1.7 We may also use cookies - small files of text data which may be automatically stored on your computer's hard drive when your Web browser accesses certain Web pages. Cookies enable us to provide a better service to you. More information about how we (and third parties) may use cookies and analogous technologies (and how to opt out of receiving them) is provided at http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/cookies.

 

1.8 When you call our Customer Service department, we may monitor or record your calls and store details of the phone number(s) you use to make the call. This information is used only to track reported problems, and to better address your customer service needs. You hereby consent to such monitoring, recording and storage.

 

1.9 Your personal data may be disclosed if we or an entity processing your data on our behalf are compelled to do so by law, or receive a valid, legally-compliant request by a law enforcement or governmental authority. In some instances, we may allow you to provide Billing Account details of a third party. If you do so, we may disclose your name and address, and data relating to payments made under that Billing Account to them.

 

1.10 We will use the information you provide about yourself to carry out our obligations under the Services Agreements and may pass on your information to third parties such as our suppliers of network services or your telephone provider, where it is necessary for the provision of the AOL Access Services to you. You give us your consent for the processing of your personal information for the purposes contemplated under the Services Agreements.

 

1.11 Our Privacy Policy reflects our current policies and further explains how we process your data. It may be found at http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/privacypolicy.

 

1.12 In assessing your application and to prevent fraud, we may search the files of credit reference agencies (who will record any credit searches on your file) and fraud prevention agencies. We may also disclose details of how you conduct your Access Account with us to such agencies. The information will be used by other credit grantors for making credit decisions about you and the people with whom you are financially associated, for fraud prevention, money laundering prevention and for tracing debtors. We may ask such agencies to provide a credit scoring computation. Credit scoring uses a number of factors to work out risks involved in any application. Where automatic credit scoring computations are used, acceptance or rejection of your application will not depend only on the results of the credit scoring process, and other criteria may also apply. You have the right to rectify your data by emailing sargroupcompliance@cpwplc.com.

 

2. Some Basics of your AOL Access subscription

 

2.1 Age Restrictions

To be an AOL Access Customer, you must be at least 18. You may permit persons under 18 to use your Access Account, but you remain responsible for that use. You must provide us with accurate information during your registration and set-up of the AOL Access Services, and keep it up to date, for example at http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/billing.

 

2.2 Your Password

Keep your password secret. If we reasonably believe that your password is no longer secret, or your Access Account is being used by an unauthorised person, we may suspend access to your Access Account and the AOL Access Services pending resolution of the issue, and may require you to provide us with such proof of identity as we may, at our discretion, require.

 

2.3 Dial-up Access Numbers

If you are a dial-up customer, we may provide various telephone access numbers appropriate to your price plan for connecting to the AOL Access Service. You are responsible for selecting the appropriate numbers during registration. These may change from time to time and when this happens, we will notify you in accordance with clause 11.5 below. You must allow the display of your telephone number (Caller Line Identifier, the "CLI") in order to use the AOL Access dial-up service. If you restrict the display of your CLI, such a restriction will be overridden by our software in order to present the number to our servers. If you do not consent for your CLI to be displayed to TPH in this manner, do not use the AOL Access dial-up service. Please note however that only TPH will see your number displayed and it will not affect how your number is hidden during any telephone calls that you make.

 

3. Charges and Billing

3.1 You will be charged for the AOL Access Service according to your selected price plan. For current price plans see http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/pricing. Our charges are to be paid on the applicable billing date we allocate to you (the "Billing Date") - you can see your Billing Date at http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/billing. We reserve the right to change the date of your Billing Date at any time by giving you 30 days notice. You may only pay using one of our approved payment methods - this is known as your "Billing Account".

3.2 You may incur call charges when you call our Customer Services department. Please see http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/supportme for details of such charges.

 

3.3 Your Billing Account and your Billing Details

3.3.1 You authorise us to debit from that Billing Account (as updated) the charges you incur for, and other charges incurred using, the AOL Access Service.

 

3.3.2 You must pay your Access Account balances on time. Your bill is due for payment on your Billing Date, unless otherwise specified. Failure to comply may result in your Access Account being restricted, suspended or terminated and we may take appropriate action to recover such moneys. If you fail to pay your bill when due we reserve the right to charge a late payment fee or an administration charge to cover our additional costs. If we do not receive payment within 30 days and we have failed to be successful in collecting your payment, you will pay all outstanding charges on demand.

 

3.3.3 If you cancel your Access Account, you must pay immediately any outstanding balances, including but not limited to (i) any charges owed as a result of your AOL Access Account being cancelled or terminated within any minimum term contractual period you may have entered into; (ii) if you are a subscriber of AOL Broadband, AOL Talk or of our AOL Access dial-up service, a reasonable charge imposed on us by any third party (such as for example but not limited to BT) in order to disconnect you from our service up to a maximum of £5; and (iii) if you are subscriber of AOL Broadband with Line Rental and Calls, a reasonable charge in order to disconnect you from our service as set out in your price plan.

 

3.3.4 We reserve the right to impose a credit limit on your use of some or all of the Services, and if you subsequently exceed any credit limit imposed, we may demand immediate payment of any or all outstanding sums on your Access Account in relation to the Service(s) in question, and may also suspend or restrict your use of the Service(s) pending receipt of such payment.

 

3.3.5 All charges payable by you under the Services Agreements are subject to any applicable tax or duty, including Value Added Tax where applicable.

3.3.6 At any time we may vary billing frequency or request payment from you (including interim payments and/or payment of a security deposit) in respect of the provision of our Services.

 

3.3.7 We also reserve the right to ask for a security deposit in relation to some or all of our price plans. Where this is the case, you will be told of the amount and the refund procedure at the time that you place your order for such a price plan.

 

3.3.8 From time to time we may have to migrate your Access Account from one billing platform to another. In these circumstances, we will notify you if migration of your Access Account will affect the Access Service in any way.

 

3.3.9 We may change our charges or billing methods at any time. We will provide notice of any such change at least 30 days prior to the Billing Date when the change is to take effect if these changes could reasonably be deemed to be to your material detriment. Where such changes could reasonably be deemed to have a material impact on you or be to your disadvantage, you don't agree to the changes, your only remedy is to cancel your AOL Access Service subscription in accordance with clause 9 below.

 

3.3.10 You are responsible for any charges for goods or services incurred using your Access Account (including where such use is by a third party). Certain platforms and methods of access to the AOL Access Service may be subject to third party charges. Any obligations you incur in your dealings with third parties are your responsibility and any charges you incur will be additional to the charges payable to us under your price plan.

 

3.3.11 We may provide you with offers of further services or goods, sometimes in conjunction with selected suppliers, which allow you to make a purchase without re-entering your Billing Account details; you agree that your Billing Account may be debited accordingly. You will be given the opportunity to agree to this course of action in each instance. By doing so, you undertake that you are authorised to use and debit the Billing Account in question.

 

3.3.12 You must inform us of any billing problems or discrepancies within 180 days after they first appear on your bill - you can view your bill at http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/billing. Otherwise, you agree that you waive your right to dispute such problems. We may restrict or prevent customers' access to services provided by us or Carphone Warehouse Group Companies if charges have not been paid to us by the due date or have been charged back to us. You agree we may collect all sums due at cancellation or termination on the first Billing Date after your AOL Access subscription is cancelled or terminated. Should any sums due at cancellation or termination not be paid or be paid and be subsequently dishonoured or we are obliged to refund any such sums to your bank or other merchant acquirer, you agree we may collect all such sums from you on a date or dates notified to you in advance by us.

 

3.3.13 Telecommunications surcharges may arise in the event that you are able to access the AOL Access Services from certain locations or networks. You are responsible for checking the amount of such surcharges (if any). If you have any other questions about access numbers, please consult http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/access.

 

3.4 Third Parties and Your AOL Access Account

3.4.1 In some instances, we may permit you to provide Billing Account information of a third party in order to pay for your AOL Access Account. In instances where you have been permitted to do so, you confirm that you have permission to do so, but you will remain liable for all charges incurred through your Access Account.

 

3.4.2 You may nominate a named authorised User (an "Authorised User") to deal with your Access Account and information concerning your Access Account on your behalf. Such an Authorised User will thereby have full access to all information concerning your Access Account and will be able to take the same steps in relation to your Access Account as you can (although such steps will be deemed taken on your behalf), including but not limited to the modification of your personal data, settling of bills, ordering of services and cancellation of your account. Any agreement entered into by any such Authorised user will be deemed as entered into on your behalf and will therefore be deemed valid. However, your responsibilities under this AOL Access Agreement remain. We recommend that you do not grant Authorised User privileges to any third party unless absolutely necessary. Please note that your Access Account cannot be transferred from your name to that of the Authorised User.

 

3.4.3 We may disclose your name and address information, and details of activity on an Access Account to the holder of the Billing Account through which charges for your AOL Access subscription are paid. We may require such information as we consider reasonable to verify an Access Account holder's or Billing Account owner's identity.

 

4. Conduct And Content

4.1 Conduct and use of your Access Account

You are liable for, and your Access Account may be cancelled as a result of, any use by you or others of your Access Account (including any sub-accounts) which breaches the Services Agreements and/or the AOL Web Services Agreement that you have entered into with AOL (UK) Ltd. You are responsible for all use of your Access Account so you should supervise the use of your Access Account by others.

 

4.2 Content

By content, we mean text, software, communications, images, sounds and other information. In general, we do not pre-screen content available through the AOL Access Service, and we are not responsible for content, services or goods that are provided by third parties through the AOL Access Service or the internet. We reserve the right to remove or block access to content on the AOL Access Service containing unlawful or other harmful content or which is otherwise injurious to us or our customers, but we are not responsible for any failure or delay in removing such material.

 

4.3 Lawful Purposes

Your Access Account must be used only for lawful purposes and in a manner which does not in our reasonable opinion infringe the law or the legal rights (e.g. copyright, privacy or reputation) of any person or entity. If anyone using your Access Account breaches these principles, we may take action against you or your Access Account, ranging from a warning about the breach to cancellation of your AOL Access subscription.

 

4.4 Breach

 

We may cancel or suspend your Access Account immediately with minimum notice where there are serious grounds for doing so - please see clause 9.3.1 below for details.

 

4.5 Email

You must not send Spam through any email system accessed via or operated through our servers. For information on how to report spam see http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/spam. We may take any reasonable measures to prevent Spam from entering, utilising or remaining within our systems - these may inhibit or block access to email which is not Spam. We also employ technology such as virus-screening to protect our systems which may result in the deletion or alteration of email attachments. We accept no responsibility for any such deletion or alternation.

 

4.6 Proprietary Rights

The content available on or through the AOL Access Service is provided and owned by us or our partners or licensors, and is protected by copyright, trademark, database and other intellectual property rights. Content that you upload, download, transmit or receive while using the AOL Access Service must be authorised; this means you must have the legal right to do so. You must not copy, transmit, modify, distribute, make available to the public or create any derivative works from any of the content you find on or through the AOL Access Service or which we supply to you, unless you have the legal right to. You must not transmit or receive content, except where such activity is lawful.

 

5. Restrictions on the Services

5.1 We do not guarantee transmission or receipt of email and/or other types of online communications. The storage capacity and bandwidth we provide for the AOL Access Service is not and cannot be infinite. Therefore we may apply capacity-based limitations, such as, upload or download limitations and/or maximum storage space for your data on our computers, or other bandwidth limitations. We may also impose general operating rules for the AOL Access Service. For example, we may impose "time outs" if you are idle on the AOL Access Service. We also reserve the right to de-prioritise certain types of traffic that is particularly capacity intense, such as for example peer to peer traffic.

 

5.2 We have a Fair Use Policy that can be accessed through http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/cos. Where you breach our Fair Use Policy, we will contact you to notify you of the breach of our Fair Use Policy. We reserve the right to take specific measures to prevent breaches of our Fair Use Policy, including but not limited to the imposition of speed reduction during set times and, where your breach is particularly serious and/or persistent, termination of your service through notice in accordance with clause 9.3.1 below. For more information, see http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/cos.

 

6. Moving House

6.1 If you move house you must contact us with your updated address details, and if you are an AOL Broadband and/or AOL Talk subscriber, with details of the new phone line on which you want the Access Services to be activated (if this has changed). Failure to do so may result in a restriction or suspension of some or all of your AOL Access Services. If you are an AOL Broadband subscriber, please see the AOL Broadband Agreement for further details and if you are a subscriber of the AOL Broadband with Line Rental and Calls Service, please see the AOL Broadband with Line Rental and Calls Agreement for further details.

 

7. AOL Software

7.1 We may, at our discretion, procure a non-exclusive, limited licence for you to use the AOL software. Use of such software shall, in addition to this AOL Access Agreement, be subject to the AOL Web Services Agreement.

 

8. Warranty and Liability

8.1 Your use of the AOL Access Service and the internet is at your, and others who use your Access Account's, sole risk. Third party products, content, software and/or other material which may be provided through the AOL Access Services and the internet are provided "as is" and "as available" for your use, without warranties of any kind. We will, however, use reasonable skill and care to provide and maintain the availability of the AOL Access Service. We do not warrant that the AOL Access Services will interoperate with any software or device in a way which is satisfactory.

 

8.2 We provide the AOL Access Service on a commercially reasonable basis and expressly exclude any warranty, representation or undertaking that you will be able to access or use the AOL Access Service at times or locations of your choosing, or that we will have adequate capacity for the AOL Access Service as a whole, for any specific product, service or content, or in any specific geographic area. Due to the nature of interactive services, we depend upon third parties over which we may have little or no control for the delivery of the AOL Access Service (for example, to deliver emails sent to and from internet addresses).

 

8.3 We are not liable for deletion, corruption or failure to store any email messages or other content on the AOL Access Service. We do not warrant that any software or content available through the AOL Access Service and/or the internet will be free from any virus, malware, worm, Trojan horse or other program or device that is apparently intended to access and modify, delete or damage data file(s) or computer program(s).

 

8.4 The AOL Access Service is a consumer service and is not designed to be used by customers in connection with the conduct of their, or their employers' or contractors', commercial activities. If you choose to do so, it is entirely at your own, and your employer's or contractor's, risk and we shall not be responsible for any resulting loss or failure.

 

8.5 Under no circumstances shall we be responsible for any loss resulting from problems with any alarm system, or for any loss or damage suffered as a result of its faulty operation or inoperability caused by use of (or inability to use) the Services by any person including through suspension or termination of the Services in accordance with the Services Agreements.

 

8.6 We shall not be liable for any loss not reasonably foreseeable by us when the Services Agreements commence, nor for any loss of data, profit, revenue or business or wasted expenditure, howsoever caused, arising from your use of the AOL Access Services, the internet or for any other claim by a third party related in any way to your AOL Access Services subscription. Unless otherwise explicitly stated in writing, we do not endorse, warrant or guarantee any product or service offered through the AOL Access Service and/or the internet by a third party, and will not be a party to, or responsible for monitoring, any transaction between you and such a third party. We shall not be liable for any failure or delay in performance of our obligations under this AOL Access Agreement caused by matters beyond our reasonable control.

 

8.7 We shall not be liable for any failure or delay in performance of our obligations under the Services Agreements, caused by matters beyond our reasonable control (including acts and omissions of BT and other technology and telecommunications service providers).

 

8.8 Without limiting what is set out in clauses 8.1 to 8.7 above (and except for our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or for our fraudulent misrepresentation, or under Part 1 of the Consumer Protection Act 1987, for which our liability shall be unlimited), our liability under or in connection with this Agreement (whether arising in breach of contract, tort, negligence or otherwise), our liability under or in connection with the Services Agreements or your subscription or use of the AOL Access Services (whether arising in negligence or otherwise) shall not under any circumstances exceed the greater of

(a) 125% of the charges paid or payable to us by you for the Service in relation to which the liability arises during the twelve-month period preceding the time liability arises, or

(b) £5,000,

for any one incident or series of related incidents and regardless of the cause or form of action. Your statutory rights are unaffected.

 

9. Cancellation

9.1 Unless you have entered into a minimum term commitment by which you are still bound, your subscription runs for successive periods of one month unless otherwise stated; each such period beginning on your initial Billing Date, unless and until your subscription is cancelled by you or us. Accordingly, your Billing Date will recur on the same date of each month, unless otherwise specified.

 

9.2 Cancellation by you

9.2.1 You can cancel your subscription by writing to us care of Cancellations Department, c/o Member Services, AOL Broadband, PO Box 387, Southampton SO30 9AL. Please see http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/cancelaolbb for further details on how to cancel your account. Cancellation notice given by you will be processed within 72 hours of receipt. Written confirmation of cancellation will be provided on request.

 

9.2.2 To process your request promptly you must provide us with the information set out at http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/cancelaolbb. Cancellation will become effective on the Billing Date after your cancellation notice is processed, or as may be agreed by us when cancelling your subscription.

 

9.2.3 Please note that, if you are an AOL Broadband subscriber, unless we offer you the possibility to remain an AOL Talk only customer, or you specifically request the use of our dial-up service, your Access Account will be automatically cancelled if you move to another broadband provider via use of a MAC or, in certain instances, where you purchase telephone line rental from another service provider. Your new service provider should tell you where this is the case. Please note, if you are a subscriber of AOL Broadband with Line Rental and Calls service, cancellation of your broadband service will result in cancellation also of your telephone line and

telephone calls service, and vice versa.

 

9.2.4 On cancellation, you will not be entitled to any refund of charges or other compensation, except where (i) we change the terms of the Services Agreements or charges payable by you under it, and (ii) such changes become effective prior to the end of your current billing period, and (iii) you notify us during the 30 day period following our notice to you of the change that you are cancelling your subscription, in which event you may be entitled to a refund of charges you have paid relating to the period between (a) the date such change is implemented and (b) your next applicable Billing Date.

 

9.2.5 Where you cancel an account whilst still within any minimum commitment period for any Access Service(s) to which you subscribe (other than where you are cancelling as a result of a change to a Service Agreement under clause 11.4.1), in addition to your obligations under clause 3.3.3, you will be obliged to pay us any outstanding amount due under the applicable Price Plan Agreement(s). Please see the relevant Price Plan Agreement(s) for details.

 

9.3 Cancellation by us

 

9.3.1 We may cancel or suspend your Access Account and the related Access Services immediately with minimum notice where there are serious grounds for doing so, such as where you have breached this AOL Access Agreement, or the AOL Web Services Agreement that are entering into with AOL (UK) Ltd and your breach is, in our reasonable discretion, especially serious - for example where applicable laws or third party rights have been breached, or conduct generated from your Access Account and/or through your internet connection (with or without your knowledge) has adversely affected someone's (including our) interests.

 

9.3.2 Non-exhaustive examples include (i) unlawful behaviour; (ii) the sending of unsolicited bulk email ("Spam"), viruses, malware or other malicious code; (iii) behaviour which affects our ability to provide the AOL Access Service; (iv) failure to pay charges in accordance with this AOL Access Agreement, where such charges remain unpaid after notice has been given that payment is due.

 

9.3.3 Alternatively we may suspend your subscription, place limitations or issue a warning to you instead of cancelling your subscription immediately for example, in situations of (i) less serious breaches of our AOL Access Agreement; (ii) breach of any applicable Fair Use Policy and/or cap placed on your Access Account; or (iii) online behaviour which causes annoyance, but which is not (in our opinion) serious or intentional. For any subsequent breach, we may cancel your subscription immediately. If your AOL Access subscription is cancelled for breach, you may be required to provide certain undertakings before we permit you to rejoin the AOL Access Service. Any such permission is provided solely at our discretion.

 

9.3.4 We may also terminate one or all of the Services Agreements immediately if you are subject to insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings, or we may terminate one or more of the Services Agreements immediately if we are unable to provide one or more of the AOL Access Services to you due to matters beyond our reasonable control.

 

9.3.5 In addition to our rights to cancel your subscription under clause 9.3.1 and 9.3.4 above, we can cancel your subscription at any time in our complete discretion by 30 days' notice to you. Whether you are a monthly plan customer or an annual plan customer, you will not be entitled to any refund of charges or other compensation, except that you will be entitled to a refund of charges you have paid in advance relating to the period between (a) the date the cancellation takes effect, and (b) your next applicable Billing Date except where (i) our notice to you properly specifies one or more material breaches of this AOL Access Agreement for which you are responsible, or (ii) any material breach of this AOL Access Agreement for which you are responsible is committed prior to the cancellation of your subscription. Each such refund will be calculated and pro rated on a daily basis (where you are a monthly plan customer), or on a monthly basis, and on a daily basis for any remaining part of a month, where you are an annual plan customer. No other form of refund, such as online time or other credits will be credited to you or converted to cash or other form of reimbursement.

 

9.3.6 Inactive Status

In addition to the termination rights that we have under this AOL Access Agreement, we reserve the right, in exceptional circumstances, to deactivate your Access Account if it has been inactive for more than 90 days. This means you should use your Access Account regularly to access the Internet in order to keep your registration active. Please note that not using your Access Account for any period of time does not automatically ensure cancellation of your Access Account and if you wish to cancel your Access Account, you must follow the cancellation process outlined in 9.2 above.

 

10. Disputes

10.1 If you have a comment or complaint about the AOL Access Service, please telephone us using the Customer Service telephone number referred to in clause 12.3 below. We will attempt to resolve your concerns promptly. If we are unable to resolve your complaint by telephone, please write, including any supporting materials, to the Customer Service postal address in clause 12.3 below. We will look into your complaint and respond to you once it has been fully investigated.

 

10.2 If your complaint is still unresolved to your satisfaction having received a response from the Customer Service Team, you may refer it to the UK Internet Service Provider's Association - more information about this organisation and its complaints procedure is available at http://www.ispa.org.uk.

 

10.3 Further details of our complaints process are set out in our Code of Practice at http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/codeofpractice.

 

11. General

 

11.1 Saving the Services Agreements

We don't separately file the individual agreements entered into by our customers. You can access the Services Agreements online at http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/cos. We recommend you print and/or save a downloaded copy on your own computer.

 

11.2 Code of Conduct

We subscribe to the UK Internet Service Providers Association code of conduct. You may find out more information about this organization and its code of conduct at http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/codeofpractice or at http://www.ispa.org.uk.

 

11.3 Cooling-Off Period

Unless otherwise stated during the registration process and/or in the Price Plan Agreement governing your price plan, when you successfully complete your registration as a customer, the AOL Access Service is promptly made available for your use. In this situation, you do not have the right to cancel this AOL Access Agreement during the cooling-off period which is provided for certain purchases under the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000. However, this does not affect your ability to cancel your subscription in accordance with clause 9.2 above.

 

11.4 Changes to the Services Agreements

11.4.1 It may be necessary for us to change one or more of the Services Agreements from time to time. We will provide you with notice at least 30 days in advance of such changes taking effect if these changes could reasonably be deemed to have a material impact on you or are to your disadvantage. If these changes could reasonably be deemed to have a material impact on you or are to your disadvantage and you don't agree to the changes proposed, your only remedy is to cancel your AOL Access subscription in accordance with clause 9 above. By continuing to subscribe to and/or use the AOL Access Service(s), you will have accepted the relevant changes.

 

11.5 Notices

11.5.1 We may be required to give you notice about important matters from time to time. Such notices may be given to you by email to your AOL Master Screen Name email address and/or any contact email address you supplied us with during registration (your "Contact Email Address"), by post to the address you give us on registration, or by notification posted on http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/cos. It is hence important that you visit http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/cos on a regular basis to ensure that you become aware of any notices we may post there.

 

11.5.2 You are required to give us notice of any changes to your personal details, including your contact details and/or Billing Account.

11.5.3 You may give notice to us in writing addressed to c/o Member Services, AOL Broadband, PO Box 387, Southampton SO30 9AL, by emailing from http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/cancelaolbb or by contacting Member Services on 0844 499 5555 (call charges apply, see http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/supportme for details).

 

11.5.4 Effective Dates of Notices under the Services Agreements.

11.5.4.1 Other than notices sent for the purpose of cancelling a Price Plan Agreement during any given cooling-off period, effective days of notices will be as follows: emailed notice will have been given upon the date of its delivery; postal notice will have been given two working days (meaning Mondays to Fridays, with UK bank holidays excluded) following dispatch by first class post. Notice of subscription cancellation may require up to 72 hours to be processed by us.

 

11.5.4.2 Notices sent for the purpose of cancelling a Price Plan Agreement during a cooling off period will be effective on the date of sending when sent by email or post. This notice period shall only apply to cancellation notices given during specifically provided cooling off periods under the Price Plan Agreements.

 

11.6 Third Parties

You agree that the Services Agreements are not intended to confer and do not confer any rights or remedies upon any person other than the parties to the Services Agreement, whether under the Contracts (Rights Of Third Parties) Act 1999 or otherwise.

 

11.7 Severance

The invalidity, illegality or unenforceability of any provision of the Services Agreements shall not affect or impact the continuation in force of the remainder of the Services Agreements.

 

11.8 Governing Law and Jurisdiction

The contract between you and us comprised in the Services Agreements is entered into in Luxembourg. The laws of England and Wales govern the Services Agreements and your subscription. You and we submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the relevant UK court in relation to any dispute arising out of the Services Agreements or any use of the AOL Access Service.

 

11.9 No Waiver

If you or we fail to exercise any right or remedy under the Services Agreements, that failure won't operate as a waiver of that right or remedy, or prevent it from being exercised subsequently.

 

11.10 Assignment

We are entitled to transfer, assign or subcontract any or all of our rights and obligations under the Services Agreements to a third party which is to provide the AOL Access Service (or part thereof) by giving you notice in accordance with this AOL Access Agreement. You may not assign or otherwise transfer the Services Agreements to a third party.

 

12. Contact Details

 

12.1 General Enquiries:

If you have questions about the Services Agreements, or about your rights and responsibilities as an AOL Access customer, please contact us by email at http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/contact.

 

12.2 Personal Data Enquiries:

To inspect, change or correct your identity and contact information, you may use http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/billing. To find out how you can inspect or correct other personal data please contact Customer Services on 0844 499 5555. If you have other questions about the handling or protection of your personal data, all written enquiries should be addressed to Data Protection, c/o Member Services, AOL Broadband, PO Box 387, Southampton SO30 9AL or Data Protection, TPH Services Sàrl, Batiment Green Office Park, 6, Parc d'Activité "Syrdall", L-5365 Munsbach, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, or via email at sargroupcompliance@cpwplc.com.

 

12.3 Customer Service:

You can contact our Customer Services Department by telephone at 0844 499 5555, by emailing us at http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/contact or by letter to Member Services, AOL Broadband, PO Box 387, Southampton SO30 9AL.

 

12.4 Provider:

The AOL Access Service is provided by TPH Services Sàrl, registered in Luxembourg under number B 122 040 with a corporate address at TPH Services Sàrl, Batiment Green Office Park, 6, Parc d'Activité "Syrdall", L-5365 Munsbach, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

 

Please use the dedicated contact details specified above to ensure prompt processing of your requests.

 

 

 

AOL Web Services Agreement

 

 

This Agreement is between you and AOL (UK) Limited ("AOL", "we" or "us").

This AOL Web Services Agreement (the "Agreement") applies to your use of AOL's web sites (including aol.co.uk), as well as other pages, information, software, services, products and content which may be operated, hosted or managed by AOL or its affiliates (together, the "AOL Web Services"). Some of these products and services may require your use of a Screen Name, and this Agreement contains terms which are applicable to the use of such products and services.

By using AOL Web Services as a casual visitor, or by completing the registration process to obtain and use a Screen Name, you signify that you agree to this Agreement.

 

Please print and/or save a downloaded copy of the Agreement on your computer for your reference. The terms of this Agreement may be updated or additional terms may apply, from time to time. Each time you visit AOL Web Services please look out for these notices of updates and when you see these read and print and/or save a downloaded copy.

As protecting your privacy is important, we would first like you to have a clear understanding of how you agree that your personal information will be used by clicking "I agree" when you register for AOL Web Services.

 

1. Personal Information

 

1.1 Personal Information is information that identifies you, including identity and billing information that you may provide to AOL or AOL may collect through your use of the AOL Web Services ("Personal Information"). Your Personal Information will be collected, processed, stored and used by us, and passed to and processed by us and our affiliate companies (together "AOL Group Companies") and other data processors acting under our control, in order to provide the Services, to provide customer support and for other purposes described in our Privacy Policy at Privacy Policy - Questions answered - AOL Help.

 

1.2 Our Privacy Policy sets out Seven Principles of Privacy that AOL commits to. To find out more, visit www.aol.co.uk/privacy and, if you are a user of AOL software via AOL Keyword: Privacy.

 

1.3 AOL and any third parties acting under our control may use your Personal Information (including demographic data) to personalise the content, advertising and promotions you receive and our communications with you, AOL may do this by finding out which advertisements you react to or the areas of the AOL Web Services which you visit most frequently, or searches you perform when using the AOL Web Services, and tailoring your experience accordingly. We may also process Personal Information relating to the transactions you enter into with us or our partners, such as online merchants, through the AOL Web Services. To find out more visit AOL Keyword: Marketing Preferences, or visit http://www.aol.co.uk/marketingprefs.

 

1.4 We may also use cookies - small files of data which may be automatically stored on your computer's hard drive when your Web browser accesses certain Web pages. Cookies enable us to provide a better service to you. More information about how we (and third parties) may use cookies and similar technologies (and how to opt out of receiving them) is provided in our Privacy Policy, or to find out more visit: www.aol.co.uk/what-are-cookies/, or if you are a user of AOL software via AOL Keyword: Cookies.

 

1.5 AOL Group Companies may keep you informed of their respective products and services (including special offers, discounts, offers, competitions). AOL Group Companies may also keep you informed by post, telephone, email, SMS, and MMS of such products and services offered by third parties selected by AOL which may be of interest to you. AOL or AOL Group Companies will only send you third parties' marketing information with your informed consent, if you do not wish to receive marketing information from AOL please tell us. To find out more visit Keyword: Marketing Preferences, or visit http://www.aol.co.uk/marketingprefs. See also clause 1.10 below.

 

1.6 Your Personal Information may be disclosed if we or an entity processing your data on our behalf are compelled to do so by law, or receive a valid, legally compliant request by a law enforcement or governmental authority. If you provide us a third party's billing or payment card information, we may disclose your name and address, and data relating to payments made by that payment method, to such third parties.

1.7 If you provide us with payment or billing information (such as a payment card number), you agree that AOL Group Companies and its authorised data processors shall have the right to collect, store and process those details and any related Personal Information for the purpose of providing, maintaining, billing, fulfilment, monitoring usage of and making service improvements to the AOL Web Services.

 

1.8 For an unlimited period after your Web Services Account has been cancelled we may retain any payment-related information, such as a payment card number, which you supply to us (but only in an anonymised form which does not enable us to identify the holder of that payment method), for fraud prevention purposes.

 

1.9 AOL Web Services are multi-national, and many of the computers and

companies that process data on our behalf are based in other countries outside the European Union ("EU") including the USA. We may collect Personal Information (which may include data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, or concerning health or sex life), but we will not use this without your explicit consent. All Personal Information may be transferred to, processed and held both inside and outside the EU. Countries outside the EU may not have as well developed data protection laws in place to protect your information as those inside the EU, but we will ensure your Personal Information is treated in compliance with those laws, this Agreement and our Privacy Policy. Details of companies and countries processing your data will be provided on request, details of how to contact us are contained in our Privacy Policy, for more information visit: www.aol.co.uk/privacy.

 

1.10 We encourage you to tell us what your marketing preferences are for your Personal Information. Unless and until you "opt-out", your name and contact details may be (a) used by AOL Group Companies for a reasonable period after your use of AOL Web Services ceases, and (b) passed to selected third party suppliers of goods and services and advertisers for 6 months after you cease to be a user of AOL Web Services, for marketing goods and services to you. Notify us of your preferences visit Keyword: Marketing Preferences, or http://www.aol.co.uk/marketingprefs.

 

2. Registration

2.1 Whilst enjoyment of some of the AOL Web Services does not require registration and can be accessed as a "casual visitor", access to other AOL Web Services requires completion of a simple registration process in order to obtain a screen name and password necessary to enjoy such services.

 

2.2 We will open an account for you when you complete your registration (the "AOL Web Services Account"). You must provide complete and accurate information about yourself, and notify us to keep this information up to date. You must be at least 18 years old to register for a Screen Name. Parents and guardians who permit children (by which we mean people under the age of 18) for whom they are responsible to use AOL Web Services should assist them in setting up their AOL Web Services Account and supervise their use of AOL Web Services. Parents and guardians will be responsible for their children's use of the AOL Web Services and adherence to this Agreement and it is also the responsibility of parents and guardians to ensure that the AOL Web Content and User Generated Content that their children may encounter on AOL Web Services is suitable for those children. Most of that content is not specifically intended to be accessed by children.

 

You will select (or we may assign to you) a master screen name that will be identified with your AOL Web Services Account ("Master Screen Name"). In some instances AOL may offer you the opportunity to obtain further secondary screen names which become associated with your AOL Web Services Account (collectively "Screen Name(s)").

 

2.3 You may not apply for a Screen Name that is used by someone else, is vulgar, attempts to impersonate another person or violates the rights of others. We may reject any Screen Name that we determine in our discretion is unacceptable for use on any of the AOL Web Services. All Screen Names remain the exclusive property of AOL. AOL provides you with a limited, revocable, non-exclusive licence to use your Screen Name(s) to access the AOL Web Services.

 

2.4 You need to select a password to access your AOL Web Services Account. Your password is the key that unlocks your AOL Web services Account. AOL will never ask you for your password. You agree not to reveal your password to other users. Your AOL Web Services Account is at risk if you let someone use it inappropriately. You agree to indemnify and hold AOL harmless for any improper or illegal use of your AOL Web Services Account, including illegal or improper use by a third party who has used your password to access your AOL Web Services Account. To find out more about changing your password: visit aol.co.uk or Click Here.

 

3. Third Party Content Available Through AOL Web Services

 

3.1 Through use of your Screen Name(s) you will be able to access a wide variety of enhanced content and services provided by AOL or its affiliates through the AOL Web Services and/or through AOL Software. You may also be able to access content and services provided by third parties ("Third Party Content"). AOL is not responsible for Third Party Content. Any issues or disputes relating to Third Party Content should be taken up directly with the applicable third party. Any dealings that you have with advertisers on the AOL Web Services are between you and the advertiser and you acknowledge and agree that we are not liable for any loss or claim you may have against any advertiser.

 

4. Inactive Status

 

4.1 In addition to the termination rights that we have under this Agreement, we reserve the right to deactivate your AOL Web Services Account if it has been inactive for more than a consecutive period of 90 days or more. This means you must use your AOL Web Services Account regularly such as by logging into an AOL Web Services with your Screen Name in order to keep your Account active. If we deactivate your AOL Web Services Account(s), we have the right to reassign the Screen Name(s) which you used to access the AOL Web Services Account.

 

5. Your Responsibilities

5.1 You are responsible for compliance with this Agreement in your use of AOL Web Services or AOL Software, whether you access as a casual visitor or by using a Screen Name. You may use AOL Web Services for lawful purposes only. You may not submit, download or transmit any material (including User Generated Content, as defined below in clause 10.1), or otherwise engage in any conduct that:

5.1.1 breaches any third party's rights including, without limitation, copyright, patent rights, trade mark rights, performer's rights, rights of confidence;

5.1.2 is unlawful, offensive, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory,; deceptive, fraudulent, invasive of another's privacy, tortious, or contains explicit or graphic descriptions, or accounts of, sexual acts;

5.1.3 victimises, harasses, degrades, or intimidates an individual or group of individuals on the basis of religion, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, age, or disability;

5.1.4 impersonates any person, business or entity, including AOL and its employees and agents;

5.1.5 contains viruses or any other computer code, files or programs that interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment, or otherwise permit the unauthorised use of or access to a computer or computer network;

5.1.6 encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offence, or that gives rise to civil liability;

5.1.7 promotes or sells prohibited items such as lotteries, betting or wagering activities, ammunition, firearms, tobacco, alcohol, adult products and services, and explosives;

5.1.8 violates this Agreement, acceptable usage guidelines or any policy posted on the AOL Web Services, or

5.1.9 unjustifiably interferes with the use of AOL Web Services by others.

You may not use AOL Web Services in any manner that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair our servers or networks, or interfere with any other party's use and enjoyment of the AOL Web Services. You may not attempt to gain unauthorised access to the AOL Web Services, user accounts, computer systems or networks, through hacking, password mining or any other means. We may use any legal and technical remedies available to us to prevent any breach or enforce this Agreement.

We provide guidance as to acceptable use - this is found at our "community guidelines" available at www.aol.co.uk/community and at AOL Keyword: Chat Help. If you breach these guidelines we may, in our reasonable discretion terminate your Account and use of you Screen Name without notice.

 

6. Changes to AOL Web Services

6.1 We may change or discontinue any AOL Web Service or feature on an AOL Web Service at any time without notice. We may impose general operating rules for the AOL Web Services. For example, we may establish limits on storing, uploading or downloading any data or impose "time outs" if you are idle on a particular AOL Web Service. Certain AOL Web Services will have additional terms (such as policies, guidelines, and subscription terms) that will further govern your use of that particular AOL Web Service; those terms will be deemed to be incorporated into and to supplement this Web Services Agreement. These additional terms will typically be set out within the AOL Web Service itself.

 

7. No Spam

7.1 You may not use any of the AOL Web Services or communication tools to transmit, directly or indirectly, any unsolicited bulk communications (including emails and instant messages). You may not harvest information about users for the purpose of sending, or to facilitate the sending, of unsolicited bulk communications. We may use any legal or technical remedies available to us to prevent unsolicited bulk communications from entering, utilising, or remaining within networks.

 

8. Premium Services

8.1 We may offer premium AOL Web Services for a fee ("Premium Services"). Payment terms and any other terms applying to your use of such Premium Services which are in addition to those set out in this Agreement will be disclosed to you at the time you sign up for a Premium Service.

 

9. Access Costs

9.1 You must provide at your own expense the equipment and internet connection that you will need to access the AOL Web Services. Those costs are in addition to any fees you pay if you elect to subscribe to any Premium Services.

 

10. Content

10.1 Certain areas of the AOL Web Services may allow you to post text, messages, images, audio and video, software and/or other information ("User Generated Content") that can be accessed and viewed by others. You may not post User Generated Content that violates this Agreement or any other terms governing usage of the AOL Web Services. We do not claim ownership of any User Generated Content that you may post. However, by submitting User Generated Content to public areas of the AOL Web Services, you grant us and our affiliates on a perpetual basis a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use, copy, display, perform, distribute, adapt and promote the User Generated Content in any medium and you agree that we may sub-license the User Generated Content to third parties.

10.2 We have no duty to pre-screen User Generated Content, but reserve the right to remove such content if in our absolute discretion it contravenes this Agreement or any other requirements governing the posting of such content.

10.3 The copyright in all content on the AOL Web Services, except User Generated Content, ("AOL Web Content") is the property of AOL, its affiliates and/or its licensors. You may only use AOL Web Content for personal, non-commercial purposes and in accordance with any additional terms and conditions which you may be notified of in relation to specific AOL Web Content. You may not circumvent any mechanisms for preventing the unauthorised reproduction or distribution of AOL Web Content.

 

11. Software

11.1 We or our partners may provide you with software to use with the AOL Web Services ("Software"). Such Software will be subject to the terms of any licence agreement that accompanies the Software and to the terms of this AOL Web Services Agreement. If there is no licence agreement presented to you with the Software, then we and our suppliers grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited licence to install the Software on any single computer or device from which you wish to access and use the AOL Web Services. Such Software is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws and treaties, and is owned by us, our affiliates or licensors. You may not sell or redistribute the Software. You may not incorporate it or any portion of it into another product. You may not reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the Software or otherwise attempt to derive its source code except where and to the extent expressly permitted by law. You may not modify, adapt or create derivative works from the Software in any way or remove proprietary notices in the Software. You agree to abide by all laws and regulations in effect regarding your use of the Software and the AOL Web Services.

11.2 We may automatically check your version of any Software and automatically update it. We are under no obligation to provide you with any support, error corrections, updates, upgrades, bug fixes and/or enhancements of any Software, although we reserve the right to do so. We do not warrant that any Software which we may provide you with will interoperate with any software or device in a way which is satisfactory. You warrant that you will use any Software which may provide you with in accordance with this Agreement and that you will not use the Software to violate any law, regulation or right of any third party.

 

12. Our Liability to You

12.1 The AOL Web Services are provided without warranties of any kind and your use of AOL Web Services is at your sole risk. AOL will, however, use reasonable skill and care to provide and maintain the availability of AOL Web Services. AOL and its affiliates expressly exclude any warranty, representation or undertaking that you will be able to access or use the AOL Web Services at times or locations of your choosing. AOL depends upon third parties over which it may have little or no control for the delivery of the AOL Web Services (for example, to deliver emails sent to and from internet addresses). AOL is not liable for deletion, corruption or failure to store any email messages or other content. AOL does not warrant that the AOL Web Services will be free from any virus, worm, Trojan horse or other program or device that is apparently intended to access and modify, delete or damage data files or computer programs. The AOL Web Services are consumer services and not designed to be used by you in connection with the conduct of your, or your employers' or contractors', commercial activities. If you choose to do so, it is entirely at your own, and your employer's or contractor's,risk.

12.2 AOL shall not be liable for any loss not reasonably foreseeable by AOL when this Agreement is entered into, nor for any loss of data, profit, revenue or business or wasted expenditure, howsoever caused, arising from your use of the AOL Web Services or for any other claim related in any way to your relationship with AOL. AOL does not endorse, warrant or guarantee any product or service offered by a third party, and will not be a party to, or responsible for monitoring, any transaction between you and such a third party. We shall not be liable for any failure or delay in performance of our obligations under this Agreement caused by matters beyond our reasonable control.

12.3 Without limiting the above paragraph (and except for AOL's liability for death or personal injury caused by its negligence, for which AOL's liability shall be unlimited), the liability of AOL under or in connection with this Agreement or your use of the AOL Web Services (whether arising in negligence or otherwise) will not under any circumstances exceed £500, regardless of the cause or form of action. Your statutory rights are unaffected.

 

13. Indemnification

13.1 You agree to defend and indemnify harmless AOL and AOL Group Companies against all liabilities, claims and expenses, including reasonable legal fees that arise from any infringement of third party intellectual property or other rights resulting from any breach of this Agreement for which you are responsible. AOL reserves the right, at its own expense, to assume the exclusive defence and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you. In that event, you shall have no further obligation to provide indemnification for AOL in that matter.

 

14. Termination

14.1 Save as otherwise expressly provided in any additional terms governing the use of specific AOL Web Services (for example Premium Services), we do not charge you for use of AOL Web Services, and as a consequence, we may cancel or suspend use of AOL Web Services at any time, without cause and without notice.

14.2 Your right to use the AOL Web Services and your Screen Name(s) may end once your account is terminated and any data you have stored on the AOL Web Services may no longer be available to you. It is therefore important you maintain your own archive copies of any data that is valuable to you. If you have subscribed to any Premium Services or other products or services for which payment is necessary, you remain responsible for paying any amounts owed on your account at the time your Premium Service and/or account is terminated. If you are participating in any free promotional offer for accessing a Premium Service you must cancel such Premium Service before the end of the free trial period to avoid incurring charges.

14.3 Termination, suspension, cancellation of the AOL Web Services Account(s) and AOL Access Account(s).

14.3.1 If you have an account for AOL Broadband internet access and/or AOL Dial Up/ Narrowband internet access (the "AOL Access Account") and the AOL Access Account is suspended, cancelled or terminated for breach of its terms and conditions of service, AOL reserves the right to suspend, cancel or terminate any or all associated AOL Web Services Account(s) you may have, at any time, without notice.

14.3.2 You acknowledge and agree, as AOL Access Accounts and AOL Web Services Accounts are interlinked that termination, suspension or cancellation of your AOL Web Services Account, for any reason, may mean that you are not able to continue to use your Screen Name to access AOL Access Accounts, and/or AOL Software.

14.4 If you wish to terminate your AOL Web Services Account you may:

(i) simply discontinue your use of your AOL Web Services Account; or alternatively

(ii) contact us by sending us an email to us from your AOL email address. If you have several Screen Names and email addresses linked to your AOL Web Services Account, you must use the email address linked to your main Master Screen Name, and include in the header the words TERMINATE MY ACCOUNT; To find out more about terminating your account visit aol.co.uk or www.aol.co.uk/terminate.

14.5 Effect of termination of your AOL Web Services Account on Premium Services: If you cancel your AOL Web Services Account or your AOL Web Services Account is terminated, any Premium Services linked to your AOL Web Services Account will also be terminated unless otherwise provided in the terms and conditions relating to the Premium Services in question. If you want to cancel any Premium Services.

 

15. Changes to this Agreement

15.1 We may change this Agreement from time to time. We will post the updated Agreement on the AOL Web Services, and it will take effect immediately or on a date which is nominated in the posting or a in a notice we send to you. Your ongoing use of the AOL Web Services after the changes take effect signifies your agreement to the updated Agreement. You are responsible for regularly reviewing this Agreement and any additional terms posted on the AOL Web Services. If you disagree with changes that are made to this Agreement, you may simply terminate your AOL Web Services Account as provided in clause 14 above.

 

16. Contacting AOL and Disputes

16.1 If you have a comment or complaint about the AOL Web Services, please visit: http://info.aol.co.uk/help/complaints.

 

17. Notices

17.1 You agree that we may send to you in electronic form any notices, disclosures, reports, documents or other communications relating to the AOL Web Services (collectively, "Notices"). We can send you Notices (1) to the email address that you provided to us during registration for this purpose, (2) to any AOL email account, or (3) by posting the Notice on the applicable Service or otherwise through aol.co.uk. Any Notice from us shall be deemed effective the day after it is sent or posted by us.

 

18. Entire Agreement

18.1 This Agreement, together with other documents and agreements referred to or entered into under it, constitutes the entire agreement between you and us relating to AOL Web Services. Note that separate terms and conditions may govern your use of other services we provide from time to time, such as PC to SMS messaging and antivirus subscriptions.

 

19. Jurisdiction and Choice of Law

19.1 This Agreement is governed by the laws of England and Wales. You and we submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales in relation to any dispute arising out of this Agreement.

 

20. Assignment

20.1 We may assign this Agreement to any third party, which is to provide the AOL Web Services (or part of them) at any time without Notice to you. You may not assign this Agreement to any one else.

 

21. Third Parties

21.1 You agree that this Agreement is not intended to confer and do not confer any rights or remedies upon any person other than the parties to this Agreement, whether under the Contracts (Rights Of Third Parties) Act 1999 or otherwise.

 

22. Severance

22.1 The invalidity, illegality or unenforceability of any provision of this Agreement shall not affect or impact the continuation in force of the remainder of this Agreement.

 

23. No Waiver

23.1 If you or we fail to exercise any right or remedy under this Agreement, that failure won't operate as a waiver of that right or remedy, or prevent it from being exercised subsequently.

 

Additional terms that apply to specific Services available on the AOL Web Services are set out below:

24. Webmail

24.1 Unless you are told otherwise, the maximum space allocated to your webmail account is 2 Gigabytes. Any emails sent to your webmail account which would take the size of your account over 2 Gigabytes may be bounced back to the sender.

We may not be able to transmit emails through our systems which exceed 16 Megabytes.

24.2 Messages which we identify as spam will be sent to your spam folder. Emails in your spam folder will be automatically deleted after five days.

24.3 We do not guarantee transmission or receipt of any email. You are solely responsible for backing up and archiving any important email. We may delete email from our computers following delivery or where email remains unread following the elapsing of 10 days from delivery or earlier for technical reasons (for instance if your storage limit is exceeded). AOL is not liable for deletion, corruption or failure to store any email messages.

24.4 In any event, all data held in your webmail account may be deleted, with immediate effect, if your AOL Web Services Account is suspended, cancelled or terminated.

 

25. AOL Pictures

25.1 If you do not use AOL Pictures for six months then AOL may automatically delete any pictures that you may have uploaded.

25.2 Any pictures that you upload and share with others will remain accessible by them even if you subsequently terminate your AOL Web Services Account.

25.3 All content that you have uploaded to AOL Pictures may be deleted if we terminate your AOL Web Services Account for breach of this Agreement.

 

26. AOL Journals and Homepages

26.1 The total maximum storage space available per AOL Web Services Account is 100 Megabytes. This limit is shared between AOL Journals and Homepages, so if you have used 80 Megabytes of your storage limit on AOL Journals, you will have 20 Megabytes of capacity for Homepages.

26.2 All content that you have uploaded to AOL Journals and Homepages may be deleted if we terminate your AOL Web Services Account for breach of this Agreement.

 

27. Message Boards

27.1 Any information you post to the message boards will be publicly accessible but may be deleted six months after the date you post the information. The information that you have posted to message boards may be removed if you breach this Agreement.

AOL Web Services are provided by: AOL (UK) Limited, a limited company registered in England under company number 03462696 with its registered office address at 68 Hammersmith Road, London, W14 8YW. VAT Registration Number: 766 4516 05.

Edited January 26, 2009 by la2006

[Zamzara]

Unless it was made clear to you that you had to actively cancel, I would argue this.

 

That contract is in breach of the plain English requirement of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations, and the requirement is not sufficiently prominent under the principle of Interfoto v Stilleto.

 

There may also be an issue of whether the terms were incorporated in time under the principle in Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking.

 

Was the text you posted the only warning, or was there anything else?

[la2006]

 

Was the text you posted the only warning, or was there anything else?

 

I pretty sure this is the only agreement to the aol access account.

 

I would like to find out more about the following

 

Also on the basis that they are not entitled to profit from your breach, I would have said that in any event they would only be entitled to recoup their actual losses.

 

Post the T&Cs

Edited January 26, 2009 by la2006

[legalpickle]

It seems that this thread has been hijacked. The OP is 'kenny99' who asked about how to deal with AOL asking him for one payment of £15.99 due to him not cancelling. Then 'la2006' who PM'd me asking me to visit this thread to try and help entered the discussion saying that he wanted to make a claim against AOL though I'm unclear from his message as to what happened.

 

I would recommend that a mod separate the posts, and say to la2006 that hijacking threads is against CAG rules. It also makes threads very unclear for people to follow. I would also ask kenny99 to return to the thread and tell us what has happened in his case - he last posted in August '07.

 

If 'la2006' and 'kenny99' are one and the same, please explain what happened between August 2007 and January 2009? Why did you pay them if your D/D was cancelled?

 

If la2006 is not the same person as kenny99: Your post is unclear. From it I would guess that you have been charged monthly by AOL despite only using the free trial. Please can you explain from day 1 what happened: When did you sign up to AOL? When did you stop using AOL? Did you cancel your D/D? If you cancelled your D/D why did you pay them? If you didn't cancel your D/D when did you notice they had been taking money from your account?

 

In order to try and assist I need a clearer picture of what happened, and currently everything is muddled up.

Edited February 1, 2009 by legalpickle

[MARTIN3030]

As Kenny last posted in August 2007-what makes you think he will come back after 16 months ?

In the absence of Kenny-there is other discussion taking place here which is not offending anyone as far as I can see....

If Kenny complains then there is just reason to moderate the thread but theres no signs of that.

[legalpickle]

As Kenny last posted in August 2007-what makes you think he will come back after 16 months ?

In the absence of Kenny-there is other discussion taking place here which is not offending anyone as far as I can see....

If Kenny complains then there is just reason to moderate the thread but theres no signs of that.

Ok. I thought one of the reasons that hijacking threads is not allowed is due to the confusion it causes. But if the mods don't mind in this instance, then who am I to complain.

 

la2006 asked me to come to this thread to give advice, so I would ask la2006 to explain the issue in more detail and answer my questions, so that I would be more able to give advice.

[la2006]

My case:

 

A new family computer was purchased in January 2005, and got a free trial AOL 9.0 dial up CD, which I installed on that computer, but I’m sure no connection has ever been be used thorough this account. ( I’m currently awaiting my S.A.R ) In order to sign up for a free trial you have enter debit card details and username and password, the payments are taken (continual authority debit card payment) I thought for a long time it was a d/d but couldn't cancel it.

 

In March 2005, I purchased a Dell 2400 PC for my own personal use, and AOL 9.0 Free trial was already installed on this new PC, so I set up a connection/ account dial up AOL.

 

The payments are taken off the debit card even if the card is cancelled and replaced with another card.

 

Between February 2005 and July 2006, I was on a monthly contract to receive AOL Anytime dial up for £15.99 per month. This was later reduced to £11.99 to be charged once per month (a single monthly charged). I checked my banks statements and noticed one charged would be around the 11/12 of the month and the second charge around 23/24 of the month,. I sent a e-mail 'complaining', more of a very soft e-mail- I don't think the way you are billing me is correct?' to AOL billings, of course i didn't get a reply from that e-mail

 

Then I requested full cancellation of both charges due to the double charges in July 2006. This was done via e-mail to AOL billings.

 

AOL cancelled one billing the £11.99 one but continued to bill me for 15.99.

 

Checked banks statement - still saw the charges - I complained via letters to AOL from October 2007 - February 2008 about the continual billings and always requesting refunds and gave personal details, bank details, copies of bank statements, home telephone number, last 4 digits of debit card. AOL said they could not find this second account to end the billings, so suggested I go to my bank. At one point they suggested it might me fraud. I went to my bank (Barclays), but they said they could not deal with this. I ‘losted’ my debit card, but AOL still managed to take further amounts.

 

The second response I got from AOL is that there’s is active account under my name - which they could not find for several months.

 

I did a SAR to barclays - photocopied every charged from AOL to sent it to them. After that AOL did a 'detailed search' ( they implied it took them 2-3 weeks to complete) to find this account and offered 6 months good will gesture inline with there terms and conditions. ( next stop is court which I chicken out of at the time ( aol pointed me to that term 3.3.12 but now I know that AOL have had a number of billing disputes they rely on that very point to offer a max of 6months)

 

I have done a Subject Access Request request ( they have another 4 weeks to get back to me) just to find out if this account was really active, and the details attached to this account, as AOL for several months said they could not find this account to stop the billings.

 

The reason why I very sure this account ( to the family pc - which had a broadband connection has been inactive is because my mother does not use the internet, and she is the only that on very rare occasions uses the pc), I have my own pc, and my brother has a laptop both with broadband connection.)

 

In a ideal world I would want a full refund. Would this quote still apply to my case.

 

.

Originally Posted by Bankfodder

Also on the basis that they are not entitled to profit from your breach, I would have said that in any event they would only be entitled to recoup their actual losses

 

On the one hand AOL state that after 90days of being inactive with access service they would in exceptional circumstances cancel the account.

 

9.3.6 Inactive Status

In addition to the termination rights that we have under this AOL Access Agreement, we reserve the right, in exceptional circumstances, to deactivate your Access Account if it has been inactive for more than 90 days. This means you should use your Access Account regularly to access the Internet in order to keep your registration active. Please note that not using your Access Account for any period of time does not automatically ensure cancellation of your Access Account and if you wish to cancel your Access Account, you must follow the cancellation process outlined in 9.2 above.

 

On the other hand after 180days the consumer waives any rights to dispute billings overcharges/problems - which AOL are basically saying with me.

 

3.3.12 You must inform us of any billing problems or discrepancies within 180 days after they first appear on your bill - you can view your bill at http://myaolbroadband.co.uk/billing. Otherwise, you agree that you waive your right to dispute such problems.

 

Is there not a six year rule?

 

I asked legalpickie what he thinks about that AOL terms - because I saw his post about suing demon for overcharging.

Edited February 14, 2009 by la2006

[legalpickle]

la2006: I haven't forgotten about you. I think you may have a case but want to respond in more detail before I advise you on issuing court proceedings. I will hopefully respond by Sunday evening latest, possibly earlier.

 

On the 180 day rule: Generally business suppliers write on invoices, something to the effect of if you dispute this invoice please advise within 30 days or we will treat this invoice as undisputed. The reason is to deal with it quickly. However putting a term in the terms and conditions that waives the customers right to disputing after a period less than that of the Statute of Limitations - Limitation Act 1980 - I would contend is unfair. Especially where invoices are not sent out and it is possible that one may not realize the dispute for a while after their terms and conditions dictate. The Limitation Act 1980 gives a 6 year Statute of Limitations - time within which a case may be issued - except in certain circumstances irrelevant to this case.

 

[Just in case my words may be misrepresented: The Statute of Limitations does not cover all circumstances. Most Alternative Dispute Resolution schemes have a limitation on the time when the complaint can be brought which is substantially shorter than 6 years in most circumstances, though in some circumstances substantially longer. In addition claims brought under certain laws such as the Disability Discrimination Act have limitations that are substantially shorter than 6 years except in exceptional circumstances. So the 6 year limitation primarily applies to debt collection and contractual disputes brought in court.]

[legalpickle]

Sorry for the delay in getting back here.

 

I agree with BankFodder that they are not entitled to profit from your breach and also believe that you have a case.

 

Firstly, please can you post copies of the letters you have written to AOL, including the address to where you've sent them.

 

Secondly, can you post the dates that you've paid AOL and the amounts.

 

I want to get a clear as possible picture as to what has gone on, so I can help you as best as possible in preparing and going through with any court action.

 

My experience with the Carphone Warehouse group - all negative - is that they sometimes defend and sometimes settle straight away. Where they defend they normally settle before the hearing, but nothing is guaranteed. It could be that it will get to hearing and could be that they do or don't show up. Either way you need to be prepared for it to go to hearing and for them to show up.

 

In my experience if they don't show up you have better chances. This is the same for every case, unless your case is as dead cert as they get. It is the duty for each party at the hearing to help the Judge understand the case as best as possible. If one party doesn't show up, the Judge has to rely upon their written evidence and the perceptions of the party that does show up, hence that party has better chances.

 

Finally, I seriously recommend you do not use Money Claim OnLine (MCOL) for filing your claim. MCOL is seriously limited and is only useful for the simplest of cases. I will try to assist you in preparing your claim, but my advice will be based on preparing the claim in the manual route, printing 3 copies, and filing in your local County Court. This is the way I do all my claims and always recommend others to go about it. The amount of times I have seen claims filed on MCOL and not prepared properly is already too many to count!

 

Once you've responded to my post, I'll guide you where next. I may recommend to write another letter before action, if I don't think your letter was drafted properly or had something serious missing. If that's the case then I'll guide you through that and then court proceedings, if not then it's straight to court.

 

I recommend that you download PrimoPDF for free from Free PDF Creator - Convert to PDF from Any File You Can Print - PrimoPDF. This is a program that will allow you to "print" files on your computer into a PDF file. I use this with all court forms. I download the form from the HMCS website, fill it in Acrobat Reader and "print" it into a PDF file to save it on my computer completed, because you can't do that with the HMCS forms without other software. This will make your life simpler in the world of court forms.

[la2006]

Thank you for the above info.

 

I post the list of charges ( come up with $ but its £.

 

And I have posted letters sent and text copy of the replies from AOL

 

I will post more once I get the info from the SAR request back - which I will need before I send a letter before action.

 

https://share.acrobat.com/adc/document.do?docid=003216c0-09f8-455a-b923-eca42dbeb23d

 

https://share.acrobat.com/adc/document.do?docid=1e0d9fd7-e6e7-48d4-8b08-0580baa90138

Edited February 10, 2009 by la2006

[legalpickle]

Thank you for the above info.

 

I post the list of charges ( come up with $ but its £.

 

And I have posted letters sent and text copy of the replies from AOL.

 

I will post more once I get the info from the SAR request back.

 

https://share.acrobat.com/adc/document.do?docid=003216c0-09f8-455a-b923-eca42dbeb23d

 

https://share.acrobat.com/adc/document.do?docid=1e0d9fd7-e6e7-48d4-8b08-0580baa90138

Who did you SAR - AOL or your bank? I would have written a polite letter to your bank asking them for a list of all charges that AOL has charged you. Sometimes they'll do things for free if they know it doesn't relate to them. The amount of disclosures I've had from Barclays without paying, I can't count. I would not have recommended a SAR to AOL.

 

I have just noticed there is a problem with attaching files to this thread so will PM a mod about this, but in future please either link to a file with a regular host rather than freebie host, or attach files to the post.

 

The hosting you've used gives unclear breakdowns at minimum. I'd much rather an Excel file and it will be easier to help you.

 

Are you in Northern Ireland? If yes, such information is extremely relevant to the claim as there are certain laws that relate only to Northern Ireland and not England & Wales or Scotland.

 

Your letters are definitely what I would recommend to send as LBA's, so we're going to have to prepare a new LBA when you can post all the charges you've been charged by AOL since day 1 including those you agree with and respond to this post.

[la2006]

Who did you SAR - AOL or your bank? .... I would not have recommended a SAR to AOL.

 

I did a SAR to Barclays nearly a year ago to get back bank charges, and photocopied around 50 pages showing the AOL charges which i sent to AOL.

 

I recently did a SAR to find out the details ( other than my name, address and bank details) associated with the second account, and to prove to AOL ( as well as the court) this account has never been used. ( the deadline is the first week in March).

 

Are you in Northern Ireland?

 

No, I'm in England.

 

Your letters are definitely what I would recommend to send as LBA's, so we're going to have to prepare a new LBA when you can post all the charges you've been charged by AOL since day 1 including those you agree with and respond to this post.

 

 

In the excel I colour coded

the rows in Grey = are the correct billings for dial up service used from AOL

the rows in yellow= are the second charges and the overcharges after cancellation

 

and the row in red - are the cost of bank charge from the AOL transaction overcharge. ( hope that all makes sense)

 

I not claiming the bank charges - but put it there to show that the Good will gesture AOL offered only covered the additional lost.

 

The currency shows $ - but its meant to be £

AOL charges FINAL COPY colour coded.xls

Edited February 14, 2009 by la2006

[legalpickle]

1. I would recommend calling Barclays and asking them if they can send you details only of AOL charges on all accounts that they would have been charged on.

 

2. Good that you're in England, because I can try to help. If you were in Ireland I would have recommended seeking others help because I don't know enough about the laws there.

 

3. I made a mistake in my post. I meant to write the word 'not' - Your letters are definitely not what I would recommend to send as LBA's, so we're going to have to prepare a new LBA when you can post all the charges you've been charged by AOL since day 1 including those you agree with and respond to this post. - I'll try and work on this with you next week.

 

4. I think I've followed you. You're saying that those in Grey are those you don't dispute, those in yellow you dispute and those in red are bank charges as a consequence of the AOL charges, correct?

 

Based on that a few of questions;

a) Were the bank charges the consequence of bounced charges, or paid charges taking you overdrawn?

b) If the former, and the bank charges were as a consequence of bounced charges, then shouldn't some of the figures be changed, as some would have bounced and been charged the next month?

c) Please can you post again, clearly, numbered, everything that's happened so far in your case, including letters sent and received with dates and when you logged in, cancelled and everything else relevant.

d) Are all the charges listed in the spreadsheet the only charges, or are there any more?

 

'c' above will help me draft the letter and clearly understand everything that has happened so that I don't make mistakes in my recommendations to you.

 

Timeline: Hopefully next week we'll be able to get a letter off to AOL. Then 2 weeks later we should have the claim form ready to issue.

 

I have encountered some people on here who have used my - and others advice - as a starting point and when they built up confidence just continued themselves, without knowing actually what they were doing. The result was losing. Whilst nobody on CAG can guarantee a success, you're chances of success are higher if you post on CAG before doing anything in the claim so that we can make recommendations. If you disagree with our recommendations it is your choice to either do what you want, or - what I would recommend - discuss why you disagree on CAG, as it could well be that either you didn't understand the recommendation or the reason behind it, or that the person advising you may change their recommendation. That way we all learn and you may get even better advice.

 

I will do my best to help you succeed, but I must note that I have lost cases before (despite winning most of them) and it is very rare to find a case that is a guaranteed win.

 

Whilst if you follow the court procedure, as this is a small claims case, the odds of you having costs awarded against you are next to nil, they are still existent (I recently lost a small claims case in its entirety but still didn't get the costs awarded against me, despite the District Judge criticizing me several times). Even if you don't get costs awarded against you, if you lose you will have lost the court fees, travel costs, related expenses (postage - special delivery quite often) and your time.

 

You must take the decision based on your opinion as to whether to proceed with court proceedings as you will be the one to suffer any consequences if you lose. The court fees - if it proceeds to hearing - for a claim between £500-£1,000 total £140 (£65 on issue and £75 hearing fee). You can also expect to spend approximately £45 on special delivery - rough estimate - going through the process. (If your local County Court is easy to get to, i.e. you have a car and it's not far away or a it's only a short bus ride or walk from you, then you can expect to save about a tenner on that.)

 

If you don't want to issue court proceedings then the time to say no is now. I'd still recommend sending the LBA to AOL, but if you don't want to issue court proceedings then please decide by the end of the 2 weeks that will be given to AOL.

 

If it was my case I would definitely go ahead with taking it to court, but that is me.

[la2006]

Well this morning I got the SAR request back from AOL, a complete waste of money. They have not provided me with any information I requested. Not even the agreement to AOL access, Nothing regarding details of cancellation request, for around 20 pages 'Account history' which is two notes ( short paragraphs)per page ( in fact they sent around 5 pages of double copies).

 

They did not provided me with any information regarding the Accounts/ billings etc, when the accounts where used/ accessed. - Unless they are only allowed to provide information going back over a 12 month period - still they have not provided anything I didn't have already. Or are they withholding ‘evidence’.

 

I do still plan to go ahead and take AOL to court. But I thought it would be really very important to show both details of accounts which AOL has not provided. The details of the cancellation request would show that I clearly wanted both charges to be stopped and to show the inactive status of the second account as it is implied after 90days they may in certain case cancel the account.

 

Should I make a second request - (reworded) just to make clear they haven‘t provided any information really want to see.

 

[4. I think I've followed you. You're saying that those in Grey are those you don't dispute, those in yellow you dispute and those in red are bank charges as a consequence of the AOL charges, correct?

That is correct

 

Based on that a few of questions;

a) Were the bank charges the consequence of bounced charges, or paid charges taking you overdrawn?

 

Paid charges took me over my small overdraft limit (£200.00). Then Barclays closed my account, which stopped AOL taking any further money.

 

c) Please can you post again, clearly, numbered, everything that's happened so far in your case, including letters sent and received with dates and when you logged in, cancelled and everything else relevant.

d) Are all the charges listed in the spreadsheet the only charges, or are there any more?

Those are all the charges

 

 

1. Family PC was purchased in January 2005, and a AOL free trial CD was installed but no dial-up service has been used.
   
2. I purchased a Dell 2400 Pc in March 2005 for myself and AOL free trial was already installed on this PC.
   
3. I signed up for 15.99 per month dial up service on this PC, and used dial-up AOL service between 07/03/2005 until July 2006.
   
4. I sent a request for full cancellation in --July 2006. ( i haven't got the exact date)
   
5. End of July 2007 sent a letter of formal complaint to AOL regarding - the continue overcharging and that I had cancelled. ( This was a point when I was getting letters from Barclays regarding going over my limit as a result of AOL billings)
   
6. AOL responsed, 10 august 2007 was that they could not find this charge and suggesting it to be fraud
   
7. Sent AOL letter dated 18 February 2008 and March 10 to their Ireland address - They did not receive these letters - due to wrong postage being paid (error on my part) I then sent copies of theses again in May 7 2008 including a sample of bank statements using Airmail.via the post office
   
8. Response from AOL was dated 21st May 2008 - again stating they could not find the second charge asking for card or direct debit details. They already had my bank account details from the bank statements I included with this letter and all the personal details I was providing was correct.
   
9. Bank account became overdrawn was closed in April 2008 by Barclays.
   
10. I did a subject access request to Barclays in May 2008
    
11. The entire bank statement copies of AOL charges between 2005 - 2008 was sent to AOL (end) June 2008
    
12. After the bank account closure - This initiated a charged back with AOL who sent me a letter stating I owe them £47.97 dated 27/06/2008
    
13. 10 July2008 AOL sent summary of account - detailing two separated accounts , writing off the balance of £47.97 highlighting that I was not providing them with the correct details because I did not provide my debit card details to them ( I thought the information I already provided was sufficient enough ). AOL stated the maximum amount to be refunded is 6month refund in line with aol access agreement 3.3.12 as a good will gesture
    

You must take the decision based on your opinion as to whether to proceed with court proceedings as you will be the one to suffer any consequences if you lose. The court fees - if it proceeds to hearing - for a claim between £500-£1,000 total £140 (£65 on issue and £75 hearing fee). You can also expect to spend approximately £45 on special delivery - rough estimate - going through the process. (If your local County Court is easy to get to, i.e. you have a car and it's not far away or a it's only a short bus ride or walk from you, then you can expect to save about a tenner on that.)

 

I am currently unemployed and have put in a claim for Income Based Jobseekers allowance so that will should help reduce the costs of legal action of intially filing the case in court.

 

( I might add that I was not dealing with this AOL aswell as I should had - because I was stressing/ dealing with another big case concerning CDL and Britannia IT case - one of 650 students rip off by thousands each)

Edited February 14, 2009 by la2006

[legalpickle]

Well this morning I got the SAR request back from AOL, a complete waste of money. They have not provided me with any information I requested. Not even the agreement to AOL access, Nothing regarding details of cancellation request, for around 20 pages 'Account history' which is two notes ( short paragraphs)per page ( in fact they sent around 5 pages of double copies).

 

They did not provided me with any information regarding the Accounts/ billings etc, when the accounts where used/ accessed. - Unless they are only allowed to provide information going back over a 12 month period - still they have not provided anything I didn't have already. Or are they withholding ‘evidence’.

 

I do still plan to go ahead and take AOL to court. But I thought it would be really very important to show both details of accounts which AOL has not provided. The details of the cancellation request would show that I clearly wanted both charges to be stopped and to show the inactive status of the second account as it is implied after 90days they may in certain case cancel the account.

 

Should I make a second request - (reworded) just to make clear they haven‘t provided any information really want to see.

No. I don't understand why you made a SAR in the first place as you have the details of the charges. To me that would be the only valid reason to make a SAR. I am not surprised by the result of your SAR and can tell you that most companies would not make a full disclosure. In my experience very few companies respond in full to a SAR and sending further letters to them is useless and a waste of your time and money.

 

 

1. Family PC was purchased in January 2005, and a AOL free trial CD was installed but no dial-up service has been used.
   
2. I purchased a Dell 2400 Pc in March 2005 for myself and AOL free trial was already installed on this PC.
   
3. I signed up for 15.99 per month dial up service on this PC, and used dial-up AOL service between 07/03/2005 until July 2006.
   
4. I sent a request for full cancellation in --July 2006. ( i haven't got the exact date)
   
5. End of July 2007 sent a letter of formal complaint to AOL regarding - the continue overcharging and that I had cancelled. ( This was a point when I was getting letters from Barclays regarding going over my limit as a result of AOL billings)
   
6. AOL responsed, 10 august 2007 was that they could not find this charge and suggesting it to be fraud
   
7. Sent AOL letter dated 18 February 2008 and March 10 to their Ireland address - They did not receive these letters - due to wrong postage being paid (error on my part) I then sent copies of theses again in May 7 2008 including a sample of bank statements using Airmail.via the post office
   
8. Response from AOL was dated 21st May 2008 - again stating they could not find the second charge asking for card or direct debit details. They already had my bank account details from the bank statements I included with this letter and all the personal details I was providing was correct.
   
9. Bank account became overdrawn was closed in April 2008 by Barclays.
   
10. I did a subject access request to Barclays in May 2008
    
11. The entire bank statement copies of AOL charges between 2005 - 2008 was sent to AOL (end) June 2008
    
12. After the bank account closure - This initiated a charged back with AOL who sent me a letter stating I owe them £47.97 dated 27/06/2008
    
13. 10 July2008 AOL sent summary of account - detailing two separated accounts , writing off the balance of £47.97 highlighting that I was not providing them with the correct details because I did not provide my debit card details to them ( I thought the information I already provided was sufficient enough ). AOL stated the maximum amount to be refunded is 6month refund in line with aol access agreement 3.3.12 as a good will gesture
    

Based on the above I believe that you have a case and will try my best to assist you with bringing this claim to Court. I have almost prepared a new LBA for you to send by Special Delivery to AOL. It should be sent to:

 

The Directors Office,

AOL (UK) Limited,

68 Hammersmith Road,

London,

W14 8YW

 

This is their registered office, so the proceedings will be issued against this address and all correspondence, unless you're instructed differently when they file an Acknowledgment of Service, should be sent to this address. (I've added the line 'The Directors Office' just for this letter.)

 

I've calculated that assuming you issue on 4th March 2009 the total amount of the claim including interest, excluding the court fees, would be £834.33.

 

I have one question on something that isn't clear before I finish the LBA: In your spreadsheet breakdown you have listed the first charge of £15.99 dated 22/02/2005 as acceptable and the second charge dated 22/03/2005 of £15.99 as unacceptable. Were both charges on the 22nd of the month? If yes, why is one acceptable and the other not if you didn't use the service at all?

 

Please advise and then I can rectify the spreadsheet as necessary and finish the LBA. If you could send it by Special Delivery on Monday, then that would be best.

I am currently unemployed and have put in a claim for Income Based Jobseekers allowance so that will should help reduce the costs of legal action of intially filing the case in court.

When did you put the claim in? Ideally you should wait to file till after the claim is approved, but I wouldn't recommend deviating from the timeframes by too much.

[la2006]

I have one question on something that isn't clear before I finish the LBA: In your spreadsheet breakdown you have listed the first charge of £15.99 dated 22/02/2005 as acceptable and the second charge dated 22/03/2005 of £15.99 as unacceptable. Were both charges on the 22nd of the month? If yes, why is one acceptable and the other not if you didn't use the service at all?

 

Sorry made a mistake - both are unacceptable.

 

Can I ask a question regarding my SAR to AOL - I think ( read on another forum from a ex AOL employee) AOL can look up the access logs (ie log-on times) of any account, but they haven't sent any information regarding this - Is there any point in writing back and asking again for this information. I just think its really important to show the account have been inactive the and that no service has been used.

 

 

 

When did you put the claim in?

 

I had a telephone interview on 28/01/2009 then the snow came (my jobcentre closed) so only had my interview at the jobcentre on 10/02/2009 and first sign on on 13/02/2009

Edited February 17, 2009 by la2006

[legalpickle]

 

Sorry made a mistake - both are unacceptable.

Thought so.

 

Can I ask a question regarding my SAR to AOL

You can always ask questions. You don't need my permission. I'd rather you asked questions when you don't understand things as everybody makes mistakes and I may have made a mistake. Also, the more you learn the more you can pass on to others and help this community grow.

- I think ( read on another forum from a ex AOL employee) AOL can look up the access logs (ie log-on times) of any account, but they haven't sent any information regarding this - Is there any point in writing back and asking again for this information. I just think its really important to show the account have been inactive the and that no service has been used.

All Internet Service Providers can check and find whether the service was used and how much. In fact, today, most ISP's have an online control centre where users can monitor their usage.

 

I don't think it's necessary to ask them for that information. If they want to disprove you they'd have to show a log showing usage, which would be difficult to invent and unlikely that anybody would invent. You also wrote, I believe, that they admitted that you hadn't used the service, did they not? I don't think this is necessary, especially considering the amount of hassle you would go through in getting any information from them - as you've seen from their response to the SAR. I would recommend no. LBA and court is the best route now, they've played you a fool long enough!

 

When did you put the claim in?

 

I had a telephone interview on 28/01/2009 then the snow came (my jobcentre closed) so only had my interview at the jobcentre on 10/02/2009 and first sign on on 13/02/2009

So you should be approved any day. You'll probably have the evidence that you're on JSA well before proceedings are issued.

 

I should be back some time tonight with the LBA all being well.

[legalpickle]

Sorry I couldn't get back on last night. My computer messed up and it took me till 10:30 this morning to get it working again!

 

I was working on the letter and found something else wrong with your spreadsheet. Either I don't understand or you made a mistake.

 

The greyed rows are all £11.99 from 14/02/2006 onwards, but you have in the yellowed rows 1 payment of £15.99 on a similar date - 12/09/2006. Shouldn't this be £11.99?

 

Next you have no payments around this date from then on, which leads me to believe they cancelled the account about 2 months after receiving your letter of cancellation.

 

Which leads me on to the next question: The last two yellow payments are dated 03/03/2008 and 01/04/2008. Are these dates correct? Because they don't match the other dates at all.

 

I just want to have everything correct so that the proceedings go as smoothly as possible.

 

If you respond today, I should be able to finish the letter today assuming nothing goes wrong with my computer again!

[la2006]

The greyed rows are all £11.99 from 14/02/2006 onwards, but you have in the yellowed rows 1 payment of £15.99 on a similar date - 12/09/2006. Shouldn't this be £11.99?

 

I've checked my bank statement - On the 12/09/2006 should be 11.99

 

Which leads me on to the next question: The last two yellow payments are dated 03/03/2008 and 01/04/2008. Are these dates correct? Because they don't match the other dates at all.

 

the 03/03/2008 should be 22/02/2008 and the 01/04/2008 is correct.

 

I don't see anything listed from AOL in March 2008 - but have just noticed a transaction : 26/03/2008 PTI EUROPE REGION took £15.99 out of my account, then on 31/03/2008, 15.99 was refunded from PTI EUROPE REGION back into my account, then a day later AOL 01/04/2008 took £15.99.

 

Googled PTI EUROPE REGION and AOL seem to be related somehow

Edited February 16, 2009 by la2006

[legalpickle]

I've checked my bank statement - On the 12/09/2006 should be 11.99

Corrected.

 

the 03/03/2008 should be 22/02/2008 and the 01/04/2008 is correct.

In your spreadsheet there were 2 - 03/03/2008 and 22/02/2008. Is 03/03/2008 not meant to be there?

 

I don't see anything listed from AOL in March 2008 - but have just noticed a transaction : 26/03/2008 PTI EUROPE REGION took £15.99 out of my account, then on 31/03/2008, 15.99 was refunded from PTI EUROPE REGION back into my account, then a day later AOL 01/04/2008 took £15.99.

 

Googled PTI EUROPE REGION and AOL seem to be related somehow

Please can you go through your account statements again from start to finish so that we don't make mistakes. In the spreadsheet we now have;

 

22/02/2005 till 22/02/2008 - £15.99 monthly to be claimed back on between 22nd & 24th of the month.

14/08/2006 - £11.99 to be claimed back, due to overrun of agreed payments which were either £15.99 or £11.99 on 12th till 14th of the month.

Bank charges of £10 each as direct result of AOL on 22/09/2006, 22/03/2007, 24/07/2007, 24/09/2007, 23/10/2007, 22/11/2007, 24/12/2007 & 22/01/2008.

 

£15.99 on 01/04/2008 but nothing in March 2008? But in the spreadsheet there was one on 03/03/2008. So please recheck and advise regarding March & April 2008 and confirm the above. I'll then finish the LBA.

 

If we don't make it tonight, then it will be tomorrow afternoon. GP in the morning then meeting 12:30-1:30, then should be able to be back here.

 

Edit: Letter basically ready, just waiting for your confirmation on the amounts, then will put them into the letter which will take minutes.

Edited February 16, 2009 by legalpickle
edit

[la2006]

Corrected.

 

 

In your spreadsheet there were 2 - 03/03/2008 and 22/02/2008. Is 03/03/2008 not meant to be there?

03/03/2008 was incorrect

 

 

Please can you go through your account statements again from start to finish so that we don't make mistakes. In the spreadsheet we now have;

 

I went slowly through statements - and have attached another spreedsheet.

 

22/02/2005 till 22/02/2008 - £15.99 monthly to be claimed back on between 22nd & 24th of the month.

14/08/2006 to be claimed back, due to overrun of agreed payments which were either £15.99 or £11.99 on 12th till 14th of the month

.and 11.99 for 12/09/2006

 

 

Bank charges of £10 each as direct result of AOL on 22/09/2006, 22/03/2007, 24/07/2007, 24/09/2007, 23/10/2007, 22/11/2007, 24/12/2007 & 22/01/2008.

 

Theses are listed as Paid Referrals @10.00 - and are listed on next working day :

 

25/09/2006 23/03/2007 25/07/2007 24/10/2007 23/11/2007 27/12/2007 23/01/2008

 

 

£15.99 on 01/04/2008 but nothing in March 2008? PTI Europe took and refund £15.99 - then AOl took 15.99 on 01/04

AOL charges 3rd and final draft.xls

Edited February 17, 2009 by la2006