An anonymous tipster sent us AOL’s 153 page internal collections guidebook for prying money out of delinquent account holders. The guide shows that AOL is following some of the debt industry’s most egregious collection tactics by encouraging agents to deceive and lie to customers. After the jump we present AOL’s scare tactics, tricks to negotiating a substantial discount, and the full collections guide.
AOL lies to their customers and has a policy of refusing to escalate to supervisors:
Apparently the trick to getting an actual supervisor is to pretend like you want to pay your bill. If you haven’t used your account for more than three months you can receive up to a 40% discount, perfect for those who have tried and failed to cancel your account.
If you refuse to pay your bill, AOL will threaten to ruin your credit (with AOL):
You can practically see AOL’s lawyers cackling with glee as they drape their cloak of legal protection while daring representatives to choose between ignoring the guidebook and failing to scare consumers into paying their debt.
AOL’s abusive relationship with its “members” is not new, but it is surprising how enthusiastically they have embraced the standard lies and deceit peddled by the debt collection industry. According to our tipster, the guide is from 2006, but the tactics and policies remain unchanged.
The only way to fight back against scummy collectors is to know your rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
Read AOL’s full collections guide, complete with other despicable practices, here.
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This quote was supposed to be in my last comment:
“MBR: Can you send me a letter of confirmation that I paid and there’s no more balance on the account?
C.A.: The confirmation number that I gave you a few seconds ago is the proof that there was a payment and you have no more balance. And you will also see the AOL
charge on your next credit card statement. Unfortunately AOL does not send confirmation letters for taking payments.”
Ahh, so THAT’S how they know I don’t have a letter when they call!
This manual had some truly atrocious grammar. The crime is mostly in the run-on sentences. And, as a few posters stated above, it is sadly not uncommon for business documents to be poorly written.
It’s nice to know that if you don’t use this guideline in your job, you can complain to HR that you didn’t understand a fucking word of it.
Dear Corporate America: I have an MA in writing, but since I do not wish to teach bratty children from 8 to 80, I am unhirable in most sectors, except yours. Please hire me to write your internal documents. You really, really need me. I’m not kidding.
@sohmc: *sigh* My aunt does. She even has broadband, but she thinks she can’t get to her email without aol. I’ve tried nad tried to tell her that she doesn’t need the aol screen, she just needs to open IE, but she doesn’t get it.
@nardo218: Unfortunately, she probably never will. I’m a web designer, and one of the current trends that is finally being studied is how the average person thinks the internet works, and fellas, we’re the exception. The truth is, the average person thinks just like Nardo’s grandmother in worst-case-scenarios, and best case? Most people think that Google is an ISP, and that to get to websites, you have to use its search function. A majority of Yahoo’s searches are URLs typed into the search box because people think it’s an address bar. The worst part about it is, this yields the result the user desires. They get to their website or obtain the information they were searching for, so they never have any motivation to become more effective or efficient when it comes to using the web.
But to get back on topic, my first thoughts when I read this article’s headline was, “AOL? What year is this? 1992?”
@nardo218: If you truly can’t understand a word of it because of some poor grammar, that says frightening things about your cognitive ability.
Protip: if you claim something to be incomprehensible because of some poor grammar, you’ve evidently never come into contact with anyone outside of your Ph.D study group circle. Get out and realize that not everybody brandishes the flawless mastery of the written word that you do.
@TruPhan: Yeah, one time I had someone ask me what site they should go to so that they could check their mail. I ask them who the mail account is with and they say Outlook.
I like how it’s en vogue to side with the debtor. Who is in the wrong here? The deadbeat who doesn’t pay the bill.
Yet, everyone comes down on the company for trying to collect money legitimately owed them. When you deal with scummy people, sometimes you have to stoop.
@Erwos: maybe, but that doesn’t mean those regular channels worked, even if they should have. The regular channels should be designed so that escalations are either well defined and used, or not necessary. As it is, they tend to be ways to pass the buck.
@unklegwar: How many articles have been posted here about accounts being wrongly forwarded to collections, though? Just because an account has been sent to collections, it doesn’t imply that the account holder is a “scummy person” and a “deadbeat who doesn’t pay the bill.”
I love the section on Page 73 regarding confirmation numbers…
C.A. One second please till I process the payment and give you the confirmation
number. OK….the payment went through, the balance is now 0. Please write down
the confirmation number. It’s xxxxxx
NOTE: You can use as a confirmation number the last digits of the AOL
account or a combination between the last digits and the date when you are
taking the payment. There is no actual confirmation number but the
member will feel safer if he is provided with a proof that he/she made the
payment.
MBR: Can you send me a letter of confirmation that I paid and there’s no more balance
on the account?
C.A.: The confirmation number that I gave you a few seconds ago is the proof that there
was a payment and you have no more balance. And you will also see the AOL
charge on your next credit card statement. Unfortunately AOL does not send
confirmation letters for taking payments.
@curmudgeon5: Yeah the tone of voice/pause thing was hilariously awful.
“This could be the end of the world! (Of Warcraft.)”
I used to work at a telemarketing company signing people up for AOL. Well, tricking them into signing up is a better term, I think.
I am quite familiar with their lingo and the programs they use (Merlin, for example).
This is defiantly the company guide lines or an ex-employee with a whole crap load of time on their hands. It looks too much like the stuff that was rammed down my throat to be an ex-employee though.
Worst. Job. Ever.
Though, I did learn some sales … ‘techniques’ that are pretty good. As long as you don’t feel bad about tricking people into signing up for something they don’t want.
AOL Keyword: SUCKER would be PERFECT for you because …
@KD17:
The writing’s on the wall for AOL and NetZero. Neither have the ability to provide broadband access, only dial-up. Broadband usage is at an all-time high, and soon everyone will be on board. The market for these archaic companies is shrinking and soon they’ll end up insolvent.