AOL price rise

I recently contacted AOL asking why I have to suddenly pay an extra £5 a month when I am on an 18 month contract agreed last July. I said that as far as I am concerned THEY have broken the contract.
This is their reply.

Please be informed as from time to time we need to review our prices so we can improve the service we offer you and all our other Broadband Customers and this is per Article 11.4.1 under AOL Access Agreement of the Terms and Conditions of the contract It may be necessary for us to change one or more of the Services Agreements from time to time.

What the improvements are is anyones guess!!!!!!!!!!

They did answer my complaint a lot quicker than they used to, perhaps that is the improvent we are paying extra for!

In reply to a post by UnionCastle:

I recently contacted AOL asking why I have to suddenly pay an extra £5 a month when I am on an 18 month contract agreed last July. I said that as far as I am concerned THEY have broken the contract.
This is their reply.

Please be informed as from time to time we need to review our prices so we can improve the service we offer you and all our other Broadband Customers and this is per Article 11.4.1 under AOL Access Agreement of the Terms and Conditions of the contract It may be necessary for us to change one or more of the Services Agreements from time to time.

What the improvements are is anyones guess!!!!!!!!!!

They did answer my complaint a lot quicker than they used to, perhaps that is the improvent we are paying extra for!

I left AOL about 18 months ago as they were atrocious. I was on about 6Meg at best but switched to sky and went to a 12MEG ROCK SOLID connection.

Leave them when your contract is up - I do not know what your options are but they do your best to wind you up with their terrible customer service!

They failed to quote the full Article 11.4.1:

In reference to help.aol.co.uk/help_uk/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=k...:

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.

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).

whereby you may cancel w/out charge within the notice period.

I have been in contact with them yet again saying that as I do not have wireless AOL why am I paying for it????
I also complained that there was no notice given and got this lot this morning!


Please understand that due to the broadband infrastructure within the UK, price changes are occasionally driven by wholesale cost factors that drive up the cost of providing your Broadband service.

Although we strive to give you the most competitive price we can, on this occasion we had to increase your price due to wholesale fluctuations and ongoing costs to provide you the best Broadband service possible in your area.

Furthermore, these changes are beyond our control. Hence, if equipment and installation cost in the market increases, we will have to apply changes for us to remain competitive with other providers.

As previously advised, please contact our Customer Loyalty Team to ask for an alternative package deal that may suits your needs.

I would also like to inform you that you were not receiving any bill notifications as your bills have always been issued in your My Account for you to see at any point. We have updated our systems to improve our service to you by bringing to your attention when the next bill is available for you to view. I am glad to inform you that from 14th May 2012 AOL Broadband customers were started to receive new E-bill notifications advising them their bill is now ready to be viewed in My Account.

I trust I have addressed your concerns accordingly.

If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to reply visit http://help.aol.co.uk/help_uk for more information.

As I need my e mail address for our B & B business, it being printed in many books and websites, I cannot leave AOL so am lumbered with their terrible customer service.
At least they do reply to email vastly quicker than they used to!

In reply to a post by UnionCastle:

As I need my e mail address for our B & B business, it being printed in many books and websites, I cannot leave AOL

Your AOL email addy is separate from your BB and is provided by a different firm, AOL UK a subsidiary of AOL Inc USA and nowt to do with TalkTalk.

You retain your email addy & screenname when you leave AOL BB.

I was told by some people some time ago ( on this forum I think it was) that there is NO guarantee you will still be able to use your AOL address when you do leave.

I seem to remember a discussion forming without any concrete conclusions!

I asked them yesterday if they could send me the gear for wireless BB as that was what I was paying for and was told to PHONE their 0870 number and contact the Customer Loyalty Team!

Well, my daughter has retained her AOL email and is still using it after ceasing AOL BB 2 years ago, w/out doing anything special.

In reply to a post by UnionCastle:

I was told by some people some time ago ( on this forum I think it was) that there is NO guarantee you will still be able to use your AOL address when you do leave.

I seem to remember a discussion forming without any concrete conclusions!

I asked them yesterday if they could send me the gear for wireless BB as that was what I was paying for and was told to PHONE their 0870 number and contact the Customer Loyalty Team!

I have been using my AOL email address and 18 months later it is still active. You can sign up for free email on their website. It supports Imap too which is good.

You don't even need to sign up when you already have it from previous BB. It's auto by dint of being a separate firm and free AOL Web Services Agreement.

Thanks very much for that information.
When my contract is finished I will change to an ISP who looks after their customers and probably at a fraction of the price!