AOL Contract Legality. Please Help!

Hi people,

Let me explain my problem...

I have been an AOL customer for nearly 3 years now, and was paying a highly inflated charge of £30 a month up until 31st May 2010. On this date knowing my contract with them had ended I asked if they could reduce my monthly payments, which they said that they could to £12.99 a month. Fantastic I thought, £12.99 a month for unlimited broadband, so I agreed to the price drop.

Today I requested my MAC code from them because I have been experiencing Throttling from the ISP after I have downloaded a big file, usually about 8/9 GB. Anyway, I requested my MAC code which they said they would email me, but If I wanted to use the code I would have to pay the rest of my contract out £105.

On the 31st of May there was no hint of a contract explained to me, just that they would reduce my monthly payments. I NEVER agreed to an 18 month contract, nor was one offered, as far as I knew it was a rolling charge month by month.

Can they enforce this charge?

The call should have been recorded, so you can ask for the recording to be checked.

If it wasn't mentioned in that recording then they can't claim you agreed to it.

If they deny it was recorded then ask for other evidence that you agreed to a new 12-month contract.

Most suppliers would not reduce prices at the customer's request without starting a new contract (and Minimum Term). After all, it's unreasonable to expect something for nothing from a commercial firm.

Without any record, either way, of what was was said in the call, it would be hard to prove otherwise, as you have since reaped the benefits.

Have a look at your AOL account here: http://help.aol.co.uk/help_uk/microsites/manageAccou... and see if it contains anything about your contract dates.

I have the same problem. AOL are charging me £68 for leaving them as they say I am in a contract til the end of April. Who are you moving to? I am going to Post Office. They weren't my first choice but my options were limited in my area.

I have now changed from AOL to Post Office. With AOL I could only get faster speeds (around 5Mbps) during the hours of 9-3 weekdays only. At all other times I could only get a pitiful 0.2-0.3 Mbps. Since changing ISP to Post Office I can now get 5.6 Mbps all the time.

AOL want £66 for breaking the contract early (until April 2011), but surely AOL are breaching the terms of the contract by providing such a poor service and telling me that I wouldn't get any faster speeds with another ISP which I know now not to be true.