I don't know how to make this any clearer for you: cancel my account!

Saw Vincent on the Today Show this AM. He's the guy that taped his call to AOL to cancel his account. It's one of those things you have to listen to, to believe.

Here's the blog post

Here's the call

AOL's apology

Here's his appearance on the Today Show (I was having some trouble with the link, suspect due to traffic)

I haven't ever had a call this bad, but it did remind me of the call I have from the Seattle Times this past weekend. I get the Sunday paper. I didn't tape the call but this is roughly how it went:

Her: May I please speak with Mrs. Hamilton

Me: This is she.

Her: This is so and so from the Seattle Times. We want to thank you from being a loyal subscriber, blah blah. We'd like to offer you the paper on Saturdays and Mondays for free for x weeks.

Me: I'm not interested, thanks. I won't read it.

Her: But it's free.

Me: I don't want it.

Her: All you would have to do is call us after x weeks and cancel if you don't want it.

Me: I don't want it now. I won't read it. I don't want to have to call anyone to cancel anything.

Her: But it's free.

Me: I'm...Not...Interested

Arggggh, "free" is not the answer to everything! My question is this: are they teaching them not to listen, just hiring people that have poor listening skills or is there some kind of contest to keep the customer on the line for a certain period of time? I heard that if you say "no" to a sales call 3 times, they have to hang up. Not sure if that is true.