Subscribed to Norton and an AOL RANT!

WELCOME to our new follower - I don't have a name ("Hi" is all I've got) or blog site, so I can't thank you by name, but we're still very happy to have you along on our journey to future full-timing. 

Unfortunately my blogging has become very sporadic lately, I'll try to do better!  I've been either too busy or too lazy.  And there's not a lot going on in my neck of the woods lately.  When I have real "woods" outside my windows that should improve. : )

I decided my laptop needs a new program to protect it, and my brain doesn't.

I subscribed to Norton Internet Security.  My original 30-day trial is up so I'm going to continue it. It really does make me feel safer and more secure, so that's the one I've chosen to protect my laptop. It's also the one recommended by our IT guy here at work.

Warning - long winded rant ahead:

Then I TRIED to cancel my subscription to Cognifit that I posted about a month ago.  They have a 30-day refund policy, and I opted to use it.  I still think it's a great program, it ended up costing me nothing, and I found out my brain is still working just fine. Good to know. : )  (And there are other free programs you can access that seemed to do the same thing for you.)  If I was having difficulty performing the tasks, I would have kept it, because then obviously I would NEED it.

I e-mailed Cognifit that I wished to cancel and have my initial payment refunded.  They immediately e-mailed me back (this was over the weekend, so I was surprised to hear from them so soon) that since I went through someone else to purchase, I had to cancel through them. 

So, I then tried to cancel through AOL, since I purchased through them.  Since I am not a member of AOL, I didn't have the option to speak to a live PERSON, but had to send an e-mail.  I needed to go onto my personal page and click on the program I purchased, then cancel it from there.  Soooooo, I go onto my personal AOL page, where it shows I am not subscribed to ANY programs.  That 's funny, since I was already charged through AOL for the first month. 

There was absolutely no option offered by AOL to contact them. 

I could not call - I tried the number provided and was informed by a message voice that if I didn't have an AOL account number, I couldn't speak to a live person. However, if I wished to join AOL as a paying member.....   

I couldn't send an e-mail.  You can cancel certain listed services provided by AOL by e-mail, but Cognifit was not listed.  I was not subscribed to any services on my "page."  Therefore, I couldn't e-mail. 

I looked everywhere I could think, did a bunch of Google searches, clicked on every "contact us" link provided by AOL, only to be brought back to the same messages. : (

I finally called the number shown on my AMEX bill that is associated with the charge.  The woman I talked with was very nice, but she said I was not signed up for any programs.  She was very sorry, but since I wasn't signed up, she couldn't cancel it for me. 

My only option at this point was to dispute the charge through AMEX.  Which I did, and asked to have it removed.  It's in process now, according to a letter I've received from AMEX, and they will let me know.

I'm thinking that AOL takes your application, charges your account, but does not show the service on your AOL page until the 30 days are up.  Then they probably list the service, but at that point, it's too late to take advantage of the 30-day refund policy.  Since I was unable to reach anyone other than the number provided in my AMEX bill, I don't know for sure, but ??????

I think it's awful to provide a service that bills monthly, offer a 30-day refund policy, then have absolutely NO WAY to contact the company to cancel.  So, beware purchasing anything that you see on the home page AOL has - they often have interesting stories I click on to read, and they are really "advertorials," trying to sell something.  If it looks good, GO TO THE PRODUCT'S WEBSITE AND ORDER FROM THEM.  It might cost a bit more, but at least you can reach the provider if you want to cancel it.

Thanks - it's nice to get that off my chest!

From me and Katie, have a great Thursday, everyone!  : )