Editing AOL (section)

=== Billing disputes ===
AOL has faced a number of lawsuits over claims that it has been slow to stop billing customers after their accounts have been canceled, either by the company or the user. In addition, AOL changed its method of calculating used minutes in response to a [[Class action|class action lawsuit]]. Previously, AOL would add 15 seconds to the time a user was connected to the service and round up to the next whole minute (thus, a person who used the service for 12 minutes and 46 seconds would be charged for 14 minutes).<ref>{{cite web|accessdate=2025-03-25|title=AOL to settle class-action suits|url=https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/aol-to-settle-class-action-suits/|website=CNET}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first1=David S.|last1=Hilzenrath|accessdate=2025-03-25|title=AOL Will Settle Billing Allegations|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-07-06-fi-21592-story.html|date=6 July 1996|website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> AOL claimed this was to account for sign on/sign off time, but because this practice was not made known to its customers, the plaintiffs won (some also pointed out that signing on and off did not always take 15 seconds, especially when connecting via another ISP). AOL disclosed its connection-time calculation methods to all of its customers and credited them with extra free hours. In addition, the AOL software would notify the user of exactly how long they were connected and how many minutes they were being charged.

AOL was sued by the [[Ohio Attorney General]] in October 2003 for improper billing practices. The case was settled on June 8, 2005. AOL agreed to resolve any consumer [[Consumer complaint|complaints]] filed with the [[Ohio]] AG's office. In December 2006, AOL agreed to provide [[restitution]] to Florida consumers to settle the case filed against them by the [[Florida Attorney General]].<ref name="BBB-AOL">{{Cite web |title=AOL |url=http://www.dc.bbb.org/report.html?national=Y&compid=2087 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100718111258/http://www.dc.bbb.org/report.html?national=Y&compid=2087 |archive-date=July 18, 2010 |access-date=January 22, 2008 |publisher=[[Better Business Bureau]]}}</ref>