Why I hate Yahoo, chapter 36

I have complained about Yahoo mail many times. About three years ago, I made the mistake of taking a Yahoo premium account — just to keep Yahoo from killing my account, which is its way of strongarming customers into paying. I canceled the account at least two years ago but just found it on my credit card bill. I spent 20 minutes on the phone with the Philippines trying to cancel the account and get a refund. They refuse to refund. The best part is that I asked for the guy’s name — Joe — and said I was going to blog about this, which I think is only fair. He told me to stop “recording” the call or he would terminate it. They can record. We can’t. Shades of AOL. Their attitude is every bit as bad as Comcast or AOL. Compare and contrast with Google. Yahoo is the last old-style company. It treats its customers like prisoners. They think they can make money telling us what we cannot do. Google has killed them for good reason. I never go to Yahoo. In a word: Yahoo sucks.

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19 Responses to “Why I hate Yahoo, chapter 36”

  1. Cliff Etzel Says:

    In a word: Yahoo sucks.

    No argument from me on this comment Jeff.

    Now if only there were another provider for high speed internet besides Comcast in my area.

    Cliff Etzel
    bluprojekt

  2. sir jorge Says:

    yahoo does indeed suck.

  3. Curt Says:

    In April of 2004 Yahoo gave the Chinese government information it was not legally obliged to give about one of its users, Shi Tao, which resulted in a ten year sentence in a Chinese prison for this journalist. At that point, any doubt about the concern of this company for its customers should have evaporated completely in every mind. These people, in order to secure a better access to a market _without which_ they remain billionaires, will send a man to be tortured. What the hell else needs to happen? Good G-d, if Yahoo doesn’t care about Shi Tao’s life or their own souls, why in the world would they care about your refund?

  4. Mark Forman Says:

    “In a word: Yahoo sucks.”
    Umm I counted two words but I digress. Agreed. They went from being the place to start your internet journey to a place holding no significance.

  5. Ken Burgin Says:

    Two years ago I mistakenly registered several domain names with them. Each year I try to cancel the re-registration as they’re no longer needed, but I’m never able to find out how to cancel. They tell me they’re about to charge me, but not how to stop it. Nasty tactics.

  6. jim Says:

    what a whiner. tell your credit card not to accept the charges and dispute any that you have already been charged. also, how did they “strongarm” you into paying for yahoo mail. I’ve had a free account for years and use it as my primary email.

    http://www.golfnorwich.com/

  7. al Says:

    Just cry to your credit card company, tell them you knew nothing about these charges, they will get a refund for you.

  8. Tony Says:

    I had this problem with Yahoo four years ago. I registered for a trial membership on the college football radio program. I didn’t like it, so I canceled within the noted trial period.

    Everything was fine until I saw a charge. I called and complained. The rep said that, unless I had an e-mail verifying the cancellation, he couldn’t help. Interesting, considering I never received one. But he agreed to cancel my account.

    Next month, another charge. Only I’d canceled the account again on the website and received an e-mail this time. I faxed it to them as proof. They conceded that I’d canceled it and promised to return the $4.95.

    Next month, no refund and another charge. I went through the same process again. They conceded and agreed to return my $9.90. (They wouldn’t agree to return the very first $4.95 they stole, which was enough to sour me on the company.) They refunded the final month’s charge immediately. Four years later, I’m still waiting for the second $4.95.

    I haven’t used Yahoo since.

  9. Donald Says:

    The amusing thing is that calls they field over items like this often cost them more than the service they charged you for. Think about it–I’m sure it cost Yahoo more than $4,95 for you to talk to 2 different customer service reps.

    For the record, I still use Yahoo email. It makes a great spam dumping ground. Any time I must give my email address out for something, I use my Yahoo address so that it doesn’t clutter up an Inbox I actually use.

    Donald

  10. Tony Says:

    It certainly cost them more than $4.95, which quickly became my intention. I called them so many times, asked to speak to supervisors at the end of the conversation, used long pauses, and so on. I knew I would get nowhere, but I paid for the hassle in advance, I might as well enjoy it.

  11. Tansley - addendum Says:

    Well, sure…Yahoo sucks. So does AOL. The thing is, NEVER PAY a company like this…do everything you can on their portal for FREE, exploit the HECK out of ‘em, and take their surveys to advise them on how to stop screwing up so badly.

    Once you learn their limitations, and know how to work within their framework to accomplish what you want, they’re not so bad. Kind of like an old ‘Pocket Fisherman®’… If you need to cast out into deeper water, it’s as far away as a few keystrokes…

  12. Eric Says:

    Jim,

    I tried that during a dispute I had years ago, and found you *can’t* get your credit card company to preemtively refuse charges from a business. You can get the charges removed later, but if they charge you the next month you have to do it all over.

  13. jack Says:

    YAHOO STINKS!!!!! A BUNCH OF COMMIE PINKOS FROM CALIFORNIA!!! NOW TO CLOSE MY ACCOUNT………………..

  14. Jumbo Says:

    You’re a cry baby Jeff. Stop whining.

  15. fred Says:

    Yahoo must have the worst customer service ever
    It is impossible to find an email address for “the webmaster” or for “technical_problems”,
    to indicate the problem I suddenly have now they revamped the mail site and are using Norton AV (another bad custumer unfriendly company, see wikipedia!)
    For what its worth I leave the email I would like to send to Yahoo here

    Hi
    Please have a look why any kind of zip file is not passing thru the Norton AV engine

    1) I cannot send my zip files, because Norton AV says they are infected but I can send the
    contained files separately; I am using a Linux machine to zip the files so it is highly unlikely
    they are really infected

    ic_rel.18.06.2008.001.zip (241KB) Virus threat detected. The virus could not be cleaned. Please run the virus scan on your machine. If I unzip this file I can send the separte files without complaints about infection

    2) I cannot download a zip file sent to:
    After Norton AV scanning I get:
    “The file is not available for download. Please try later”
    And despite multiple attempts I stillhave not got the file

    Very disppointed with this, I presume this is a Norton AV problem

    Fred

  16. dan Says:

    Yahoo ruined my life!!

    I have had a Yahoo account for years and years. One day I couldn’t access it, to my surprise, all my passwords were hacked from my PC at work. All my personal information, photos of my family, work related stuff stored on Yahoo is now lost forever. They wont allow access at all. How am I to remember a bloody answer to a security question I filled in 10 years ago. Well, At least I remembered my birthday. I feel like Yahoo has invaded my home, stole all my possessions and cut my heart out.

    I am so upset that I want to ruin these bastards. They wont escalate this issue past Customer support. To think I have supported them all these years with information on my habits, and this is how they repay me.

    If there is ever an opportunity to fuck them over, I am here to help. Just give me the word. themeibo@gmail.com

  17. dan Says:

    Yahoo Telephone number in Sunnyvale US. Don’t email them…they never answer.

    701 1st Ave.
    Sunnyvale, CA 94089 United States

    Phone: 408-349-3300
    Fax: 408-349-3301

    Tell em Dan from Australia sent ya!!

    other exec info

    Chairman Roy J. Bostock
    Age 67

    CEO, Chief Yahoo, and Director Jerry Yang
    Age 38

    Director Ronald W. (Ron) Burkle
    Age 55

    Director Eric Hippeau
    Age 56

    Director Vyomesh (V.J.) Joshi

    Director Arthur H. (Art) Kern
    Age 60

    Director Robert A. (Bobby) Kotick
    Age 44

    Director Mary Agnes (Maggie) Wilderotter
    Age 53

    Director Gary L. Wilson
    Age 68

  18. dan Says:

    lets screw Yahoo…the arrogant bastards!!!

  19. Lori Says:

    I just don’t get how they get off asking for a credit card & your 3 digit security code to grant access to your child having an account. They call it an “age verification” process. How is THEM having MY cc info going to prove that my child has adult permission to have an account? How many kids are we forcing to sneak their parents info only to have it used in ways it should not be. They say they will not charge you….but then again they also have drilled us for years that they will NEVER ask for any personal info like that. What’s up here!?

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