• Reuters, Tuesday, July 11, 2006 11 AM

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is meeting with Time Warner's AOL to discuss the company's customer service policies to see whether the company still restricts customers from canceling their accounts. Spitzer settled out of court last year with the Internet service provider, citing its customer service policy to keep certain members from leaving. Under that settlement, roughly 300 New Yorkers complained about how difficult it was to quit the service. Spitzer found that customer service reps are actually given a financial incentive to keep subscribers from leaving. In August of last year, AOL agreed to reform its procedures, give free refunds, and pay New York $1.25 million in penalties. On June 28, Spitzer sent a letter to AOL demanding more information about the current state of its customer service, and requested a meeting. The request comes after a New York Times article that reported how a Bronx man spent 21 minutes trying to cancel his AOL membership but was unable to do so despite repeated requests. The man recorded the conversation and posted it to his Web log. "Obviously, we have to do something," Spitzer, who is now running for governor of New York, told Reuters.

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