Earthlink made it very difficult for me to stop them from charging my credit card even though I never signed up to be their customer.

On August 7, 2001 I moved from my residence of 14 months (12 of those with CapuNet DSL service) to a new place and new service provider. During this time, CapuNet had been closing off their residental service and sending its customer base to Earthlink. I had called in late July 2001 and received a cancellation number from CapuNet technical support that my line would be shut down on August 7, 2001 and billing would stop.

On August 14, 2001 I received an e-mail from Earthlink transitions team stating that my conversion as a customer would be delayed. Not being a customer, I immediately wrote a reply to Earthlink customer service that I was no longer a customer and would certainly not be participating in the transition since I was no longer at that address. The next day Michelle L. from EarthLink Customer Service activated email case id: H 2016868 and said to call to cancel my account.

Not having requested service through them, I didn't bother to call. In fact, I jotted out a quick e-mail to CapuNet customer support asking if I should be concerned about any transition problems. Immediately I received an e-mail reply from John Dvorak of CapuNet saying it was probably just an automatic message that didn't take into account a recently updated list of transition customers sent to Earthlink. There was nothing to worry about, he assured me. Satisfied, I left it at that.

On September 13, 2001 I receved a credit card statement from WWW*EARTHLINK.NET posted to my card (that I never directly provided to Earthlink) for $62.27 from 8/29/01. John Dvorak from CapuNet suggested via e-mail that I speak to Earthlink customer service to resolve that issue. I did that day, and received confirmation number 30245803 from Diana Zigler in the Earthlink Harrisburg, PA office that charges of $62.27 and $15.00 (dated 9/13) have been refunded to my credit card and the account closed. That same day I also received an e-mail from the Earthlink transitions department saying that my install would be delayed as a result of the World Trade Center getting blown up three days earlier.

On November 13, 2001 I received yet another change from Earthlink dated 10/12/01 for $64.95. After a brief call to Earthlink Support, I received confirmation number 32236973 from David in the Earthlink Dallas, TX office that the account is closed and charges of $64.95 will be refunded to my credit card. He confirmed that the Verizon line 443-612-9182 connected to DSL service was confirmed closed at that time. Followed up directly with the Harrisburg office to complain on the earlier unfilled trouble ticket. I spoke to a security guard who said he would pass on the message to the supervisor to call me back. I never received a return call regarding this.

On December 11, 2001 at 13:45 (right on schedule) I was telephoned by my credit card company to report a blocked charge for $199.90 from WWW*EARTHLINK.NET. I immediately called Earthlink Customer service to resolve this. Speaking to Andy in the Dallas, TX office, I received trouble ticket number 33114756. In this call, he issued an in-house credit for the (past-due!) $199.90 balance on the account. He said that on January 10, 2002 the billing cycle will be applied, and the balance in the account will be zero. Unfortunately, the account has to stay in the Earthlink billing system for 180 days as per telecommunication service provider regulations. He removed my credit card information and switched the billing to "pay by check." I updated my address in the system so that I could be aware if any future charges were pending against my account and address them immediately. He assured me that this would be my last call.

On August 13, 2002 at 13:35, I received an e-mail from Covad notifying me of a DSL service termination in 48 hours which was filed by Earthlink on August 13, 2002 ostensibly at 13:47. The tone of this e-mail leads me to believe that the service cancellation request I placed on August 14, 2001 has just been filed.

Everything suddenly makes sense.

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