Posted on 08/06/2006 7:53:47 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Maxine Gauthier doesn't own a computer. She doesn't know the first thing about Web browsing or sending e-mail. She's not even sure where to find a computer's "on" button, as she describes it.
Yet for the past nine months, she has been fighting one of the most persistent and some say irritating institutions in cyberspace: AOL, formerly known as America Online.
"An AOL service guy told me to stop complaining and learn to use a computer," she said. "Then he hung up."
Most of AOL's $1 billion in profits continues to come from subscriptions to dial-up service, a market it still dominates.
When Gauthier's father, Melvin Berkowitz, died last summer, he was living in Florida and had one credit card. Its only charges were to AOL. Gauthier's mother, Marion Berkowitz, now 80, and still living in Florida, had her name on the account but never used it.
Gauthier discovered the continuing dial-up service charge as she was settling her father's estate. She first called to cancel the AOL account last November.
With each subsequent call, AOL became more curt with Gauthier. During one exchange, "the guy - I think it was a manager - just told me to 'shut up and listen to what I have to say or don't bother calling.' Then he hung up on me," she said.
Finally, this month, Gauthier was able to cancel her father's credit card. The AOL charges, going back to last summer, were wiped away, and she was reimbursed for both the charges and late fees.
A few days ago, Gauthier obtained a letter from AOL that was sent to her mother in Florida. The letter was addressed to Melvin Berkowitz.
"Dear Mr. Berkowitz," it said. "We hope you'll come back to AOL."
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
Sounds like AOL is similar to the Democratic Party.
It took 6 months of phone calls and threats of lawyers,
for AOhell to cancel my account. They finally credited
my account for the 6 months of charges.
They are the worst I've had to deal with. Verizon DSL on
the other had is great.
Same AOL of ten years ago when I left.
We had a similar problem with cable service after my dad died...they finally stopped sending a bill when my brother wrote them back and told them to send the bill to heaven because that is where he could be found and he doubted they had cable in heaven.
Somebody posted an article that presented a look inside AOL's 'Customer Retention Manual' recently. That'd be a good companion link for this topic.
There is an AOL scam with Dell. Computers. I bought a Dell laptop and several months later began getting AOL charges on my credit card.
I called to have them rescinded because I never signed up or used AOL. They told me that the computer came with an AOL subscription and when the free months ran out the charges began. I don't know how they got my credit card account.
Any way while speaking the the AOL rep, I told him I was going to come get him and do him in. He laughed and said "You're coning to indeeia?" I told him not me personally but a representative of a company startup to rub out Indian Customer service reps.
I ended up talking to his supervisor and i told him that he was working for perhaps the most disreputable company on the globe and should consider resigning. AOL was going down the tubes as the customer base shrank and his job was in danger. He should alos know that havins AOL on his CV (resume) was a black mark he would have to suffer the rest of his life. He seemed genuinely alarmed that the sacred would be so soundly profaned.
It took more than an hour of telephone trees to get thejob done. I pity a poor old woman caught in their clutches.
AOL must die.
That's good to know. I was considering a Dell. My roommate has one --a gift from his father. We have cable internet. I wonder if my roommate's dad is getting bills from AOL?
(Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em Down Hezbullies.)
Now that they're allowing you to have the "free" option, I'm wondering if the charges to my credit card will ever really stop....
Never used AOL, not even when the Internet was in its infancy. My BS detector immediately went into overdrive when I saw the cheesy commercials and simplistic features. Internet for the sheeple - those who use it deserves to get taken for the ride.
AOL. Hell's own ISP.
LOL! When the internet started to become noticed it was a very libertarian environment. AOL opened up the internet to the average person and the first thing many of them did was complain about the "anything goes" atmosphere of the internet. It was like millions of people invaded our exclusive little club and then wanted to change the rules.
Now it was only a matter of time before the internet lost this exclusivity, but AOL will always be known as the company that ruined the internet.
This goes for any credit card transaction: You can contact your credit card company and have the charges disputed, usually within one month to 45 days they will have credited your account for the disputed amount. It is then up to the merchant to prove that they were indeed due the amount credited. Most merchants, particularly when they've been pushing through unwarranted reoccurring charges will simply back down.
I have a business, and have also had customers who "regret" their purchase, try to scam me out of the charge for services rendered. One credit card company told me the consumer has two years to dispute a charge.
C'mon, folks. Too many whiners out there! You need to get a life and cut the complaining.
I've used AOL exclusively for my Internet service since 1997, and I've never had cause for a serious complaint.
I'm sure there are many other AOL customers like me, totally satisfied -- even among the notoriously grouchy Freeper community!
It's just that the whiners and complainers are the ones who always make most of the noise.
Ho-hum. What else is new?
.....AOL will always be known as the company that ruined the internet......
AOL is a bulletinboard that never really learned what the internet is..
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