MANY AOL problems... One Simple solution

[Guest LiLBlondBoy]

I have seen all the problems with aol, and personally, my reasons for not liking thier service have nothing to do with escorting (though i do share the general opinion of those on this site as well)I got rid of them before they could censor me...as they are well known to do.

I don't like them because they have an underhanded, and decietful way of doing business. (Like numerous un-authorized charges on credit cards, overcharging, overbilling (there is a difference, and they do both), thier service is horrible, and thier customer service is incompetent. And it is not just an isolated incident... But the same has also happened to my friends, family, aquaintences, and even complete strangers.

There can be only one solution.

 

 

BOYCOTT AOL!

 

 

If you have an aol account, terminate it.

If you don't have one, don't get it.

You will save yourself a lot of trouble.

 

 

tell everyone you know, just as you would with any other rip off.

(Just like you would in any review)

word of mouth is the best...and worst advertising you can get.

I am not one to Start conversations like this, and I don't know what kind of feed back i will get (though i am sure most will agree... if they have or had aol)

 

If there is a company that would deserve bad reviews...it'd be AOL

What do you think?

Chris

 

 

 

Live Long...And Prosper

Do or do not...there is no, try.

Christopher

Houston

[email protected]

[+ deej]

>If you have an aol account, terminate it.

>If you don't have one, don't get it.

>You will save yourself a lot of trouble.

 

I sure agree with this.

 

But the calling card for AOL is and always will be that it's easy. The thing about making something easy is that you have to reduce it to the lowest common denominator. They've gotten a lot of people online who would otherwise be too terrified to try.

 

Talk to the average AOL user about configuring SMTP and POP3 servers in an e-mail program and they get a look on their faces like deer caught in the headlights.

 

I wouldn't recommend that my Aunt Shirley drop her AOL account. Otherwise, I'd have to go over there to set her up. It works just fine for her. My sister, who is a little more savvy (but not much) is fine with an Earthlink account.

 

But to ANY escort, ABSOLUTELY DO NOT use AOL as your primary e-mail account. Wanna hang out in the chat rooms, fine. Just have something else as your primary e-mail.

[Guest Jocoluver]

"Like numerous un-authorized charges on credit cards, overcharging, overbilling"

 

I am not a big fan of aol. however, I have had an account (still do) for over 4 years and I certainly have never had these problems.x(

[Rick Munroe]

>But to ANY escort, ABSOLUTELY DO NOT use AOL as your primary

>e-mail account. Wanna hang out in the chat rooms, fine. Just

>have something else as your primary e-mail.

 

The wise Hooboy has been saying that for a long time but so many guys did not want to listen (I was one of them for a while). I'm glad I got rid of AOL entirely. IM'ing was just an addictive time-waster.

 

I was gonna end with something fun/sexy but I just shot with my 1PM job...so now all I want is Boston Market.

[+ deej]

>The wise Hooboy has been saying that for a long time

 

I *knew* I read it somewhere. :9

 

>IM'ing was just an addictive time-waster.

 

And you don't need an AOL membership to IM. MSN and Yahoo each have their own (free) IM services, and even AOL's IM is free for non-AOL members. (You can download it at aol.com)

[Rick Munroe]

>even AOL's IM is

>free for non-AOL members. (You can download it at aol.com)

 

But you can't read AOL member's profiles or see which of them are online so it's pretty useless unless someone's on your buddy list already...no?

[+ deej]

Yes, that's exactly right.

 

I use it primarily because the other moderators are on AOL and we use it to chat about whether to release posts from the queue.

 

I've since added a few pals to my buddy list, but it sits idle most of the time.

[Guest regulation]

>"Like numerous un-authorized charges on credit cards,

>overcharging, overbilling"

>

>I am not a big fan of aol. however, I have had an account

>(still do) for over 4 years and I certainly have never had

>these problems.

 

 

Neither have I. I have never noticed that AOL tried to bill me for anything other than the charges I agreed to pay. And I have found their technical support to be far superior to that of the local ISP I once used. It's absolutely true that their software does not always work as advertised. Does anyone's?

 

As to the "censorship" issue, people who sign an agreement promising to abide by AOL's rules even though they have every intention of ignoring those rules and using the system for illegal transactions ought not to complain when they get kicked out.

[Guest LiLBlondBoy]

It is not illeagle activity I am speaking of (censorship)

I am speaking about any thing that is deemed unacceptable by aol.

basically stuff that is not illeagle, but deemed "Imoral"

 

Though that is not the major reason why I left AOL

I left them after they overcharged my card (2months of billing in one month on 3 separate ocassions).

And I had a friend who had the same thing happen, they overcharged him 3 months worth of billing over 3 consecutive months, Then charged his card back for 4 months, and took the extra month they charged him back out, causing him to pay intrest on thier mistake.

Also, their customer service is very friendly, but when going over the mistakes on my account (the 3rd time), I had to speak with thier suporvisors suporvisor after the 3rd call to get the matter resolved.

They at that point assured me it would be taken care of.

Well a month later, they had not corrected the problem.

At this point , I had to contact my credit card company.

They informed me they have this problem with aol all the time, suggested I get a new card# (which I did) and sent the complaint through.

The friend I spoke of earlier also ended up having his CC# changed for the same reason.

That is my experiance, I relay this only to help others avoid the same mistake.

(as I see numerous posts in regards to numerous problems with aol on this site)

If your opinion differs, I am glad you have not had the same problems with them...so far. And perhaps you never will.

And if you Like AOL as an ISP, More power to you!

I wouldn't change my ISP unless I personally had a problem with them.

Which is why i am so Much happier with my new Cable ISP.

 

Christopher

 

 

 

 

Live Long...And Prosper

Do or do not...there is no, try.

Christopher

Houston

[email protected]

 

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[Guest Thunderbuns]

It's hard to imagine that this double & triple billing is an "accident". They probably make millions from those who don't check their CC statements too closely

 

Thunderbuns

[Guest regulation]

>It is not illeagle activity I am speaking of (censorship)

>I am speaking about any thing that is deemed unacceptable by

>aol.

>basically stuff that is not illeagle, but deemed "Imoral"

 

Such as?

 

>Though that is not the major reason why I left AOL

>I left them after they overcharged my card (2months of

>billing in one month on 3 separate ocassions).

>And I had a friend who had the same thing happen, they

>overcharged him 3 months worth of billing over 3 consecutive

>months, Then charged his card back for 4 months, and took

>the extra month they charged him back out, causing him to

>pay intrest on thier mistake.

 

 

That is an excellent reason to stop doing business with any merchant.

 

 

>Also, their customer service is very friendly, but when

>going over the mistakes on my account (the 3rd time), I had

>to speak with thier suporvisors suporvisor after the 3rd

>call to get the matter resolved.

 

I did not refer to customer service, but to technical support, which is quite different. AOL markets its service as "easy to use," which is a code phrase meaning that it is designed for children, housewives, old folks and others who are not sophisticated enough to deal with an ISP without a lot of help. Their tech support is designed for people who know nothing about the Net, which means that they assume they must walk you through absolutely everything.

 

>That is my experiance, I relay this only to help others

>avoid the same mistake.

>(as I see numerous posts in regards to numerous problems

>with aol on this site)

>If your opinion differs, I am glad you have not had the same

>problems with them...so far. And perhaps you never will.

>And if you Like AOL as an ISP, More power to you!

 

I originally chose them over my local ISP for two reasons. One is that they have twenty-four-hour tech support. Not many local ISPs do. The other is that when one travels on business AOL has more local access numbers in more locations than any other ISP in America. The last time I checked, for example, Earthlink had only two local access numbers in a certain city where I sometimes make business trips, while AOL had twelve.

 

>I wouldn't change my ISP unless I personally had a problem

>with them.

>Which is why i am so Much happier with my new Cable ISP.

 

I cannot tell you how many horror stories I have heard about cable ISPs. I hope you never have one to tell.

[guyinsf]

Like a few others here, I have had AOL for years and have never encountered any billing errors. I have kept it all of these years because of the various m4m chat rooms and the ability to search for escorts and masseurs in my city easily.

 

I've never really needed their customer service, but I would give their technical support a so-so rating. I think that their tech support for their dial up service is generally pathetic. Their techs seem like they do not have much more knowledge than a somewhat savvy user. They read their "solutions" out of manuals, another clue that they do not know much about how to actually solve technical issues. And I've certainly encountered a few who were totally clueless, suggesting things that made no sense at all under the circumstances.

 

I think their DSL support is much better. I had a crash which caused my AOL DSL software to no longer work. I couldn't sign on. I was very impressed with the tech who helped me. He actually seemed to be solving the problem himself (ie, thinking), and walked me through various steps until my system was able to log in again. He also gave me a claim number and suggested I call the following day to exchange my modem for a better one, free of charge. The only reason I didn't take him up on that was that I was an early AOL DSL subscriber and I'm still only being charged $19.95 per month for that. (I was concerned that changing my modem might cause AOL to "adjust" my pricing.) Adding AOL's standard monthly fee paid annually, I'm only paying $41.90 for DSL service. I haven't seen any other national ISP charging that little for DSL.

 

I agree that the censorship issue is disturbing. I truly believe that a lot of this is due to people getting upset with other users and then reporting them to AOL. As I've pointed out before, if AOL really wanted to get rid of all "morally offensive" content, they could easily do so. They would also lose a huge market. So they take the compromise route -- if someone else complains, they'll mess with you. Otherwise they seem to turn a blind eye.

[Huey]

Actually I see two simple solutions }>

 

The first as you suggest for people to cancel their accounts or don't begin with AOL. The other for those who use AOL to stop complaining about it.

 

I use AOL and have never had any expectations and never any complaints. My needs are usually met when using the service though I'm realistic enough to know not to expect anything from them.

 

I'm always bothered by those who intentionally select AOL, even after all the luke warm press, and then complain. Just like the motto on this site, do your research first ;-)

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