Do You Use AOL?

Ron Eggers

SPFG, Supreme Picture Framing God
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If you use AOL for your internet access, you should read two items very carefully: One is your credit card statement, the other is this article:

<U>Did AOL Send Bogus Bills?</U>

I have submitted charge-back requests to my credit card issuer for about $200 in disputed AOL charges in the last six months. Last month alone, there was a $72 charge from AOL on my credit card. The really remarkable thing about that is that I am not an AOL subscriber.

Nine months ago, I gave AOL a free 60-day trial. (You know the one - 2000 hours in 60 days. Do the math.) I discovered it fell short of my needs and canceled within the free trial period. I know they received and processed my cancellation, because I received several letters asking me to reconsider. This month is the first month I haven't been charged for the monthly subscription and, as I said, some months I was charged considerably more than the monthly subscription rate.

If you're happy with AOL, I'm not trying to make you unhappy. Just watch your back.

BTW, the article at the link above addresses allegations that AOL ships and bills customers for unordered merchandise. My problem is different, but possibly related.
 
After rereading my intial post, I decided it could be considered inflammatory, so I'm bring it to the top of this forum to make sure nobody misses it.

Ron
 
I used AOL on a free trial basis years ago. I was plagued with continuous pop-up advertising windows and they like to have worried me to death about Instant Messenger. They are extremely filtered, too, which I don't care for. I understand it's great for kids.
I switched to MSN and, altho' they ain't perfect, and will NEVER admit that they have server problems, the advert windows are at a minimum, and their Buddies is not nearly as invasive as AOL's IM.
So there.
 
I have never been tempted to use AOL but I do save all those colorful CDs that flood into my mailbox to hang in the garden and scare the deer... There is actually a campaign to send these unwanted CDs back to a central location so they can be trucked and dumped on AOL's doorstep. Talk about junk mail!!!!!
 
I got AOL at home a few months ago. I have ADSL service at work from Bellsouth. My 12 year old daughter's initial reaction to AOL was "way cool". She could access her cousins and girl scouts etc. Now she has changed the screen saver on that computer to read "AOL STINKS!!!!!!!".
I haven't had problems with overbilling, but have had calls from AOL pestering me about upgrades and additional service. Seems I already pay a high enough price to them to have to put up with all thet advertisement and all that spam.
 
We must use AOL because of the nature of the dialup connections in our rural area. I can get a really fast dialup connection of 16Kb with AOL. All other providers, both local and national, only achieve a 10Kb connection speed on a good day.... and I have looked at all of them, and yes some share the same local phone numbers. For some reason, data doesn't travel well through the series of multiplex repeaters (or something of that sort) that are in the system

Regarding the phone calls, pop ups, and other advertising that AOL pushes towards the customer.... try personalizing the settings to turn off all those offers. The default settings are "YES" to receive as much advertising as is offered. Try SETTINGS, PREFERENCES, ACCOUNT CONTROLS, MARKETING, and then visit each of the 'Radio Buttons' and click NO. I have not received the first call, junk mail, etc from AOL since I turned everything off. I even had to call them to get a CD with version 7 because they quit sending the CD of the week.
 
We used to have AOL and it was OK until I got my website up and running, courtesy of Somerset House.

Then I couldn't customize anything using AoL.. DOn't know why, but Leslie at SOmerset agreed that because the way AOL is set up, you keep having to hit "refresh" anytime you change anything.

Enough was enough. Switched to earthlink and couldn't be happier.

Don't miss the popup ads or the adult porno sites that used to come across on AOL either.
 
I agree with Rick Bergeron - CPF
True Grumbler. If the filters are set right you never get any pop-up ads or porn site junk. I have had AOL since 1989. There is so much to their programs that you need to spend a some time to understand what can be done and what needs to be done to get what you want or don't want. Once we got it tweaked worked for me. I have never had any over charges ever. As a matter of fact as an AARP member I get a discount on their monthly fee. But who am I, just one of 15 million AOL customers.
Jim
OHIO
 
I sometimes get tired of "AOL Bashing", "American Express Bashing", "UPS Bashing"........it seems we are good at attaching those of success. Obviously there are up and down sides to any successful venture, but I honestly feel that a good amount of the problems generate from the users themeselves.......You know Ron, as your shop moto declares, "The customer is Always Funny!.

Despite having my own domain name and about 6 E-mails associated with it, Outlook Express, MIE and Roadrunner, I still hang on to my AOL account.......Why?

Two main reasons.....1) People who change their E-mail address every 6months drive me NUTS. So now I've had AOL for over 6 years, I suppose I could change.....but then I'd probably be jumping into the fire, and be changing my address again.....becoming one of those I detest!

2) As I travel, I've been able to find an AOL local access number in every corner of the world.....Perth Australia, Hertzesdorf Austria, Istanbul Turkey, East Midlands UK, you name it..........now that's convenience.

Gumby & Rick.....I would like to learn how to turn off those pop up advertorial screens.......describe in detail please?

John
 
Rick said it best!

"Regarding the phone calls, pop ups, and other advertising that AOL pushes towards the customer.... try personalizing the settings to turn off all those offers. The default settings are "YES" to receive as much advertising as is offered. Try SETTINGS, PREFERENCES, ACCOUNT CONTROLS, MARKETING, and then visit each of the 'Radio Buttons' and click NO. I have not received the first call, junk mail, etc from AOL since I turned everything off."
love these green guys :D
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Originally posted by John Ranes II, CPF, GCF:
I sometimes get tired of "AOL Bashing
John, It's not my intention to bash AOL. Clearly, it works very well for lots and lots of people. It's also gotten people onto the internet who otherwise wouldn't have tried it. Maybe it's the Michaels of the internet world. I was just passing along a personal experience and a published report.

Fact is, I usually like the big guns. I'm a big fan of Larson-Juhl (most of the time,) I normally like Microsoft products, I have no gripes with UPS or American Express and I shop at Home Depot pretty regularly.

The reason AOL didn't fit my needs was this: We have three computers networked at our house, mainly to share a single internet connection. This is not possible with AOL, so I use another service that I'm frequently unhappy with. But, until this last month, I still got billed by AOL and I still dispute the charges every month.

My bottom-line point is this. Check your credit card statements carefully, whether or not you're an AOL user. Also check your phone bills, your utility bills, your car repair bills . . .
 
I too am not bashing AOL, altho lately their stock sucks, but it just no longer fits my needs as I try to run my website and change it with some frequency.

Too many crashes and too complicated to use. I found earthlink easier to use so I use it and dumped AOL

Period
 
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