Dan,
Thanks for this enlightening bit! I haven't heard anything good
about AOL for at least 18 months.
BTW, where can I read Landy's piece?
Valentine Riddell
On May 9, 1997, at 05:14 PM, Dan Lester wrote:
> Landy Manderson <[log in to unmask] wrote a masterful piece on the
> real problems with AOL. Lack of communication, both with their own users,
> and with others who they work with on the net, seems typical. The "up
> yours" and "tough shit" and "we don't give a damn" is even worse. I know
> many who've left AOL, both before and after the unlimited logon fiasco,
> just because of that attitude. Sure, more suckers keep signing up, but I'd
> sure hate to try to make it with that great a churn rate.
>
> I find it fascinating that all of the communications have come from a net
> admin geek, not from a VP or the Media Relations or PR folks. Of course it
> DOES mean that we're seeing the real story and not some highly polished
> bullshit. And I continue to wonder if the suits upstairs would approve of
> all that has been said on their behalf.....and find it even scarier that
> they probably do approve, since there has been no sudden silence from
> aol.net and no contradictory or palliative messages from the top. I
> imagine that at least one of us must have sent copies of some of this to
> higher levels....and hope they do, if they haven't.
>
> We've removed folks from user support lines and help desks for much less
> abrasive and hostile behavior towards our users....but this is AOL, I
> guess. After my last debacle with AOL, when I set up a trial account for
> a demo to a teleconference of several thousand people around the country,
> and recommended them, I'll not demo or recommend them again. This was
> before the unlimited service disaster. The next day I phoned to cancel the
> account, emailed to cancel it, and sent snail mail to cancel it, all at
> essentially the same time. After an extended trip for a family emergency I
> came back almost three months later and found the billings to my credit
> card. It took me four phone calls, and going three levels up in customer
> support to get a credit back on the charges. They claimed I'd never
> cancelled. Yeah, sure. When they issued the credit it was still ten
> dollars less than the amount billed (maybe they can't add, too?), but I
> wasn't willing to deal with the up-the-levels hassle again (the previous
> time had taken over an hour, and my time is worth more than that). When I
> did a later teleconference to much the same audience I recommended that
> they not be used...since almost everyone, no matter how remote, has an ISP
> available now.
>
> AOL is like the classic "What does a 900 pound gorilla in your kitchen
> eat?" The standard answer is "anything he wants", but that wouldn't be
> the answer of many......where the answer would be "whatever he wants until
> we get out the .357 magnum and the 12 gauge pump and the AK-47 to solve
> that problem".
>
> I seem to remember that Apple was going to do things "their way" no matter
> what. We can see where that got them.....will AOL be the next victim of
> the combo of their own success and their own stupidity and lack of concern
> for the paying customers?
>
> dan
>
>
>
> Dan Lester
> [log in to unmask]
> In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. Erasmus, 1534
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Valentine Riddell "Once you're real,
Orenda Healing International You can't become unreal
California, New Mexico, Sweden again. It lasts always."
Email: [log in to unmask] The Velveteen Rabbit
WWW: http://www.orenda-arts.org
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