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