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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~