(no subject)
http://consumerist.com/consumer/exclusive/aol-retention-manual-revealed-188005.php
I say this again: AOL is bad. There is always a better way. I won't even touch AIM or ICQ, now.
I had an AOL account when I first got to Texas, back in '94. I signed up for the free hours at the time. It wasn't much, but I thought I'd give it a whirl. I should have realized something was up when they required your bank account information for free time. I tried to access the internet, but to no avail. AOL had a crappy version of their own little "net". I suppose they figured that if enough people joined up, they'd have their own version of the internet. I did try to play the original version of Neverwinter Nights, which sucked balls.
Well after I found out I couldn't even telnet to muds through AOL, I stopped using it, figuring that any good business would just go their merry way and leave me alone. The month rolled by and I saw a charge on my bank statement. I called up AOL and told them I don't want their service and asked if they could kindly fuck off. Not in so many words. I CAN be diplomatic when I really want to.
I got the runaround exactly like that link above suggests. But after only a couple minutes, I simply hung up. I called my bank and told them that someone was illegally drawing money from my account and asked if they could block it for me. The guy on the line asked, "AOL, right?" He had seen this kind of thing before and kindly put a block on it for me.
I was lucky. I hope everyone has this kind of bank representative.
Ever since then I have done whatever possible to avert people from even trying AOL. I say it over and over again:
THERE IS ALWAYS A BETTER WAY!
AOL will rape your computer for information. They will SELL that information, even if they are collecting money from you for their crappy service. They will also show you ads and these ads do nothing to reduce the cost of your service or make it better. You will discover that somehow you are getting more spam emails, even if you only try their crappy messenger. If you even try their free hours, you will find that only a reinstall of windows will keep you from finding AOL stuff lodged in your machine permanently.
What amazes me is that AOL is STILL MAKING MONEY! It bugs the crap out of me that these guys aren't bankrupt and living off of stale pizza crusts from dumpsters or sitting on a dirty mattress shivering in a crack house. They SHOULD be! Anyone who works for AOL should honestly be fined. They know what they are doing. Anyone who doesn't is simply insane.
But anyway. I made a post about what to do to avoid going to AOL in the first place. I will link it, here.
http://megarandom.livejournal.com/15420.html
I say this again: AOL is bad. There is always a better way. I won't even touch AIM or ICQ, now.
I had an AOL account when I first got to Texas, back in '94. I signed up for the free hours at the time. It wasn't much, but I thought I'd give it a whirl. I should have realized something was up when they required your bank account information for free time. I tried to access the internet, but to no avail. AOL had a crappy version of their own little "net". I suppose they figured that if enough people joined up, they'd have their own version of the internet. I did try to play the original version of Neverwinter Nights, which sucked balls.
Well after I found out I couldn't even telnet to muds through AOL, I stopped using it, figuring that any good business would just go their merry way and leave me alone. The month rolled by and I saw a charge on my bank statement. I called up AOL and told them I don't want their service and asked if they could kindly fuck off. Not in so many words. I CAN be diplomatic when I really want to.
I got the runaround exactly like that link above suggests. But after only a couple minutes, I simply hung up. I called my bank and told them that someone was illegally drawing money from my account and asked if they could block it for me. The guy on the line asked, "AOL, right?" He had seen this kind of thing before and kindly put a block on it for me.
I was lucky. I hope everyone has this kind of bank representative.
Ever since then I have done whatever possible to avert people from even trying AOL. I say it over and over again:
THERE IS ALWAYS A BETTER WAY!
AOL will rape your computer for information. They will SELL that information, even if they are collecting money from you for their crappy service. They will also show you ads and these ads do nothing to reduce the cost of your service or make it better. You will discover that somehow you are getting more spam emails, even if you only try their crappy messenger. If you even try their free hours, you will find that only a reinstall of windows will keep you from finding AOL stuff lodged in your machine permanently.
What amazes me is that AOL is STILL MAKING MONEY! It bugs the crap out of me that these guys aren't bankrupt and living off of stale pizza crusts from dumpsters or sitting on a dirty mattress shivering in a crack house. They SHOULD be! Anyone who works for AOL should honestly be fined. They know what they are doing. Anyone who doesn't is simply insane.
But anyway. I made a post about what to do to avoid going to AOL in the first place. I will link it, here.
http://megarandom.livejournal.com/15420.html