It is hard to believe that a country with the techological expertise that the USA has can produce something as truely awfull as AOL. It is so bad as to be almost laughable. Yet this sad sorry excuse for a broadband service actually sells, not only in the USA but here in England. Why do you idiots use it? Do you enjoy being ripped off? Is it some sort of perversion that makes you pay extra for a second rate service? So why is it so awful? Where do I start?
Firstly broadband is supposed to be an "always on" service. If you use any other broadband supplier you just turn on your computer, open your browser and away you go. But not with AOL, far too simple for them that is. Before these muppets will let you use the service you are already paying over the odds for you have to sign in!
What the F*ck is that all about? Why on earth do you need to sign in to use an "always on" service? The answer is quite simple. You see when you sign on to AOL you are then earning them money with everything you do. Do a search, they earn money, buy anything from any of the adverts that their site consists of, they earn money. They get paid to display the adverts, they get paid if you buy from the adverts. They get paid for the annoying floating adverts that block your view until you eventually find the little X in the corner to close them down. In short, by making you sign in they are earning themselves a fortune while you suffer the slowest most unreliable broadband service on the Internet.
Then there is the cost. Our poxy 256k service at work costs £14.99 a month. Exactly the same price as a 1 meg Telewest or BT connection. And with BT and Telewest you don't need to sign in first, you dont get AOL's crap software slowing down your computer and you dont need to invest in extra memory just so you can access the Internet at a reasonable speed.
Yet there really is no excuse for these bandits charging the ridiculous prices they do. Leaving asside the fortunes they are already earning out of making you sign in they are also based outside the UK so don't pay VAT. In other words their expenses are already 17.5% lower than their competition! Surely this should make them cheaper not more expensive?
If anyone out there reading this is using AOL in the UK then I have one thing to say to you. You are a moron. There can be no other explanation for it. Do yourself a favour, get a life, or better still get a proper broadband connection and find out what the Internet is really like.
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My last big battle with AOL was , when I tried to cancel service because they started charging me (or should say taking from my checking account) fees for stuff I never ordered (AOL By Phone, etc.), and/or for stuff I had long since canceled. (I once canceled Music Net, and two months later I was still being billed by AOL. When I refused to pay AOL, they credited me for the two months, but later came back and took money out of my account because they claimed Music Net wouldn't pay the credit (though Music Net is AOL). But I pointed out,of course they wouldn't, that's because I didn't have service. Why would they reimburse AOL. I wasn't even registered with Music Net anymore when AOL billed me those two months. I never found a single person at AOL who understood this. When I tried to cancel AOL service online, I found you can't. You have to try to endure a 4 to 6 hour wait on the telephone. I asked Billing Support why you could join online, but you couldn't cancel online. They said that was to protect me. I said from what? The guy who wants to cancel my AOL service fraudulently? So, I tried the phone cancelation route and could never last that long. So I went to my bank and had my account number changed. AOL sent me a bill for three more months charges (including services I didn't order) and then sent me a pleading offer to sign up again at a discounted monthly rate. I sent it back as a 'no way'. Then they somehow were able to push an automatic payment charge through my bank account without having my new account number. I asked the bank how this happened and they said that someone at AOL convinced someone at B of A that it was okay, it was what I must have wanted. AOL raped me for four months charges for service I had cancelled and for services I had never had. What a way to do business. I'm amazed they're still in business at all. And you're right, and I'll extend your 'moron' comments to those in the US who still use AOL as well.
Keep up the good work!
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