AOL, also spelled T-H-I-E-F

AOL was once a giant. In the pre-DSL world, America Online was a national dial-up internet service favored by many. It was marketed and sold not only via advertising but also via product placement in films such as in Nora Ephron's You've Got Mail. Those were heady days and they are long gone. AOL is now about as pertinent as Alta Vista or Lycos or other earlier internet giants. What does remain is the company's long history of ripping off customers. In fact, "You've Got Mail" appears to have been replaced with AOL's unwritten motto on customer service: "You can go to hell."



Yes, there are still people out there with dial-up. Some have no other choice due to where they live (that can mean rural and it can also mean 'historical district' for some city-dwellers). Some don't have the money required for the switch. Some believe/hope that they have greater protection of their internet activities via dial-up (due to existing telephone laws). Some just are comfortable with what they already have.

That latter group? Let's hope they stay comfortable.

Like an abusive spouse, AOL tends to get ugliest when someone tries to leave.

In the last six weeks, Common Ills community member tried to leave. He called AOL and cancelled his services. End of story. Then Saturday he got a letter from AOL entitled: "NOTICE: Continuation of Paid AOL Member Account." The opening sentence? "On behalf of AOL, Inc., thank you for agreeing to continue your AOL service." What?

Exactly. Stan recently switched to DSL and has written about canceling his AOL 'membership.' Did Stan, the community member e-mailing about the problem wondered, receive a letter like that?

After checking his mail, Stan saw that he did receive one. He too canceled but his letter also thanks him for "agreeing to continue your AOL service."

It's a nice little scam AOL has going. One that's led to 1164 complaints about billing to the DC Better Business Bureau in just the last three years. That's just DC. As ConsumerAffairs.com observes, "Nothing is easier than signing up for AOL. Conversely, nothing is more difficult than getting rid of AOL once you have it, as the complainants in this section will tell you."

AOL's short history includes an accounting scandal that Enron and others managed to overshadow but still resulted in class-action suits. AOL currently has a little over 4 million subscribers and that number has rapidly fallen from the over thirty million they had at the height of their success. In other words, if you have stock in AOL, it's really time to sell the dingo dog with fleas. And if you're a subscriber, you should probably get out now. For how to do so, refer to this post at Anti-AOL-An InTooLate Production.