AOHell Stories

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Okay, I’m pissed off at AOL (again), and I feel like sharing. I got a new computer a couple months ago, and because I am a Poor College Student, I decided to go with the free AOL offer, because, hey, free ISP, you know? As soon as the month was over, I’d switch to a real ISP, all’s cool. Anyway, so my month was up during Thanksgiving break, and I totally forgot about cancelling AOL - until the very last moment. At 11 pm, I called up to cancel, and the guy I talked to was very nice, and told me that my account had already been billed, but he would cancel that, and I could have another free month. I was all, cool deal. More free ISP.

Anyway, I got my credit card bill today. Those idiots (nicer word than I’m thinking) charged me for this month! I called them up and talked to a couple people, and discovered that they did indeed give me a free month - my THIRD month. So my first month was free, as per the oft-advertised deal, and the third month would be free. But I had to pay for the SECOND month, which the AOL guy never mentioned, even though I very thoroughly questioned him on what they were giving me. I am so pissed off at AOL for misleading me and cheating me (really, they lied to me, because I very clearly asked if I would be getting THIS month free, and the guy said yes), there is absolutely no way I am going to pay that $21.95.

Because no one can have just ONE AOHell story: my family was once kicked off when my sister (who was 10 at the time) told someone who was harrassing her: “Screw you.” The account had no previous TOSes and really, that was something that hardly merited a TOS in itself.

So, who else has a good story about the evils of AOL?

~Kyla

“You couldn’t fool your mother on the foolingest day of your life if you had an electrified fooling machine.”

2

[clinton voice] I feel your pain [/clinton voice].

I was on aol when it charged you by the hour. I don’t recall what the circumstances were but something happened and they gave me 100 free hours to compensate.

Anyway, I kept checking the status of my bill and noticed that I was being charged during those 100 hours. I emailed for a detailed billing report and it went something like this:

August 24: on for 20 minutes, 3 of them were free.
August 26: on for 30 minutes. 5 of them were free.

You get the idea. I cancelled the service and went back to it when it became a fixed rate. I didn’t want to give it up because I like AOL otherwise. But I thought that was the sneakiest way to get money that I ever heard of!

MaryAnn
No, stupid, it’s a boat!

3

[moral of the story] Don’t **ever ** sign on with AOL…they’re not number #1 for no reason…are they not ??[/moral of the story]

~Bo~

I wish I really could LMAO. This diet & exercise stuff sucks !

4

Here’s my rant; MPSIMS couldn’t contain my hate. http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum5/HTML/000450.html

JMcC, San Francisco, JJM’s page from the Bay
If I were beaned with a fastball, fling my limp, lifeless body to first, cause, dammit, I earned it!

5

I was Homer7881. Then, Homer788. Then, IIHoMeRII. Then, XxHoMeRxX. Each name, TOSsed. For being in a ‘restricted room’. Never mind that I wasn’t doing anything illegal, I was just there. CATwatch. Fuckin’ Commies. Thank GOD when ShiZZa came around. Geniuses, they were.

For a while, we tried using a cheap ISP to get online, then a TCP/IP connect to AOL. First month, still getting stiffed for the dial-up charge. Second month, stiffed. Finally, third month rolls around, and they have us on TCP/IP connect. Never got that money back.

We decide that the dial-up is superior. So we change our billing back. We are ASSURED that the change in billing will be reflected within five minutes. A week later, we inquire again. “Don’t worry, even though you’re on TCP/IP and it’s charging you for minutes on dial-up, since you’ve put in a request for a billing change, it will be reflected on your next statement, and you’ll only have to pay 19.95” Goats. Sheep. Cattle. Herd minded, we were. Sadly, we believed them. Next week, we get the same. Bill rolls in, over $200 for dial-up charges. “OH! You wanted to change TO the dial-up! Why didn’t you tell us that?!” Bend me over, Scotty. They’re goin’ in! Never got that money back.

That’s why I cancelled Aol. Been on an independant ISP ever since. Even got a dedicated line, so I’m on 24/7. Total cost to me: $0. Total cost to Dad: $20. Sadly, the local dialup is getting popular, and, therefore, I’m getting ‘booted’ and getting busy signals. Might be time for a smaller company to receive my service.

BTW, I was on the SDMB back when I was on Aol, two years ago this month. Maybe someone remembers me from way back when. I dunno. Probably not.

–Tim

We are the children of the Eighties. We are not the first “lost generation” nor today’s lost generation; in fact, we think we know just where we stand - or are discovering it as we speak.

6

Well, this isn’t about AOL, but I would like to rant about another big ISP – Compuserve. I canceled my account 8 monthes ago, and last week I find out they have STILL been debiting my account monthly since. To make matters worse, I had tried calling them and after one week of an automated message saying “To many calls, try calling back later [click]” I finally get through to cancel AND get my money back. Well, the moron I get ahold of can’t cancel accounts, so he offers to transfer me to another department. I stay on hold for 30 minutes and finally get a message saying “We’re sorry, we are having technical diffuculty, call back again later” [click]. I have tried and tried to call again since but cannot get ahold of a real person.

7

Luxus-- I regret to inform you that Compuserve was purchased by AOL some time ago.

As a pre-AOL Compuserve user, I can say with certainty that the quality of service has plummeted since then.
– Sylence

I don’t have an evil side. Just a really, really apathetic one.