Name And Shame! Aol

Edinburghlass_2

loopy_lass wrote:

can anyone reccomend another BB provider, i admit to being a bit of a dummy with such things, and reading martins comments confused me more. I liked aol as i could monitor my reenage daughters movements, are there any others which allow me to do this...

thanks.... loops

I think you have to decide how often you have used the free phone number in the past and weigh that up against the convenience you have so far found with AOL before thinking about changing ISP.

Plenty of recommendations on the Internet Board to keep you reading for a while

bbb_uk

loopy_lass wrote:

...I liked aol as i could monitor my reenage daughters movements, are there any others which allow me to do this...

As far as I'm aware its only AOL that have this monitoring/blocking as part of the internet package. Other ISP's don't have teenage monitoring but there is software you can buy that does the same. If you haven't had a need to contact them for a while you could stay with them but be aware that if you do need to call them and you're in a queue for ages (40mins at one time according to Daniel's post above) then it will cost you a lot of money.

narol

i had serious issue these last 8 days with them.

lost my BB connection & idiots told me to uninstall-reinstall-unistall-reinstall-uninst........

eventually i [tentatively] suggested it could be a faulty filter!

they [ came from BT]sent me new onme y'terday [after 8 days] & bingo!!
BUT.... i was online to them over 8 days approx 15 times @ about an hour a time!!

that woulda cost about £70 !!!

problem is - im a typical brit and lethargy is my name, so loathe to try new ISP.

i'm online a lot & i get their BB Gold reduced price @ £19.99 monthly
can i get better out there in cyber world?

loopy_lass

i also pay the £19.99 for bb gold reduced, not had to phone them either, if i need to contact them i use the online help, i use someone elses comp for that if nec. MMM i also havenet had the email stating their phone charges are going up...

also caught my teenage (14) daughter receiving phone calls from people she met on net at friends houses!!!! so, im very happy she cant do that on here,....

think i may be justified if i do need to phone them to reclaim phone call costs lol..... ah well i can dream....

thanks for info

loops

Prudent

I haven't the email either. I know AOl are more expensive but have remained with them for two reasons: 1) free phone helpline, which I have made good use of in the past year and 2) free access to newsgroups.
The free access to newsgroups was withdrawn in January this year, just a month after I started my contract with them
I shall certainly use this to opt out of my contract when I get the email, if they don't change their mind.

If you have experienced quite a few technical problems I would recomend asking for a credit to your account in compensation. I aked eralier in the year (they were at fault) and got a £30 credit. As I am on a £12.99 dail up package, this gave me more than two months free!

Inspector_Sams

For what's it's worth, here's my response with them via email after receiving the initial advice...

INSPECTOR SAMS (name changed tp protect the innocent!)

Regarding your recent email about the changes you are going to make which your customers will be paying extra for.

Can you please advise....

1) When it is not possible to access the internet because of AOL, will customers be refunded the cost of any calls made as a result and receive a refund of their charges proportional to the downtime.

2) Whetherl AOL will ensure that customers do not pay for any time spent on the phone waiting for an AOL representative to become available to talk to them.

3) Where the call centre will be based.

I am very disappointed to hear of the new system which goes against so much of AOL's advertising in the past, and find the whole process a shameless way of trying to bribe customers to join the AOL Talk thing without actually offering them anything they didn't already have.

I certainly won't be signing up for AOL talk, and indeed will consider whether or not I wish to stay with AOL at all. Your prompt answers to the above questions will assist me in making up my mind.

Regards

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AOL:
Dear Member
We assure you that we will continue to provide you with the best of the services.
This change will enable us to invest in further significant enhancements to our customer services, and ensure we continue to provide market-leading support for the wide range of features and content AOL delivers to our members now, and in the future.

Thank you for your kind support.

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INSPECTOR SAMS

Not sure why I was sent the response below to my email? It looks like a standard automated response and leaves me with no confidence that my email was actually read by anyone.

Could I refer you once again to the questions set out in my original email and ask you to have the courtesy of issuing a point by point response?

Regards

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AOL

Dear Member,
Thank you for your recent email.
Kindly accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience you may have had on AOL.
Your comments and feedback regarding the AOL service have been duly passed on to the relevant department.
May I assure you that you will not be charged extra for your internet access. However if you face any problem with your internet access AOL has now extensive information to assist you. The latest addition is Discover AOL, which will be launched on 1 August (AOL Keyword: Discover AOL). This will provide a single place on the AOL service to get in-depth help and advice on a wide range of subjects, designed to improve your online experience and help you to resolve issues easily.
In addition, we offer online Live Help (AOL Keyword: Live Help), where AOL customer service representatives are available at no additional charge to answer your questions every day from 8am to midnight, via a one-to-one tech chat.
Which in short means that you will not need our Phone technicians to help you to solve your AOL issues, so there will be no extra charges even after the new charges have been introduced. However in case you require any Phone Technical support, We will try to ensure you have the minimum wait time possible and will deal with your call as fast and efficiently as we can.
We thank you for your understanding and patience on this matter.
Regarding your query :
When you are not able to connect to aol we suggest you to please send an email to us using a friends pc or via https://www.aol.co.uk and we will be most happy to assist you with any aol issues or alternately we also suggest that you should refer to the steps given at aol keyword DISCOVER which will help you to solve all your connection problems.
If you have any further questions with regard to this, please do not hesitate to contact us through Member Service Area via keyword Live Help.
Kind Regards,
AOL UK Member Services

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INSPECTOR SAMS

I have used the AOL phone lines in the past only when I have not been able to access AOL or when I've been losing the connection so frequently, attempting to get the online help has been too frustrating.

So when you say...."..which in short means that you will not need our Phone technicians to help you to solve your AOL issues, so there will be no extra charges even after the new charges have been introduced" I have to ask if this is a joke? I will need to use it as much as I have needed to use it.

Only this time, instead of it not costing anything to wait ages for someone to become available while listening to the musak peppered with "isn't Aol great?" announcements and then taking the time struggling to understand and be understood the operator when finally getting though to someone, I'll now have to pay for all that wasted time!

So I want to know very specifically the answers to these questions...

1) Will I be charged for waiting time on the phone? You have said "...We will try to ensure you have the minimum wait time possible and will deal with your call as fast and efficiently as we can". Can I take the liberty of presuming that you have always been trying to ensure this? Well I still experienced long delays so what specifically have you changed that means it won't now happen.

2) Where is the call centre based? I want to know, because of past experiences, will I be able to easily understand the people I speak to and will they easily understand me?

3) You have said " May I assure you that you will not be charged extra for your internet access". I should think not!! What I was asking for is your assurance that, in the event of having to make a phone call through something that transpires to be AOL's fault, will all phone charges I have incurred as a result be refunded.

4) Are you suggesting I use a friend because the phone call to them will be cheaper? What if they use AOL as well and can't get through. and you say "or use www.aol.co.uk" Why? Does this work even offline?

I look forward to your response to each point.

Regards

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AOL

Dear Member,
We understand your concern however this change will enable us to invest in further significant enhancements to our customer services, and ensure we continue to provide market-leading support for the wide range of features and content AOL delivers to our members now, and in the future.
However, subscribers to AOL's new telephone service, AOL Talk, including those who sign up before 31 October 2005, will continue to get customer and technical support services at no extra charge on the phone line on which AOL Talk is activated, because AOL is the phone service provider.
To make it even simpler to get support from AOL, on 1 August we will also launch Discover AOL (AOL Keyword: Discover AOL). This will provide a single area on the AOL service to get in-depth help and advice on a wide range of subjects, allowing you to resolve issues without needing to contact us and disrupt your time online. (AOL members on the Light Usage Plan should note that use of this area will be charged at the standard rate applicable to those price plans. This replaces the current free Help area for Light Usage Plan. See AOL Keyword: Pricing for details of charges).
In addition, we continue to offer online Live Help (AOL Keyword: Live Help), where AOL customer service representatives are available at no additional charge to answer your questions every day from 8am to midnight, via a one-to-one tech chat.

We remain committed to delivering high-quality customer services and believe this change will ensure that you continue to make the most of being online with AOL.

Kind regards
AOL UK Member Services

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INSPECTOR SAMS

To quote your last email "this change will enable us to invest in further significant enhancements to our customer services"

The enhancement to customer services I require is the availability of straight answers to straight questions, not a performance of answering which would not disgrace a bent politician.

I understand that as the terms and conditions of my membership have been changed I now have the right to cancel that membership within 30 days. It is something to which I am giving serious consideration right now, not just because of the charges but because of the frustration of not getting straight ansers to the questions I have raised.

Regards

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As you tell, I'm not happy!

Poppy9

They obviously need AOL internet customers to fund AOL Talk Talk customers.

djblamire

Just to confirm.

There is no requirement to give them 30 days notice, and it doesn't matter if you are still within your 12 month contract.

Thanks
Daniel

Inspector_Sams

Two further emails...

AOL

Dear Member,

We assure you that we will continue to provide you with the best of the services.
We will try to ensure you have the minimum wait time possible and we deal with your call as fast and efficiently as we can.
This change will enable us to invest in further significant enhancements to our customer services, and ensure we continue to provide market-leading support for the wide range of features and content AOL delivers to our members now, and in the future.

Thank you for your kind support.

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INSPECTOR SAMS

Again, no real answer!

You say "We will try to ensure you have the minimum wait time possible and we deal with your call as fast and efficiently as we can."

As I have said before, this was presumably what you were trying to ensure previously. But I know, from more than one experience of calling the helpline when unable to get online that

1) I had to wait a long time to get through to someone

2) The call spent a lot longer than it would otherwise have done once I did get through principally because I was speaking to someone obviously from overseas whose first language was not English

Now it is your intention that I will have to pay for this waiting time. In fact the longer I wait the more AOL will benefit financially. The longer I spend in conversation with an AOL representative endlessly repeating words and phrases that the AOL representative finds difficult to comprehend, the more AOL will benefit financially.

Why I am looking for is a promise on behalf of AOL that the maximum charge for any one call will be five minutes, irrespective of how long the call actually took. Then the subjects of how long we wait and where the call centre is based fade away.

Otherwise you're looking for me to trust AOl when it says "we will continue to provide you with the best of the services". But I believed you when you advertised a service where the call charges were free! I don't like misplacing my trust twice in the same place!

Regards

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amit_1

if i cancel my aol contract can i still use my e-mail address? to send messages. i am thinking of moveing to bt