Didn't we have a sound clip on here at some point of someone trying to cancel their AOL service? ----
Averting a court battle over how AOL has handled the exodus of customers from its dial-up Web service, the company agreed Wednesday to make it easier for customers to cancel the service and get refunds as part of a settlement with Indiana and 47 other states.
The $3 million settlement was driven by complaints from AOL customers who struggled to close accounts or discovered they were still being billed for services that they thought had been canceled.
The outcry triggered a multistate probe that would have led to a lawsuit if AOL hadn't agreed to ante up and change its ways, said David Tiede, a deputy attorney general in California.
As part of the settlement, the company agreed to set up an AOL channel, http://cancel .aol.com, to process cancellations. Previously, AOL required customers to make cancellation requests by fax, mail or phone.
Subscribers who phoned AOL to cancel their service sometimes were greeted by aggressive customer service representatives who were paid bonuses of up to $3,000 if they found a way to retain, or "save," the customer, according to the settlement.
"This agreement puts strict limitations on this practice of 'saving' and requires recording and verification of these telephone calls," Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter said in a statement.
AOL, the Internet division of Dulles, Va.-based Time Warner, didn't acknowledge any wrongdoing in the settlement.
Ah, memories . . . AOL started in 1985 as a company called "Q-Link". Back then, they were only a content provider. I remember dialing up with my Commodore 64 and a 300 baud modem. I used to get free Commodore programs from them.
How fast is 300 baud? Well, its about as fast as I can read. I remember watching text files come in and I could just barely keep up reading them as they downloaded.
I remember when I upgraded from the 300 baud to the 1,200 baud modem. Man I thought that 1.2k modem was fast! The next big modem jump was to a 28.8k modem. I remember I paid about $150 for that 28.8k modem. That seemed so fast, I couldn't imagine it ever getting any faster than that. Now, I'm connected at 1,500k.
Q-Link switched from focusing on Commodore users to PC users in 1994 and changed their name at that time to America On Line.
I do remember how excited I was when my second computer had SIXTEEN colors!
And it wasn't until the late 90's that I got a computer that could actually show a photo on the screen and I was IN AWE. I remember being so amazed at the fact I actually could see a sharp, full color photo on my computer screen.
back in the days of AOL 6.0 I was still OK with them, be cause by then I was saavy enough to avoid many of the problems, by 7.0 mandatory, I had enough.
I love the fact that Roadrunner doesn't require Roadrunner e-mail and services....
