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AOL Users Will Need to Pay $2 a Month For Phone Support

Posted by timothy on from the dear-mom-and-pop-send-money dept.

destinyland writes "8.7 million AOL subscribers face a new 20% fee increase next month — unless they agree to never call AOL's technical support lines. They'll have to use AOL chat for support or the online help "portal" unless their issue is a failed connection — and they're being enrolled in the program by default unless they opt out. Ominously, AOL used the exact same wording as when they quietly changed their terms of service to allow them to sell subscribers' home phone numbers to telemarketers. 'Your continued subscription to the AOL service constitutes your acceptance of this change.'"

6 of 202 comments (clear)

  1. Keep getting billed by Bomarc · · Score: 5, Informative

    My grandmother decided to leave AOL. AOL however, would not leave her. She kept getting billed, and could not disconnect for MONTHS after the fact. I never did find out what the end result was, but (in the past) it was normal for AOL to 'not' disconnect your service when you asked them to...

    1. Re:Keep getting billed by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Informative

      The best thing to do is to call your credit card company and inform them that AOL is still continuing to bill you after you've already quit their service, and that you want to block any further attempts by AOL to bill your credit card. Unfortunately, for the money you've already paid, you're probably going to have to see a lawyer, and it just isn't worth it, despite the fact that fraudulent billing is actually a pretty serious offense.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    2. Re:Keep getting billed by Obfuscant · · Score: 3, Informative
      just VISA, who gave me my money back ...

      This is the big difference between using a credit card and a debit card.

      With a credit card, VISA isn't giving you your money back. By LAW, you don't have to pay a disputed charge. You don't give them the money in the first place so they can't "give it back".

      With a debit card you are unprotected. Your money is gone. IF the bank wants to give it back to you, they can. If they want to run you through the wringer and make you jump hoops, they can. And then they can say you must have authorized the charge for it to happen, and sorry, your account is now overdrawn.

      Not enough people realize this difference. A local university is trying to push a combined debit card/id card onto the students and they are telling the students that their debit card will be protected just like a credit card. They're being told that it won't matter if they HAVE to carry the card every day to use Uni resources and happen to lose it, their bank accounts will be safe. Yes, you can safely hand the dweeb behind the library checkout desk your id/debit card to get that reserved item. You can safely hand the work-study student at the gym your debit card/id to check out a basketball.

      All those who want the "convenience" of one card for everything will soon learn the inconvenience of dealing with a debit card fraudulent charge. Maybe it's just a way that the uni is teaching; teaching people to mistrust all government.

  2. Re:8.7 million? by clampolo · · Score: 4, Informative

    How many slashdotters here are using aol? i challenge you to reveal yourselves.

    While I use DSL at home, I pay for AOL service for my mom and dad. They are old and find AOL to be the simplest thing for them to use, and they never do anything that would require them to use anything faster.

  3. Re:8.7 million? by WhatAmIDoingHere · · Score: 4, Informative

    ATT DSL comes with free unlimited dialup. And you can get it for $10/mo.

    --
    Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
  4. Re:8.7 million? by vga_init · · Score: 3, Informative

    "Obviously, AOL's software is terrible and causes tons of issues whenever I need to fix their computer. Fortunately, the Mac version is better and doesn't take over the system as much as the Windows version does."

    You know, there once was a time when I had no choice but to use AOL because my dad was too stubborn/backwards to change anything. One of the things I hated the most was the client.

    Interestingly enough, a few months prior to leaving AOL, I got the chance to use an alternative client they had called "aol dialer" or something like that. It was a minimal client; it connected you and then sat in the tray (that's about all it did). I was super happy with this change, and I think that if your family finds it useful to have AOL service, aoldial is worth a look. All of their content seems to have been moved onto their web portal anyway, and considering that you can check your mail account with IMAP, there appears to be no reason to use their software anymore.