David Cassel (destiny@crl.com)
Fri, 15 Nov 1996 20:03:12 -0800 (PST)
S h e l l G a m e s ~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~ In June Newsday reported the New York state attorney-general's office had launched a formal investigation into AOL's billing practices. Soon other sources revealed that 14 state attorneys general were investigating the company. AOL's spokeswoman confirmed there was an "ongoing dialogue"--and that complaints from AOL users had sparked an FTC investigation. Tomorrow's Washington Post reports that attorneys general are now investigating AOL's "default double" pricing plan. The company comes under fire for doubling the rates of all members who pay $9.95 a month unless they pro-actively request their current rate. Two analysts have gone on record as saying the move is cash-related: AOL stands to make $50 million more that month--and each month--if the estimated 5 million subscribers currently paying $9.95 a month don't reclaim the difference. (For comparison, AOL's total profits in the April-June quarter were just $29.2 million.) This raises the prospect that difficulties former users had in cancelling their accounts were cash-related. This has been the subject of several news articles, as recently as the San Francisco Chronicle's October 3 story, "AOL Slow To Cancel Unwanted Accounts". Other articles stretch back two years--USA Today's "Help! I've gotten on line and I can't get off!" (6/30/96), "Unplugging from AOL not simple, say ex-customers" (11/22/95, Knight-Ridder), and "America Online Needs Lessons in Service" (2/22/95, San Francisco Chronicle.) In the last year, nearly one hundred users sent complaints to a web page criticizing AOL, saying the company continued billing after their accounts were cancelled. Will things get better? After the first investigations, USA Today wrote that "America Online says it plans to change billing practices that have customers and regulators complaining. But it has yet to offer many specifics." In fact, as recently as two months ago the hold-time before reaching a billing representative could pass 30 minutes. And yet 30% of Tuesday's lay-offs came from customer service. THE LAST LAUGH Thursday's New York Times reported that earlier this week, "as part of a broader announcement by AOL that it was laying off 300 of its 5,900 employees," AOL announced the closure of GNN. They're two weeks late; that closure was reported here and elsewhere on October 29. Destiny Billing Information - http://www.wco.com/~destiny/billprob.htm ~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~ Please forward with subscription information and headers in-tact. To subscribe to this moderated list, send a message to MAJORDOMO@CLOUD9.NET containing the phrase SUBSCRIBE AOL-SUX in the message body. To unsubscribe send a message saying UNSUBSCRIBE AOL-SUX to the same address. ~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~++~