America Online AOL - Don't load it, or you'll be sorry.
Written: Mar 12 '04 (Updated Mar 12 '04)
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Pros: I will be happy if I can just get rid of it.
Cons: My thoughts on the cons are not suitable for print.
The Bottom Line: I wish I had never seen that AOL disk.
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| CyndiA's Full Review: AOL (America Online) |
It’s almost time for my contract to run out with a local Internet provider service, and since the one I’m using is slow and cuts me off at inopportune moments and since I got an AOL 9.0 install disk in the mail yesterday, I thought . . . why not try AOL? Actually, I had it once before on the computer in Eli’s room and used it a few times. The main thing I remembered from having AOL before is that it’s hard to get anyone on the phone line for the cancel membership (and they won’t allow you to cancel online). In fact, I called several times to cancel a couple of years back, never got a person on the phone, and I ended up paying for a month on my credit card when we didn’t really use the service.
When I put the new disk in my computer and loaded 9.0, it would not give me a phone dial number. I tried that over and over and over and finally called the sign up number. They answer that fast and are all ready to get you going with AOL. They will even try to get you to sign up for more services like the phone answering service when you can’t even get the basic package to work. That takes some nerve.
I got transferred directly to tech assistance after declining more services where the guy who answered said that some of the 9.0 disks went out without the phone files. He said I’d have to load 8.0 and gave me directions to go into files to get the older version with the phone numbers so that AOL would connect. It seems to me that they would test those promotional disks and make sure they had all the files on there to start with. I could manually add the phone number, but they want to make this so easy for me (not).
Once I got connected, I “got mail” and that irritating voice message on sign in. I don’t think I’ve ever logged on the Internet without having mail, and I always check. I really don’t need the computer talking to me especially first thing in the morning and especially after all the hassle of simply getting phone number files. This is supposed to be easy, but it’s not going that way, and it gets worse.
Though I could get email after getting tech support, it returned fatal error messages after a couple of times. Then, it would shut down my computer, and I’d have to start over. When I skipped email and tried to load pages, they would not load. By this time, my old provider is looking better and better. I try to get on with my old provider, connect, and I can’t load pages there either. My browser (which is what is needed to actually see pages online) is not working at all. I’m hooked up online, but I can see anything.
I decide to uninstall AOL, and it takes all kinds of clicks to get rid of the many files loaded by the disk. It seems that AOL has taken over my entire system. After a couple of hours, I seem to have all the AOL stuff off the computer, but my browser still won’t work with old provider.
When I call AOL, they tell me that they can’t help me unless I am using AOL and that I have to put it back on to get help. Otherwise, the girl tells me that I need to call my old provider. They didn’t have anything to do with the disk and messing up my computer, so I can’t imagine that they will want to clean up the AOL mess. And, they shouldn’t have to. They never take over my computer with their software. This is an AOL mess though the girl on the phone tries to act like it has nothing to do with loading the AOL program.
Nine hours later and three calls to tech help, and I’m still having problems. When my computer boots up, I now have to sign in to see the desktop (which I’ve never had to do before). Everything on my computer has the AOL logo including the page that should go with my old provider. And, by the way, the information on AOL notes that you can add AOL and compare with your current service. Since AOL software took my computer hostage, that’s not really something I can do. They do not want a comparison. They want to get in your hard drive and force you to use their service.
I should also note that tech support does not pick up the phone like sales. You get a message that all reps are busy and call back or a message saying how many minutes you’ll be on hold listening to sales messages from AOL. When you do get a rep, they will tell you to run this and that and then call back after you reboot. You do all that, and then you have to call again and again and talk to someone new.
The tech reps are not very fluent in English. Out of four that I spoke with, three were almost impossible to understand. One girl was telling me to go to KONT-uh-new. Finally, I figured out that she wanted me to press continue. Good grief. They need to make sure that reps can talk before they put them on the phone. I’m pretty good at figuring out words with heavy accents, but these folks were awful. Many of the words were not even close.
Finally, I get on AOL. It takes, on average, three to four dials to get a connection. That’s worse than my local (2 rings average). Yes. I know I can add more phone numbers, but all are long distance other than the one I clicked. The speed is not better than the local. In fact, it’s slower if anything. Plus, I still get fatal errors and have to reboot every 10 minutes or so. All that makes for a miserable online experience, and though I’m not thrilled with my local (slow and drops me off a lot), it’s a lot better than AOL.
After a full day without being able to get a web page of any type and see anything online, I’m just glad I can hook up online right now. The next thing I need to do is get all those AOL files off and cancel. I can only hope that dropping the files and all the changes made over the phone with tech reps won’t knock my browser out again. A computer without a working browser is useless for online surfing. You’re left with a very expensive word processor.
If you get a 9.0 disk from AOL, throw it away. They don’t offer anything that you can’t get on your own. They aren’t any better than some of the other companies as far as dial in and speed. Plus, they take over your computer with the load without any “yes” and “no” buttons for authorization. You’re stuck with what they toss up there, and unless you know a lot about computers, you’re going to have a heck of a time getting off AOL. They try to lock you in and force you to use their service, and I resent that. I hope I never see another AOL disk, and I sure hope they don’t start calling my house.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): free trial
Version Number or Year: 8.0 9.0
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Epinions.com ID:
CyndiA
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Member: Cyndi
Location: off the beaten track
Reviews written: 1163
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About Me:
Such is life.
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