Our article criticizing America Online's customer service received many replies. We publish three here.

[Response to America Online's Weakest Link from October 4, 2001]

[October 12, 2001]

Dear Editors:

I live in Tennessee and I too have had problems with AOL changing my settings on my machine at home. It (AOL) had enabled the Content Advisor with password protection when I loaded it onto a machine that would not allow me to view ANY web page. I tried unloading AOL, but it would not unload. I ended up having to take the machine back to the office.

The Tech Support staff tried everything they could short of reformatting and reloading the hard drive. Finally, after several weeks of this problem, I was finally put in touch with a staff member of Microsoft who walked me through getting rid of the password file, which was causing the problem. AOL refused to accept responsibility although I could view Web pages immediately before loading AOL but could not immediately after loading it.

Also, my son, my brother, and myself have had problems with AOL's billing. They billed me for time that was impossible for me to have been connected with them. They continued billing my son—automatic withdrawal from his checking account—for two months after he had officially requested to be dropped from their billing service. My brother was billed an annual fee rather than a monthly fee although he requested to be billed monthly. These days I STRONGLY advise people to avoid AOL!

Being in the IT/IS industry I commonly run into people who have had similar billing problems with AOL.

G. Greene
QA Analyst

Hello sir,

The report re:AOL was quite interesting. Believe me or not, AOL JUST SUCKS!!!!! I am using EARTHLINK and am quite satisfied, also installed the ROAD RUNNER broadband just recently, works just beautiful!

AOL forces users to use their own proprietary system and other features and the consumers have absolutely no control on their choice of browsers etc etc. The Internet access also SUCKS because you have to go through the AOL network first and then ONTO THE INTERNET. The Internet at AOL is always slow and dropped phones lines are quite common.

There is a big misconception that AOL is an INTERNET company, well they are NOT. First of all it's a NETWORK which claims to provide internet access! Besides, I am now SICK AND TIRED of all those free AOL disks everywhere, they really really SUCK LIKE HELL!!!! There is even a website called http://www.NoMoreAolCds.com—Check it out!

bye,

Aziz Madhani
Los Angeles

Good Morning,

Regarding Jim Wagner's October 4th article, I just wanted to reply that I have had AOL service for over two years and have always gotten excellent service from them.

I have had to contact them several times, by phone and e-mail, and have always been highly satisfied with their assistance. Also, as you know, they always ask for a customer followup evaluation on the assistance they have provided. Most companies don't do that, and I suspect it's because they are afraid to ask about the quality of service they provide. It's been my experience that AOL, and Dell for example, have top notch customer support. And that's why I would never consider doing business with any other companies!

Just thought you might appreciate another person's experience, and opinion.

Sincerely,

Paul Reibel
Reynoldsburg, Ohio