Amazingly, I have not railed against AOL yet in any of my ‘Shotguns’. No matter how hard I try, somehow the topic comes up. Just today, I helped a customer hook up her new DSL Internet and cancel her AOL account. By switching to DSL, she is saving about $2 a month locally and gaining so much more service. In some areas, you can save $10 or more by switching to DSL.

What else is gained by switching to DSL service from AOL?

After we successfully hooked up the DSL, we made the call to cancel AOL (1-888-265-8008). I usually ask to make the call because I know how obnoxious and persistent some of the operators can be when you try to cancel. After wading through the push 1 for this and 4 for that, I was connected with Janice from AOL. She started out very pleasant. When she started to try and sell me the story that I needed to stay with AOL (their operators are required to do this because of their hemorrhaging numbers over the last three plus years), I politely said that we weren’t interested and just wanted to cancel the account effective today. She responded, “sir, please let me do my job”.

I am, admittedly, a pushover much of the time and let her proceed a little further. Her pitch then launched into the comprehensive nature of AOL’s security offerings (a complete debacle). At this point, I stepped in again, and said, “mam, we aren’t interested and just want to cancel”. She responded by saying (no lie), “Sir, AOL offers the bestest security in the business”. I chuckled and said, “Bestest??!!”. I realize it was probably a slip of the tongue (something I do all the time), but it was an irresistible setup. She sighed and then punished me by putting me on hold for nearly five minutes. When she returned, we completed the cancellation and my customer was extremely relieved to be rid of AOL once and for all.

One thing I did learn from Janice is that AOL now lets their members keep their AOL email address active even after canceling the service. AOL users who just don’t want to give up their rickgj4529@aol.com address can use AOL’s web based email at www.aol.com for as long as they want for no charge. In essence, they have made it even easier for you AOL hold outs to give up this atrocious service.