60% of AOL's Profits Come From Misinformed Customers 301
satuon writes "Ken Auletta's big New Yorker piece on AOL (subscription only) this week revealed an interesting detail about the company's inner workings. According to Auletta, 80% of AOL's profits come from subscribers, and 75% of those subscribers are paying for something they don't actually need. According to Auletta: "The company still gets eighty percent of its profits from subscribers, many of whom are older people who have cable or DSL service but don't realize that they need not pay an additional twenty-five dollars a month to get online and check their e-mail. 'The dirty little secret,' a former AOL executive says, 'is that seventy-five percent of the people who subscribe to AOL's dial-up service don't need it.'"
Debunked (Score:4, Informative)
Or maybe it's just the stress of quitting. (Score:2, Informative)
My aunt and uncle were AOL subscribers for years because they couldn't get broadband from the cable company or DSL from the phone company. Part of the problem might have been they had an unusual postal address, a road extension, not just a site on the road, which may have confused their databases, but eventually the power company came in, and I managed to get access to a supervisor who knew the area and would authorize an installer to come out.
Yay.
But they had to quit AOL first. It took several minutes of persuasion from the person at their customer service, and more than a little crying.
I swear, they must be specially trained to be so emotionally manipulative.
Oh well, at least they have 30 Mbps now. What do they need it for? Next to nothing, but EPB doesn't offer anything slower. How inconsiderate of them, isn't it??
Todo: Get your granny's AOL login (Score:5, Informative)
How to Cancel an AOL Dial-Up Service By Stacey Price, eHow Contributor
Canceling your AOL account is a simple task that can be done over the phone or online. With the integration of AOL's free web-based email service, you can cancel your dial-up service and still enjoy some of their features by converting to a free AOL account if you have an Internet connection.
Instructions
Things You'll Need:
Tips & Warnings
AOL Inc.
PO Box 65100
Sterling, VA 20165-8800
Source: http://www.ehow.com/how_5955872_cancel-aol-dial_up-service.html [ehow.com]
No way! (Score:2, Informative)
The only secret about this is that 75% is shockingly low. Is AOL known for anything other than elder fraud?
Same thing with earthlink (Score:5, Informative)
I found my mother was being billed $50/month by earthlink even though she had service through another ISP. The phone number earthlink claimed they were providing service to was not only in another area code but did not even exist in that area code. When I complained to earthlink that they had stolen thousands of dollars from her over the years they just said "Earrthlink is not a usage based service". Of course not, especially when they supply service to telephone numbers that don't exist.
It get's worse. actually. I had canceled her service. but it turns out they called her back aftrwards and asked if she was unsatisfied and would she like to continue the service. They then told her that given her usage patterns they reccomended she buy extra space! Extra space on an account that she could not even use if she wanted to.
Never got any money back. Thieves. Boycott Earthlink.
Re:Inertia (Score:4, Informative)
> Yeah, right after we get rid of Microsoft, whom has the same business model.
"Whom" is not a fancy way of saying "who." It has a grammatical part to play.
Re:My grandmother is one of them... (Score:5, Informative)
Don't forget that the people who you call to disconnect your service get payed a commission on every customer they get to stay and those people will say anything to get you to reconsider even if it's completely untrue. You might also want to keep in mind that their disconnection process was actually the subject of a lawsuit that involved the Attorney Generals of 48 states. [ecommercetimes.com]
Re:Same thing with earthlink (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Same thing with earthlink (Score:5, Informative)
Re:My grandmother is one of them... (Score:5, Informative)
AOL has a FREE level of service under their "AOL for Broadband" setup, and you can convert existing dial-up accounts to it. I did this for my grandmother. She was on AOL Dial-up for years and years (she actually used it though, because in her area broadband was unavailable until late 2008). Finally DSL became available and she was happy to jump onto it (finally she could watch those videos the younger grandkids send). So I helped her convert her AOL Dial-up to a free AOL for Broadband account. She kept her e-mail address (and all the remotely stored e-mails), kept her links and shortcuts.
In fact, she kept everything, because you can still use the AOL Client to connect to a AfB account. It just doesn't dial anymore, it merely connects to the account over your existing broadband.
In effect, her "experience" literally did not change. She still loads up the AOL Client, and accesses everything through it. She lost nothing (the free AfB accounts do lose some services compared to paid, but nothing she used or was even aware of). The only difference is now she has 15x the speed of dial-up, and she pays $15/mo for it instead of $25.
Plus I got her a wireless router so she can use her laptop away from the phone line, which to her was probably the most glorious thing of the whole change.
Re:Inertia (Score:4, Informative)
Many wet-shave hobbyists swear by traditional double-edged and straight razors, and use soaps or creams with shaving brushes as part of the process (Badger & Blade [badgerandblade.com] is a good resource for learning more). It helps to take your time and treat it as a pampering ritual to be savoured and and not a chore. Good preparation is part of it. I've just started using traditional soap pucks and a badger brush and it's made me look forward to shaving now, although the razor I received as a gift with the brush set takes only Mach3 heads so I'm yet to use a double-edged safety razor (I don't think I'd ever have the balls and patience for a straight). The Mach3 is a reasonable enough shave, but the refills are expensive and it's disingenous to think that Gillette can keep topping it and their current offerings forever. Will they reach a pinnacle cartridge and just stop, saying it is the best they can do and no razor will be perfect? I doubt it.