Miss_S_83 Posted March 27, 2008 Posted March 27, 2008 Afternoon, Just had to write it down and release steam! Yesterday I realised my BT modem provided by AOL when I signed up, was broke. I had thought it was the ethernet cable, but it wasn't. I was advised that, as the modem was out of warranty, the only way to get a new one free from AOL was to take out a new contract (mine had gone past the minimum 12 months). This was for AOL BB Wirless 18months. Anyway I signed up as I want wireless anyway and it was of no extra cost for the first 6 months. Well, I wanted to connect to AOL dial-up in the meantime. I spoke to a lady who helped me through it yesterday although it was apparaent after I came off the phone that there were some glitches. The problems started this morning... I rang the main AOL number (only one I have). Selected Tech. support and was on hold 20min+(on a mobile). Finally got through to someone who could only deal with BB support, not dial-up. Fair enough. Was then told I was being transferred to dial-up support. Then I was on hole another 10 mins, then disconnected (not my signal/phone). Rang the same number again. Waited 25 mins again, knowing I was going to the wrong dept. Call answered, explained and told the guy I knew I needed another dept. but could he give me the dial-up support number in case I was cut off. He went away, came back and said he would give it me then put me through. He then proceeded to give me the OLD AOL number- which has now changed to the one I was calling him on. He then cut me off, instead of transferring me. I rang a 3rd time (from my landline as I don't want a mobile bill in the £100s!), to cancel AOL as I thought this may get someone to listen. Spoke to a guy in cancellations (answered in less than a minute!!! Surprisingly.. NOT!). He faffed around for a bit. I explained, I am fed up- I want to speak to someone in AOL DIAL UP SUPPORT! He reminded me I have AOL BB not dial-up, was I aware? I informed him that I was aware, and could not access BB for the reasons above. He asked if I could wait for the modem. I told him, all I wanted to do was access AOL Dial Up and needed help. He then told me he could transfer me to them. He then placed me on a 20 min hold... to AOL Broadband Support. Irate by this point, I asked the guy if he could help me, explained the above. He, after much faffing, said he could not help me but could transfer me to AOL Dial Up support. I asked him 3 TIMES how long I would be waiting, and told him of the trouble I have had already. He ignored me the first two times and then said I would not be waiting long. Queue another 15-20 min wait on hold for AOL Dial-Up support! I spoke to someone, finally, and explained all of the above (again). I informed him that due to spending the best part of an hour and a half on hold on my mobile, I was now using my landline and asked if he could call me back on my mobile to resolve the problem. He informed me that if I hung up the phone, I would lose connection to him and he would be unable to help. Wow! Something I didn't know. I then asked AGAIN, if someone could ring me back and I could talk them through what I am seeing on screen. He went away, came back and tols me that was not possible BUT he could help me, today! Yes! He then aksed if I could try and connect to AOL, go to the sign on screen, choose this option, that option. I informed him this was simple and I had done this already. He ignored me and carried on. He then told me to hang up, and click 'Next' and I should be able to sign on, and was in the middle of bidding me his goodbyes. I told him, I have not changed anything, I have done this already. He faffed some more, and went on to some more steps. Anyway, I was able to log on after (who knows how long for)... but why 3 phonecalls? The last one was a record 1hr 20 mins!!! What the hell? I was actually about to call back and cancel (for real) when it worked. Anyone recommend any decent BB offers, wireless if possible? Paying £9.99 per month to AOL at mo for BB, but the new BB wireless I signed to is £9.99 per month for 6 months then £14.99 per month for the last 12 months of the 18 month contract. Please tell me there are similar or better offers around so I can cancel the AOL before it's too late. What are Sky like?
madmutt Posted March 27, 2008 Posted March 27, 2008 Hiya i had A O Hell for 7 years (note the hell) and had endless problems from them, the last straw was when they gave me a 16k connection speed when i should have been on 4 meg. They blamed bt and bt said it was AO HELL. When you move providers you have to get the migration code (mac code) from your current provider in order to move to a new one and AOHell gave me a code then changed it to another within hours to prevent me from moving but because it was to BT they just took the line back from under their noses because they own the line lol To cut a long story short i moved to BT and got an 8 meg connection. I am paying more than i was paying aol but i am getting a more reliable service. What i will say is make sure you get a provider that is going to give you unlimited bandwidth because some state 40 meg or under and that is not much when we use well over that.
pinklady Posted March 27, 2008 Posted March 27, 2008 Im on AOHell ........ its not good, customer service is terrible, support team barely speak english, help lines are premium rate, and to top it off, the broad band connection is really unreliable lately, apparently this is because of changes there makeing due to buying out car phone warehouse when i get round to it, Im ditching aol too
DynoDon Posted March 28, 2008 Posted March 28, 2008 Hiya i had A O Hell for 7 years (note the hell) and had endless problems from them, the last straw was when they gave me a 16k connection speed when i should have been on 4 meg. They blamed bt and bt said it was AO HELL. . BT would. It's quite impossible for AOL to give you a 16k broadband speed. It was a fault on the line... it's happened to me after faffing about with BT establishing it was them.
madmutt Posted March 28, 2008 Posted March 28, 2008 BT would. It's quite impossible for AOL to give you a 16k broadband speed. It was a fault on the line... it's happened to me after faffing about with BT establishing it was them. I can assure you it was AOL they started restricting speed in my area during what they called peak times since CPW took over anywhere between 8am to midnight under what they called "their fair usage policy" I pointed out to them that my contract started 7 years ago for 12 month period and at that time that was not part of it but they made it clear that the old contracts changed and email had been sent to state the changes, because i continued to use the sirvice after i had been informed indicated that i accepted the change. Yes they do use premium rate numbers for support and yes you are lucky to get someone who speaks english and if they do they cant understand it! (this is after keeping you on the phone for ages listening to stupid music)
craigmason Posted March 28, 2008 Posted March 28, 2008 I am on talk talk the one with the free laptop (touch wood no problems yet)
ken1 Posted March 28, 2008 Posted March 28, 2008 i've no idea why anybody would use aol out of choice. get a proper isp.
Savannah2 Posted March 28, 2008 Posted March 28, 2008 i've no idea why anybody would use aol out of choice. get a proper isp. I'll second that. Sadly there are not many good ISP's left now.
astronaut77 Posted March 28, 2008 Posted March 28, 2008 I ditched AOL after 2 weeks because I was having major problems connecting to BB. They blamed BT, BT said there was nothing wrong with the line.. Thought i'd give Sky a go being as though I have tv with them, and BB was only going to cost an extra £5 a month (was paying £25 to AOL). I haven't looked back since. I've had no down time whatsoever, and consistently high download speeds. My download limit is approx 40GB per month which I don't think I go anywhere near. I know some people have had problems with Sky BB but i'm incredibly happy with their service, and on the one occasion I had to ring them (I was having problems connecting my laptop wirelessly - totally my error, not Sky) they were very helpful. I can't, however, say the same for Sky TV customer service, but that's another issue!
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