AOL is now free

[TravelingGal]

I know that most people don''t use aol anymore (it''s pretty embarrassing to have an AOL email addy, as a matter of fact!

) But if you are like me and have only kept it because you had an aol address since the beginning of time (old friends still contact me on it), you can now use the service for free. It''s all over the press today.

This is great because they have finally caught up with the times and the likes of MSN, yahoo etc with the free email addresses. Actually most of the aol services will be free as well, but IMO only the XM radio is worth anything....I love to use it to workout in my hotel room when I travel and need workout music.

http://about.aol.com/info for more info.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 8/2/2006 6:37:08 PM
Author: SanDiegoLady
I''ve had aol since the stone age.. Steve is connected to cable for his computer so doesn''t require aol to use his mail.. I have yahoo & aol for mail.. which email I use depends on who my contacts are. I know, I''m a dork. lol

That''s OK SDL, I''m right there with ya on dorkdom!

 

[Miranda]

I''m a dork, too (hanging head)! I''ve had AOL forever and even though I''ve had a cable line for years, I''ve kept the AOL email for 15 bucks a month. Do you know if that means they will stop billing me or if I need to contact them (which I''d like to avoid - they''re not very helpful)?

 

[TravelingGal]

I did the same thing Miranda. I was actually near cancelling, as I realized it was costing me 180 bucks a year just to have an email address. Better to deal with the inconvenience of change than the pay that!

You have to contact them...call 800-984-6207 and just hit "0" no matter what the automated thing says. At some point they will transfer you. I called a couple of hours ago and only waited about 5 minutes. They are very easily changing people over...they are expecting that millions will stop paying, but they are happy to keep you as a "customer" to keep sticking ads in your face.

 

[Kaleigh]

Date: 8/2/2006 8:09:32 PM
Author: TravelingGal
I did the same thing Miranda. I was actually near cancelling, as I realized it was costing me 180 bucks a year just to have an email address. Better to deal with the inconvenience of change than the pay that!

You have to contact them...call 800-984-6207 and just hit ''0'' no matter what the automated thing says. At some point they will transfer you. I called a couple of hours ago and only waited about 5 minutes. They are very easily changing people over...they are expecting that millions will stop paying, but they are happy to keep you as a ''customer'' to keep sticking ads in your face.

Thanks for the heads up, on the phone now waiting for a consultant. I''ve had this email addy for ages and hubby will be thrilled it''s free now.

 

[TravelingGal]

Kaleigh, make sure you hear "hold" music. Earlier this morning I didn''t hear any hold music and was on hold for awhile (OK since I was doing work and put them on speaker). I finally gave up and went out to lunch.

 

[Kaleigh]

Haha, gotta love that music. NOT!!!

The guy is processing my request as I type. How NICE.

LOL. Wonder just how many people would still keep being charged if they didn't know about the change??

 

[TravelingGal]

Yup....and you have to call...no easy way around it. I did find today''s call pretty easy though.

It was all over the press today, so I gotta hope that somehow users would find out! Pretty lame that they are not emailing any current users about it though. However, if you log on to aol, it''s one of the changing banners on the opening screen. Since there are a few banners, there is a good chance you''d miss it, which I think is kind of sneaky. They need to plaster it and have it STAY there.

 

[AndyRosse]

I was so glad to hear this today! I''m sick of paying 15 a month for an email address!

Although TravelingGal, I don''t find having an aol email address embarrassing at all.

 

[TravelingGal]

Date: 8/2/2006 9:26:58 PM
Author: Rascal49
I was so glad to hear this today! I''m sick of paying 15 a month for an email address!

Although TravelingGal, I don''t find having an aol email address embarrassing at all.

Embarrassing in the sense of, not hip enough to get with the program and get a free email address. Obviously for whatever reason, we paid for our email addresses when the rest of the world got free accounts! LOL....

And everyone knows that AOL has the WORST customer service (did you guys hear about that guy that tried to cancel his account and recorded the conversation? It was hilarious.) I often wondered why I kept the account.

 

[TravelingGal]

I just found out that customer service chat DID make the change for someone I know. Infuriating, since this morning I tried to do it on live chat and the person said I needed to call. AOL sucks!

But if anyone else tries to call and hold times are long, might be worth a shot. Let them know that someone else you know got their status changed on customer chat.

 

[Miranda]

Date: 8/2/2006 8:09:32 PM
Author: TravelingGal
I did the same thing Miranda. I was actually near cancelling, as I realized it was costing me 180 bucks a year just to have an email address. Better to deal with the inconvenience of change than the pay that!

You have to contact them...call 800-984-6207 and just hit ''0'' no matter what the automated thing says. At some point they will transfer you. I called a couple of hours ago and only waited about 5 minutes. They are very easily changing people over...they are expecting that millions will stop paying, but they are happy to keep you as a ''customer'' to keep sticking ads in your face.

Thanks so much for the info!!! I''ll call tomorrow! I am just cracking up at this thread...AOL sucks!!!

 

[MelissaSue]

Hmm. I never had AOL.. actually I did for about 6 months when I was 12 or so.. raked up a big bill on a "free" trial.. don''t think my dad ever paid that.. We will have bad AOL credit forever.. lol..
We had Prodigy.. which I *think* started before AOL.. and the logon names were so random mine was NTGN36C I believe.. Could you imagine trying to keep track of all the PSers with names like that?