AOL and the $1500 charge
forever geek wrote today about a friend who'd used AOL's autofix software to resolve a connectivity issue. it worked, but at a cost of us$1500 in long-distance telephone charges... for a call to a local number! the so-called fix was to add a number 1 and the area code to her local access number. apparently the autofix service "decided" it might as well add long-distance numbers to the dial-up settings. and it seems that's not the only claim round. fg links to this story ($3500 phone bill), also told here right off the AP wire by thestate.com. and there seem to be more. while AOL allegedly insists it's impossible, fg states that he's witnessed the event himself. he concludes, «my friend got the charges reversed. yours may not».i wish i could say, "this is un-be-lievable!" how could one? it's AOL. and i dislike them for their "lowest common denominator" philosophy. i understand, that's precisely what the masses want, expect and sometimes even demand. dreadful. i couldn't be more supportive of capitalism and the free-market, but i disdain patronising/appeasement attitudes and giving the unthinking not just what they want, but what some argue they deserve . my argument is that we all deserve and must demand better as we strive to improve ourselves in all possible ways. these, to me, are the elements of the much searced for meaning of life which is no other than the purpose and direction we give our lives to achieve an accomplished, productive and relatively happy, peaceful, exciting, rich, brilliant existence.
