I started a trial subscription to AOL because it came with a Dell computer. At first the software kept cutting me off. I called tech support. A recording tries to guide me to do an XP System Restore before I can talk to a technician. This cannot cure my problem.
After a long wait through irritating recordings, I reached a technician who told me that I must run a full virus check and spyware check before they will help me. This is a way to avoid helping a customer instead of looking for the real problem.
After I did two reinstalls of AOL and spent two hours in online chat with AOL Live Help trying false solutions, I was finally told that AOL 9 requires a patch to make it work with XP SP2. This obvious solution fixed the cutoffs. It took 2.5 hours to get the right answer.
I still had the problem of being unable to set up a second email account. When using other ISPs, I can do this in Outlook Express, but AOL requires me to first establish a second screen name by going to Keyword NAMES. When I try to do this, I can only get a blank window within AOL.
I spent 70 minutes in Live Help trying to get an answer. The advisor had no clue as to how to solve it. He said that he would write a report, but when I asked for a number for the case report, he could not give me one. I asked him to refer me to a senior technician. He then told me to contact telephone tech support and cut off the chat session, leaving me with no solution.
He was lying about writing a report that I could not follow up on. The pretense of writing a case report is another way of getting rid of a customer with a problem that these low level, low-skilled advisors don't know how to fix.
I wrote to this advisor's email address asking again that he refer the problem to a senior technician. He did not answer.
When I tried to go back to live chat, I could not access it. This window within AOL came up blank. I wrote to email tech support, pasting the full chat session diologue and asking for referral of the problem to senior tech suppor.
I got a reply asking for information about my system. I provided the information about my system. I sent back the requested information and then got a reply thanking me for reporting the problem but giving no solution.
I again asked for referral to senior tech. The reply was that I could reach a senior technician in Live Help. I had just stated that I had been cut off when I asked in Live Help to reach a senior technician and that afterward I could not access live help to repeat the request.
It is useless to write an explanation of a problem to anyone at AOL. They ignore what you say and send back inapplicable canned answers.
AOL has bad software which prevents normal use of Outlook Express. It is impossible to reach anyone who can solve the problems.
AOL has the worst tech support that I have encountered in 18 years of computer use. The great mystery is how AOL remains the largest ISP while offering the worst service and the highest charges.
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