As Peter Cohan and Tobias Buckell have covered, TimeWarner's (TWX) AOL is considering giving away its content to nonsubscribers, but along with that earthshaking, well, shake-up -- it is probably not a bad idea to keep in mind what ConsumerAffairs.com has to say: AOL's Problems Worsening as Consumer Complaints Mount.
Boing Boing, digg and plenty of others helped circulate the hilarious-except-when-it-happens-to-you debacle of one customer's attempt to get AOL to cancel his dial-up service last month. That resulted in an apology from the company and the firing of the phone agent involved.
There is no correlation between the release of the tape and today's reports of possible changes in AOL's business model, but as someone who has -- at least I hope I have -- long ago put his phone sales-and-retention employment experience behind him, I know that the pressure to keep accounts active in a highly competitive environment can be intense. That doesn't excuse the employee's methods, or necessarily warrant AOL to accept responsibility for its retention policies rather than scapegoat the one employee that got busted on tape, but it does point out the striking change that might occur in the company culture if AOL does go ahead with this idea.
Giving away content can be one of the most powerful ways to grow the influence of a business. Sacrificing the revenue of billions from paid accounts might be a huge price to pay for that growth. But then again, so many outfits, large and small, offer similar services faster, better, and cheaper. Maybe AOL should look into relieving itself of a multi-billion dollar headache.
Hewlett-Packard reports growth in profit and operating margin in Q4
Before the bell: Stocks futures steady ahead of GDP, housing data
Google's plan for netbook PCs moves higher into the clouds
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-06-2006 @ 6:14PM
JK.G.Kolias said...
Dear aol,you have altered the stock quotes that were given,now not available unless you go to portfolios.Your dial up is slow and tedious to access.How do I contact you via phone to discuss a change of oproviders,I'm tired of this lack of service along with the excessive fees, J.G.K.
7-07-2006 @ 7:28AM
lloyd slater said...
I agree with the above that aol is playing dirty with it's customers . You can't trust these corporate giants. Aol is taking a page from mighty cingular in dirty tricks, zap the comsumers and be damn
7-07-2006 @ 8:13AM
Peter MacMurray said...
AOL will slow down your dial up service every time it is pushing its high speed service, if they can not get dial up correct why would I use the hidh speed service.
7-07-2006 @ 7:11PM
charles kowal said...
It's not aol its the managment. Mr Parson makes millions and we the share holders lose our money. We cant aford to keep the managment in place. We need new blood
7-08-2006 @ 3:56AM
Louie said...
As a previous employee of aol..and a broadband expert..The comments about slowing down your service if you refuse highspeed, is so wrong. All dialup svc is based on condition of your phone lines both inside and out, and how many in your area are sharing the same dialup numbers, and distance. The dialup svc hasn't slowed down..you've allowed your children or self to download games..download music..download download download. And here's some real bad news for you. Get highspeed, and keep downloading..and just keep whining. Oh and yes..stop using your companys bband servers and going home crying about your "i'm too cheap to get highspeed" dialup.
7-10-2006 @ 4:43PM
A Time Warner Employee said...
The Killing of AOL by Jon Miller and Time Warner. While AOL decides it's going to give up it's subscriber revenue, Jon Miller, a puppet of Time Warner, are systematically killing AOL. As a former AOL employee for a decade, it saddens me that Steve Case's dream is being killed by Time Warner. Please get someone in at AOL that isn't as inept as Jon Miller. He's killing AOL and many of use employees and former employees are quite saddened that AOL may not exist in the next five years.
7-11-2006 @ 9:32AM
An AOL Employee said...
As AOL prepares to layoff thousands of employees, how much of the pain are Jon Miller and his cronies going to feel???? They will get their bonuses and stock options this year, while others will have their lives destroyed by the layoffs. The executives at AOL should have to feel some of the pain for their incompetence that is leading to this upcoming round of layoffs! It just amazes me that Time Warner will "reward" the management team at AOL for laying off thousands and still contributing the billion dollars that AOL gives to Time Warner every year. Time Warner doesn't care about AOL; they just want to milk it and then dismantle it or sell it off.
7-18-2006 @ 3:50PM
victoria said...
I signed up with AOL using one the those "free" disc that come in the mail, claiming you can try it for free for 1000 hours. There was no 'free trial' as I was billed immediatley for sevices. I called the next month and cancelled my account, and I thought that was the end of it. Much to my surprise they continue to bill me for service I don't have not want. I called and spoke with a customer service representative. After explaining everything to this gentleman I was told nothing could be done and they would not reverse the charges on my credit card. My entire experience with AOL was unpleasant and costly.