Scrubking
05-04-2004, 03:27 AM
This letter was written to PC magazine by ED MAXWELL.
"My brother recently died after a skiing accident. He was my business partner, and the month after his death involved canceling many contracts. I saved the most feared cancellation (based on previous experience), for last: his AOL account. I explained the situation to the service representative. After a few minutes of the most insensitive comments (obviously scripted), I asked where [The AOL representative] was located. "India", he said. He insisted on giving the full AOL denial of cancellation pitch, despite my insisting that my brother was dead. He offered lower monthly rates, retaining his AOL email address, transfering his account to someone else in our company, etc. He would not give me the cancellation number until I had listened to his complete pitch. (He said it was an FCC requirement.) I then wrote a letter to AOL, suggested that a more sensitive method be used for death cancellations - like faxing a death certificate. No one at AOL has responded. I can't believe that we, here in the US, sit quietly while this trespassing on our personal lives grows and grows. Every bit of personal information about us is on the server in Bangalore. This really worries me."
I would have gone buck wild on that guy and interrupt him until he just gave me the freakin number.
"My brother recently died after a skiing accident. He was my business partner, and the month after his death involved canceling many contracts. I saved the most feared cancellation (based on previous experience), for last: his AOL account. I explained the situation to the service representative. After a few minutes of the most insensitive comments (obviously scripted), I asked where [The AOL representative] was located. "India", he said. He insisted on giving the full AOL denial of cancellation pitch, despite my insisting that my brother was dead. He offered lower monthly rates, retaining his AOL email address, transfering his account to someone else in our company, etc. He would not give me the cancellation number until I had listened to his complete pitch. (He said it was an FCC requirement.) I then wrote a letter to AOL, suggested that a more sensitive method be used for death cancellations - like faxing a death certificate. No one at AOL has responded. I can't believe that we, here in the US, sit quietly while this trespassing on our personal lives grows and grows. Every bit of personal information about us is on the server in Bangalore. This really worries me."
I would have gone buck wild on that guy and interrupt him until he just gave me the freakin number.