AOL helpline can be patronising

Credit given where it is due at the botoom of this article!

My gripe is about the AOL helpline and how patronising and inflexible they are. I am a freelance computer engineer for home users by the way.

With other Internet service providers, when I speak to them on behalf of the customer, they get the message straight away that I know what I am talking about and they don't ask stupid questions. Alas this is not the case with AOL. I have to go through the whole rigmarole as if I don't know anything. For example, take the following conversation:

Me: Hi, I am an engineer speaking on behalf of the customer who is with me now. The customer has called me out to have a look at this problem. There is no broadband connection. We are using a router and there is no ADSL synchronisation because there's something wrong at the telephone exchange, please get BT to fix it.

AOL Helpline: Is the "i" light on the router flashing?

Me: Yes. The problem is being caused by the BT telephone exchange, so can you please report this as a fault to British Telecom.

AOL Helpline: What colour is it flashing?

Me: It is flashing amber and I know what that means, I have checked everything and there is a fault at the exchange.

AOL Helpline: Are you sure it's flashing?

With other ISPs, it's okay that they ask me questions about whether I put the bits and pieces in the right places. That's all right, because it's a helpful reminder. However the AOL helpline insists on taking me through baby steps all the way and it is quite infuriating.

Eventually it is possible to get through to the mythical AOL Second Level Support where there are people that start being properly helpful, hurrah!

As for AOL "Live Help", the AOL Live Help text chat operators have less authority and fewer tools than the helpline people. Anything non-trivial they just have to direct back to the helpline, whereupon there is the recorded message, "If you can get online, why not try AOL keyword: Live Help?"

AOL only helps with a few specific makes and models of connection equipment and everything else is "unsupported". So I have to carry a Netgear DG834 as it is one of the few routers that AOL will help with, even though any make and model is capable of working fine with AOL when set up correctly.

With AOL it is at least possible to get through to the helpline and to get broadband problems fixed. It's just that they ask a lot of basic questions and it all takes longer that I would like.

By: Phil

Source from the weekly gripe

To see more information on AOL complaints and help check out the rest of the site!

AOL Complaints Procedure - Official AOL Help: Step-by-step escalation process

Our step-by-step escalation process is designed to allow issues to be resolved as soon as possible, and to ensure that ownership and responsibility is taken by frontline agents as close to the source as possible.

If your problem is resolved before it becomes a formal complaint, you can rest assured that valuable feedback is still derived from your experience and is vital to the development of AOL. So you can make a difference even without making a formal complaint!

To ensure that your complaint is resolved, please follow this process. It is useful to keep a record of what representative you spoke to, when you spoke to them and what your perspective of the conversation was.

Step 1: Member Services
Call Member Services on 0870 3 20 20 20 to enable an appropriate agent to resolve your issue.

Step 2: Supervisor
If the agent is unable to resolve your query to your satisfaction, ask to speak to a supervisor and allow them the opportunity to resolve your issue before you submit a formal complaint. If you remain dissatisfied, then submit a formal complaint.

Step 3: Formal Complaint
Submit a formal complaint by post. Our Complaints Management Team, on behalf of the Vice President of Member Services, will receive your complaint. We aim to answer formal complaints within five working days of receipt.

Step 4: External Resolution
If you are not happy with the final outcome to your formal complaint, proposed by the Complaints Management team, you will have exhausted our internal complaints procedure and can seek an external resolution by contacting the Internet Service Providers Association, www.ispa.org.uk, on 0870 0500 710.

If you are still not happy, you can seek to refer the matter for independent adjudication. Your statutory rights are not affected and you can seek legal advice at your discretion.

to read this on the AOL website see
http://info.aol.co.uk/help/complaints/escalation_process.html