[Magdalen] AOL Mayhem.

[cantor03 at aol.com]

Suddenly in mid-afternoon yesterday, a screen popped up stating that AOL was no
longer supporting my version of AOL, and that to continue their service, I would need
to subscribe to their new version called AOL Gold.
 
I started this process, and got hopelessly lost.
 
I called over my computer savvy neighbor, and together we spend an hour getting through
the labyrinth of pitfalls AOL has designed for this process to succeed.  The final unlockable
doorway was in the actual signing into AOL.  Every time this was tried, we were confronted
with the same basic "no longer service" screen.  We were lost in the loop.  We had jumpted
through all the rest of their loops.
 
This necessitated a call to AOL which is being inundated with calls (wait time:  40 minutes).
The AOL lady seemed to know immediately what was wrong.  They had sent a new icon
for the service,  a gold circle with AOL over the top.  We were still using the old blue icon.
 
This solved the problem but left unanswered why what should be simple is so difficult.
It's almost as though they don't want customers on AOL.
 
Anyway, all is now right with the world.  I have my computer, files, etc. back where
they belong.
 
 
David S.