On-line services make it hard for users to quit
Article Abstract:
While signing up for on-line services is becoming easier, cancelling services once billing has been initiated is increasingly difficult. Many providers such as America Online (AOL) offer diskettes in mailboxes and magazines that allow users to browse the Internet at no cost. A credit card number is often the only prerequisite for signing on. The credit card, however, is automatically billed every month until the service is contacted and cancelled in accordance with often stringent cancellation guidelines. AOL, for example, does not allow customers to cancel its service via e-mail. Another example is Netcom On-line Communications Services. Netcom forces its customers to adhere to strict cancellation deadlines, including notifying the company by the 25th of each month by 5 p.m., Pacific time, or it will not guarantee that additional monthly charges will not incur. It is ironic that an industry that provides wide ranges of 24 hour sign-ups for customers has not developed a standard cancellation system.
Publication Name: The Wall Street Journal Western Edition
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0193-2241
Year: 1997
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Talk, talk talk; the latest chat services give users a whole new dimension
Article Abstract:
Online chat services have become an important form of communication, and advances in technology, including real-time, 3D, and video chat rooms will increase their popularity. Chat services provide forums where people can express themselves regardless of their age, identity, location, social background, or physical limitations. This gives people an opportunity to go beyond their disadvantages or disabilities, but allows some participants to feel they can misbehave with impunity. In three-dimensional chat-rooms, users select avatars to represent them. Developing technology will allow real-time video chat rooms. Text-based chat services, including e-mail group mailing lists, address every topic from political organizing to support groups. The Microsoft Network currently hosts two real-time chat services, one in a comic-strip visual format and the other in a 3D interactive space. Technology from Onlive Technologies allows voices of users to be heard in chat rooms.
Publication Name: The Wall Street Journal Western Edition
Subject: Business, general
ISSN: 0193-2241
Year: 1997
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
- Abstracts: Oilfiled services/equipment. Oilfield services/equipment
- Abstracts: Phone market is opening up for Europeans. A battle for the ears of Europe; Olivetti bid heralds new opportunities
- Abstracts: Netscape's new browser: users take it for a spin; our panel gives new features a mixed review. World-wide fame is at your fingertips. (DEC's Alta Vista Internet/Web search engine)(On-Line) (Internet
- Abstracts: Chip sales indicator falls to 5-year low; a semiconductor selloff is expected. Key semiconductor index falls for 2d month
- Abstracts: At I.B.M., a departure ignites management shifts. Do computers lift productivity? It's unclear, but business is sold